posted on December 6, 2004 08:00:32 AM new
I have a situation that I've never been involved with before. I had a guitar amplifier that I listed on ebay and I had no idea that my partner was offering it for sale in our store in LA. The amp sold on ebay for $340.00, but when I went to get it from the storage loft at the store, I found that my partner had sold it several days earlier!
I, of course, refunded the buyer's money immediately and wrote them an email apologizing profusely and explaining what happened. Now, the buyer is sending me emails saying how confused he is and sending me quotes from ebay saying that bidding is a binding contract, etc and I know that this is not a great situation to be in but I did not try to have this sort of thing happen! My partner and I are usually very communicative in the items we're selling but with the holiday we got a bit backlogged and of course it's my fault.
What can I do in this situation? I don't have the item to sell and I have refunded the buyer's payment in less than a couple of hours. Is there any recourse they can take other than a negative feedback? Has anyone had this sort of thing happen to them before? Any further advice would be greatly appreciated.
posted on December 6, 2004 08:30:46 AM new
I'd probably just take Tom's advice and move on. But, if you want to try and generate some goodwill, you could offer the bidder a discount if he would every buy from you again.
posted on December 6, 2004 09:05:59 AM new
"I'd probably just take Tom's advice and move on. But, if you want to try and generate some goodwill, you could offer the bidder a discount if he would every buy from you again."
posted on December 6, 2004 12:00:00 PM new
If it sold for less than $340 - you could have your partner (who it seems is as much at fault as you are)contact the person they sold it to and offer to buy it back for the $340. If it's enough profit - the buyer may go for it.
At least tell the winner you will try to get it back. Other than that - I think you have done all you can - except maybe set up some type of inventory control so that this does not happen again??
posted on December 6, 2004 05:24:28 PM new
Thanks for your advice. Firstly, it sold for more in the store, so there goes that idea, but it is a good one. The buyer is now telling me that he is super disappointed and wanted to know if I could give him any reasons why he shouldn't report me to ebay fraud protection and leave neg feedback. I've apologized profusely, refunded his money literally within 2 hours and have even offered him some free musical rarities that he may be interested in being a musician. After that, I don't know what else I can do about this. So I told him that he could hopefully see that I've worked hard to try to fix this situation but that it was ultimately up to him to decide what he would like to do on his end.
Can he report me to ebay fraud protection? And what would happen? A neg feedback, well, would be my first but it doesn't concern me. I think that I've done all that I can justifiably do and am ready to move on(.org) and just deal with whatever comes my way. I made a mistake and that's the way it goes sometimes.
posted on December 6, 2004 08:27:04 PM new
He's probably giving you such a hard time because he knows he got one heck of a deal with the eBay price and can't find another one for what he bid. So of course he's gonna want another one for the price he paid. But hey, stuff happens. I once relisted something and it sold the second time around and wouldn't you know it...I couldn't find the darn thing. The hubby had packed it away weeks prior and it was lost in piles of boxes of packed away eBay items. And think about those items that people get ready to pack and ship and - oh no...I just accidentally broke it. Then what?
I think you've bent over backward to say you're sorry and if the jackazz can't accept that, well that's all you can do. As said - just move on and don't sweat the small stuff.
posted on December 6, 2004 08:45:38 PM new
As Tom says there is no fraud. Your buyer can do nothing nor will eBay do anything.
I think it's time to ignore him.
You will probably get a neg so matter what the buyer states just respond politely with the facts.
The first neg is the hardest one to take, after that it's no big deal. I have three.
posted on December 6, 2004 09:02:34 PM new
WAVING My hands and feet from the back row...18 negs as of today! Yeah! another Idiot! Wants ME to send to an UNCONFIRMED address in some US Territory.....per pay pal,,,we know the drill,,,,the seller RISKS all.....Nope, here is your Moolah BACK from your PP payment.....Then,,,,,,,POW! he negs me....Oh well,,,,,just another e bay day.
The FIRST One STINGS...after that,,,who cares,,,,and after 18! screw the feed back crap. Some have 1000's of negs,,,they sell like they are 100 % pure.
posted on December 6, 2004 09:08:12 PM new
Curious,,,Fraud!!!!,,,so you KEEP the Money. Buyer gets Nothing,,,,Now what happens? This should play out REAL interestingly.
posted on December 7, 2004 08:11:32 AM new
Yes bad FB is about all he can do.
Like CTA said - what if it was broken while wrapping??
I would block him so he can't make a bunch of bids and not pay or something weird like that.
posted on December 7, 2004 08:44:48 AM new
I've sort of been waiting for my first neg just to get it out of the way... I know it's really no big deal. Yeah, right, what if an item is broken during packing? What then? I sympathize with the situation cta was in. I was unable to find a little trinkety item once- had no idea where it could be. The buyer turned out to be NPB, luckily, so I ended up ahead on that one.
I'm blocking this guy now and ignoring any response, though I don't expect one. I looked through some of his previous transactions and found that he had bought some items from ebay only to find that he resold them later. I do that, too- no problems there. But yeah, he's probably miffed that he lost out on a good deal.
