posted on October 24, 2001 07:52:56 PM
What do you do about deadbeats and those buyers who claim never to have gotten your emails after the close of an auction? Even though you've sent them half a dozen emails to the proper address? I don't like to give neg feedback because these individuals will often neg feedback you when you give it to them. And I've found it to be on always the cheap items, not the expensive ones I get burned on. Anyone have a solution, or is this just an odds game and part of doing internet business? Just chalk it up or what?
posted on October 24, 2001 08:04:48 PM
been there, done that, got the tee-shirt...
You're going to run into them from time to time and they always seem to come in batches. It's annoying, but I try to take the totally professional route by sending or requesting all the information yet again and hope that now that I have their attention, they quit stalling - does not always happen. When push came to shove, I did not hesitate to use the eBay reminder (which seems to be gone now, btw) or the NPB alert. I state right in my auctions that I only allow so many days for the transaction to be completed with payment received or I automatically relist the item and consider the transaction void. I still end up pushing the envelope well past that limit on occasion, but at least most of the sales finally end with payment received. Only recently has the odds gotten worse and I've actually given out my first two negative feedbacks ever. I've decided the risk of getting a tit-for-tat neg back is worth warning other people that this buyer isn't all that great.
posted on October 25, 2001 02:11:23 PM
Here's a good one for you:
I have a deadbeat right now and believe me, this person is going to get their deserved neg after I file for my FVF. I always look through the potential deadbeat's feedback (to see if it's worth bothering to send a 2nd notice before doing a NPBA, and usually it is, but sometimes if I see a recent rash of negs for non-payment I just go for the NPBA and skip the notice). This person has a bad tendency to be sarcastic and call people idiots in their response to a neg, and even if it's a positive feedback and they don't like the wording! Well, in response to a neg, this buyer called the seller an idiot for sending all the emails to an AOL address instead of the buyer's Hotmail address, claiming that as an "excuse" for non-payment. (Now I'd love to know how a buyer can excuse themselves for not bothering to contact the seller to find out what's up with the transaction, but that's another angle...) And the thing is, this buyer is registered with eBay with an AOL address! So how this person expects sellers to email them at some other "mystery" email address, I don't know.
Takes all kinds and they do come in bunches...
And another...
Buyer's check bounces. I email to let the buyer know about about it. She promises to not only make good on the check amount, but also the bounced check fee. I think, great! Then nothing...another one I'm in process of filing FVF for. But this deadbeat had the nerve to email me today to complain that the book was misrepresented. She said she was disappointed that it wasn't a First Edition. Well, duh. It's not. That's why it was listed as a Book Club Edition in the auction.
Well, I usually try to be nice in all circumstances, but not this time. Deadbeat me, break a promise to make it good, then accuse me of misrepresentation, which is totally untrue...I sent her a nice, long email back telling her pretty much what I thought of her, no swearing though , and included a link to the auction and told her to check it out for herself that I didn't misrepresent the book.
And this is why I currently have no auctions up. The deadbeats, the shortchangers, have just been one big batch this last couple of weeks. I needed a break!
It helps. I highly recommend it to all when these things get to be too much, if you can afford to take the time off.
, and included a link to the auction and told her to check it out for herself that I didn't misrepresent the book.
