Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

txwoodworker · May 21, 2013

Here's something I thought you would all find funny. Had a buyer send be a very sincere email, saying sorry the shirt was too small didn't realize it, please cancel my order. All sounded fine, thought it was odd that someone with almost 2000 feedback would make a rookie mistake. So I looked at his feedback, checked the items he recently bought, and he's bought not one, not 2, but 5 other shirts the same size in the past couple weeks. So he was completely full of **** and just either out of money or decided he didn't want it. I will cancel his order, because... why not, right? It's a great shirt, it'll sell. Plus, as everyone says here, the buyer really does have the upper hand, and I don't want negative things on my feedback. I did send him a response to his cancel request with links to the 5 other shirts he just bought.

My response:
You do realize I can see in your feedback that you've bought 5 shirts around this size in the past couple weeks?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290912865320
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330918607729
http://www.ebay.com/itm/360646205829
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181129895681
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200918119409

Is there a way for him to formally request that I cancel the transaction, and not just a message?

I can see myself getting really jaded, really quick with these idiots.

Brianpore · May 21, 2013

txwoodworker said:
Here's something I thought you would all find funny. Had a buyer send be a very sincere email, saying sorry the shirt was too small didn't realize it, please cancel my order. All sounded fine, thought it was odd that someone with almost 2000 feedback would make a rookie mistake. So I looked at his feedback, checked the items he recently bought, and he's bought not one, not 2, but 5 other shirts the same size in the past couple weeks. So he was completely full of **** and just either out of money or decided he didn't want it. I will cancel his order, because... why not, right? It's a great shirt, it'll sell. Plus, as everyone says here, the buyer really does have the upper hand, and I don't want negative things on my feedback. I did send him a response to his cancel request with links to the 5 other shirts he just bought.

My response:
You do realize I can see in your feedback that you've bought 5 shirts around this size in the past couple weeks?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290912865320
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330918607729
http://www.ebay.com/itm/360646205829
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181129895681
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200918119409

Is there a way for him to formally request that I cancel the transaction, and not just a message?

I can see myself getting really jaded, really quick with these idiots.

Um... yea if you don't want neg comments, I wouldn't antagonize people. Just suck it up and move on as you said its a nice shirt that will sell.....or you'll be getting neg comments if you keep doing stuff like that. Just my honest opinion.

Take a deep breath, take a step back and think "what's my benefit if I do this".... showing him you know he's lying is to no ones benefit as your going to cancel the transaction anyway.

txwoodworker · May 21, 2013

Ok, so his response. What an asshat.

so ur not letting me out?
cant let one slide? i asked for a favor and appoloized for it. i just have had bad luck with preowned shirts and size is important. the sleeve length has either been to short or the length of shirt to long. let me know id appreciate a break

idiots the lot of them.

tben · May 21, 2013

txwoodworker said:
Ok, so his response. What an asshat.

so ur not letting me out?
cant let one slide? i asked for a favor and appoloized for it. i just have had bad luck with preowned shirts and size is important. the sleeve length has either been to short or the length of shirt to long. let me know id appreciate a break

idiots the lot of them.

green_machine · May 21, 2013

If you want to be a serious seller you have to (99% of the time) accept returns for all reasons. There is no option. If you complain to the buyer you are only making more issues for yourself. If it really bothers you, charge an extra $.50 of shipping on every item to cover the lost shipping on the 1 out of 20 items that would be returned.

This way you still get good feedback in the end and will have repeat customers. I have done this and get the best, most personal feedback.

It's annoying dealing with dumb misinformed people who can't read but at least on ebay you don't have to physically talk to these idiots. Treat them nice in a message (while you "mother F-" them to yourself) and it will all work out.

hooker4186 · May 22, 2013

I'm a pretty low volume seller (200 transactions or so in the past year) and I've only had one return in spite of accepting returns on most items, and it was a situation where I had only included a tagged size and not measurements so my bad.

