posted on April 22, 2001 06:06:46 PM new
I had a person from the UK, England that is, win a $33.00 auction way back on March 14th. He claims he sent cash shortly thereafter, which is not all that unusual for overseas buyers to send (I've gotten cash payments a bunch of times). It's been 40 days (and 40 nights too) since the auction was over.
He did inquire a few times if we had gotten his payment, but we haven't heard from him in a while. Of course, we told him the minute we got his payment we would email. He has a total of 9 positive feedbacks with no negs or neutrals.
I sort of believe this buyer when he says that he sent the money. The trouble is of course is that we haven't received it, and it's looking like we never will, after 6 weeks.
I'm worried about re-selling the item, then miraculously getting his payment. It's a scarce record album that I could probably never find again.
Once, it took three months to get a payment from Brazil. No kidding. Naturally, I negged the poor man because I never got payment, re-sold his item, then six or seven weeks later, here comes his payment, postmarked 3 months earlier. Believe that? It's true. I had a lot of explaining to do, plus sending him his money back, etc. etc.
What would you do?
[ edited by loosecannon on Apr 22, 2001 06:14 PM ]
posted on April 22, 2001 06:33:00 PM new
I had one from Austraila take six weeks. The buyer and I both thought it was lost (also cash), and he resent after 30 days, I got the second payment, sent his merchandise, and the next week, here came the first payment. I put it in the next size larger envelope, and mailed it back.
I tend to give overseas buyers some leeway, as long as they are comunicating with me. (They give me "bragging rights" about how many to Austraila, how many to England, Japan, etc., and how many Yankee Dollars I've got back to the US where they belong.) Waiting to long can void your chance of recovering FVF's, but unless it was a deal on a lot of money, as long as the buyer is answering emails, and seemed willing to resend if it doesn't show up (ask, and offer to return the other payment if/when) I would hang in there. International mail can be real slow sometimes.
posted on April 22, 2001 06:39:14 PM new
I agree, I'd give it a bit more time. On average, though, 95% of my payments from England have make it here in under 3 weeks.
Might he/she consider using BillPoint or PayPal if it doesn't come in soon, then if it did come in, you could easily refund? Assuming you take PP/BP, that is.
posted on April 22, 2001 06:53:01 PM new
Did the buyer send it registered? If he did he can trace it - I usually send cash registered above 100$, but not below, so it kind of depends on what the buyer usually does.
It can and does take a long time. My mom lives in Belgium and things she sends me have taken anywhere from 1 to 10 weeks!
I agree with the idea of asking the buyer to re-send and offer to send the original payment back if and when it does show, but if it's a lot of money he might not want to do that - I would be hesitant, especially if I don't know the seller and know I can trust the seller (I am sure he can, but he doesn't know you - you have never deal with him before right?)
posted on April 22, 2001 07:52:08 PM new
How about asking him if he minds resending it and at the same time explain your quandry. Explain that if the merchandise is not paid for you will have to repost it and get the FVF back from ebay (and of course be very nice when saying this). Chances are if you come across this way and let him decide what he would like to do (provided you are willing) then you will both win. Chances are the buyer will re-send the money with the agreement that if the first one shows you will send it back.
Worth a shot. If I was a buyer this had happened to I would really appreciate getting choices spelled out for me.
posted on April 22, 2001 08:41:21 PM new
I would find out exactly what he sent the money in. A regular looking letter should go from US to UK in less than one week and I have never had one get lost.
I have had plenty of folks tell me the check's in the mail. The person being from the UK should not lend any more credence to this type of claim.
I share the advice that you should give the person an opportunity to save face and send "another" payment.
posted on April 22, 2001 09:00:54 PM new
>. A regular looking letter should go from US to UK in less than one week
It *should* but I sometimes can't get airmail to Canada in 2 weeks. Of course I got one once from San Francisco that took 13 days, but thats for another postal thread
>The person being from the UK should not lend any more credence to this type of claim
No, but you should relax the "10 day" (or whatever you expect) payment deadline when dealing overseas, or not deal overseas. I (and nobody else has to do it this way) will give an overseas buyer some extra time. I've seen enough extremely slow international mail (and enough promptly postmarked international payments) that my first inclination when a overseas payment is a week or so late, is that it is floating around in God knows what country's post office.
I wasn't lending any credence to his claim merely because he's from the UK. I was basing my feelings on his demeanor and the fact that he seems concerned over his money getting here.
Like I said, it took me three months to get payment once, but that was from Brazil, which has one of the worst postal systems going. UK can be slow, but I've never seen it this slow for a letter.
posted on April 22, 2001 09:39:53 PM new
I have had a diproportionate amount of trouble both recieving payment from the UK
(I am in Canada) and sending packages. 2 lost payments and 3 wrecked shipments.
Considering how few of my sales are to the UK,this is abnormal. It makes me wonder if
the Royal Mail has even more disgruntled
posties than USPS.
posted on April 22, 2001 09:45:07 PM new
Yes, I was really playing more of a devil's advocate. I know that many times you can get a good read on someone's true intentions. But just as many times, they can keep on sweet talking you right to nowhere.
