posted on January 20, 2001 12:31:38 AM new
I am ticked off and need to vent! (Thank you in advance for the long post - I really need it!)
My husband and I run a successful but also stressful and time consuming business together. He travels overseas a lot & I do eBay as a way to tune out of the heavy stuff. I do take eBay seriously (sometimes way too much) and I try to sell what I also collect.
I try to go out of my way for my customers, who are mostly located overseas and are new to buying online. I have happily guided them through the process in hopes of creating a confident on-line buyer who will return to the community. So far, so good on 258 sales.
...Until a fateful day in early November when I was stuck with a paranoid newbie buyer (not located overseas). The item was a $20 loser but I was glad to get rid of the thing. Bidder w/ 5 feedbacks responded immediately, within minutes of the auction ending. An anxious buyer is always a bad sign for me, because I know I can't get a parcel delivered quickly from Canada at that time of year.
I send my usual end of auction notice/reply filled with cautionary tales of potential late shipment as it's right near xmas and that there are no tracking capabilities with regular parcel. They could however purchase registered mail/delivery confirmation for $3.00 (at a big discount). Buyer refuses extra shipping service and sends me an alternate address to ship to because her "post office is really bad".
Personal check payment was received two weeks after EOA. Item was shipped. One week later (a total of three weeks from eoa notice) bidder responds that the item never arrived, that it's been three weeks since I've received her payment and continues to accuse me of being a fraud, lying about shipping it, "I want a refund now" and "if no refund, track it".
Of course I reply calmly and promptly, re-stating the facts to her, referring her to all original emails and reminding her to have some patience and give it two more weeks (for a total of 3 weeks delivery time) after which I would be happy to refund her money. I also go to my postal station in the meantime (albeit fruitlessly) to enquire as to the possible whereabouts of her untrackable package. They tell me I should ask the buyer to check with her local customs agency -a simple phonecall- and with her post office and also allow for a full three weeks delivery time. I let her know.
Less than two weeks later I get another obnoxious email - this one with rascist epitaphs. She also tells me it's been 50 days (?) since ive stolen her money and it is not up to her to check with anyone and ...Refund MUST be made with a certified check sent registered within 10 days.
This time I am peeved. I was all ready resigned to refund the lousy $20.00, but her email was too much and I was in no mental shape to be verbally abused by this person. I emailed her back and told her that her email was appalling (I saved a copy for the record but cannot bring myself to look at it once again) and uncalled for, that I would now treat her with the same distrust she has shown me and requested she send me a signed statement (for .43cents postage) that she has in fact not received it and that a refund would promptly follow. She chose not to pay a lousy $3.00 for d/c even though I offered it at discount, knew tracking was unavailable, knew it could take three weeks, claimed her own post office was "bad", etc..
Big surprise, No reply. Today she negged me, saying I "its been 80 days, refused to track parcel, crook!"
posted on January 20, 2001 01:01:34 AM new
Since she already negged you, I'd use the $20.00 to wipe my wounds off.
Since you are in Canada, can you tell me the cheapest way to ship a large package to Montreal from the states? We are talking 3ft by 2ft by 18 inches. Sorry to horn in on your thread this way.
If her email was abusive, shouldn't you send it to safe harbor? Don't let her get away with it.
posted on January 20, 2001 01:05:13 AM new
Hi genie9, Sorry to hear that this happened to you. It must hurt to be called a crook. The best thing that you can do is just respond to the comment with a factual statement in your feedback.
I got my first neg as a seller last night. Also from a newbie. I responded in the feedback--not much else to do. I had a feeling she was going to neg me and I hated the waiting. Now I am almost relieved that it is over with--sort of like going to the dentist.
posted on January 20, 2001 04:49:15 AM new
Wow ... I bet it's sitting in customs, or at her PO, waiting for pickup.
"... its been 80 days, refused to track parcel, crook!"
Respond civilly: auctn End xx/11 pymnt rcvd x/xx shipped x/xx buyer refuses to check with customs.
posted on January 20, 2001 06:42:17 AM newgenie, sorry to hear about your trouble.
When you respond to her silly negative, just make sure you do it in a calm, factual manner, even though you would really like to call her the nut case that she is!
