Need some EBay selling advice?

[Kenxxx]

14 hours ago, Armor said:

...I bought some 10697 and then sold them. All the boxes weighed the same .

I think you probably were attacked by a "low profit scammer"... the guy probably opened his big box of Lego, played with them a bit, and then decided... you know... this ain't worth the $80 I paid... I want a discount. So he tried to squeeze one out of you.  He knows if you offer the return, you'll be out the sale, another $15 in shipping, and have a partial box of Lego 10697. He figures he could get $15 or $20 from you, that's why he did not demand a return up front... he just said, "Please advise."

If you don't want to pay the shakedown, then the best thing to do is offer the full return, no questions asked. He can't give you negative feedback on an item he didn't pay for.  There's a 50/50 chance the buyer will have a change of heart and do nothing at this point.  If he does return it, take it on the chin like a man, and enjoy the new Lego bricks in your collection.

If you haven't done so already, I would strongly urge you not to reply "aggressively" to the negative feedback.  As a buyer, nothing looks more suspicious to me than a seller who responds to every negative feedback saying things like, "This guy is nuts,... This lady is a scammer,... This other kid is a liar..."  The feedback he left is pretty damning. Best to reply with something like... "My mistake, I thought I had fixed the issue. Please accept my offer of a refund."  (Of course, he will never take you up on that).

[Kenxxx]

On 2/25/2016 at 7:56 PM, Kenxxx said:

I have an old piece of junk toy that my son grew out of (non-Lego). Sell it, throw it in the trash, I don't care. Saw them going for $50 or $60 on eBay, so decided to put it up there for $70 OBO. Had a buyer offer $50, so within 15 minutes, I accepted the offer. Within 60 seconds, the buyer sent a message, "I need to cancel my order. I found something better at a better price." What are we kids, here? At first I thought, "OK... I'll cancel it... but let's not respond right away. Let's make her sweat for a day or two. She should learn that she can't pull this monkey business."  A few days later, eBay automatically opened the Unpaid Item case. And I thought... "You know... let's make her sweat a little more. Let's see what happens."  Just now she sent me a message, "I have contacted you twice to cancel my purchase...I found a better item... I still had two days on your product and I emailed you as soon as I needed to cancel it. I do not understand why this hasn't been done."

I have half a mind to reply, "Do you see those words next to the 'Submit Offer' that say: By clicking Submit offer, you are agreeing to and entering into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller."?  This woman has been on eBay for 8 years, and she thinks she can just cancel accepted offers willy-nilly?  I don't think she's going to pay, and demand the item... I have half a mind to do nothing and say nothing. Let the clock run out and give her an unpaid item strike. Is there a downside in this for me?

Follow up on my own story... I leaned against most of the advice I got here. I decided to "take a stand" on this one, and let the eBay case run it's course.  The (non)buyer got an unpaid item strike, and nothing bad happened to me.  Crazy side note tho: When the item was automatically relisted on eBay, within 24 hours I had another very similar offer to the one I had accepted before. So I accepted the new offer and... hmmm... the new buyer lives not 15 minutes from the buyer I had just 'dinged' with the unpaid item strike.  I'm thinking this is her cousin or friend for sure, and they are now going to do something to "get back" at me. But what can I do? I accepted the offer, they paid... gotta ship right?  So I just made sure to do the best I could, wrapped everything in bubble wrap, took photos, shipped promptly, tried to make sure there was nothing they could complain about. And... everything's fine. The new buyer has already given me positive feedback.  Just a coincidence, I guess.

But lesson learned.  Try to never get in a dispute with a customer. Sure, I "won", but took unnecessary risk and spent too much time worrying about this. So even if you win, you lose. As a seller, if it's not likely to cost you $100's of dollars, it's usually better to just swallow your pride, give the other side what they want, and move on.

