posted on January 12, 2001 11:54:18 PM
I am so frustrated. I had a bidder who claimed who sent in their money order shortly after the auction closed which was 12/20/00. On my auction, I stated 10 days due AND postage rate is only good till 1/6/01. 1/1/01, I sent a reminder, that I still have not received the payment. Buyer swears she sent it. Due to the post office delays, I allowed another few days and asked for a receipt for the money order. Heard back from her saying she cannot find it. She had me mixed up with another seller, but if her MO happens to show up, send it back (right!!!). Since she stated she may have sent it (ah, the nice guy syndrome), I said I would split the Priority rate which rose another $.95. She requested for a copy of my addy and that is when I approached her with the increase. Well, I received the MO with the OLD price. I know this is a new buyer but I am so annoyed at the moment. What would you do? Would you tell them they overlooked the new postal rate? I am tired of eating all this extra stuff, especially when I thought I covered myself this time.
avmom (not avmom on eBay) ~ wanting to be professional about all this.
posted on January 13, 2001 12:15:12 AM
What I would like to do, and what I would do are two different things.
I would like to make her pay the difference, but it sounds like that may be as much fun as having your teeth pulled. Plus, it would probably result in negative feedback.
Ususally I have a few auctions that end up selling for much more than I dreamed possible, so it ends up covering these little incidents.
For the sake of 95 cents, I would just send it, and eat the loss. If it happens often, find out why there is miscommunication, or add a bit to the opening bid price. I'm not sure how much the item cost, but regardless of that, how would you feel if someone asked you to send them another 95 cents?
posted on January 13, 2001 05:07:08 AM
If the item was cheap and heavy, 95 cents may represent this seller's entire profit on this sale. OTOH, trying to extract that 95 cents is also spending money: the time in which you could be making money e.g. listing items.
I would email bidder, tell her she's shorted you, and see what she has to say. Even if she didn't send the amount due, I'd probably ship the item and neg her with just the facts - that bidder took 3 weeks to get you payment, and that she decided to give herself a discount to boot.
