posted on January 11, 2001 09:09:49 PM
I need advise
My auction ended on Dec. 16th, On Dec. 27th still no payment from buyer, I emailed her and she said payment was sent on Dec. 18th.
Payment arrives on Jan 2nd. I had asked for 12.00 for shipping and .85 ins. which she did send.
When I went to ship the item the shipping was 28.00(ins. included) so I didn't send it because i didn't want to pay the difference.
I emailed her and asked her what would she like to do, because she paid 10.00 for the item, I said do you want to pay 28.00 for shipping or do you want a refund, which ever you want would be fine with me. Since the shipping is expensive I would leave it up to her.
HER REPLY TO ME............
Well I'm not very happy right now. First off I got my check right off to you after I got your returned E-mail address with shipping. Then after alot of time, to my surprise you write asking how I want you to ship, with or without the original box! Also that was the first time to hear the box was't in mint shape. Now you want to send back my money! After all this time has gone by! How would you feel? Bad! Or what would you do in my place? I'm not the kind of person to give a bad feedback but I sure want you to know how I feel. END OF HER EMAIL
My Response.....
All I am asking you is do you want to pay the postage of 28.00. Also the auction was over on Dec. 16th, I did not receive your check until Jan 2nd. I never said the box was in good condition, I only said that it came in the original box. (check my listing)
First, if I received your payment within 10 days, your item would have been shipped with the old postal rates, since I received your check on Jan 2nd, and this is the 10th the new rates are out.
Please just ans. my question, do you want to pay the shipping charges or not. I did not delay this transaction, you did by sending me your check late. I was sending your package today and your check didn't even clear yet, I could have waited longer until you check clears, but I didn't.
All this time past by because your check came on Jan 2nd, so please don't pass the blame onto me. I didn't hold up this transaction. END OF MY EMAIL TO HER
I still didn't get an ans. from her yet,
I need some advise, did I do wrong in what I did? (I am sorry it is so long, but I needed to explain what took place)
posted on January 11, 2001 09:15:19 PM
From what I read in your post, YOU want to break your OWN TOS, and expect the bidder to accept that...would you be willing to break your TOS for a bidder???
I have been in this same situation, and I had to suck up MAJOR postage, PLUS a repair bill because I didn't notice a small problem with the item before I shipped.....I ate the $$ it cost for both the shipping AND the repair in the name of "customer courtesy".
IMHO, if the item was THAT heavy, you should have done a better job of calculating shipping costs before you sent your EOA to this buyer...
IOW..Your Bad, You Pay.
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
(fer spellink)
[ edited by ubiedaman on Jan 11, 2001 09:17 PM ]
posted on January 11, 2001 09:25:05 PM
I feel really bad for you - tough situation. But the shipping error was *your* mistake. You undercharged her, and you can't change your terms after the auction is over. If it was me, I would have shipped it to her, paid the extra postage money out of my own pocket, and chalked it up as a learning experience. (a big one!)
Yes, she was late sending payment, but I think the greater issue is you trying to increase the shipping charges on her.
posted on January 11, 2001 09:36:16 PM
When I miscalculate on shipping and insurance I always ship anyway. Most of the time I don't say a thing to the customer because it is my mistake.
I can tell you what I did recently in a similar situation. And this happens to me a few times a month and I always follow the same procedure.
A customer won multiple auctions from me. I was auctioning off a china pattern in attempts to clear space for more inventory I have arriving, so I had the partial china set listed with respect to type: dinner plates, luncheon plates, bread plates, etc.
I realized I had forgotten to list a large platter, plus I had some serving pieces with minor flaws. I never sell flawed Haviland unless it is rare; I give the flawed pieces to my customers. I offered the serving pieces to the buyer for no charge. She accepted them.
I shipped out the china, double boxed, the two outer boxes being 18x18x18. The cost at the post office was $31 more than I had charged the buyer. I shipped anyway.
When I sent the buyer my Notice of Shipment in Transit I explained the additional serving pieces had added extra weight, thus the cost of shipping was $31 higher. I told her if she was happy with the serving pieces she could send me the additional money, if she wasn't, not to worry about it. The customer was estactic with the purchase and the extra pieces and sent the $31.00.
The tone to the customer determines their response. If you are professional and positive, the customer will reply in the same manner.
