posted on November 24, 2001 08:10:31 AM new
While sitting here this morning responding to e-mail I get this one.
Hello
I still Have not received the xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx.I would like a full refund.I do not want to wait any longer.
If I do not receive a refund I will leave negative feedack.
Your mission, how would have responded to this person? I already have so what you say will not influence me on this one.
Quick background on transaction. Closed on Oct 27. Total with shipping is 3.25. They checked out and paid fast, I shipped right away. They said they did not receive item. I shipped again Mid November. They say they did not receive the second one either.
I thought you might like to play and give your responce on this one.
posted on November 24, 2001 08:39:59 AM new
I am dealing with a similar situation right now. My insurance policy as stated in my auctions read:
"In case of lost or damaged merchandise, I will send an identical replacement item when available or will refund moneys for all properly filed and valid claims as determined by the shipping agent."
He took 2 weeks to pay by PayPal and 5 days after I shipped it cross country he started in about not receiving it, after 10 days he demanded a refund. It was sent via Priority Mail insured for $115.00. The post office will not start a claim until 30 days have passed. I have no proof whether the post office delivered it or not until they start a trace and make a determination. The buyer accused me of fraud and threatened to report me to eBay. He denounced all my explanations and claims as to what might have happened and the procedure as outlined in my auction as preposterous and incredulous. I faxed him a copy of of the insurance receipt. I have tried to give him as much detail as possible and repeatedly told him that he will be refunded the money once the Post Office determines that package is indeed lost.
I instituted this policy because of repeated fraud attempts by buyers claiming never to receive their merchandise or receiving it damaged and demanding an immediate refund without allowing a claim to be made to determine the accuracy of the charges. Until I know for certain that the claim is valid, I will not make myself vulnerable to another possible fraud attempt.
Bottom line, he has hushed in the meantime. He has threatened to report me to eBay for violation of policy. Ironically, he is in violation, not me, as he is refusing to abide by the terms of sales while I sticking to them!
So, how did you handle yours?
posted on November 24, 2001 10:04:48 AM new
My question is why aren't the two of you using delivery confirmation? You can use DC with parcel post and priority. You can print it free on the USPS website or purchase it at the Post Office for $0.40. In both your cases it certainly would have been worth it. You would have proof of delivery and not have to deal with buyers "I don't have my package" and if they're trying to scam it lets them know up front you can tell when the item was delivered.
posted on November 24, 2001 10:25:12 AM new
Hi Jim, one thing I am noticing, is the least expensive the item the more demanding and intolerant the buyer. sometimes, I wonder if they tend to pull these I never received the item because of the item price and figure the seller can not be bothered with such a small amounts. I doubt the item went priority due to the total cost involved, so there would not be a delivery confirmation involved, even the one you download for free.( I believe confirmation can not be used for first class mail.) That is what my post office told me. I would probably respond in a manner stating that in some instances packages are taking longer than usual to reach their destinations, I can understand 1 going astray, but 2 going astray to the same party I find highly unlikely and I will be doing my own investigating on the other end. Hope they had a lovely holiday, and they will be hearing from me soon. That investigation means checking their feedback, going to my post office and asking them to check with his post office(he may have done this once or twice before.)Reminding him what the term feedback hostage means. This is such a small amount, and is quite petty but sometimes it is these little things that take up way too much time, but personaly I feel they should be answered and handled properly, You did everything that was expected of you as a seller and even a little more with the second item for free, you could have said lets wait a little longer, and see if it shows up. I would not give him any more control.
reenie
posted on November 24, 2001 10:35:07 AM new
avante-
IMHO. DC is a rip-off. First, it offers nothing else but a record of when the carrier scanned it. If not delivered, They refund you for the DC but you are out the price of the item unless you purchase additional insurance. This does not mean it was delivered properly. We have had a spate of problems with the USPS because of improper delivery procedures. The worst case was a $675.00 item shipped to me via Priority Mail insured with DC. The package had not shown up 4-5 days after the shipper sent it and I tracked it with the DC number only to find that it showed delivered 3 days earlier. Since Insured pkgs. over $50.00 in declared value require a delivery signature and no one else was home to receive the package that day except me, I was puzzled. Turns out that the carrier of her own volition left the package on someones doorstep two blocks away and never got a signature, just figured it would get to the right place. No the USPS did not refund the DC as they HAD scanned it. At least with the insurance, if the item is lost or otherwise mishandled, they will pay out, even though the procedure takes a little longer.
posted on November 24, 2001 11:32:03 AM new
Do you really think they are being dishonest for a transaction worth $3.25 - Seems hardly worth it to me. I think it is worth it to just refund them and move on. What I do with these types of situations is send out the second package insured.
I've had this problem off ebay through my own auctions and web site sales. If someone does not get a package from me and I ship again, I make sure that future purchases are always sent insured, and they are charged enough to cover insurance, even on an inexpensive purchase...
posted on November 24, 2001 11:55:48 AM new
My Responce would be wait a little longer, an item must br 30 not showing up before a claim can be made to have the dilivery traced.
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I find compaired to other in mail order I am easy, My policy is if you don't ask for shipping insurance I can't be held accoutable for loss or damage.
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Any other mail order company would charge massive fixed shipping fees that include DC insurance insurance and handleing percentage no question asked
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http://www.Dman-N-Company.com <br />
Email [email protected]
[ edited by dman3 on Nov 24, 2001 11:56 AM ]
posted on November 24, 2001 05:34:44 PM new
Sounds like a jerry12 post.
