posted on April 9, 2002 11:35:42 AM new
I have received 3 payments in the last week through paypal in response to my AW WBN. (3 out of 20 isn't horrible, but enough to note)
In each of these instances, the shipping fees were selected in the response to the WBN, but were underpaid at the paypal site. I have had to send emails to inform them to send more money, but this costs me additional Paypal fees (2 transaction fees instead of 1).
Has this happened to anyone else out there? Do I add the additional fees for Paypal to the total requested? Any insight at all?
posted on April 9, 2002 12:03:41 PM new
This has happened to me several times. Either the shipping is under paid or the state sales tax is not included. I simply refund the Paypal transaction and ask them to resend the proper amount. This way you do not get hit with the extra Paypal fee.
posted on April 9, 2002 12:34:12 PM new
This practice seems to be on the increase and it makes me grumpy. Think about it: if you buy a lot, shorting each seller by 50 cents or so can add up to tremendous savings. Many will ship anyway since it is not worth it to hassle about such a small amount. And, many sellers are so darn scared of getting a neg, that they'll give you the stuff for free if you play your cards right.
To all buyers who think this will work with me: THINK AGAIN. I don't play like that.
I agree with Marc: if the payment is via PayPal, simply refund them and ask for the proper amount. You can invoice them, if you want.
The ones through the mail are a bit more problematic. If the amount is small I usually let it go. I might spit on their package, but that's about it. If the amount is larger, I email them to send the difference. My first email is friendly: "I think you may have confused me with another eBay seller. The amount owed to me is $XXX......etc."
If they don't comply, I have no problem cancelling the whole transaction, filing for FVF credit and negging. "The customer is always right" only applies to CUSTOMERS---the people who pay for their purchases. Not deadbeats and scammers. Let someone else get their "repeat business".
posted on April 9, 2002 12:38:08 PM new
I am glad that I am not the only one. I had forgotten about the 'refund' option.. I thought it still charged me for the transaction. Does it not charge anyone at all for the transaction then?
Boy am I glad I have found this forum. The one on ebay is too busy with just plain chatters that stuff like this gets overlooked.
posted on April 9, 2002 01:54:44 PM new
When you go into the details of the transaction in Paypal you can refund and all the fees are reversed. There is a space to send a note to the buyer as well.
Same thing happened to me, seems to go spurts. Refunding and asking for full amount in a pleasant way worked for me everytime and with apologies.
posted on April 9, 2002 01:58:36 PM new
The refund button is there for five days only, so if a buyer shorts you just send back the entire payment and have them resend the correct amount.
posted on April 9, 2002 02:04:53 PM new
I would refund (it does not cost you anything in fees to do this) and tell them they need to send the correct amount. This has happened to me only a couple of times, and I always go from the assumption that it was just an oversight on their part, I would never accuse anyone of shorting the total on purpose...
posted on April 9, 2002 02:30:43 PM new
Just send them a Paypal payment request.
And tell them the item will not be shipped till payment is received! Let them know it's for the extra shipping cost.
posted on April 9, 2002 08:22:56 PM new
mypostingid said-If the amount is small I usually let it go. I might spit on their package, but that's about it.
///////////////////////////////////
My deceased father in law once commented on bugs found in flour,he said it does not hurt to add a little protein to your carbohydrate diet!!!!!!
cyber humor??
posted on April 10, 2002 05:51:53 AM new
Double-check your default PayPal settings. There is an option to set one shipping rate for all auctions. It may be popping up if they are using the PP smart logo.
I use this button to pay auctions and do not double check to make sure it matches the auction -- because of PP's refund feature, I'm sure a seller can contact me if payment is short.
posted on April 10, 2002 06:23:58 AM new
Don't even get me started on the subject! I have this problem with my international customers from time to time. The US folks rarely pay the sales tax.
posted on April 10, 2002 07:43:56 AM newThe ones through the mail are a bit more problematic. If the amount is small I usually let it go.
As an eBay seller, I used to let it go, figuring, why sweat the small stuff? Now I don't. They don't need to send me coinage to make up the difference; I take unused postage stamps too. But I do want the entire amount due.
It's a game some people play. I've started playing it with my landlord since he decided to nickel-and-dime me to death under the strict terms of the lease. Used to be I'd pay the rent on the first. But there's no penalty until the tenth, so now it gets paid on the ninth. Plus, he's always thinking of ways to improve his building at my expense, so there's usually an extra amount due for something or another. "Sorry, it's been a rough eBay month, not sure when I'll be able to pay it." Such payments aren't covered in the lease, so he has no recourse.
