posted on April 4, 2006 06:52:00 PM
I sold a widget to a customer in Gainesville, Ga at the end of December. Sent an EOA, he said he'd get a money order on Jan, 2 and send it. I waited 3 weeks, no payment arrived, so I contacted him. He said it was sent and he'd check on it. A week later, he said it had not been cashed, so it must be lost. He stopped payment on it and sent a personal check. The check arrived and I shipped the widget. A few days later he posted positive feedback and I reciprocated. Transaction completed, case closed, right? Wrong. I went to the mailbox today and there was the missing money order. It was dated Jan 2 and the envelope was postmarked Jan 4. It took exactly 3 months to the day for that payment to come from Georgia to California. The address and postage were correct and there were no markings from other post offices to indicate it had been misdirected or re-routed. I would love to know where this envelope spent the winter.
If Murphy's law is correct, everything East of the San Andreas Fault will slide into the Atlantic
posted on April 4, 2006 07:03:02 PM
Geeeee. Funny story.
While I have you here, guys, I need your advice about something. I shipped an item to a guy in Chicago, newish eBayer. Today it was returned to me with "attempted--not known" on it. The address eBay gave for him is the address I used.
I've e-mailed the buyer, haven't heard back yet, but if he has a corrected address, who should pay for the re-shipment ($8.50 priority)? I think he should, but I'm willing to split the cost with him. What would you experts do?
posted on April 4, 2006 07:23:31 PM
Tell him 2 things. Send you the correct mailing address along with a check for $8.50 shipping. Then tell him to update his Ebay info before he gets suspended.
If Murphy's law is correct, everything East of the San Andreas Fault will slide into the Atlantic
posted on April 4, 2006 08:30:13 PM
Before you decide he's done something wrong, wait until you get his response. We have an occasional sub mail person here that inevitably returns anything addressed to me personally as undeliverable. she'll deliver anything addressed to my business, and even mail addressed to a former resident but let something adressed to me come thru and she returns it.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
posted on April 4, 2006 09:10:10 PM
Thanks for the advice, fellas. The buyer got back to me right away; he works in a business with the same address as the next-door apartment house. A letter carrier tried on a Saturday to deliver somewhere in the apartment house but couldn't, and the business was closed that day. The buyer has now added the business name to his mailing address. Since he's been a good customer, I told him I'll split the cost of re-shipping along with another item he's just purchased from me.
posted on April 9, 2006 03:29:05 PM
Although I haven't had any payments/shipments take THIS long, I have had first-class shipments and payments take 2 to 3 weeks to deliver. I complained to the postal clerk who said they'd received other complaints. Seems like every time the post office increases their fees, problems crop up.
posted on April 9, 2006 04:42:31 PM
roadsmith, I have had the same thing happen to me over and over. The buyer does not change there address with ebay and I use to use ebay listed address, but no more. Now I post in my auction that I only ship to the listed paypal address, so please make sure you have the correct address listed with paypal.
I get 4 out of every 10 sells where people have a different address listed with ebay and another listed with paypal. So now if the item comes back to me because the paypal address was wrong they will be paying the additional shipping not me.
posted on April 9, 2006 04:49:04 PM
Good suggestion, Toni. It happens to me so seldom--only once in 8 years of selling has a package come back to me, wrong address. I usually note the eBay address and then, if they pay via PayPal, I doublecheck that address against the eBay one. If they're different, I e-mail that I need verification and will hold the item for shipping until I've heard from them.
I've never had a mailed payment show a different address from eBay's, oddly, so that hasn't been a problem.
Wouldn'tcha think, though, that people would check their own address listings occasionally?!!
posted on April 11, 2006 06:49:11 AMA letter carrier tried on a Saturday to deliver somewhere in the apartment house but couldn't, and the business was closed that day.
Take the package back to the post office and tell them that you have confirmed that indeed that it was the correct address. The PO should re-send the package at no additional charge to you.
