posted on July 4, 2003 01:31:31 PM new
I've had a major family event scheduled for this week for quite a long time, and I knew I would be too busy to deal with eBay, so I made sure all my auctions were timed accordingly. By Friday of last week, I had all outstanding auctions cleared and shipped except for one late-payer, who I had already contacted to explain that - due to late payment - their shipment would also be late. He was cool with it.
Today, I logged on to my email for the first time in three or four days and found SIX emails from a past bidder. ... from a transaction that had been completed (paid, shipped, pos. FB exchanged) almost a month ago. It seems she finally got around to counting her widgets, which were sold in a lot of 25, and now she's claiming she's a few widgets short.
This is pretty much impossible. I use a mechanical counting device AND a scale, and always throw in a few extra for good measure. My suspicion is that she under-estimated the amount of material she'd need for her project and is trying to extract the difference.
Here's the problem: The widgets are worth [/i]maybe[/i] 50 cents apiece. That's retail; I paid much less, and her winning bid worked out to about 30 cents each. Cost to mail any number of them, including mailer and postage, is about $1. So basically, it's not worth the shipping cost.
As I see it, I have three options:
1) Tell her to go pound sand, politely or otherwise. She's already left me feedback, so that's not something she can hold out, and I am as close to certain as I can be that I did not shortchange her.
2) Eat the postage, and mail her the extra widgets. This is what she wants. It would be a huge hassle, I'd have to break a package, and I wouldn't be able to do it until Monday at the earliest.
3) Refund her, pro-rated, via Paypal. If she has a premier or business account, this would cost her 30 cents on a 60-cent transaction, which has some appeal....
My gut is telling me go with No. 1. But my head is saying this chick could be trouble and it might be worth a dollar and change to get rid of her quickly. She's already threatening to "turn me in" for bad contact info and fraud.
I sent her a quick email just letting her know my situation and that I would be getting back to her later. She did eventually register that I was on vacation from reading my "about me" page, so she now knows why I haven't responded.
-------------------
We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
[ edited by msincognito on Jul 4, 2003 01:34 PM ]
posted on July 4, 2003 01:56:02 PM new
I concur with Sarniflower. The buyer has a responsibility to contact you shortly after receiving shipment if there is a problem. A month is way to long to wait.
Block her and move on.
There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
posted on July 4, 2003 02:10:16 PM new
I'd refund the difference msincognito. That way, you've given her the benefit of doubt and remained the good dealer that you are. If she needs more widgets to complete her project, she might be back.
posted on July 4, 2003 02:13:07 PM new
I agree with Kraftdinner.
Every now and then a kook comes along and when it happens it's easier to just mail the extra widgets and pay the postage which in this case is not worth haggling over.
Maybe she dropped a few widgets while unpacking the box? Some kooks are blind and clumsy. LOL!
posted on July 5, 2003 02:34:29 AM new
If she had contacted you sooner, (and I were you), I might be more than willing to do the good dealer thing, but a month later? uh-uhn! Amazing the get-overs out there!!
posted on July 5, 2003 02:15:26 PM new
Well, for once we had a happy ending.
I did the "nice" thing and sent her an email, offering to send a partial refund ... and also explaining, tactfully (I hope), why I was pretty sure she got at least 25 of the widgets in the first shipment. Her response was actually reasonable - she asked if I'd be willing to sell her another set of 25 at the auction price. I said sure, and took $1 off the price she paid before. Considering fees, etc. this cost me less than the amount I would have refunded her, so it probably worked out pretty well. I can only guess that the strident tone of some of her emails was generated by the fact that I didn't answer her quickly enough.
Thanks sarniaflower, max40 and neroter12 for the moral support and helenjw and kraftdinner for restoring my sense of balance.
I was just sitting here prepping auctions to start next week and I just realized I so don't want to dive back in again. I think I'm extending my "vacation" by another week....Fortunately, I just got a big order from one of my website customers so I can afford it. Most of my regular customers have moved from eBay to the website, it seems.
-------------------
We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
[ edited by msincognito on Jul 5, 2003 02:17 PM ]
