posted on February 10, 2001 06:25:31 AM
What is up with bidders lately? The number who underpay by a few cents is definitely on the rise (e.g. less than $.05), but I can live with those. OTOH, I had an auction close last night with a winning bid of $20.50, and sent out an EOA with shipping of either $3.95 or $5.05 (clearly stated as "IN ADDITION TO bid price". This morning I had a payment notice from PayPal that the winning bidder had sent me $20.00. Huh???? I understand mistakes, but correcting this one is going to cost me another $.30. This time I simply sent an email stating that until she sends another $5.55, we can't ship the item, and that we could no longer offer the uninsured shipping option, since PP's seller protection won't apply to transactions with multiple payments. I'd love to ding the ditz for the additional $.30 PP fee, but I don't want to be accused of tacking on additional charges after the fact or credit card surcharges. How are other sellers handling this situation?
Damon, it would be really nice if we had the option to accept or deny ALL payments, and would save both sellers AND PP money on transactions with buyers who can't read!
always pickersangel everywhere http://homepage.netspaceonline.com/~twobar/pickers.htm
posted on February 10, 2001 08:00:54 AM
Hi, I get this problem once in a while and I do just what you have done. I email the buyer that unfortunatly they have a balance due and that I can not ship untill it is paid. And I am starting to add the .35 cent dilivery confirmation to uninsured paypal customers so that if there is a problem I can prove that that they did get the item. For the second payment have them denote it as a balance for the auction ID # and title, that way you are covered on the multiple payment clause.
Thanks,
Debbie
posted on February 10, 2001 08:01:12 AM
This week I have had four payments where bidders underpaid on auctions in the $15.00 range. Three of these were paid via PayPal. In each PP case I e-mailed the bidders and explained that they had underpaid.
I also explained that PP charged me $0.30 per transaction for offering this service to my buyers and that I would be charged an additional transaction fee of $0.30 for the “make-up” payment. In each case the bidders sent the balance with an additional $0.30 to cover the fee. (I didn’t ask for it – I just explained the way it works).
I have previously stated my opinion on the way PP works or the buyer and seller, but I’ll repeat it here:
It seems to me that the advantage is to the buyer. The buyer does not have the expense of sending a check or MO, the cost of an envelope, etc., yet the seller is paying a minimum $0.30 transaction fee and bearing too much of the responsibility and cost for “short” payments.
I think PP has this backwards. As a buyer I would not mind paying a $0.30 transaction fee – after all, I am saving the cost of a $0.34 stamp plus any other cost associated with mailing a payment.
I think that if PayPal would charge the transaction fee to the buyer rather than the seller that their service would be looked upon more favorably by seller. As a buyer I would not object to a transaction fee – I am enjoying the convenience of making electronic payment and saving the cost of postage.
posted on February 10, 2001 08:05:31 AM
Just got a PayPal pmt this morning that was 10 cents short. strange! But yesterday I got a payment that was almost a dollar over so it seems to even out for me. I often get buyers that round up to the next dollar. Love that! It seems to make up for my little mistakes & those of the few buyers that under pay. If someone underpaid by a dollar or more, though, I would be inclined to contact them. Otherwise I usually let it go.
posted on February 10, 2001 08:26:13 AM
Ditto. I have run into many California residents who forgets the line about Sales Tax. Grrrrr.
Pickersangel, I also offer choice in shipping. It seems to have helped when total the invoice for them. Here is my usual bid win information:
[i]Your bid $11.95 plus your choice in shipping:
NOTE: California residents, please add 7.5% sales tax to your bid
A) + Priority $3.50 = AMOUNT DUE $ 15.45
B) + First-Class $3.00 = AMOUNT DUE $14.95
C) + Book Rate $1.50 = AMOUNT DUE $ 13.45
NOTES: 1) Optional, Insurance is an additional $1.10.
2) Above rates applies to US residents only. [/i]
But in answer to your inquiry regarding being underpaid by an insignificant amount, I don't worry about it.(sigh) Otherwise, I let them know!
avmom
(not avmom on eBay)
[ edited by avmom on Feb 10, 2001 08:33 AM ]
posted on February 10, 2001 08:48:57 AM
I have only had a single underpayment of any kind. However that was so annoying that I always state "full payment". This appears to get the message across. If someone undercut me by a nickel, I'd wait until they made full payment. If they didn't, I'd return their funds less any fees incurred. Even if this cost me more, it sends a message.
posted on February 10, 2001 08:52:59 AMavmom: Are you aware that California's sales tax went down on Jan 1 ? It was 7¼ % and is now 7% Many counties add on another ¼ or ½ % for themselves, but you should not be charging the local taxes unless both you and your customer live in the same county.
