posted on February 19, 2001 03:12:58 AM
I have problem. When I sell video games, I place "US customers only" for most video games are only sold in US since it does not play in other countries format. Sometimes I get canadian customers, but it's okay if they know ways to pay in US dollars. (4 out 5 does).
I got a winner with a hotmail as email user. I emailed her asking if she was in America. She avoid the subject and said she was in a hurry and needed the total for this playstation game for it is a gift for her son. I emailed her the total and mailing info. she email me back saying she is going to the bank to get a "converstion check". When she said that I knew something was wrong. I quickly emailed her back asking if she was in the US. She said she made it clear she was in the U.K. (which she did not), and figured the shipping should be the same. I told her it's only slightly higher ($1 more) and told her I need the funds in US dollars.
well saturday I received her personal check in UK sterling! she asend me 15 pounds in check form. when my game costed $26 dollars. She's about a few dollars short, but the letter she send she stated she gave extra to cover the converstion. This is not what she promised me she was going to send.
I took it to 2 banks, both refuse to cash it. One bank told me if it was in bills, then they could've converted it to 1.5 per sterling + $3 bank fee. So if this was not a personal check and it was in bill sterling, this fee would be $19.50. The lady is trying to take me for a ride, and rip me off. What do you think I should do? mail her worthless paper she calls money back to her? Anyone had this problem?
posted on February 19, 2001 03:53:13 AM
I'd mail it back to her and tell her to pay you through BidPay and you will ship her game when the WU Money Order arrives. If she doesn't want to do that, file for NPB and refund, since she didn't follow your auction terms of US only.
posted on February 19, 2001 05:04:12 AM
I personally wouldn't call this bidder dishonest. Dishonest is a word I reserve for people who ask you to ship with no intention of paying. This person did attempt to pay you. But they went about it completely the WRONG way!!
This person is however greatly lacking in communication skills, as evidenced by their failure to note your TOS and their lack of response to your emails. A sad reflection on the state of British education. They also have NO CLUE how to buy something from someone abroad. These people give other British bidders and sellers a bad name and discourage Americans from buying from and selling to the likes of me.
Personally, I ALWAYS email a US seller first to ask if I can bid. This is regardless of whether or not the auction says US only because I need an idea of the shipping cost. I also need to know if my method of payment will be acceptable.
There is no such thing as a 'conversion cheque' from a UK bank. You can go to a UK Bank and ask them to sell you a Bank draft made out in US dollars but it will cost you about £15 pounds. This is probably what this bidder did. Went along to the Bank with no idea in the world what it was going to cost and got a rude shock. Most people would then have legged it down to the local travel agent and bought some $$ in cash. But not this bidder. How on earth they thought you were going to exchange a Sterling cheque without incurring a pretty hefty charge beats me. Once again, this could have been solved with an exchange of emails. But the onus was on them to sort it out. But they didn't bother.
You are perfectly within your rights to return this bidder's payment. But I have to say, why should you be out the 80c it's going to cost you to do this? I would write a very polite email, explain that her form of payment is unacceptable and that she has enclosed insufficient funds even after conversion to cover Bank charges and shipping. Request that either she make arrangements to send you XXX dollars by such and such a date (and state that you will accept either a Bank check in US $$ or a Billpoint MO or cash - the latter at your discretion, I don't know how much this game is) or you will consider the transaction void. You may also wish to explain the implications of this.
If she leaves you negative feedback (and she probably will) respond by saying, 'I do not sell to the UK, also bidder sent insufficent payment in wrong currency' and leave it at that. And be sure to leave her negative feedback also.
posted on February 19, 2001 12:28:08 PM
I am sorry you are having a difficult time. It does take some time to get to grips with the difficulties of international payments, but I wouldn't call her dishonest, but rather naive and perhaps hopeful. She probably did go for a bankers draft and was shocked at the cost, and hoped to pass that cost on to you for the currency conversion.
I do all my purchasing with Billpoint or Paypal, if you take either of those, it would be worthwhile her registering for one for the payment. The US auction prices are so much nicer than the UK auction sites, but you have to factor in the shipping.
As a second matter, I would be concerned that she will then find that the Playstation game doesn't play over here. We had to get a cheat cartridge to enable us to play US Playstation games, and don't know what system there is to get around the regional coding for PS2. You might want to double-check that she knows that it will work before she goes to the hassle of sorting out full payment, but I would suggest to her that she should pay your lost fees to date, or get a neg.
