posted on January 28, 2005 07:07:31 AM new
You sell an item. Bidder pays for it. You go to ship it and find it is missing?
I rent office space and I come in 2-3 times a week. The item I sold was sitting on top of my desk (along with other items I was planning on shipping). Now it is gone. I personally think someone walked off with it but the people I work with are offended I would ever suggest such a thing.
Luckily my bidder has been understanding. I promised him a full refund today if it doesn't turn up.
Has something like this happened to you?
Miss J
[ edited by popnrock on Jan 28, 2005 07:24 AM ]
posted on January 28, 2005 07:18:12 AM new
Oh, "pop", I'm so sorry that happened to you and so glad your buyer is amazingly understanding about it.
No, this has never happened to me, but it is only a matter of time. I live in fear that my kids or husband will touch the item or, take it, crease it or crinkle it or something.
They come into the room I work in... and in a gentle manhandle-ing sort of way... touch the item and say "What's thiiis?" Or my husband will put something on top of it. I gasp everytime. I've got stuff hidden, covered in tissue paper or bags just to protect it from inquiring minds around here.
posted on January 28, 2005 07:49:11 AM new
Once or twice. I once had something I thought lost appear about 6 months later. I emailed the buyer who promptly re-paid. So that at least ended happily.
posted on January 28, 2005 07:56:07 AM new
The phenomenon I encounter here in my Ebay office is that the item is in *plain sight* but invisible to me. I'll keep an item on a certain shelf for months before listing it; list it; put it on a different shelf; can't find it when sold. A few months ago a book "disappeared" for a half.com sale and I had to back out of the sale. As soon as I had, the book showed up right where I'd put it.
I've been known to stand in front of the shelves, staring, for minutes, KNOWING the item is here but not SEEING it. In other circles, I suppose it's called meditation. . . .
___________________________________
Is it true that the only difference between a yard sale and a trash pickup is how close to the road the stuff is placed?
posted on January 28, 2005 08:08:21 AM new
Roadsmith...dont worry...its a sign of superior intelligence when this happens...at least thats what I like to tell myself ;~[
posted on January 28, 2005 08:13:30 AM new
Superior intelligence! Yes! That's what I was searching for.
Anybody here ever read the book, Who Moved My Cheese? The gist of it is that some people can't deal with change easily and get very anxious. Hmmmm. Not sure this applies here, but it sprang to mind.
___________________________________
Is it true that the only difference between a yard sale and a trash pickup is how close to the road the stuff is placed?
posted on January 28, 2005 08:13:34 AM new
I agree it just seems to disappear no matter how organized I was.
Well my daughter brought over a container well it is 6 containers on top of each other. I guess you call them bins. What I have done is when I put a small object on I put it in the eBay bin. When I scan items I put them in the scanned bin. Now I want to see how long this will last. I also have a bin for empty floppys which I seem to lose all the time. I sure hope this helps. So far so good.
I will see what happens down the road to see if I still stay organized. Only time will tell.
posted on January 28, 2005 08:24:02 AM new
"The phenomenon I encounter here in my Ebay office is that the item is in *plain sight* but invisible to me. I'll keep an item on a certain shelf for months before listing it; list it; put it on a different shelf; can't find it when sold. A few months ago a book "disappeared" for a half.com sale and I had to back out of the sale. As soon as I had, the book showed up right where I'd put it"
posted on January 28, 2005 08:58:26 AM new
I thought that I was the only one that has done this and thought that dementia was setting in!
In my case, my 9 year old granddaughter came over and went into my ebay room, thought the figurine on top of one of the "listed" boxes was "so cute" and promptly put it in her room. (She has her own room here for her weekend visits with us) I went nuts looking for it after it sold. The buyer was understanding when I told her I could not find it now, refunded her money and she even left positive feedback. Then, I went in to dust my granddaughter's room and there it was, smack dab in the middle of her dresser! Needless to say that the buyer was pleased, she repaid and all turned out well.
posted on January 28, 2005 09:49:30 AM new
Huge glass kerosene lamp shade. Never did EVER find it. First nasty e mail ever. around 150 sales back then, felt just HORRIBLE! tore this place apart! Buyer,,,Sir I do not have time for your e mail games! We have a business to run! I was TRYING So hard to get this all right. The pain. then to be SLAAAAAAAAP! in the face like that. I thought G,,,I never thought people could/would be that Nasty, well 1500Fb later. and 1000's of sales. Screw you! Get a lifE! Sorry about that! S#it happens!