One of my customers has spent so much money on my auctions I give him free shipping, each and every time.
posted on January 11, 2001 09:40:03 PM
I would tend to agree nefish. If someone did this to me, I would be more than just a little angry and I would leave a neggie. There could be several reasons that the buyer was late getting payment, up to and including a delay in the postal service(around x-mas). If I state a certain shipping price in my TOS, you better believe I make sure to get it right the first time because there have been more than enough times I've had to suck up the cost because of my own mistake. That, however, is the price of business. I would send the item to her, apologize for the inconvienience caused, and eat the remaining cost just to avoid the neg. If you're lucky, she could be one of those persons(like me) who would see on the package how much the shipping actually cost and send the difference to the seller. That is just me though and I am probably the only person would do it like that. Good luck!
posted on January 11, 2001 09:56:45 PM
I agree with what you are saying, but I feel if the buyer sent the payment in on time I could have shipped her item before the new postal rates, and since she didn't send payment in 10 days, like it was mentioned in my auction, why should I pay the additional postage, I don't mind paying additional postage which I have done many, many times when the buyer does send payment in on time.
I don't feel she was being fair to me when she went and sent her payment in so late.
At the end I will wind up sending it and paying the addition postage of 16.00 If that's what has to be, but I still don't feel I am all that wrong about how I feel.
posted on January 11, 2001 10:08:41 PM
You keep blaming her for the late payment, but she said she mailed the payment two days after the auction ended.
Did you actually check the date on the envelope to see when her payment was mailed?
posted on January 11, 2001 10:19:52 PM
You received it on January 2, a Tuesday. Postal rates didn't go up until January 7, a Sunday.
You had 5 mail days to ship the item, with postal rate changes not a factor.
You should have shipped during that period. And sucked up whatver the difference was between your $12 estimate, and the actual shippig cost before the increase (I don't belive that postage increased over 200% in any category).
Blaming the buyer now doesn't cut it. Yeah, she was slow getting payment out. That's life. Send it, learn, and calculate your shiping better next time.
posted on January 11, 2001 10:20:52 PM
So what you are saying is that you would have eaten the additional postage if she had paid on time? But now that rates went up you don't want to pay?
Sounds to me like all you should charge her would be the difference in the old and new rates.
However, were it me, I wouldn;t worry about it and would eat the extra cost. That is the professional thing to do.
posted on January 11, 2001 10:26:46 PM
So, what you are saying I should not put her check in the bank, but ship her item right away, even if I risked the chance of her check bouncing? Plus when you bid on BIN does that mean pay 17 days Later?
posted on January 11, 2001 10:31:56 PM
I bid on an auction that ended around December 27. The seller said pay this amount. I sent a check that the seller received by January 2. This week on January 8 I received an email from the seller saying postal rates have increased, I have to send her payment for another $1.10 before she will ship.
I thought, "huh."
Then I just sighed, made out the check and mailed it.
But I put the seller on my Bad Seller List. And that is something sellers never consider, that buyers group together and combine their Bad Seller Lists, share information.
posted on January 11, 2001 10:39:20 PM
Well, I don't hold checks. But if you're practice is to hold checks for, say, two weeks (I think that's what some sellers say, even though that's not enough time to be sure the check will clear, and it alienates some bidders), then when you listed this on December 15 you should have anticipated your check hold time as it relates to the scheduled rate increases.
Your auction doesn't say anything about holding checks, though- so I seems you're just looking for reasons not to have to eat the shipping charges.
Just send it and move on. You won't make the same mistake next time.
(or, since your TOS do require payment within 10 days, I guess you could call the sale void, and return the check. But I think that's kinda cheesy at this point).
[ edited by magazine_guy on Jan 11, 2001 10:42 PM ]
posted on January 11, 2001 10:43:26 PM
Your TOS said $12 for shipping. End of subject. I "ate" a lot of my bad guesses on shipping (in the beginning). Have to say if I were your buyer in this situation, you'd never get me to look at your auctions again.
It's a business transaction.
posted on January 11, 2001 10:46:51 PM Darcy, how do "buyers group together and combine their Bad Seller Lists, share information."
I apologize. I thought all sellers knew about buyers having Bad Seller Lists.
When buyers are bidding in the same category over and over they get to know each other's ids. The buyers might be a combination of dealers, collectors and others.
Every significant category has such a group, for example ivory, tobacco tins, Meissen, etc.
My category is Haviland. Most of us who sell also buy. Some only buy. We all get to know each other, many times we meet in person at a conference. When asked, we share our Bad Seller List with each other.
Every group of buyers have different reasons for placing a seller on a Bad Seller List. For Haviland buyers it is when the item is not as described, there are flaws not mentioned, the china arrives wrapped in newspaper, the seller does stupid things like not making contact as required or shipping when stated...
