posted on April 7, 2001 10:10:17 PM
About 14 days ago, I sold an item to a buyer. He paid immediately by paypal. I shipped his items out the next morning. I left him a positive feedback. Then yesterday, I received an email from paypal saying that this buyer cancelled his paypal payment to me. When I went to my transaction log on paypal, it shows that his payment was denied on 3/27/01. I'm not sure what this means. I don't know if he canceled the payment (which I was told by paypal, the only way a payment can be cancelled is if the receiver doesn't have a paypal account, which I do) or if it was denied by Paypal for some reason. And if it was denied on 3/27/01, why would I not hear about it until late last night?
I have tried emailing the buyer, but he doesn't respond to my emails, so I really don't know what has happened at this point. I have since checked his feedback and he has 2 negatives and 2 neutrals and they were for non-payment. Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice on what to do?
If he cancelled the payment somehow, I can't even leave him a neg because I left him a positive after his paypal payment, plus I'm out my merchandise. I always like to leave positive feedback after a sale is paid for, but several people on eBay tell me this is a big no no unless the buyer leaves it first. I guess this is one of those situations!
posted on April 8, 2001 02:24:50 AM
Pull the sucker's user information to get his (or her) telephone number and invest in a call. If the telephone number is a dummy number, report that to Safe Harbour. Also, since you probable shipped by mail, there is possibly a little matter of mail fraud involved, and a discussion with your local Post Master may be helpful. Another great discussion can be had with the bidders local Sherrif or Law Officer, they sometimes like to make house calls (usually in smaller locales)and that can be extremely effective in resolving payment issues. Also get back with PayPal customer service and review the situation, time frame and logistics wise. I have found them very helpful in numerous matters. Hope some of this helps, in any small way............
posted on April 8, 2001 04:59:13 AM
Feedback should be based on the entire transaction, not just the payment (this is why it's called transactional feedback). Your situation is a perfect (and typical) example of why this is important.
The buyer's responsibility DOES NOT end with timely payment. Sure, your customer paid quickly. But after he received his positive feedback and you sent his item, the payment was denied. Since feedback is transactional and not based on payment only, the feedback that you have already left is less than useless. Of course the entire feedback system is so screwed up that it is less than useless as a guage of buyer and seller satisfaction.
I wish you good luck in getting this resolved (and quickly).
Edited to add:
Since the payment was denied, he must have paid with an echeck. NEVER ship the merchandise until the echeck clears!
posted on April 8, 2001 02:03:07 PM
Thanks so much for all of your great advice! I'm going to be more careful in the future. I didn't know that someone could pay with an echeck via paypal. And I always figured that the buyer's only obligation was to pay me on time, so I would always leave a good feedback as soon as that payment arrived to me. I've been on eBay over a year and I learn so much from the expert eBayers on this board!