I live in Ventura County where we no longer have any additional tax to the CA sales tax. If I make a large purchase (a car for instance) in another County (nearby L.A. County for instance), I can fill out a form that allows me to pay only the 7% tax without the additional % L.A. County adds on.
Just FYI - It's tough keeping up with this stuff!
BTW - I don't charge the tax... too much hassle and it's much easier to just pay it myself. I don't get all that many 'local' customers, and my sales aren't usually that large anyway.
posted on February 10, 2001 08:57:39 AM
I could understand that the buyer was confused by the way the EOA stated charges IF they'd paid only the bid amount, but this person didn't even cover that!!! If I could figure out some angle to this whole mess, I'd have a better concept of how to handle it. The closest I can get is that maybe she's hoping we'll ship before the balance is paid? NOT!!!
I think that in the future I'll also add an explanation of how the error affects me, and hope that most buyers will be decent enough to accept responsibility for correcting their mistake. I'm also considering adding the $.40 DC charge to the uninsured shipping quote, since I use DC on all uninsured shipping, not just PayPal. I just can't afford to foot the bill on that, at this point (a result of current personal situations, not the usual state of affairs).
posted on February 10, 2001 08:59:32 AM
Hi pickersangel:
We have not experience that problem yet. However, we recently had a buyer that didn't included the shipping charges. It happen while using Yahoo! PayDirect, free to both buyer and seller. Therefore, we didn't incurred additional costs.
We agree with some of the answers you already received. If that had became a recurring problem, we would included in our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) under "Terms and Conditions of Auction Sales" See our webpage to that effect:
http://www.geocities.com/adultmagazinesmarket/
and our Me Page for that auction site ei:
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/usmcquantico/
We link these pages to each of our listing. The purpose is to let the buyer know exactly what to expect from us. We usually delivered more than we promised and consequently have a happy repeat customer. Specially in the area of Shipping Rates and Timely Shipping, our merchandise is usually shipped with in 24 hours of receipt of payment, during business day (Sunday to Friday) carriers are usually closed at noon on Saturday, therefore if you pay after O8:00 on Saturday, your purchase can't be shipped until Monday. Almost all our payments are electronic transfers.
If we have not covered this contingency on our Terms and Conditions of Auction Sales, we would do nothing, except handle the underpayment as a cash shortage in a similar manner as it is done in a brick and mortar store.
We have received overpayments from time to time, which we have refunded electronically, regardless of the manner of payment we received. We have also refunded shipping charges when our Average Estimated Cost Rate Table for multiple purchases indicates a difference greater than $1.00, on these cases, we bill the underpayment or refund the overpayment, we charge Average Estimated Costs for our shipments, which is nothing more than actual average costs. We have gained many loyal repeat customers as a result.
I hope that helps'
Rudy
user name at AW: USMarines
user name at all auctions: USMCQuantico
posted on February 10, 2001 09:09:20 AM
I just received a $28.00 payment for an auction thru Paypal but the customer is way out in left field.
After the auction closed I sent a request for address as the merchandise weighs 9 1/2 pounds and is to be shipped priority mail.
The customer never responded and sent the $28.00 payment. They neglected to pay for anything but the closing auction price.
Turns out they Live in Texas and the shipping alone is $10.55.
Needless to say that the item won't be shipped until the remainder is paid.
posted on February 10, 2001 09:18:11 AM
Pickersangel - This falls into the category "buyers don't read!". I have another term for that .... but we will leave it as is. (hehe). Also, I agree if we have the accept or deny key, this would help aleve (sp) these problems.
Borgt - Yes, I'm aware that the tax went down 1/4%. I live in Orange County. The tax dropped from 7.75% to 7.5%. Am I the highest tax area of Calif??
posted on February 10, 2001 09:33:20 AM
avmom: OC definitely has high taxes, but not the highest. About 5 counties are at 8% and SF County is at 8.25%! My point is that unless your customer is also in OC you should not be charging the additional .5%, but rather only the California 7%.
I wasn't aware of that! (local tax vs. state tax) I'm going to see my tax man this Friday. I'll ask him what is acceptable. And how do I word that into my auctions??
One is to carge each person the tax for their county, keep track of all of that and go through the tedious exercise of filling out the back of the sales tax reporting form for minute amounts.
And the other is to charge the tax for YOUR county the way many mail order companies do. This is perfectly acceptable and allowable by the Board of Equilization.
. This morning I had a payment notice from PayPal that the winning bidder had sent me $20.00. Huh???? I understand mistakes, but correcting this one is going to cost me another $.30. This time I simply sent an email stating that until she sends another $5.55, we can't ship the item, and that we could no longer offer the uninsured shipping option, since PP's seller protection won't apply to transactions with multiple payments. I'd love to ding the ditz for the additional $.30 PP fee, but I don't want to be accused of tacking on additional charges after the fact or credit card surcharges. How are other sellers handling this situation?
