posted on February 25, 2001 09:58:57 PM new
Fortunately this does not happen that often, but when it does its really irritating. Every once in a while I will get a bidder who will win an item for... An example with shipping would be $18.50. They will then send $20.00 and write a note "Send my change back with my item."
If I had a cash register and a store, this would not bother me as that is part of business. But how do they expect sellers to carry around all this change and cash? Plus, I have had a few international customers do this and one had $1.80 change and it was cheaper for me to just give him $2! That is a total rip.
Once I had to leave the post office after standing in line for an hour, go to a store, use my ATM to get out cash. Stand in line there to get change. They would not offer change so I had to go to another store and buy gum to get change back. Then, I went back to the post office and stood in line for another 30 minutes just because this idiot did not feel like putting in the corect amount.
posted on February 25, 2001 10:02:36 PM new
Oh, to add to those stories, I had an international bidder send a $1.75 over and I sent him back $1. He then called me a fraud and said I stole his money. He left me a neg but luckily it was removed on the grounds that this had nothing to do with the transaction. I know, its only a quarter, but I don't have time to spend 2 hours driving around trying to get change at a store!
posted on February 25, 2001 10:46:42 PM new
Most of my customers do too. It's really only happened about 7-8 times but when it does happens, it is a major hassle.
posted on February 25, 2001 11:06:47 PM new
Every time I have had someone send too much and ask for change, I have simply told them I would apply it toward's Insurance on thier item.So far everyone has been satisfied with this solution.
posted on February 26, 2001 03:18:12 AM new
I never had anybody ask for change, but I always send it to them anyway, since they never mentioned that I should keep it.
(But I have a big jar with change sitting around the house, so I don't have to do any extra "change hunting"
posted on February 26, 2001 03:29:26 AM new
I think it's only common courtesy to send the bidders money back. I mean, we are offering the service of selling an item. If something costs $22.50 including shipping, and the bidder sends $23.00, it's only fair to give them back their change. That's what we do when we go to a store, right? It may be a hassel, but it's always wise to have a jar of US change nearby. And hey, I live in Canada!
posted on February 26, 2001 03:57:41 AM new
I have it stated in my EOA notice that if they pay with cash, it has to be exact change because I do not keep change lying around the house.
posted on February 26, 2001 04:36:57 AM new
I live in the UK but most of my customers are in the US. In the early days, before I could accept US $ checks and Money Orders, my items usually sold below $10 and I used to ask bidders to pay me in cash which I then used on my next US holiday.
If an item came to say $5.76 I would ask bidders to send me $6.00 and then send 24c worth of mint US stamps back as change. Nobody ever complained. It would have been quite hard for me to be able to get hold of sufficient quantities of coins to give change and also the expense of sending them overseas would have been awful. Plus I always reckon that you should never send coins in an envelope, they're easily spotted and also can break through even the strongest envelopes. And wrapping them in cardboard just increases the weight for already expensive airmail letters.
Even now I am able to accept checks, MOs and Visa, some customers still prefer to pay in cash for the lower priced stuff. And I appreciate that for some people it's a hassle to run down to the store to get a MO for just a couple of bucks. So I keep my bag of US stamps handy, just in case.
I still use the stamps myself, for example if weight permits I sometimes send a letter inside my regular monthly letter to my friend in Ohio and ask her to mail it on for me. And I stamp it before hand so she can just mail it from her car and not have to stop to buy stamps. Or I will write a whole load of letters and mail them the next time I am vacationing in Florida or whatever. so the investment in stamps is never wasted. And the stamps them selves are always purchased whilst on vacation. Whenever I am leaving the States after a long holiday I always seem to have a whole pocketful of change I can never get rid of. And hauling all those pennies back on the plane is such a drag. So I seek out a stamp machine (most airports have one) and change my coins for what I term a more 'portable' form of currency.
Some people do send $5.00 for a $4.70 purchase and say in the letter 'keep the change'. But if they don't say anything I put the stamps in and include a paragraph in the letter saying I've sent their change in stamps 'valid for postage' and maybe they can use them to mail the payment for their successful Ebay purchase. And I have had nothing but positive responses.
posted on February 26, 2001 10:45:24 AM new
Back before a few international bidders caused me to limit my shipping to US, I had several international winners explain to me that they couldn't get US $1s...thus the overpayments. I'd always send them change in $1s, and tell them 'now they had some ones for next time.
posted on February 26, 2001 10:57:28 AM new
pms032, I agree with everything everyone has said here but how do you figure "it's only common courtesy." As I said, it does not happen that often, and I have sent the change back, but I should not have to. People are buying things on the internet. You can't pay your ISP's with Cash, so why should someone expect to pay a seller with cash?