[msdontplay01]

2 hours ago, Kenxxx said:

Follow up on my own story... I leaned against most of the advice I got here. I decided to "take a stand" on this one, and let the eBay case run it's course.  The (non)buyer got an unpaid item strike, and nothing bad happened to me.  Crazy side note tho: When the item was automatically relisted on eBay, within 24 hours I had another very similar offer to the one I had accepted before. So I accepted the new offer and... hmmm... the new buyer lives not 15 minutes from the buyer I had just 'dinged' with the unpaid item strike.  I'm thinking this is her cousin or friend for sure, and they are now going to do something to "get back" at me. But what can I do? I accepted the offer, they paid... gotta ship right?  So I just made sure to do the best I could, wrapped everything in bubble wrap, took photos, shipped promptly, tried to make sure there was nothing they could complain about. And... everything's fine. The new buyer has already given me positive feedback.  Just a coincidence, I guess.

But lesson learned.  Try to never get in a dispute with a customer. Sure, I "won", but took unnecessary risk and spent too much time worrying about this. So even if you win, you lose. As a seller, if it's not likely to cost you $100's of dollars, it's usually better to just swallow your pride, give the other side what they want, and move on.

I absolutely think you did the right thing Ken.  I was hoping you would stand strong and let the case play out.  There was nothing to worry about here.  A buyer made you an offer, you accepted, and then they failed to pay.  If buyers are issued an unpaid item strike, they are not allowed to leave feedback.  The system automatically prevents it.  Think about it, how in the world are they able to leave feedback for a transaction they did not even pay for?

As a seller, if it's not likely to cost you $100's of dollars, it's usually better to just swallow your pride, give the other side what they want, and move on.

I really, really disagree with the above statement.  I have always provided excellent customer service but I have never believed that the customer is always right.  In this case, they were not.  They failed to pay for the item they made an offer on.  No problem with that, but I would not have cancelled this transaction.  Again, if they do not pay, eBay will give them a strike.  There should be no fear of negative feedback b/c they will be blocked from leaving feedback.  I refuse to give in to customers that think they can do whatever the hell they want and will not contribute to further enabling buyers to think this way.  This is exactly why some customers do this kind of stuff; unfortunately some sellers feed their habit.

Great job Ken!

[doejaster]

Has anyone else experienced an issue checking out on Ebay with PayPal where you get the "Something went wrong. Please try to check out again." error?  I get that when trying to buy from Paypal Digital Gifts all the time.  I've talked to Ebay and they say that it is a Pay Pal problem.  I've talked to PayPal and they say that it is automated and there is nothing they can do but that it should clear up "in a couple of days".  My problem is that in a couple of days the gift card sale is over and the Ebay bucks promotion has ended and I no longer care to make a purchase.  

This is the third time I've missed a sale combined with an eBay Bucks promo because I'm unable to check-out for the window it is going on.  I vent to PayPal but I get the same response that there is nothing they can do on their end.  Just curious if anyone here has had this problem and found an answer.  

Just to rule out the obvious... I have tried and tried and it isn't something that seems to clear up on its own.  In fact I've tried so much that it locks my PayPal account and I have to unlock it.  I've tried clearing cookies, three different browsers, two different devices.  Same result :/

[DP112]

It looks like I have a situation brewing now.  This is my first sell on eBay.  Someone made an offer I found reasonable, and with about 3 minutes lefy, i accepted it.  He then messaged me last night saying shipping was free when he bid (it wasn't) and I changed it after he bid (I didn't ) then asked how to proceed.  I told him it never was and I wish to proceed with him paying for the item.  Is this the norm for eBay?

[ISO8T0]

No. EBay should take your side on this one. Sorry that this is your first experience on eBay. Try to work it out with your seller. If not you can ask if he wants to cancel the order. I would give him the option to pay for the item on the agreed upon price + shipping or cancel order.

[AirborneAFOL]

3 minutes ago, DP112 said:

It looks like I have a situation brewing now.  This is my first sell on eBay.  Someone made an offer I found reasonable, and with about 3 minutes lefy, i accepted it.  He then messaged me last night saying shipping was free when he bid (it wasn't) and I changed it after he bid (I didn't ) then asked how to proceed.  I told him it never was and I wish to proceed with him paying for the item.  Is this the norm for eBay?

I have not experienced it even once in over a thousand sales in the past year.