Being in business for myself has taught me a lot about human nature, and I thought I knew it all already. In line at PG&E, the woman in front of me had a 7-day notice $45 bill she had to pay or they would cut off her power. She asked the clerk what the minimum was (this was on a three-month overdue bill) to keep her power on. The clerk said, "$15". The woman pulls out a thick roll of twenties and peels one off. Before she gives it to the clerk, she makes sure she won't get another 7-day notice for another couple of months. I was astonished that a partial payment was even allowed on a bill that long overdue.
I go to the library to check out some books. I'm a lazy sod about returning them, usually, so I almost always have a fine due. (I figure they use fines to buy new books, which is OK by me.) The librarian says, "Your fine is $6.00. Would you like to pay it all today?"
"You mean I don't have to?"
"No, you can pay $1 today."
I gave her the six bucks anyway, then wondered later if I was a sap for doing it. If you can pay $1 and still check books out while merrily running up a huge fine balance, then why not? Will the library police come after you?
I've started wondering what else one can skate by on making only partial payments. But it looks like some eBay customers are way ahead of me in that category already.
posted on April 10, 2002 12:38:04 PM new
When this happens, I either require the
balance be sent before shipment (if paid
via an on-line service my TOS states buyer
pays second fee if the send amount other
than I quoted), or in a few cases, where the
item qualifies, I inform them I will mail
via a slower method instead. I've eaten
those underpayments in the past, and they
add up. I won't do so anymore... :^)
Z
---
"Cannot say. Saying, I would know. Do not
know, so cannot say". -- Zathras (Babylon 5)
[ edited by zathras11 on Apr 10, 2002 12:38 PM ]
posted on April 10, 2002 02:44:35 PM new
Here is a good one. My buyer sends me a check that is written as $120.00 in the box, but has $100.00 on the line. So I email her and tell her that the bank will only accept it for what is written on the line. She emails me back and says she will stick a $20 check in the mail. $20 is what the shipping charge was for a heavy set of glasses. Anyhow, 2 1/2 weeks go by, and nothing. She says she has sent it, but I haven't received it yet. She actually had asked me to ship it to her while her other check was on the way. Yeah, right... Anyhow, the box still sits waiting for final payment. I don't think she intended to rip me off, but as time goes on, it only makes me wonder.
posted on April 10, 2002 02:48:23 PM new
Yeah, mismatched amounts, checks that aren't signed...it makes you wonder.
I once got an envelope that hadn't been sealed shut. No check. Emailed customer, who insisted she sent the check. Fine, then it fell out and you'll have to send me another, OK?
This went on for weeks. She never did, and she was a good customer up to that point.
posted on April 11, 2002 08:31:34 PM new
Its never been much of a problem for me - I did forget to enter a shipping cost when I built a few listings on Auctionwatch I set the choice available to Priority and didnt put the cost in the block - Auction checkout listed it as 0.00 for priority shipping and thats what my customer selected. I just shipped it anyhow, my mistake.
posted on April 12, 2002 05:37:24 AM new
fluffythewondercat, please be careful of what you say about overdue library books:
[i]
April 12, 2002
Overdue Books Bring Jail Time
By REUTERS
AZLETON, Pa., April 11 — A 24-year-old woman was jailed this week after the local public library got tired of waiting for $120 in late fees for three books.
"I don't recall this ever happening before," the director of the Hazleton Public Library, James Reimiller, said today. "It's the only way some people will return their books."
The woman, Theresa Dawn Keller, never returned three books she borrowed in September 2000, including a "Star Trek" novel and "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf," by the self-help writer Leo Buscaglia.
Under library policy, unreturned books with fines of $50 or more become subject to the state criminal code after three months, and collection is turned over to a district magistrate. Fines include the cost of the unreturned books, the cost of their replacements and a $10 processing fee for each.
Ms. Keller moved several times after borrowing the books and recently listed a halfway house as her residence. She was jailed on Monday in lieu of $750 bail.
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
[/i]
[ edited by kahml on Apr 12, 2002 05:37 AM ]
posted on April 12, 2002 06:48:34 PM new
Gots to say. I returned the payment of the most recent person to do this the other day. This person has yet to answer my emails or resond at all. Wondering if I should have kept the money and just sent a new bill with the Paypal fees included in it.
