jensmome
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:18:31 AM new
Last Monday I mailed two small priority boxes out to winners. One contained a Birthday Care Bear mug and one had an opalescent rose bowl. Well, I mixed up the address labels. Friday I got a terse e-mail from the guy who won the bowl but got the mug. I asked him to let me try and work it out. So I e-mailed the other guy.As of this morning I had no response so I e-mailed again and pulled his contact info so I could call tonight if I still hadn't heard. The contact info is geographically off about 1000 miles! What would you folks do next?
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paloma91
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:26:54 AM new
OOOOH ! That is one of my worst nightmares!! I would suggest that you have them send the items back to you and either you refund them the cost of sending it back to you and reship to the correct person, You could have them send it on to the proper buyer but that is risky since you are not the one sending it out.
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Twelvepole
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:28:44 AM new
WELL IF YOU CAN'T REACH THEM BY PHONE, THEN THERE IS NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO, WONDER WHY ANYONE THAT WANTED A CARE BEAR MUG WOULD SETTLE FOR A BOWL?
ANYWAY... HOPE IT WORKS OUT FOR YOU... DOESN'T SPEAK WELL FOR BUYERS WHO KEEP THINGS THEY DIDN'T WIN.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND... 
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dadofstickboy
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:34:48 AM new
Contact them by phone
Get them to send the packages to each other.
And you pay them back the postage!
Have them use DC and supply you with # so you can confirm shipping & delivery!
[ edited by dadofstickboy on Feb 9, 2003 11:38 AM ]
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Twelvepole
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:37:49 AM new
DADOFSTICKBOY, NICE IDEA BUT THEN YOU ARE TRUSTING SOMEONE TO PACK AND SHIP AN ITEM YOU ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR... I WOULD JUST HAVE THEM RETURN THEM, PAY THE SHIPPING FOR THEM AND THEN SEND THEM OUT CORRECTLY.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND...
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dadofstickboy
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:42:02 AM new
True: But a lot of extra time & postage!
Also: If they send them back to you in a hap hazard mannor you are still responcible!
[ edited by dadofstickboy on Feb 9, 2003 11:43 AM ]
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gottaluve
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:54:48 AM new
I agree with dad. Actually I have made this awful mistake not once but twice since I have been selling. In both cases I had the two buyers ship direct to each other. I think they were happier because they receive their item much sooner then if the items came back to me. Also I stayed on top of it all the way. Finding out when one buyer ship, notifing the receiver, etc. A bit of a risk, yes. I was lucky, the people I dealt with were very accomodating and never got upset. In fact one customer is now a repeat buyer. I hope it works out for you.
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kiara
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posted on February 9, 2003 11:57:57 AM new
Last year I did this for the first (and hopefully last) time. I was fortunate enough to have an identical item to resend to the one bidder.
She offered to mail the package she had received to the other bidder as they lived quite close. I reluctantly agreed and sure enough, the pottery arrived smashed to pieces.
The other bidder that received the broken item said she was happy with the glass item she had received in error but I refunded her bid plus shipping and let her keep it anyways because of the trouble.
I had also paid extra to the other bidder to have her resend the package that broke.
Even though I received glowing positives from both bidders I hope I never screw up and do that again.
jensmome, keep trying to contact the other bidder. The one that received the rose bowl got the best package, right? Also e-mail the one that received the mug in error and reassure him that you will make good on the deal one way or another but to give you a bit of time. Good luck!
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Libra63
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posted on February 9, 2003 12:28:44 PM new
Look up your bidder in the yahoo white pages and see if the address matches the address you sent the box to. Then call 411 and get the telephone number.
Mistakes will happen. I dread the first time I do that. Good Luck
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jensmome
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posted on February 9, 2003 12:33:04 PM new
Thanks everyone. I'm going to call (or try to) the guy who got the bowl and isn't responding tonight. I'm pretty sure that the contact phone number is wrong since the sddresses don't match. If I don't get him on the phone and he doesn't e-mail me, should I turn him in for bad contact information??? I know that won't get me the bowl but it might get me satisfaction. Right now it looks like I'll have to refund the price of the bowl to make it right.
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dadofstickboy
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posted on February 9, 2003 12:36:24 PM new
Report bad info.
Will get him canned.
Then he'll contact you!
Things will work out.
A simple mix up not the end of the world.
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kiara
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posted on February 9, 2003 12:40:56 PM new
Remember that it is the weekend so the other bidder may be out of town or not at his computer. What does his feedback look like?
He may have moved since first registering with ebay and never updated his contact info.
Or since it was a Birthday mug he may have had you send it to another address as it was a gift.
Try again tomorrow before you start to think about a refund.
[ edited by kiara on Feb 9, 2003 12:44 PM ]
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hair2dye4
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posted on February 9, 2003 12:56:17 PM new
I agree with Kiara, could be out of town, don't panic to much, I did it too, it all worked out fine and I am much more careful now, hey mistakes happen don't worry and let us know how it works out for you, good luck.
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neonmania
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posted on February 9, 2003 01:06:30 PM new
::Report bad info.
Will get him canned.
Then he'll contact you!
Things will work out.