If a seller I'm interested in buying from has a negative and I see that they've replied to the negative in a sane manner, I'm not worried. It's when thay reply ranting and raving about how the bidder is a liar and thief and general evil person that I start to worry about that seller!
posted on January 20, 2001 06:44:08 AM new
I recently purchased a book which took 35 days to travel from Canada to Kentucky. Speaking of negs, I had a newbie who mailed a check on Tuesday and then negged me on Friday because he hadn't recieved his item. The check didn't get here til Thursday. Now I know I'm good but sheesh!
posted on January 20, 2001 07:49:02 AM new
Thank you for all of your responses. I feel much better and calm once again, now that its over. November was a strange time for business on eBay.
eyeguy6, that buyer was worse than mine!
My mistake was just not refunding her money the first week she demanded it, just to be done with it. I should not have tried to rationalize with her when I knew she was overanxious. This just upset her from the beginning.
Lesson learned. I now may start cancelling new bidders. They don't have any experience with crossboarder shipping woes and think that it's as fast as domestic shipping even though they are warned over and over.
Consistently my experience has shown it takes a minimum of 14 days from Toronto to anywhere in the US.
posted on January 20, 2001 08:48:58 AM new
Hi again genie9, I am glad to hear that you are feeling a bit better today.
I wouldn't cancel bids from new users. They are still some of the best bidders that we get. Many get caught up in a bidding war with another person and they drive the price up. Many do not know how to do a search and think that is the only item of it's kind out there. They seem so excited about getting their item and most are great to have as customers.
I always enjoy their enthusiasm and I am not going to let one bad experience stop me from accepting their bids.
A year or so ago--maybe even 6 months ago I would have totally freaked about getting a neg but I just kind of shrugged this one off. I must be getting old and mellow.
posted on January 20, 2001 03:11:10 PM new
genie9 - I am really sorry that happened to you. But I totally agree with shaani - I hope you won't let that one bad apple ruin it for you and for the other newbies. MOST of my buyers are newbies, and I find that they usually lose their minds with the excitment of their "newly found treasures" on ebay, they contact me immediatley and payment is usually lightning fast! One bidder was SO anxious to reach me, she even used the feedback forum to say PLEASE CONTACT ME!!! (I was not thrilled with that one.) She had won an auction in the middle of the night while I was asleep - I guess she got scared when I didn't reply to her email by 9 am. So anyway, my point is, I find the newbies usually pay me faster than anyone and are always thrilled with their items. I'll take the newbies any day!
Rocker
posted on January 20, 2001 04:10:35 PM new
Rocker & Shaani: you are right on the money.
I will try to see beyond That GLARING RED pack of lies until it dissapears off the page and I will refuse to let one nutbar radically change the way Ive been doing things.
Thanks to everyone, once again. Absolutely Brilliant.
posted on January 20, 2001 05:33:49 PM new
I haven't had any negs (I have about 250 positives) yet but I'd like to ask how you folks deal with buyers in other countries that claim they haven't received their items. I've had 4 of these in the past few months. The items were all sent via airmail and most of these people emailed me after about a month to say they didn't get their stuff. These were in four different countries, all had customs forms filled out. (My post office told me those don't really help as far as a trace.) I'm beginning to wonder if there are people out there who just try this approach regularly because they figure they might get a refund or if the international mails are really this messed up. The first one I refunded but now I have a note in every auction that states right up front that I can not take responsibility if a package gets lost. Still, I feel bad when it happens--I don't want anyone thinking I'm a thief and I know how I would feel if I paid for something and it didn't turn up. On the other hand, I can't afford to be refunding payments just because the foreign postal systems are incompetent or I have a lying customer on my hands. I don't want to get any negs if I can help it but this seems to be happening a lot lately. What do the rest of you do?
posted on January 20, 2001 06:34:20 PM new
Hi genie9,
I am sorry you had this bad experience. I know how it hurt if you try very hard and it is not good enough.
I got a negative feedback ones and it also hurt me. I bought a bracelett with certificate in the the amount of $ 12500. The price I paid was $ 4500. As soon as I received the item, I went to two Gemlabs and it turned out, the retailvalue is $ 3500.
After several emails, the seller finally took it back, but gave me a negative feedback because I did not trust his certificate. I did not place a feedback at the time, I did not even think about giving him a bad feedback. I thought maybe he did it by accident, bought it hisself in good trust. After I received the negative, I gave him one also.