In other news, I just had a successful transaction for the most expensive item I've ever sold - a high end guitar I just couldn't justify keeping around any longer as I rarely play and am not so great when I do. I breathed quite the sigh of relief on getting the positive feedback. Not everyone out there is a scumbag - most are just like us looking for a good deal on cool stuff.

capnwes · May 22, 2013

hooker4186 said:
In other news, I just had a successful transaction for the most expensive item I've ever sold - a high end guitar I just couldn't justify keeping around any longer as I rarely play and am not so great when I do. I breathed quite the sigh of relief on getting the positive feedback. Not everyone out there is a scumbag - most are just like us looking for a good deal on cool stuff.

Looking to offload a few from my personal collection. How did you ship it?

hooker4186 · May 22, 2013

capnwes said:
Looking to offload a few from my personal collection. How did you ship it?

UPS ground. It ended up being very expensive - about $150, but I don't trust my local post office (or USPS in general when it comes to shipping), and I wanted to make sure I took every precaution 1.) for full replacement value ($4,000) and 2.) to demonstrate that I took every precaution possible in order to hopefully ensure positive feedback in the case of any issue.

They recommended sending it 2nd day air, but it would have doubled the cost and I couldn't afford it (and I had specified ground in the listing so the buyer should have been aware of that aspect of things).

I paid a UPS store locally here that I've had good experience with to pack it, as that would guarantee payout for the full replacement value in case of any damages vs. just a percentage of value if I had packed it - that service was about $35 I think, the rest was insurance and shipping. Again, expensive, but I built that into my shipping and asking price.

I would say though that if you can, avoid going through eBay and try to either find someone local or through guitar forums - the eBay/Paypal fees bite really adds up.

Overall I still came out with about a $200 profit on what I paid for the guitar three years ago, and I enjoyed playing it while I had it so it's definitely a win. Most of my stress came from the fact that I rarely sell anything for more than maybe $200 if I'm lucky, so sending something out the door for much more led to quite a nervewracking week!

capnwes · May 22, 2013

hooker4186 said:
UPS ground. It ended up being very expensive - about $150, but I don't trust my local post office (or USPS in general when it comes to shipping), and I wanted to make sure I took every precaution 1.) for full replacement value ($4,000) and 2.) to demonstrate that I took every precaution possible in order to hopefully ensure positive feedback in the case of any issue.

They recommended sending it 2nd day air, but it would have doubled the cost and I couldn't afford it (and I had specified ground in the listing so the buyer should have been aware of that aspect of things).

I paid a UPS store locally here that I've had good experience with to pack it, as that would guarantee payout for the full replacement value in case of any damages vs. just a percentage of value if I had packed it - that service was about $35 I think, the rest was insurance and shipping. Again, expensive, but I built that into my shipping and asking price.

I would say though that if you can, avoid going through eBay and try to either find someone local or through guitar forums - the eBay/Paypal fees bite really adds up.

Overall I still came out with about a $200 profit on what I paid for the guitar three years ago, and I enjoyed playing it while I had it so it's definitely a win. Most of my stress came from the fact that I rarely sell anything for more than maybe $200 if I'm lucky, so sending something out the door for much more led to quite a nervewracking week!

Ok, thanks. I have thought about listing a few of them in the past, but was too worried about them getting damaged in shipping. An experienced guitar buyer should know to expect higher shipping costs, and in my book, should prefer them to ensure it arrives in one piece. I still don't know if I'm ready to let any of them go just yet, but the 18 of them don't exactly fit nicely in our home. Not to mention, I haven't really played in a few years. Ideally, I'd like to get the collection down to 2 or 3.

Brianpore · May 22, 2013

hooker4186 said:
Quote:
Have done the same thing myself. Having UPS handle the transaction start to finish really helps although it costs a bit more.