A simple mix up not the end of the world.::
If a seller did this to me because I didn't answer their email in one day you can bet that my willingness to help them straighten things out would plummet fast and dramatically. I definitly would not reccomend this course of action.
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sapington
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posted on February 9, 2003 01:17:57 PM new
Try doing a search by address for where you sent it and see if you get a listing with a phone number.
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rarriffle
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posted on February 9, 2003 01:39:37 PM new
I had this happen but it was the guy at UPS who switched the addresses. The items were collectible motorcycles and the two buyers agreed to contact and ship to each other,(I asked permission of both about giving emails to the other buyer) then I paid for the extra shipping and UPS reimbursed me for that.
It took a few days to contact the second buyer because he travels in his business and wasn't home when the package initially arrived, so be patient for a couple of days.
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maggielane
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posted on February 9, 2003 01:42:14 PM new
This is always a difficult situation. About 50% do not work out correctly. I did one around Christmas time. After I emailed the person who received it, they emailed me back and said they opened the box and accidently dropped it and it broke. I do not believe it. It was a nice item, and they probably kept it. But what power did I have. I just gave a refund to the person I sold it to.
I generally try to get the item to the person, but it depends a lot on how coperative the person I accidently shipped the item to is. Some people are real jerks about this, others will go way out of their way to help you. I sent one guy a couple of extra of $$ for his handling, and they sent it back to me. Another wanted $10 handling, they did forward the item on to the right person, but it took them a couple of weeks.
We are working on a system to improve these types of problems, but shipping 400 items a month it is very easy to do.
"For I know the plans I have for you." says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 21:11
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dadofstickboy
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posted on February 9, 2003 02:05:18 PM new
neonmania:
If his contact info is bad,it needs to be reported.
If it's not bad nothing will happen.
You wouldn't recommend this, then how would you get the proper info?
You can't sit around wondering and waiting!
[ edited by dadofstickboy on Feb 9, 2003 02:06 PM ]
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Libra63
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posted on February 9, 2003 02:19:55 PM new
Everyone needs to sit and relax. Don't you understand everything happens on a Friday and then nothing can be done until Monday. Maybe the buyer is out of town, There are so many if's. I understand the other buyer is upset. Well, he has to relax also. Buyers unlike sellers do not sit at their computers. There is another possibility that the other buyer has not received the package yet. Did you have DC on it and if so see if it was delivered. Good Luck
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neonmania
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posted on February 9, 2003 03:20:50 PM new
Dad - It's a weekend. Some people actually take a day off (I know that we as sellers are not allowed to since I was negged for not answering an email one Saturday - I also know that I did not correct the persons problem since they left me with no inspiration to do so). To suggest that you have someones account frozen because they don't answe email one weekend is just a tad harsh isn't it? Couldn't you simply wait a couple days, give them a chance to reply and send them a reminder their info needed to be updated. Also , as someone else suggested, perhaps the item was a gift being sent to the recipient and not the buyer but you quick assumption and rush to action has now put the buyer at the mercy of eBays customer service department, ensured a neg for you and eliminated any posibility of a repeat customer.
Remember - although it may seem that way sometimes - not every buyer is scum. They are afterall the ones putting the money in our pockets.
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dadofstickboy
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posted on February 9, 2003 03:54:06 PM new
Couldn't you simply wait a couple days, give them a chance to reply and send them a reminder their info needed to be updated
Reply to What? If their contact info is no good what would they be replying to?
Since you could not contact them in the first place!
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neonmania
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posted on February 9, 2003 04:29:15 PM new
::Couldn't you simply wait a couple days, give them a chance to reply and send them a reminder their info needed to be updated
Reply to What? If their contact info is no good what would they be replying to? ::
Her email - The info that she is saying is wrong (actually just different from the one she shipped to) in the contact is the PHYSICAL address not the email address.
The email just hasn't been responded to, it's not being returned as undeliverable.
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Libra63
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posted on February 9, 2003 06:03:47 PM new
see how quick we are to judge when someone doesn't answer an email immediately, but get that immediate neg from a newbie and right away everyone is complaining. Some people have lives out of eBay. Believe it or not.
Do you have outlook express? Under the tools menu there is a request read receipt. Check that box and if the buyer opens up the mail that you are going to send and the buyer checks the box that says you want a receipt you will get a response back. I hope I said that right. Good Luck
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jensmome
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posted on February 10, 2003 08:55:33 AM new
UPDATE:
I finally heard from the guy with the bad contact information. He's mailing the rose bowl back to me. I e-mailed the other guy and asked that he send the mug to me, too. I told them both I'd reimburse them the costs of mailing.
So we'll see what happens next.
Thanks to everyone for the advice. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's done this. It's also great to have a place where, when you do screw up, saner heads can prevail.
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stormypetr
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posted on February 10, 2003 01:59:44 PM new
I have had this happen as well. If they have not opened the package, they can put "Return to Sender" on it and it won't cost anything for shipping back to you. I even had one person who did open the package but they were able to make it look like they hadn't and USPS sent it back to me without charging her.
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zathras11
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posted on February 10, 2003 10:02:43 PM new
Wrap and address your packages ONE AT A TIME!
---
"Cannot say. Saying, I would know. Do not
know, so cannot say". -- Zathras (Babylon 5)
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