What I was selling no longer available- buyer still wants it...

Poppycat

Sellers shouldnt be selling things they dont have then theses problems wouldnt arrive.

Is a two way street the seller can make a ncie little earner, but they shoudl expect comeback if things like this go wrong.

I would be annoyed too if I was the buyer, dont sell what you aint got.

Kazonline

Out of curiosity funnymoney, would you ever list an item you don't actually 'own' again?
Kaz

phoebe03cat

Well I'd go to the SCC if it were me. Your'e nothing to do with the David Attenborough scam are you? If you are, I will be!

culpepper

Seems simple enough to me. Refund everyone the money they have paid you with an apology and leave it at that.Honestly if someone were to sue ,what would be the grounds? You have refunded the money, they are not out of pocket and can buy the goods elsewhere. All this talk of suing is what makes people wary of ebaying.

Hintza

culpepper wrote:

Seems simple enough to me. Refund everyone the money they have paid you with an apology and leave it at that.Honestly if someone were to sue ,what would be the grounds? You have refunded the money, they are not out of pocket and can buy the goods elsewhere. All this talk of suing is what makes people wary of ebaying.

I agree, some of you need to take a chill pill. If buyers are that upset they can leave a host of negs if they wish and stop the seller that way.

SCC is a waste of time, money and effort. The chances of winning are slim and I would think have not been properly tested in court there are quite a few issues involved that I would think a higher court would need to explore first. We have seen plenty of evidence to suggest that nobody has had the inclination or funds to take a case like this through the courts.

By the way if I was a buyer I would indeed be seriously hacked off...

zappahey

soolin wrote:

That's why is generally believed but is not actually the case. If it was I would now be in possession of a TV and DVD set from a major retailer for the grand total of £5 including delivery. In that instance they even kept some people's money for nearly 2 weeks.

Soo

Did anyone actually test it in court? Not doubting you, just curious.

funnymoney_3

Kazonline wrote:

Out of curiosity funnymoney, would you ever list an item you don't actually 'own' again?
Kaz

Yes, I will. However, I will go to greater lengths to ensure that there is a sustainable supply at the price needed, by contacting the supplier and asking them exactly how many are available, how long the price will be held at £x for, and for decent notice of when they plan to put their prices up or when stock gets low. However even this does not protect against sudden depletion of their stock, or unexpected price hikes. Maybe it would be appropiate to put a disclaimer in the listing, i.e 'Goods may be out of stock, if they are not available after purchase a full refund will be given ASAP.'

I do avoid dropshipping goods where it isn't neccessary, buying in the stock and then putting it up for sale if the profit margin warrants it, however I believe it is a fair business if the buyer is aware of what is happening. There are many dropshippers out there, and indeed a board/thread dedicated to it somewhere on this site.

felicity wrote:

If, the items had been reduced by 50% when you came to place your order with your supplier, would you have passed on an additional discount to your buyer?

LOL! This actually happened when I first started selling these goods,and my first batch of BIN listings were at a higher price than my second batch (not 50% but a considerable amount). I gave the buyers of the first batch a discount which made those items even cheaper then the second batch, as I didn't want them feeling hard done by. Yes I did it partially for the feedback aspect, but also because it is nice to make buyers/people happy.

poppycat wrote:

I can understand the buyer being annoyed I would too, dont sell what you aint got, its that simple. I hope you have learnt a lesson from this.

I have had a lot of bad experiences and time wasted from buying on Ebay, but TBH believe I would of taken it on the chin had I been told that what I was buying was no longer available at the same price. However, I think I'm quite a placid person that doesn't get wound up as easily as a lot of people. I do get frustrated, don't get me wrong, but life is too short to spend fretting and complaining. I do feel for the buyers who were dissapointed, and have told them exactly what the circumstances are. I am also looking for an alternative to direct them to. The prices with the supplier I was using are non-negotiable apparently, so cannot source them from there.

At leat this can serve as a warning to other dropshippers that price hikes can be sudden and unexpected, and in this case catastrophically high.

Just for the record, the lady that was threatening to take me to court has sent me a message saying that she misunderstood my previous messages, and she would now like to cancel the transaction.

Thanks to everyone who wished me luck.

movieman

What kind of way would that be to run a business?

I believe in the business world it's called 'caring about your customers and wanting them to buy from you again'. It used to be fairly common before business stopped caring about anything beyond today's profit and the next quarterly results. Every customer you keep is one less new customer you need to attract with fancy deals and expensive advertising.

rose_sparky

movieman wrote:

I believe in the business world it's called 'caring about your customers and wanting them to buy from you again'. It used to be fairly common before business stopped caring about anything beyond today's profit and the next quarterly results. Every customer you keep is one less new customer you need to attract with fancy deals and expensive advertising.

That's the best posting I've ever read on here.

MyUserNamesTaken

soolin wrote:

That's why is generally believed but is not actually the case. If it was I would now be in possession of a TV and DVD set from a major retailer for the grand total of £5 including delivery. In that instance they even kept some people's money for nearly 2 weeks.

Soo

There's a huge difference between an ebay seller and normal online retailers. Normally, online retailers have terms and conditions which you have to agree to before being allowed to purchase anything. Hidden away in there is normally a term about not having to fulfill the contract if the retailer is unable to get the goods, etc. Remember Kodak?

In this case, the buyer can sue the seller and would win.