A day later he decided to give me a positive
positive feedback and send me a email with appolozy. But the negative feedback is still there and I feel I did not deserve it.
I have about 220 feedbacks now, met many very nice users in ebay. But now and then a bad apple is there.
Before christmas I send a moneyorder to England. After 2 weeks I asked the seller if he received it, which he did not. So I went to the postoffice, they told me the letter should be there by now, it could be lost. I did send it certified. So I went to the bank, cancelled my moneyorder, bought a new one and send it. It arrived safely and the first one also arrived, but later than the second one. The seller was very nice, he did understand when I told him about the problem with the mail and we are still in contact and I still buy from him. This is the other way, a little understanding and life is easier.
I wish you the best and hope you feel better.
Have a nice weekend
[email protected]
posted on January 20, 2001 06:40:11 PM new
Hallo ultimato,
I send many items overseas and some times there are problems. I never had to pay, it always came out the right way. But to example one time the postoffice send the wrong paperwork with my airmail package.
So the package came back, the postalworker filled out the right form and send it again. But he forgot the airmail and it went by ship, which takes about 8 weeks.
The customer contacted me and I told him I will return his money. He wanted me to wait for a while longer, because he really wanted the item. And it did arrive. Very late, but arrived.
Always keep the copy with the insurance and tracknumber, so you can file a claim at the postoffice. It takes about a month, but they find out if the package arrived or not. And if it did not arrive, the postoffice will pay for the loss.
Hope this is helpfull for you
[email protected]
posted on January 20, 2001 08:05:14 PM new
genie9, I live in Montréal, and I've had some items (sent by regualar letter post air mail) arrive in as little as 3 days to Brooklyn New York, 4 days for a suburb of Dallas, and for the most part 5-7 days to most other destinations (even Western Canada takes 5-6 days). Occassionally I've had items take 14 days during the holidays (sometimes longer at that time).
Are you using air mail or surface mail, or do you live far from a major city/mail distribution centre?
rarriffle, that better not be the items I'm waiting for. Who are you sending it to in Montréal? Oh don't worry, I'm leaving a negative tonight anyways, I've waited over a week already. I guess you'll find out tonight! (Just kidding, muhahahahah!!!)
posted on January 20, 2001 08:15:25 PM new
I got my only Neg from a newbie - who freaked because I had not contacted him soon enough - his Neg came on within 2 days of the end of the auction. He then refused to pay for the item - then freaked when he got the "Reminder To Pay Your Seller". Wonder what he will do when I go for the FVF? Oh, well. Life goes on.
posted on January 21, 2001 12:26:36 AM new
Hi motive8;
Was born and raised in Montreal! Great city and miss it dearly (especially the food).
But back to shipping; That's wonderful if you have 3-7 day delivery. My parcels consistently arrive 14 days after posting.
Nothing is ever sent surface, all air small packet. Packages arrive at Pearson International within 48 hours of posting and in most circumstances are on a plane and out of the country within the hour. Then they enter the twighlight zone for about 12 days and magically re-appear at my customers doorsteps.
I think at times the delays are related to the high traffic volume at Pearson International.
The slowest shipping seems to be to the Eastern states. Southern and Western states are a bit faster. Shipments sent to California, Texas, Georgia and Colorado arrive within 10 days. Took two weeks to Ottawa (only 4 hours away!).
England, Germany and Japan have taken as little as 4 days. Hungary and Israel take a month.
I am going to experiment a little and deliver a few parcels from different outlets and see what happens.
Who knows!
But I totally agree with shaani - I hope you won't let that one bad apple ruin it for you and for the other newbies. MOST of my buyers are newbies, and I find that they usually lose their minds with the excitment of their "newly found treasures" on ebay, they contact me immediatley and payment is usually lightning fast! One bidder was SO anxious to reach me, she even used the feedback forum to say PLEASE CONTACT ME!!! (I was not thrilled with that one.) She had won an auction in the middle of the night while I was asleep - I guess she got scared when I didn't reply to her email by 9 am. So anyway, my point is, I find the newbies usually pay me faster than anyone and are always thrilled with their items. 
I'll take the newbies any day!
Rocker