My assumption is they are not a savvy buyer, or trying to prey on your seeming inexperience, because it is a simple and verifiable fact that Ebay does not allow sellers to modify listings if there is a bid or pending offer.

[Quacs]

Contact eBay and have them walk you through the correct response.

[AirborneAFOL]

For future reference, though, you'll want to avoid waiting more than a few hours to decide on accepting/countering/rejecting an offer.  If you give someone 48-hours (minus 3 minutes), you do increase the chances of running into a buyer's remorse scenario (which at best means a dissatisfied customer, at worst one who tries to employ some shady gimmick like this).

[iahawks550]

18 minutes ago, DP112 said:

It looks like I have a situation brewing now.  This is my first sell on eBay.  Someone made an offer I found reasonable, and with about 3 minutes lefy, i accepted it.  He then messaged me last night saying shipping was free when he bid (it wasn't) and I changed it after he bid (I didn't ) then asked how to proceed.  I told him it never was and I wish to proceed with him paying for the item.  Is this the norm for eBay?

Ebay can tell if the listing has been modified. This is a pretty simple issue.

[shootyb]

If there was an outstanding offer, you wouldn't be able to change the listing anyway.

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

So last night, i had someone buy a set off me. 30 minutes later the same person bought another 1 of the same set off me. I figure cool, i can combine shipping on these and save myself some cash. but when i go to print shipping label it shows the same user, the same exact address, but each order has  a different name associated with the mailing address. i contacted them asking if it was ok to ship together and have not gotten a reply. Should i just pick a name and ship them together? or contact ebay CS and ask them what i should do?

[dcdfan]

11 minutes ago, Jeffrey_Dollars said:

So last night, i had someone buy a set off me. 30 minutes later the same person bought another 1 of the same set off me. I figure cool, i can combine shipping on these and save myself some cash. but when i go to print shipping label it shows the same user, the same exact address, but each order has  a different name associated with the mailing address. i contacted them asking if it was ok to ship together and have not gotten a reply. Should i just pick a name and ship them together? or contact ebay CS and ask them what i should do?

 

I wouldn't ship together and I would wait to ship...

Edited April 27, 2016 by dcdfan

[lazuli16]

16 minutes ago, Jeffrey_Dollars said:

So last night, i had someone buy a set off me. 30 minutes later the same person bought another 1 of the same set off me. I figure cool, i can combine shipping on these and save myself some cash. but when i go to print shipping label it shows the same user, the same exact address, but each order has  a different name associated with the mailing address. i contacted them asking if it was ok to ship together and have not gotten a reply. Should i just pick a name and ship them together? or contact ebay CS and ask them what i should do?

It's probably being paid through a different paypal account.

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

6 minutes ago, lazuli16 said:

It's probably being paid through a different paypal account.

No, when i look at my paypal history it shows they have both been paid for by the same paypal account. weird.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Jeffrey_Dollars

[Migration]

3 minutes ago, Jeffrey_Dollars said:

No, when i look at my paypal history it shows they have both been paid for by the same paypal account. weird.

Call PayPal and let them know your concerns, wait until the very end of your shipping window and ship if you haven't gotten a fraud alert or heard back from buyer. Ship in two separate boxes.

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

37 minutes ago, Migration said:

Call PayPal and let them know your concerns, wait until the very end of your shipping window and ship if you haven't gotten a fraud alert or heard back from buyer. Ship in two separate boxes.

im not so concerned about fraud, since its the same address, ebay user, and paypal account. My whole thing is i want to ship them together to save myself the $10-15.

[Darth_Raichu]

Just now, Jeffrey_Dollars said:

im not so concerned about fraud, since its the same address, ebay user, and paypal account. My whole thing is i want to ship them together to save myself the $10-15.

It could be a mail forwarding address, in which case you do not want to mail both sets in the same box

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

3 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

It could be a mail forwarding address, in which case you do not want to mail both sets in the same box

I think you are right. i think its getting forwarded internationally because (A. a foreign (asian) name (B. going to Portland (C. address is of the "Suite" variety... I guess ill just dish out the extra $ for shipping. was thinking it was aforwarding address but was hoping since it was the same user it might be ok.