So no, there is no universal Bad Seller List on a web site, just lists that circulate among groups of buyers.
posted on January 11, 2001 10:48:52 PM
I just don't feel she is being fair to me, I would have had lots of time to ship her item, if she sent payment when she should have. She didn't care about me, but now I am the one who should care about her.
Why?
I have eaten lots of shipping cost, which was never a problem for me to do because of my mistake, the buyers did what they should have done so I did what I had to do, which was pay shipping charges everytime I made the mistake.
This buyer from the day she bought my item with BIN didn't do one thing that was right,
even telling me the check was in the mail, so that's why the post mark was Dec. 28th,
Other sellers wait for the 10 days and if no payment arrives, they relist there item,
and why, because the buyer didn't do the right thing but thats ok, only the seller needs to do the right thing, why is that.
Plus you are right, I didn't say in my auction that I hold checks for 10 days, that is my mistake. But that's not the problem here.
posted on January 11, 2001 11:14:50 PM
Just my $.02 in...
1. Just pay the extra money...sounds like both of you are getting the raw end of the stick. Suck it up and go on
2. Get back on eBay and buy a #10 Digital Scale...With shipping I got one for $25.
Just from only 7-8 packages I've shipped since I had it, I've already paid for it in undercharges I did in the past!!!
posted on January 11, 2001 11:29:28 PM
You are wrong on many counts. The 10 days is business days and Christmas and New Years do not count. The check was received by you promptly. The buyer sent you what you asked for and then you screw up, and it the buyers fault, I think not. Send the item. Find a cheaper way to ship if you have to but send it. I would give you bad feedback and say you should read the guidelines more carefully.
posted on January 11, 2001 11:48:02 PM
I came to this thread because I new everyone would be honest with me, and they have been.
I will go along with what everyone agrees on and be more careful with the shipping rates.
Honestly, I didn't feel I was wrong, but I guess I am. Thank you to everyone who gave me there opion.
I will email my customer in the morning and let her know, I will pay the shipping difference.
posted on January 11, 2001 11:48:53 PM
Once I quote a shipping rate, that's it. No changing things afterwards and asking the buyer for more, even if the postage is higher than anticipated. Even if new rates are in effect (I should have kept better track of the increases; they're announced in advance). Even if I simply goofed (I should have been more careful).
Now, I've personally "eaten" plenty of shipping costs in the past. It was my own fault for miscalculating and/or not keeping up with postage increases (etc.). Eventually I bought a scale. Even so, I'll probably still goof up occasionally, but it'll never, ever cost the buyer more than what I originally told them.
As a buyer, if the seller changed the shipping costs after the fact, I would probably have the same reaction as your buyer did.
On the other hand, I've bought things a couple of times where the shipping was significantly higher than what the seller charged me. Neither seller asked for or even mentioned the additional shipping. I volunteered to reimburse them both for the extra costs.
Treat others like you'd want to be treated, and it'll all come out in the long run.
Edited to add: Besides, I'm a little confused about how $12 of postage could go up to $28. Am I missing something? The postage increases weren't that high!
[ edited by thedewey on Jan 11, 2001 11:52 PM ]
posted on January 12, 2001 12:07:39 AM
thedewey
The shipping got that high because after i packed all the glass items (I mean really packed them good) that increased the weight of the box, and plus the new rates, but them both together and there is the new shipping price.
I just emailed my customer and told her I will be paying the addition shipping charges and I apologyed to her, More then that I can't do
posted on January 12, 2001 12:33:51 AM
tonimar1 - I'm glad you've decided to go ahead and ship. I agree with the other posters. What I really don't understand is, you received the check on Jan 2, why were you just getting to the post office on Jan 10? If you intend to hold checks that should be in your TOS.
edited because I reread about the 10 day notice
[ edited by chococake on Jan 12, 2001 12:39 AM ]
posted on January 12, 2001 04:02:20 AM
"The shipping got that high because after i packed all the glass items (I mean really packed them good) that increased the weight of the box"
PACK FIRST, WEIGH BOX, then SEND COST. Saves a whole lot of heartache.
posted on January 12, 2001 07:44:09 AM
chococake....in ans to your question,
We had a blizard and I had no help in getting my car out it took days to dig it out.
zazzie......in ans. to your question, I didn't weigh the package first, because after packing it the weight increased by 10 lbs, I just wasn't thinking, because i have been doing this for almost 3 years and this was a first big mistake on my part.
It's not a good feeling to hear everyone tell me I am wrong, but that was way I came here. I knew I would hear the truth.
It may have taken me awhile to realize, but I did and that to me is the bottom line.
Lesson learned,
1st pack item
2nd put on scale
3rd. tell buyer price for shipping.