In fact I recently had a person who kept on saying they would pay, they just needed another few days, etc. etc. and for some reason totally beyond me, I fell for it in this particular case. Then curiously after the FVF deadline had passed I stopped getting responses!!
I also allow extra time for international payments, especially for Australia which seems to take much longer than any other country. But I still say if he sent a regular letter from UK over a month ago, it should have been here with no problems. The UK has an excellent mail system and probably as little or less lost mail than our own.
posted on April 22, 2001 09:59:07 PM new
>I still say if he sent a regular letter from UK over a month ago, it should have been here
I Agree, and I would ask the buyer to resend. But I wouldn't be *shocked* if I wound up getting both payments, particulary if I thought I was getting sincere emails.
posted on April 22, 2001 10:07:54 PM new
I appreciate the help & opinions I've gotten here. I'll email him tomorrow and try to get something worked out.
posted on April 22, 2001 11:51:44 PM new
I now live here but have relatives in UK , and have had bidders from there.
The Royal Mail was once extremely reliable , with mail taking only 4-5 days even around Christmas time. I've wondered if that's why UK bidders take rather a cavalier attitude towards sending cash to avoid the nasty charges incurred at their banks when transferring foreign funds.
The last two years , the mail to and from the UK has been frequently unpredictable. I've had slow payments from bidders postmarked in time , and one Christmas , my costly airmailed packages , letter post and small packet ( In padded envelopes) went surface mail and took 6 weeks to reach my family. I can't say which end caused the problem , but it's happened twice.
Last night I e-mailed my sister in UK who after 200fb's of buying , has now launched a bunch of ebay auctions , shipping worldwide no less, stating boldy that she prefers cash! I discovered many other auctions from 'worldwide' UK ( and W. European )sellers who did the same. My advice to her was to be very careful , and always state that cash is at buyer's own risk and must come well-concealed. Registered mail is very expensive.
I've received cash from Asia , Europe and UK several times , but don't advertise it in my TOS. I like to get a " feel " for the buyer first , and usually recommend Bidpay , and will take cash as a final option.
Anyway, they have to buy US dollars from the bank in UK too , so they may baulk at resending. You could suggest to them that their payment may have been misdirected to surface mail; ask if they put an airmail sticker on the envelope (they use them over there to designate air from surface ).
Also our zip codes are not as familiar , and they may have put an incorrect digit. My mother does that sometimes and it really slows things up now that things are so automated , and a sharp-eyed handler no longer exists to correct human error!
Try for a resend , and don't be surprised if it turns up!
posted on April 23, 2001 06:59:23 AM new
I sent him this email today:
Hello xxxx,
We still have not received your payment for the record.
What would you like to do?
Would you like to re-send the money? If your initial payment shows up we
will of course refund that.
The only other options are to wait and see if it does show up, or, we can
cancel the transaction, and will of course refund your money if and when it
shows up.
I'm sorry for the hassle, but quite honestly, I don't know what to do about
it. It's been 6 weeks since the auction ended. It's not unheard of for
overseas mail to get lost or held up for long periods. Please give us your
thoughts.
posted on April 23, 2001 09:44:30 AM new
If he sent it Air it is way over due. If he sent it surface it can take 6-8 weeks, surface mail has to hop a ride on any ship it can find, when it can.
I've had material take over 2 months surface from UK, and some gets here in 10 days.
posted on April 23, 2001 10:06:03 AM new
How would you handle this situation?
UK customer won an auction and paid for air mail delivery of the goods to him. A few weeks go by and notifies me that the package was lost in transit and not recieved. I confirmed address and reshipped no charge.
It's now 2 1/2 weeks later and the same customer is claiming non-receipt of the second package. He mentions that he just got back from a trip and that the pacakge never arrived.
He never requested insurance and was fully aware of the manner in which the goods were being sent to him on both occasions and now wants me to reship again at my expense.
I'm a fully reasonable guy, but come on! The transaction is already a loser for me!
posted on April 23, 2001 10:10:22 AM new
I would ask him to institute an investigation with the mail service on his end and you yours before I did anything else. Tell him to email you copies of the results and any names of who he contacted. There could be a customs problem.
But I certainly would ahve insured the second package.
posted on April 23, 2001 10:22:33 AM new
Hi
We have a big problem sending money or goods to USA as the Royal Mail will only insure a package for £28 max.I would send valuable items international recorded where a signature is required .I have sent many cash payments with no problems but i try to use PayPal if possible, most letters take 4-6 days to reach USA i have over 200 feedbacks no negs and do alot of sales to USA with no problems. [silley]
posted on April 23, 2001 10:25:47 AM new
I had a buyer from the UK on 4/06. I've received payment on 4/14 and he received item on 4/23. The entire process only took 17 days.
On the other hand, I have 2 payments over 30 days and waiting from Germany.
