posted on September 1, 2001 08:40:45 AM
Backup: My auction closed on 8-1, an extremely unique book, self published. It sold for $10, but since it was in the bottom of a box lot bought at auction, it didn't really bother me that it went so cheap. I had already made my money back on the items that has already sold.
I email bidder with payment instructions, they respond with "I'm sending payment" and want me to mail the book to a southern state several states away from me.
Then I sit and wait. And wait. And wait. Then I send the eBay payment reminder. Then I send another reminder. One more reminder. Then I relist the item. A dear sweet young thing expressed interest in the item, so I closed the auction (no bids) and GIVE it to her. She was so thrilled, more than I expected.
21 days after the original auction closed, I received the high bidder's payment, in a priority envelope, and postmarked 10 days after the close of the auction, but received by me 11 days after the postmark, even though it was sent priority. To add another wrinkle, the bidder sent the payment from an address in my home state. I should have received the envelope overnight. Keep in mind, the bidder wanted me to ship to a state clear across the nation, but lives in my state.
So I email the bidder, explain that the item already has a new home, and I "refused" their payment and it was on its way back to them.
During none of this time, has the bidder emailed me. Not for any of the payment reminder emails, not for the refusal email.
Then today, I get this email: "What a disappointment!! The letter was sent XXXXX priority mail (maximum 2 day delivery!!!) and refused by you. I guess 10.00 was NOT a
high enough bid for you and you wanted more. Someday your greed will get you! A true disappointment and one that will be recorded on my evaluation of you as a seller on e-bay! I hope you got what you wanted
on the next round of bids!!!! "
Notice in the above email, I have been threatened with an "evaluation" of me as a seller. I intrepret this as a threat of neg FB. Since ultimately, this bidder did send payment, I did not intent on leaving any FB at all. I had started the FVF credit process with ebay, but didn't complete it because that was when the payment showed up finally. If this bidder had only responded to any of my emails, I might have held the item waiting for their payment. Or at least known that they had indeed sent the payment.
BTW, I know they got my emails, because his email to me above was attached to one of my reminders.
So, in the event I get an "evaluation" from this guy, I want to be ready with my few characters to respond with a neg in turn. Can any of you sum up this mess in 70 characters or less?
Not my name on ebay.
[ edited by Valleygirl on Sep 1, 2001 08:44 AM ]
posted on September 1, 2001 09:04:29 AM
hmmmmm
maybe they were on vacation when the reminders were sent, you never know.......the fact they wanted it sent across the country is not relavent here, they did pay, but the p.o is at fault.....as for you feeling the evaluation comment as a threat i think you need to relax just a bit. it doesn't sound like a threat to me but merely a statement of their intentions. a threat would be something like, if you don't do this i will do this....how nice to give the item to a dear young sweet thing but maybe you gave it away too soon. just becasue they responded to you in an email you snet doesn't mean they were ignoring the other emails, maybe they just got home.........i think you deserve the neg, but thats just me
[ edited by buggery on Sep 1, 2001 09:10 AM ]
posted on September 1, 2001 09:13:14 AM
postmarked 10 days after the close of the auction!
No way!
That is FAR too long to wait to send payment.
5 days I could understand.
Couple that with the lack of responses, and you have a neglectful buyer.
The buyer deserves a neg if one is issued to the seller, by all means.
The seller was acting on instinct. When you are left in the dark, what are you supposed to do? Suppose she had gotten a check that had to be held to clear?
The buyer probably would have had the nerve and gall to be mad about the delayed shipment!
edited to add, I would probably e mail the bidder and inform that I gave the book to someone who really wanted it rather than sell it to someone that didn't want it bad enough to send payment in a timely manner!
[ edited by rebeang on Sep 1, 2001 09:15 AM ]
posted on September 1, 2001 09:21:39 AMrebeang ~ Yes it was postmarked 10 days after the auction ended but the payment was sent Priority which means it should have arrived 12 days after the end of auction. That is certainly not unreasonable. The bidder is guilty of poor communication but I don't think he deserves a neg.
posted on September 1, 2001 09:58:26 AM
What is your stated timeframe in your TOS or EOA for payment to be received?
I ask because if the customer has 14 days to send payment & they sent it priority on day 10, then they may have thought they were getting it there in time.
posted on September 1, 2001 10:18:25 AM
10 days is not too long, its cuttin it close but still within a reasonable time frame. in my tos i state payment is to be postmarked within 7 dasy of auction end.if i get one postmarked later than that i don't usually say anything and honestly i dont' usually check the postmark unless a problem has arisen along the way I.E i have to email them about late payment. i do not state a "must be recv'd by" time because i know postal snafus happen, however afer 14 days i do send an email asking where $$ is and then 2 days later file a npb if i have not heard from them. then 10 days later they get a neg adn i file fvf if no payment has arrived
posted on September 1, 2001 10:45:12 AM
Wow, a variety of responses and opinions. Just what I wanted to see.
I have no plans to neg the bidder since I did ultimately receive the payment. I stated that above. However, since I reminded the bidder several times that I had not received payment and got no response from them, I do not believe that I should receive a neg either. I was left blind, with no idea as to the intention of the bidder.
I did email the bidder and let them know the item had been donated to someone who appreciated it and I received no compensation for the book.