Oh well, live and learn.
My local library had me on one book that I had never heard or, nor would I have ever checked it out. They still won't let me check out books there. (been way over 10 years)
posted on April 13, 2002 07:40:41 AM new
We live in a very wealthy area, the San Francisco peninsula. I think that has much to do with the casual attitude of the librarians towards fines. Our library is, to all appearances, extremely well-funded and doesn't suffer from many of the problems I've seen elsewhere. It has the feel of a private country club.
Across the street from the library is the new City Hall, where all horizontal surfaces are done either in marble or granite, and no expense was spared to ensure the comfort and gratification of city workers. All this opulence comes at a price: my office rent is twice as much as my mortgage.
Speaking of chronic underpayment, I received a $7.99 money order last week for a $14.99 payment. Wrote to the buyer, who chastised me angrily for not having read my email where she supposedly told me she had sent me the wrong money order and would be making up the remainder of the payment with another. Funny, I never received that email.
Well, I got the second money order yesterday and guess what, kiddies: the postmark was *after* she chewed me out.
Let's see if this strategy would work out on average. Let's say I buy 6 items from different sellers on eBay, and let's say for argument's sake that each purchase is $14.99.
I send each seller a money order for $7.99. Let's say 1 out of the 6 doesn't notice the underpayment or doesn't care. The other 5 want the rest of their money tout suite, so I buy five more money orders for $7.00 each, which costs me $4.25 in money order fees. It's another $1.70 in postage to send the supplementary money orders (unless of course I use my employer's postage meter).
I was ahead $7.00 from the one seller who didn't care about the underpayment, so:
7.00 - 4.25 - 1.70 = $1.05
The result is I gain $1.05.
If 2 out of the 6 sellers don't notice the underpayment:
14.00 - 3.40 - 1.36 = $9.24.
Yow!
It gets even better if I use personal checks instead of money orders. There I'm just out the second 34 cent stamp for the eagle-eyed sellers who spot me trying to cheat them.
One last comment for those who've read this far:
Obviously a strategy of chronically underpaying would not work with established real-world businesses. You give the Starbucks barrista $1 for your $2.40 latte and he will just stare at you and perhaps tap his tiny foot impatiently. You hand the Barnes and Noble "I'm too cool for real retail" clerk a tenner for the $17.95 copy of _Shop Till You Drop in Paris_ you need for your upcoming trip and she'll most likely yawn, displaying her tongue piercing.
We all know that there are people who want something for nothing (and even believe they deserve it). Should we be surprised that there are people who have sussed out how to get something for nearly nothing and that eBay is their fave hangout?
posted on April 13, 2002 09:06:16 AM new
There are many large businesses that follow that method of payment for huge accounts in tens of thousands of dollars. The vendors are trapped in needing the account and so desperate they won't cut off the flow of parts or material.
Whaen you know your company is doing that best to quit because they almost always go out of business within 6 nonths leaving the whole crew hanging for their last two weeks pay.
I saw one mold shop in Sterling Hts do that and someone followed the President of the company home and emptied a 9mm automatic weapon through his Lincoln when he stopped at a light. Looked like the proverbial swiss cheese.
posted on April 14, 2002 07:39:43 AM new
I had 2 in one week that didn't include their shipping fees. One was for a paint sprayer and he paid with billpoint after he sent out 4 "ebay request the total" emails at 2:00 in the morning. He paid at 2:40 in the morning and left out the shipping stating he "thought it including shipping since it wasn't mentioned anywhere". This auction was literally 4 sentences long, the last sentence being Buyer to pay $6.50 for priority shipping. He sent me a check after I mailed it out. The other person also "forgot to put in the shipping" on an ebay checkout/billpoint form. It's a pain to send out another billpoint form so she also sent me a check. At least they were honest enough to send the money. Both items were ones I have relisted so many times I was just glad to have them out of my house.
posted on April 14, 2002 08:23:39 AM new
My recent headache with the person that I had refunded their money, I hadn't heard anything for over quite a few days, so I sent a paypal 'request money' for the total due plus the complete shipping and handling. This was responded to almost immediately. I received her money again, the same shorted amount she had sent the first time. I sent her an email letting her know that it was apparent that she didn't want the item shipped priority mail, so I would send the package the cheapest rate I could find.
.