posted on May 24, 2001 07:18:24 AM new
I hope some of you have a better idea of what I should do
I was high bidder of a set of collector mugs at the begining of April. The seller is in a western european country and thier ToS stated that they accept only cash for items below $50 and western union M.O. for over $50 because of high banking fees there. That's not unusual and I have been buying with cash from overseas sellers for over 3 yrs with no problems. The items I collect are very popular in Europe and not much sought after here in the U.S. so most of the sellers in this category are located there.
I sell quite a bit (powerseller) and have used USPS Global Priority to send overseas bidders thier items for over a year with not one lost item in over 100 transactions.
I sent the seller his cash as requested(let's say it was $45 and under his $50 W.U. threshhold)in a cardboard USPS GP mailer about a week after the auction ended and didnt think much about it figuring that the whole deal will take a few weeks which is common as most seller there send stuff by ground because the costs are so high, especially for heavier items like ceramics.
Well the other day, the seller emails me asking where his money is and I'm like #$%^@!
I look through my records(which I keep quite nicely, being a seller) and get the printout from the P.O. I always keep my P.O. detailed receipts stapled to the del. conf. papers for the items I send out. The reciept clearly shows the 3 GPM's I sent out that day. OPne was to England, one was to Canada and the third was to the sellers country.
On the printout it shows all this and also shows that a custom form was filled out for the two items I sent out and no cutoms form for the cash I sent because it was outgoing for a buy and not an item and therefore not required.
I scanned this receipt and sent a copy to the seller along with my feelings on the subject and stated that as a seller I have used GPM for over a year with nothing ever getting lost(I did have one that I sent to Australia get delayed for 5 weeks...grrr!)
The seller says"Okay, I believe you sent the $ but what do you want me to do?"
I get a second email from the seller that said that if I sent him another 1/2 of the previous total, that he'd send me my items. I started to think "well that's SORT OF nice of the guy" but then I think to myself "Hey...if I do that, I'll be paying about $65 for four ceramic coffee mugs!"
I dont know what to do. The guy has about 150 positive feedbacks and doesnt seem to have had anyone neg him for this before but by the same token, I sent him the $ according to HIS ToS and sent proof that I sent it.
Where does the responsibility lie with a situation like this? I know that If I sent one of my items to a buyer overseas and it got lost, I would either replace the item or refund even if I had no reason to believe that the item did not get there but that may just be the way that I do business and dont know if I can hold another seller to that standard.
I would appreciate any comments on what you think my rights are at eBay for this situation and appreciate any ideas and thank you in advance. - chris
posted on May 24, 2001 07:51:48 AM new
If I were in the sellers position what would I do?
Well, I wouldnt normally have this problem because of how I do my sales but.....
If a buyer had PROOF of mailing, I would know that at least they sent me something and if it never got here, the fact that it did not get here was beyond thier control and if I REQUIRED them to send cash, I would be on the hook because it was MY terms of sale that made them send the money that way and I would want to maintain good will with my customers and would therefore ship the item.
I dont know that ebay or any law would REQUIRE me to do it but my concience would.
I DO have a big bone to pick with the USPS that started with the GPM that I shipped to a buyer and that got delayed for five weeks.
If any seller uses GPM they will know that not only does the package itself get scanned but the customs form does also but the bloody P.O. says that there is NO way to track GPM. My question for them is why in the world do they scan it TWICE but claim they keep no record and cant trace it? Why bother scanning them? Why in the world should we use the bloody service if they dont get to thier destination in a priority time frame and have absolutely no way of tracking ir even insuring?
Also, I have to think about what type of feedback to leave this person. Do I leave a neutral or a neg that states DO NOT SEND CASH! YOU CANT BE SURE IT WILL GET THERE!
I know the guy cant control everything and may be honest but if HIS ToS puts peoples money at risk because thats the only way he'll accept payment, doesn't he bear responsibility?
Does anyone know eBays position on these situations?
posted on May 24, 2001 08:09:22 AM new
We receive cash in the mail for quite a few of our sales. We usually always send cash for our purchases if the amount is under $75.00 and my husband and I have now saved close to $1000 in money order fees.
This is our decision and we never advise others to do it. We never tell the seller that we will send cash as we don't want to make them nervous. And we are fully prepared that if a payment ever does go missing that we will have to send it again, probably by MO.
Your seller is being generous offering to accept only half payment now. It is not his responsibility that your cash payment arrives safely to him. He stated his terms in his TOS and it was your risk to send it that way. It may still arrive and if he receives both payments he could refund the partial amount back to you. Since he has good feedback I would tend to believe that the payment never arrived.
You have a choice to resend a half payment or to call off the deal. I would not leave a neutral or a negative but that's just me.
posted on May 24, 2001 08:11:26 AM new
Sorry you got burned by the USPS. Global Priority Mail doesn't have insurance, but I've received cash before and it never was a problem. My bidder wrapped it in cellophane, taped it to the inside of a greeting card, put the card into its envelope, put the whole thing in the GPM envelope and it arrived safely.
If you want to play by the sellers TOS, you have to send him what he now wants. You can always back out and trade negatives.
I don't think ebay will do anything except tell you not to send cash through the mail, especially to European countries.
Again, sorry.
PS I would not leave him a negative or neutral. You bid on his auction knowing his TOS. The fault doesn't lie with him at all.
[ edited by mtnmama on May 24, 2001 08:12 AM ]
posted on May 24, 2001 08:43:36 AM new
Sorry about your loss of the payment. I accept cash too, but recommend to my buyers to use registered mail. If you pay by cash much, the fees will add up. If lost mail payments are few and far between, it's probably more economincal for you to accept the risk of not sending cash payments registered.
I'm hoping for you it was only delayed in the mail.
posted on May 24, 2001 09:46:28 AM new
I would pull up some of the sellers old auctions. Look for the under $50.00 auctions and see if no feedback has been left. If there are some I would email the buyers and ask if they had any problems with this seller.
If you explain your problem to them most will be happy to respond to you. If you are the only one you probably better take his offer.
posted on May 24, 2001 02:46:36 PM new
You should never ever send cash in the mail without registering it and requiring a signiture. I have a lot of buyers send me cash, mostly international buyers and I have family in the UK also that send my children cash. 2 years ago my son's birthday money went mysteriously missing and just recently a buyers cash from France did the same. I don't offer cash as a payment option in my TOS but if its sent then I'll accept it but to send it unregistered is just plain foolish. You can hardly expect the seller to send an item to you if they haven't been paid for it and I think their offer was very gracious. They certainly do NOT deserve negative or neutral feedback as they are quite within their rights to expect full payment or relist their item. It seems they are trying to work with you and have a good feedback record to back them up.
posted on May 25, 2001 08:22:40 AM new
Regardless of anything the seller may say or want....
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, never send cash through the mail. If you piled the cash in the middle of your floor and set it on fire, you would a least get some heating out of it. But whether you burn it or mail it the effect is usually the same, no product. Yes, alot of it works, but one dishonest seller can use all of you to make alot of money in a very short time.
Why does he request cash for under $50.00?? I would suppose that is the tested threshold for buyers to just write it off without a complaint or an investigation. Would you have insisted on a money order if he insisted on cash for a higher amout?
posted on May 25, 2001 09:12:48 AM new
I doubt it's any consolation but I have a lost GPM envelope to South Korea. Have received cash many times from foreign countries but it's just a matter of time till 1 doesn't get to me.
Again, sorry.
[ edited by mark090 on May 25, 2001 08:26 AM ]