HansderHund · May 23, 2013

I had a guy open a case against me because the shoes didn't fit. They're UK sizing and I used an approximate EU size (required by ebay). The listing clearly indicated that they're UK sized, pictures were shown of the size and exact measurements of length/width of the insole were provided.

Anyway, he said they were not as described and wanted a refund. In the name of customer service, I said that's no problem, just ship them to me and I'll issue you a refund of the original cost (they had free shipping).

He just got back to me and said a few things...

1. That it was my fault that they were "not as described"
2. Since he was required to pay before they were shipped, he won't return them until he receives the money
3. I should be on the hook for return shipping

Well, clearly I disagree with everything he says. However, to simplify matters, I'm just going to go with it. I'll refund his money and pay for return shipping (from Germany, no less). The sticking point is that he is insistant that I return his money first even though I stated that it's ebay policy to return the shoes first. In all honesty, I trust that he'll send them, but I still want to follow protocol.

I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place. If I insist that he send the shoes before a refund is issued, I have the strong feeling he'll leave negative feedback. I feel like I have a chance to save this thing if I go by his word.

Any advice?

I know I should insist that he ship the shoes, but I'm torn.

Orgetorix · May 23, 2013

HansderHund said:
I had a guy open a case against me because the shoes didn't fit. They're UK sizing and I used an approximate EU size (required by ebay). The listing clearly indicated that they're UK sized, pictures were shown of the size and exact measurements of length/width of the insole were provided.

Anyway, he said they were not as described and wanted a refund. In the name of customer service, I said that's no problem, just ship them to me and I'll issue you a refund of the original cost (they had free shipping).

He just got back to me and said a few things...

1. That it was my fault that they were "not as described"
2. Since he was required to pay before they were shipped, he won't return them until he receives the money
3. I should be on the hook for return shipping

Well, clearly I disagree with everything he says. However, to simplify matters, I'm just going to go with it. I'll refund his money and pay for return shipping (from Germany, no less). The sticking point is that he is insistant that I return his money first even though I stated that it's ebay policy to return the shoes first. In all honesty, I trust that he'll send them, but I still want to follow protocol.

I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place. If I insist that he send the shoes before a refund is issued, I have the strong feeling he'll leave negative feedback. I feel like I have a chance to save this thing if I go by his word.

Any advice?

I know I should insist that he ship the shoes, but I'm torn.

Is it possible to do two partial refunds? Refund him the shipping charge, or even half the total, before he ships, and the rest after you get them back.

VLSI · May 23, 2013

Is a negative feedback worth more to you than the price of the shoes? When's the last time amazon or whatever other retailer refunded someone for a return before receiving the item?

capnwes · May 23, 2013

Heck no! Item not returned yet = money not refunded yet...period!

HansderHund · May 23, 2013

Orgetorix said:
Is it possible to do two partial refunds? Refund him the shipping charge, or even half the total, before he ships, and the rest after you get them back.

VLSI said:
Is a negative feedback worth more to you than the price of the shoes? When's the last time amazon or whatever other retailer refunded someone for a return before receiving the item?

Both great comments.

Orgetorix: I like that idea, maybe that would satisfy him that he's going to get his money?

VLSI: I kept repeating that to myself when I read his response that he was firm on not sending them back. I'm the seller ("retailer"), he's the buyer. That's how it works. I am fairly convinced he'll go through with sending them (simply based on his eloquence/job title), but I'm afraid something bizarre would happen. Something like they're lost in transit, then I'm reliant on him to claim the insurance and pay me.

Negative feedback shouldn't be this big of a concern, in my opinion. However, I don't have a large number of feedbacks (in ebay terms) and a negative would hurt. I got my first from someone a few months ago that simply wrote "never delivered the item." When in fact I had tracking that showed otherwise and they never responded to follow-up messages.

It's just a pain **********...thank you for your comments/suggestions!

EDIT: Thanks Wes! Missed your comment while I was typing!

Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

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