Regardless, its not the cash I mind, and as I said, it really does not happen that often. But this is more than common courtesy when a bidder expects you to go above and beyond sending an item. I should not have to hunt for change. It's not my responsibilty to go out of my way to get change. I don't use cash, almost at all. I did not mind much either until I spent 2-3 hours hunting down change for one bidder. That is not something that should be left for the seller. Why shouldn't the bidder go hunt down change before sending it? I'm sure they can get some...Everything should not be put on the seller.
posted on February 26, 2001 11:23:46 AM new
Good topic. I get tons of people who send cash and say "send back change" in the letter. I always send them their change back, but it is very annoying. I don't always have loose change around the house so most of the time I have to write them a check - if it's for more than $1 I ALWAYS write a check so I have proof that I paid it. I didn't ASK them to overpay, so why did they? Why can't they just pay the amount that is due? I've had one guy who's total was $15, and he sent me a money order for $20 because when he was at the store he couldn't remember the total amount due. THEN, he tells me to send back the $5 change in a MONEY ORDER!!! Needless to say, I sent him a CHECK for the $5 and never heard back from him again.
posted on February 26, 2001 11:26:10 AM new
I don't often get cash, if I do it's usually exact amount. I don't have cash as one of my payment options, and I discourage it. If they choose to send it anyway at their own risk and they round it off, I don't feel like I should now mess with sending change. Now if they overpay with check, or credit card, or I find a cheaper way to ship after I have given them a quote I ALWAYS return the extra. I recently had someone finally pay me for an item that was 15.50, after two months of promises of 'check in the mail, MO, or maybe I'll do Paypal' she sent a 20.00 bill. I did not send change, I'm not a cashier. Just my opinion.
posted on February 26, 2001 12:41:10 PM new
That reminds me, I had a guy send a money order and included a few dollars over. It was the same situation you had Exec. However, I sent him the check back and he freaked! He said "You made me go out and pay money order and now you send me a check?!?!" He was total pissed off because I did not go out and pay for a money order! Ok, and how could this be my fault?
jaydiaz you reminding me of something else that really disturbes me. When bidders pay PayPal for the item and forget shipping. Then they pay shipping seperately. In the meantime, I am charged double for PayPal's fees and they don't offer any refunds. I never complain to the bidder, but it does bother me.
posted on February 26, 2001 01:02:06 PM new
I gave an estimate of $12 for actual shipping charges for an item. I followed up to ask the buyer if everything was received OK & that the actual shipping turned out to be $10.75. I asked if they wanted the change. The buyer paid through Paypal so I was going to give him his change via Paypal. He said item was great & he wanted his change & to MAIL it to him! If I mail it & charge 10 cents for the envelope & 34 cents for the stamp, & send 81 cents think him would get upset?. Wouldn't want to tick him off, so I am going to send it via Paypal & not by mail. If makes a comment about me not mailing it I'll tell him it's better than 81 pennies... in a very polite way.
posted on February 26, 2001 05:47:00 PM new
Digitalmaster - Question... when you go to a store and pay for an item in cash, do you expect your change back, or, do you usually tell the cashier, "no, that's ok, keep the change."...
My guess is that you either ask or wait for your change. It should be no different if you are an EBAY seller. Yes, granted, sending cash through the mail is risky and I advise against it. Nor, do I take responsibility if it gets lost or stolen. But, if the seller says "keep the change".. fine, I keep the change and thank them for it. But, if they say nothing, I will make a point of sending the change back with the item I am sending out. You can bet that they are super happy and that you "serviced" them well, and hence, positive feedback will be rewarded.
And yes, as a seller, you should have some change stashed away. I'm in Canada and even I have a jar of US coins for those "just in case" needs.
posted on February 26, 2001 05:55:23 PM new
digitalmaster - I've had that a couple of times also. Why should I, as the seller, have to pay PayPal fees AGAIN when the buyer was too negligent to send me the correct amount the first time? On the rare occasion that this occurs, I tack on a .30 fee...maybe next time they'll pay closer attention.
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
[ edited by koto1 on Feb 26, 2001 05:56 PM ]
posted on February 26, 2001 05:58:26 PM new
I don't ever like sending cash through the mail, especially change so I will usually write out a check for the change. So far nobody has complained and 4 out of the 5 checks have never been cashed. All of them were for less than $1.00
posted on February 26, 2001 06:44:36 PM new
Yes, and a store has many registers, etc. they expect to pay change back. NO MAIL ORDER BUSINESS OR ONLINE COMPANY WORKS LIKE THAT!!!!!
How can you compare selling on ebay to going to 7-11? Its a whole different story! Why not compare it to buying something at amazon.com? Do you send them money and ask for the change?
No, you go out of your way to make a payment but I guess eBay sellers should all bend over and do whatever the buyer wants right?
I normally don't get angry about stuff but a lot of buyers on these boards think sellers should go way past a transaction and even pay money to send money back. That is BS. Its not my job to do that.
posted on February 26, 2001 08:27:33 PM new
I have to agree that it is not the seller's responsibility to make change. It is the buyer's responsibility to send the correct amount.
The department store comparison doesn't work here because you don't know what your total will be until you're standing at the register. Naturally, you're not expected to have exact change.
Also, (I'm not that old here) but I seem to remember a time when cash was the common method for conducting transactions. So sellers had to provide change for buyers. But today, cash is becoming less and less dominant means of exchange. Credit and debit cards and checks are most often used in retail stores now, at least from what I see.
And personally, I'm with digitalmaster on this one. I also rarely use cash, only in the summer for the garage sales. Therefore, as I state in my EOA notice, I don't have change lying around the house. I don't even bank locally anymore, just online, so would I even be able to walk into a local bank and ask for some change when I don't have an account with them? I don't know about that.
As long as buyers are forewarned that they will not be getting change back, there should be no problem.
posted on February 26, 2001 08:53:44 PM new
I have done this in the past. One time, I sent stamps back as change. The bidder seemed to be happy. I told him that I did not want to send cash in the mail.
-Trey
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"If your mind can concieve it, and you believe it, then you probably can achieve it."