You could meet the buyer in a parking lot, like jerry did, but watch out, better bring a body guard. The person he met "beat him up"
posted on November 24, 2001 06:32:57 PM new
On small dollar transactions, I find DC is more than enough backup. I tend, however, only to send via Priority or Media Mail, not first class.
On anything over $50 I generally buy insurance since we are starting to get into financial problem territory if it is lost.
I also use delivery confirmation so that if a buyer has a problem I can clearly show that the package has been sent. I then defer to the postal claim process and expect that the buyer will cooperate, since it is the only way they will get their money back.
I find that scamsters tend to holler and scream the loudest, just like the shoplifters in malls who are caught red handed.
The email: "You never shipped it. Give me a refund or I will neg you. I am reporting you to ebay."
At the mall: "How'd that get there? You're hurting me! I didn't take nuttin!"
posted on November 24, 2001 07:35:00 PM new
Well there was some good replies. Here is how I answered his e-mail. You need to laugh with me on this one. You have to realize it was early and my personality has been on the short side this last week cause my father has been in the hospital. He got to come home for Thanks Giving before he returns for open heart surgery. But I am shoot square with you. Here is my exact reply.
You are so funny. I would have been glad to give you a refund till you did an dumb thing like this. I do not take threats period. Neg me. You will look like one even more for a few minutes while your 1 neg in our of 1000 transactions shows up. We always take care of our customers unless they are not polite about things.
Jim
I read it now and it sounds stupid. Right befor I sent it I removed the words Jerk and A$$hole from a couple places. I got a favorable reply from this person in a much nicer letter. I then said you can have the refund or I will send it one more time but call me an idiot if you do not receive it. I also require you send your address again to verify it.
Turns out we been shipping to the wrong address. Another person must have a pile of these things sitting at their house. Everytime I ship I send a shipping notice that tells what we shipped and where we shipped it to. This person never look at them. We even had the wrong name for them.
Here are some answers for some of you.
My question is why aren't the two of you using delivery confirmation? This item was won for 1.75 and 1.50 shipping. It ships by first class mail so DC is not available.
Hi Jim, one thing I am noticing, is the least expensive the item the more demanding and intolerant the buyer. I totally agree with this. I wonder if it is because of how things are shipped. A buyer spending more money gets shipped by priority tracked or UPS. Nothing they can do if it shows delivered. These smaller orders they have nothing to loose I guess.
Do you really think they are being dishonest for a transaction worth $3.25 I have had people send me $5.00 cash for a 4.95 item and wonder why I did not send them back a nickle. I know some of you would have but I do not mess with it.
It is tough to spend $1.10 for $50.00 insurance on a 1.75 item. This is not big deal to me, my cost of the 1.75 item is .38. I just hate waking up to those kind of e-mails.
Thanks everyone for the comments and if you have more keep them coming.
posted on November 26, 2001 07:39:25 AM new
I believe that it's the high levels of fraud on ebay that lead to this unpleasantness. Your first reaction seems to have been to speculate that this person really recieved the item, and want's the money back too. You assumed fraud. Your bidder assumed that you hadn't shipped the item yet. He assumed fraud too. So, there you are in a stand-off, both assuming fraud, and both WRONG. I'm happy to see that cooler heads prevailed in this situation, and you both figured out what had gone wrong and will be able to correct it. The greater point here is that fraud is so rampant on ebay that it is leading people into situations such as this.
posted on November 26, 2001 08:13:41 AM new
Hi Jim, glad to hear that you were able to find out what became of those shipments. Sorry to hear the buyer never read emails on shipping, or recipient of mdse. never contacted you. Oh well, I guess you can not have it all. I am like you if someone sends me a $10.00 bill for a $9.99 item I do not refund the change. however, if they do purchase a money order or write a check and there is an overage I return it with the shipment, it happens rarely and it usually is either a quarter or a dollar, nothing in-between. The funniest thing happen to me I listed a Halloween item,mid September,(bid price + shipping $9.97) after 2 weeks and no response from the bidder I sent her an email stating that I have not heard from her and I do follow the process for filing through ebay. 5 days later I receive $9.97 in cash postage was 87 cents she paid with a $5.00 bill 4 singless one quarter the rest in dimes nickles, with a note stating if you follow the rules, you probably will wait for my check to clear and I will never have my Halloween item in time, so I am sending you the exact change, ship it right out. She spent 53 cents not to send the extra 3 cents and make it $10.00 even. When I went to email her that I received her money and it was going right out, I saw that she was narued, I emailed her anyway.
Hope all is well and my best thoughts for your Father's pending surgery.
Reenie
posted on November 26, 2001 02:08:54 PM new
I hate to say, I am glad to see, I am not the only one getting loons for bidders. I had a guy email me Thanksgiving day complaining that I over charged him $1.05 for postage. (And yes -- I always list the S& H in my auctions). Of course we are away for the Holiday weekend. I get a second email from him on Sunday, stating that I had shipped the item in a flimsy box so the USED train engine need the railing re-glued. (Priority Mail 6 x 6 x 6 box - you know the box that is probably the best they supply) and since I would not answer his emails over the holidays he is going give me negative feedback. And of course he did. When I responded to him about his emails and commented on the neg - he now claims All I doing is making excuses. I have been in the game way to long to let it get me upset. But I am seeing a trend on Ebay with bidders like this guy -- and he IS NOT a Newbie...
When you have a 7600 rating with only now 16 negs -- it really does not matter -- I Dream of the days when Ebay really had a Community of good sellers and buyers - instead of the loons of today.
posted on November 26, 2001 07:04:07 PM new
I got one this week from a guy who forgot to send payment, and finally got it in after a month. He was irate about the delay in shipping. (Go figure.)