It was the last thing I misplaced, THAT I COULD NOT FIND. hahahaha, yup I still go NUTS, people come in here all the time pick it up and stick it someplace else! Don't touch ANYTHING! Look with your @Y@y's NOT your Hands!
posted on January 28, 2005 10:14:22 AM new
Yes, it has happened to me several times. I sell craft books and patterns, and people often bid over a couple of weeks, and it's easy for one to slip inside the other. Most people have been understanding.
I don't know if anyone else has had this happen. A couple of weeks ago a buyer wrote and thanked me for sending the item, and for the "extra gift". Oh no! What extra gift?? I didn't like to ask her. I am just waiting for someone else to write and say that one of their items was missing.
posted on January 28, 2005 10:45:13 AM new
I keep everything I list or need to ship on a desk. All I can think of is that someone might have passed through the office and wanted to read the book. It was on top of the stack. So far no one has come forward
posted on January 28, 2005 10:47:22 AM new
I have had stuff "disappear" for a short while, I think it has to do with hunting without the glasses on.
Then a year ago I got 2 items confused. Sent out the wrong one to each of the buyers. (When some of the stone items I sell are ready to go, they are closed up in little boxes with post a note on top with the auction number.) Both of the the buyers had a good laugh and decided to keep the stones that I had sent them. Both have ended up being long term customers.
Now, I make sure and peek in the boxes before packing to ship.
Kevin
posted on January 28, 2005 11:42:05 AM new
It happens to me all the time with my Store postcards. I have 4700 of them and some have been misfiled, some were double listed (for a time ebay showed GTC items as ended for several days before renewing ... took me a few months to figure out what was going on and I never did find them all)....just bound to happen over time I guess. Sometimes a day or two after I declare the card "missing" and refund the money, I find it. Thankfully, buyers have been very understanding.
**********************************
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
posted on January 28, 2005 12:19:30 PM new
Yes, was blissfully going along with my life and noticed My FB had picked up a neutral. Discovered that I had sold a book, been paid and never mailed it out. I emailed the party and offered a refund after searching my house several times for the book,they did not reply. The book turned up months later mixed in with a box of stuff. By then I had deleted the buyers info, felt bad gave the jinxed book away. They should have neg'ed me, I wanted to neg myself!
posted on January 28, 2005 12:28:11 PM new
I had an item come up missing just once ..had to take apart the whole eBay room before I found it. From that point on I had a bin with lid....when I list an item it goes in the bid and I don't touch it again till its mailed. No way to lose it that way.
posted on January 28, 2005 12:46:40 PM new
My Ebay office used to be an artist's studio, big room, with built-in shelves along one 20-foot wall. When I've listed an item, it goes on one of three shelves, without fail. (Except for the time I lost a book, LOL.)
When friends come in to see where I work, they always want to pick up things, leaf through stacks of records and books, etc., and I warn them to either not touch anything or to promise to leave everything in exactly the stack it was in.
___________________________________
Is it true that the only difference between a yard sale and a trash pickup is how close to the road the stuff is placed?
posted on January 28, 2005 01:14:13 PM new
I've done it with jewelry a couple of times. I always feel so stupid when it happens and it's almost always something I photograph and don't list right away.
posted on January 28, 2005 01:26:22 PM new
I am so glad this thread was started. I always feel so stupid also when I mess up. I try so hard to be organized. I have all my patterns in labeled files, books and magazines filed, but I have still managed to lose some. Another thing I have done is on a cheap listing day, I have listed some items from my store, and then forgotten to cancel the store listings, and wouldn't you know it, someone always manages to bid on both!
posted on January 28, 2005 05:23:38 PM new
I made a big boo boo. I inadvertently sent someone else's pattern booklet along with the one a customer won. I didn't even know I did it until the customer wrote to me to tell me that she received a booklet that she didn't order (along with the one that she did) and she was sure someone was waiting for it. Thank heavens she was honest! So I had her pick out something free from my store and asked if she would mind if I sent her an SASE with the free item, if she would be willing to drop the booklet in the mail for me. She was more than happy to. I also contacted the other customer and told her what had happened and told her to pick out something from my store for her inconvenience. She didn't.
I received an e-mail from the first customer telling me that she had mailed out the booklet. About a week later, I heard back from customer number 2 telling me she still hadn't received it. I immediately refunded her money and told her to keep the booklet when she received it. A couple of days ago I received the booklet back with a note stating that she went out and bought it at a store and didn't need two so she mailed it back to me. Of course, I reimbursed her shipping, apologizing profusely once again for my screw-up. Thank heavens that most of my customers are honest.
I did learn a good lesson though and have changed the way that I pack my items.
