posted on March 16, 2001 02:24:42 AM
The winner of my auction asked if I take paypal. I said I don't have a paypal account. I told him my auction states Money order/cashier's check only. He said he is going to send a money order. 8 days later, I get a personal check. I send it back to him by mail. I emailed him telling him I do not take check due to high volume of bad checks, I got burned three out 32 personal checks this year. He said he's check is good (his check number is 2 digit number). But I told him I can't cash it for I already send it back. 11 days later, I emailed him. No reply. I said to myself, maybe it's time to get a paypal account so I can collect on these non-payers. i emailed him and told him I take paypal now. He emailed me 8 days later saying his friend is going to send the payment. I received the payment the next day via paypal. I mailed the item on 3/7 via priority mail. I get a email from him on 14th saying he got the item today. (priority mail does not take 7 days, so he must have had the item for more than 4 days). He said he displeased with the item and wants a full refund back on his friends paypal account. Why do I get a feeling his friend wants to get paid back, and he doesn't have a money? If he doesn't get a full refund, he will contact me to ebay to have me suspended. I am new here in ebay, and is very scared on what this guy can do. I could give him a refund, but checking his other feedback, he buys items of the same nature and this is another collection to his collection he is buying. What do you all think I should do. Can I get kicked out? Please help.
posted on March 16, 2001 02:45:48 AM
Save yourself a lot of grief, this time refund his money, use it as a learning experience. Here are my TOS on all my invoices:
RETURN POLICY: Items can; and must be returned within 3 days of receipt.
Unless indicated otherwise in auction listing, sold “as-is, no refunds”.
You will be refunded full invoice amount if item was not described accurately.
Decide you just don’t want the item, refund will be minus shipping and EBAY, BILLPOINT; PAYPAL payment transaction fees.
Return shipping cost is not refunded. Thank you for your patronage.
posted on March 16, 2001 05:02:39 AM
Tell this buyer that you will refund the cost of the item only, and only after it is returned to you in the same condition you shipped it. Tell him once you have confirmed the item is the same one that was shipped, and it is in the same condition, you will refund only the bid price and not the shipping cost.
As to the comment about Priority not taking 7 days...it can indeed take that long for a package to arrive using Priority. While it is certainly not the norm, it is possible.
I think I would also want to refund the actual buyer, the whole "friends PP account thing" sounds really fishy. You could have probably avoided the whole thing by sticking to your orginal terms. When you jumped through hoops for this buyer, you just encouraged him to continue dragging you along. The red flags should have gone up when he sent a PC instead of MO the first time.
posted on March 16, 2001 05:07:30 AM
I agree with the 2 posters above. I am sure it will save you grief. I know quite a few people will say He is using a form of blackmail to get you to refund the item. But if you want to get on and continue to list and just put it behind you I think that is the best way. I would make sure he sends you the item back first, and he pays the postage back. Did you leave him feedback yet? I would also pay pal the money back less the expense of the auction, that way you are sure his friend got the money and he has to pay the dif. Even though it did not work entirely the way you wanted it to, you are entitled to your expenses and maybe a little satisfaction, and maybe he will not pull this again to any other seller.
posted on March 16, 2001 05:17:51 AM
PLUS, you accepted payyment from a friend's paypal account. I presume you sent it to your buyer's address and NOT the paypal account holder.
If so, and the friend does a chargeback, you will NOT be covered under paypal's TOS, and can possibly be out the money AND your item.
posted on March 16, 2001 05:25:35 AM
Kidsfeet has a real good point, if you sent it to the buyers addresss and not the address of the account holder it becomes unverified, Pay pal is not resposible for any charge backs.
posted on March 16, 2001 05:32:11 AM
#1. Put a firm return policy in your TOS & EOA w/deadlines for action, even if it's "No Returns".
#2. If you decide to accept payments from "friend's accounts" & ship to a different address, recognize what kidsfeet said..you are out on your own.
#3. Tell him to return the item & you will issue a refund. Do this in a very professional manner w/o any accusations or hostility. This might help defuse the situation.
#4. If he continues to be an idiot, just refund his money & chalk this up to one big learning experience. Make your adjustments to your policies & move on.
I don't see anyway he can get you kicked off ebay over this. You made accomodations for him to pay, you shipped the merchandise.
Meanwhile, be sure & keep all his correspondence where he indicates he HAS the item..if he does raise issues with ebay, you'll have this documentation.
Sorry this happened, but you have an opportunity to make adjustments & move on.
posted on March 16, 2001 10:04:58 AM
If he's buying similar items as a collector, what you really have to worry about is that he used yours to replace the same item he already had which is in a lesser condition. I've read similar threads before and a lot of the sellers tell the buyer that they will refund his money, once they receive the item back and they check that the markings they put on the item before shipping match, (something which shows up under a black light is what they're talking about), then you will refund his money. You don't actually have to have done this to say you did it and it might make him back off if he's trying to pull a switch on you. Hardly anyone has their own black light at home. I'm hoping one of those sellers comes in here and can give you a correct way to phrase it.
posted on March 16, 2001 10:37:39 AM
Okay, I'll make an attempt to help you phrase the reply:
"I'm sorry you no longer want this item. Please return it to me and after I have verified my mark, I will issue a refund to your friend's PayPal account."
posted on March 16, 2001 03:24:19 PM
I would tell him to take a flying ... er, leap. eBay won't do anything; you fulfilled your part of the bargain. However, he CAN make trouble for you with Paypal. If you use Paypal, always send to the payer's address and have proof of delivery. BTW, Paypal sucks, don't bother with them. Classic example of how you can get screwed over for doing nothing wrong.
posted on March 16, 2001 06:50:31 PM
Shipping and handling should be refundable when the seller makes a mistake. I both buy and sell, if I make a mistake in my listing I should pay for shipping. I purchased a figurine described as mint that was glued at the neck,the seller would not refund shipping, in other words she would not stand behind her description. There needs to be integrity here, if you make a mistake you should refund shipping.
Kat