If, however, I receive a neg, I will give one in return. If the bidder had only responded to my NUMEROUS emails, this whole situation could have been avoided.
Yes, maybe they were on vacation, but then that doesn't explain their hostile reaction to me at returning their payment. If I paid for something and then went on vacation, when I returned and saw all those emails waiting for me, I would immediately email the seller and be apologetic and try to explain that my payment was lost in the mail and try to make things right. I would not react the way this bidder did.
I will agree that maybe I didn't wait long enough. But when a bidder does not communicate, a seller must ultimately move on.
posted on September 1, 2001 11:27:54 AM
now who's to say that your returned payment was waiting for them when they returned from a vacation?? it may be a stretch but it is possible the timing worked out that way..........
as for a response to their neg try this one..."retalitory neg from seller i can't handle the truth" .....or maybe"retalitory neg from me the seller becasue i am a whiner"
posted on September 1, 2001 11:39:53 AM
Valleygirl
I received the high bidder's payment, in a priority envelope, and postmarked 10 days after the close of the auction, but received by me 11 days after the postmark, even though it was sent priority.
You can't fault the buyer for the 11 days it took the Post Office to deliver the priority mail envelope. The only thing I see that the buyer was guilty of was waiting for 10 days to send payment and lack of communication.
What probably happened was the buyer forgot to send payment. They received your reminder and promptly sent the payment via priority mail thinking you would have it in a couple of days.
Neither side should leave negative feedback and retaliating only ends up making the retaliator look bad.
posted on September 1, 2001 04:25:24 PM
Eventer: I assume most seller's TOS come about by problems that the seller encounters. Since this is my first selling problem, I've never spelled it out in my auction. I don't require payment by "this date" or postmark by "that date". eBay recommends 3 days as appropriate contact. Most sellers, I believe, would expect payment to be soon mailed after that contact. The latest I have ever mailed a payment was 4 days at the end of the auction.
In the year I've been selling, this is the first time I have had a bidder who either didn't respond to emails or was late in making a payment.
I don't fault the bidder for the post office's 11 day delay (after the postmark), I do fault the bidder for not responding to repeated emails asking about payment. And I do fault the bidder for waiting 10 days to mail payment.
Buggery was the poster who suggested that maybe they were on vacation. So, assuming that might have been an accurate scenario, I replied that if it were *I* who returned from vacation and found emails (Buggery didn't read well here) inquiring about payment, I would have immediately responded to the seller, as would most of the posters here. I still don't understand the bidder's hostility (read first post)
I'm reluctant to keep this going since I've been accused of whining while asking for words to use in 70 characters or less.
I also agree that neither side should leave FB, and that was what I intended until the implied threat by the bidder by an "evaluation" of me. But if this bidder leaves a FB, I will too. This bidder has more to lose by leaving a neg as he only has 4 positives and I currently have 335.
Not my name on ebay.
[ edited by Valleygirl on Sep 1, 2001 04:39 PM ]
posted on September 1, 2001 04:32:30 PM
I believe neutral, factual negs and/or responses are best. My wording would be "Post-deadline payment w/o bidder response to emails; item relisted/sold. Sorry!" Since eBay has specified the 14-day period for payment, the seller is on rock solid ground. I'd have filed
I would not neg this bidder, but I would file for FVF credit as you did not receive payment by the deadline.
posted on September 1, 2001 04:41:27 PMI don't require payment by "this date" or postmark by "that date"
By not having a payment due by cut off, you've left it open as to when the customer pays.
ebay's rules say a buyer should contact a seller, especially if they haven't heard from them in the 3 day period, but doesn't REQUIRE them to.
I do fault the bidder for not responding to repeated emails asking about payment.
The buyer DID originally respond to you by saying "I'm sending payment". They did not state when they were sending payment and since your TOS is open ended, I can't see the buyer at fault.
And I do fault the bidder for waiting 10 days to mail payment.
Again, you state you don't have a due date so I can't see you faulting the buyer for taking their time. Yes, it may not be what YOU do, but YOU weren't the buyer in this case.
You've mentioned several times what you would do faced w/the same situation but you weren't the buyer & everybody does things differently.
It could well be they sent the payment, left for vacation & came back to find your email that you'd found a new home for the item.
I'm sorry, I don't think the buyer deserves a neg, even one in return. You left the payment timeframe open ended, then faulted them when they took advantage of it.
Since there was no "deadline" for payment, it really wouldn't be fair to leave them any comments regarding how long they took to pay.
posted on September 1, 2001 06:17:50 PM
Valleygirl:
The bidder did what he should have done. He sent payment in a reasonable time-frame (10 days). It isn't his fault that a priority package was delivered late. The Post Office deserves a neg, not the bidder (even if he negs YOU). IMO you should have filed FVF and called him before relisting, not to mention "giving" the item to another person. I know that you were left blind, but the bidder likely expected (justly) that you would receive the payment in a reasonable time-frame. When you didn't, you should have called for a "what's up?".
My guess is that a large number of your bidders don't contact you prior to your receipt of the payment. This is par for the course on ebaY. Why should THIS bidder be penalized with a neg when the ball was actually dropped by the Postal Service. If the transaction wasn't worth a phone call in your opinion, how could it possibly be worth an unjustified retaliatory neg?
[ edited by MrBusinessMan on Sep 1, 2001 06:21 PM ]