[damnsanders]

I think you are right. i think its getting forwarded internationally because (A. a foreign (asian) name (B. going to Portland (C. address is of the "Suite" variety... I guess ill just dish out the extra $ for shipping. was thinking it was aforwarding address but was hoping since it was the same user it might be ok.

You offered free shipping to the buyer?

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

Just now, damnsanders said:

You offered free shipping to the buyer?

yes

[Deanfjr]

I need not eBay Selling Advice, I need eBay buying Advice....

Via eBay, some butt cheek ships my 2 Scooby Doo Mystery Mansions taped together & wrapped in this tissue like paper. Boxes destroyed, seals popped. I opened up a claim for a refund. Seller did respond but said nothing of my refund request but did say:

"The post office was currently out of boxes. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience and I hope that the postal service will do something about their total mishandling of your items. I feel for what your saying but those packages were wrapped neatly and in great shape when I left them at the post office"  

I short versioned their reply, but that sums it up. The PO out of boxes, c'mon that's a terrible excuse, just say you were cheap and trying to save money on the shipping. There goes what I thought was a great buy. I have heard people on here mention that they have seen Lego just wrapped and shipped in its Lego box with no protection, who has experience with this? Did you have any luck with the dispute? The seller did have no refunds marked, but this is clearly not; New, Unopened, undamaged. This ruined my day yesterday. I was so happy to finally get 2 of these.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Deanfjr

[archimedes]

I need not eBay Selling Advice, I need eBay buying Advice....

Via eBay, some butt cheek ships my 2 Scooby Doo Mystery Mansions taped together & wrapped in this tissue like paper. Boxes destroyed, seals popped. I opened up a claim for a refund. Seller did respond but said nothing of my refund request but did say:

"The post office was currently out of boxes. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience and I hope that the postal service will do something about their total mishandling of your items. I feel for what your saying but those packages were wrapped neatly and in great shape when I left them at the post office"  

I short versioned their reply, but that sums it up. The PO out of boxes, c'mon that's a terrible excuse, just say you were cheap and trying to save money on the shipping. There goes what I thought was a great buy. I have heard people on here mention that they have seen Lego just wrapped and shipped in its Lego box with no protection, who has experience with this? Did you have any luck with the dispute? The seller did have no refunds marked, but this is clearly not; New, Unopened, undamaged. This ruined my day yesterday. I was so happy to finally get 2 of these.

For future reference you should turn the parcel away at the door if it looks like that. That's way it is returned to sender and never in your possession. Good luck with your claim though

[iahawks550]

1 minute ago, archimedes said:

For future reference you should turn the parcel away at the door if it looks like that. That's way it is returned to sender and never in your possession. Good luck with your claim though

I am never home when mail is delivered. It would be impossible for me to do what you are suggesting.

That being said, I would probably leave negative feedback and go on with life. It would barely be worth $50 to mess with it.

[Migration]

16 minutes ago, Deanfjr said:

I need not eBay Selling Advice, I need eBay buying Advice....

Via eBay, some butt cheek ships my 2 Scooby Doo Mystery Mansions taped together & wrapped in this tissue like paper. Boxes destroyed, seals popped. I opened up a claim for a refund. Seller did respond but said nothing of my refund request but did say:

"The post office was currently out of boxes. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience and I hope that the postal service will do something about their total mishandling of your items. I feel for what your saying but those packages were wrapped neatly and in great shape when I left them at the post office"  

I short versioned their reply, but that sums it up. The PO out of boxes, c'mon that's a terrible excuse, just say you were cheap and trying to save money on the shipping. There goes what I thought was a great buy. I have heard people on here mention that they have seen Lego just wrapped and shipped in its Lego box with no protection, who has experience with this? Did you have any luck with the dispute? The seller did have no refunds marked, but this is clearly not; New, Unopened, undamaged. This ruined my day yesterday. I was so happy to finally get 2 of these.

That's a SNAD case. Period. The seller is responsible if the shipper destroys it. It also doesn't matter that the seller marked "no returns", by accepting PayPal and selling on eBay they do take returns, or they lose the SNAD case and you get your money back and keep the items.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Migration