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Mama Said There'd Be Ebay Days Like This..
Mindless_Clone
Posts: 560 Forumite
Sorry for the bad song pun. Bit of a vent and a bit of advice on, um, what's turned out to be an interesting week on ebay for me.
I've been ebaying 10 years; had the occasional issue but this week takes the biscuit. I did a lot of buying over the summer, mostly from business sellers (only one issue that I resolved in a case) and I've done bits of selling on and off. But maybe it's because I had a big clear out and listed a lot the last week or so, or maybe it's because I've recently bought a few things from private sellers... anyway, suddenly I have a load of issues all at once.
1. A package with three things from one seller sent 25th Sept not yet received. Seller confirms it was sent 2nd class standard on that date but that's all (which kind of makes me wonder what the £6 P&P went on, because despite offering me postal reduction for buying 3 things, that sure is a lot for a 2nd class 3 item bundle of children's clothes that probably cost no more that £3.50 to send).
2. Another non received item. Paid on the 27th. Wasn't marked dispatched on the 4th Oct so I politely emailed seller to ask if it had been sent (I sort of figured they might have forgotten in which case, fair enough) but seller says sent 2nd class on the 1st October (still not marked it dispatched though). Well I guess it may still arrive in the next day or two but I'm not holding my breath.
Incidentally, meanwhile I have paid for and received other items sent 2nd class so there's no hold up with post my end that I can tell.
3. Sold a DVD last Sunday 30th Sept. Waited until Thurs 4th for payment and buyer paid just before I was going to NPB them. I posted promptly on the Friday and marked as dispatched, then got an email Saturday telling me their address was wrong and giving me the new address (only 2 streets away mind). I told buyer, too late as it was sent and suggested she go collect it from old address, but I'm waiting for the INR for that.
... I was going to say these things come in threes but... oh no, there's a fourth...
4. Buyer won another DVD last night. An hour later I get an email asking to cancel, as they'd been bidding on a couple and thought they'd be outbid on mine so have won it twice (obviously slightly higher on mine or they would cancel the other).
.... Aaaand breathe..... :mad:
OK, so advice needed please.
On 1 and 2, obviously I can open INRs if they don't refund (which I don't expect them to since they are private sellers and I probably wouldn't unless forced).
Will I have to open 3 separate INRs for the three items in the first one parcel? If I do, I will be effectively opening 4 INRs in one week which, face it, is dodgy looking at best.
On 3. What happens if she opens an INR? Can I go to ebay with the email she sent and say "this is why she's not received it" and get a case closed in my favour? It was a £2 DVD sent for £1.10 so I (stupidly) only got the receipt of posting not COP with address on it. Won't be doing that again.
On 4. What's the best way to handle this? Open a NPB or just go for mutual cancellation? Again, it's just a cheap DVD for a couple of quid but a bit of me is so annoyed at her inability to understand the basic principles of ebay, that I almost feel it my duty to award her an NPB strike and save my fellow sellers from future grief.
All in all, I've opened about four cases on ebay in 10 years, and had one issue against me (resolved outside a case). And now I might potentially be looking at more than that in one week. Slowly losing the will to ebay...yep... mama said there'd be days like this.
I've been ebaying 10 years; had the occasional issue but this week takes the biscuit. I did a lot of buying over the summer, mostly from business sellers (only one issue that I resolved in a case) and I've done bits of selling on and off. But maybe it's because I had a big clear out and listed a lot the last week or so, or maybe it's because I've recently bought a few things from private sellers... anyway, suddenly I have a load of issues all at once.
1. A package with three things from one seller sent 25th Sept not yet received. Seller confirms it was sent 2nd class standard on that date but that's all (which kind of makes me wonder what the £6 P&P went on, because despite offering me postal reduction for buying 3 things, that sure is a lot for a 2nd class 3 item bundle of children's clothes that probably cost no more that £3.50 to send).
2. Another non received item. Paid on the 27th. Wasn't marked dispatched on the 4th Oct so I politely emailed seller to ask if it had been sent (I sort of figured they might have forgotten in which case, fair enough) but seller says sent 2nd class on the 1st October (still not marked it dispatched though). Well I guess it may still arrive in the next day or two but I'm not holding my breath.
Incidentally, meanwhile I have paid for and received other items sent 2nd class so there's no hold up with post my end that I can tell.
3. Sold a DVD last Sunday 30th Sept. Waited until Thurs 4th for payment and buyer paid just before I was going to NPB them. I posted promptly on the Friday and marked as dispatched, then got an email Saturday telling me their address was wrong and giving me the new address (only 2 streets away mind). I told buyer, too late as it was sent and suggested she go collect it from old address, but I'm waiting for the INR for that.
... I was going to say these things come in threes but... oh no, there's a fourth...
4. Buyer won another DVD last night. An hour later I get an email asking to cancel, as they'd been bidding on a couple and thought they'd be outbid on mine so have won it twice (obviously slightly higher on mine or they would cancel the other).
.... Aaaand breathe..... :mad:
OK, so advice needed please.
On 1 and 2, obviously I can open INRs if they don't refund (which I don't expect them to since they are private sellers and I probably wouldn't unless forced).
Will I have to open 3 separate INRs for the three items in the first one parcel? If I do, I will be effectively opening 4 INRs in one week which, face it, is dodgy looking at best.
On 3. What happens if she opens an INR? Can I go to ebay with the email she sent and say "this is why she's not received it" and get a case closed in my favour? It was a £2 DVD sent for £1.10 so I (stupidly) only got the receipt of posting not COP with address on it. Won't be doing that again.
On 4. What's the best way to handle this? Open a NPB or just go for mutual cancellation? Again, it's just a cheap DVD for a couple of quid but a bit of me is so annoyed at her inability to understand the basic principles of ebay, that I almost feel it my duty to award her an NPB strike and save my fellow sellers from future grief.
All in all, I've opened about four cases on ebay in 10 years, and had one issue against me (resolved outside a case). And now I might potentially be looking at more than that in one week. Slowly losing the will to ebay...yep... mama said there'd be days like this.
"So long and thanks for all the fish" :hello:
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Comments
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Mindless_Clone wrote: »
Incidentally, meanwhile I have paid for and received other items sent 2nd class so there's no hold up with post my end that I can tell.
I find this sort of statement very odd.
YOUR post is dependant on several things, not least, the area it comes from and the route it takes. Not all post to YOU goes via the same route!0 -
Hi the areas you bought from weren't affected by the recently floods were they? The postman was unable to collect the post from the post office here for two days as we were effectively cut off from the outside world due to the road nearly collapsing! Anyway everythings back to normal, but post sent after has got there quicker than the delayed items, although they have all reached their destination now.0
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On 4. What's the best way to handle this? Open a NPB or just go for mutual cancellation? Again, it's just a cheap DVD for a couple of quid but a bit of me is so annoyed at her inability to understand the basic principles of ebay, that I almost feel it my duty to award her an NPB strike and save my fellow sellers from future grief.
At least she asked before making you wait. I would allow her a cancellation, on the principle that I don't want to make eBay into a battle of wits - it's a commercial site and if someone came to the till with an item then realised they didn't want it, there is no way on earth you would fold your arms, grump at them and wait until they paid. The 'principles' of eBay don't matter to me - it's the 'commercial relationship' aspect you've got to consider.
On Amazon and other similar sites you can cancel items without penalty before they post them. It's better to cancel than to have her pay, neg you and ask for a return - not that I'm scared of buyers, and feel I have to stand up to them, but perhaps more pragmatic to avoid trouble before it starts rather than have to run to CS later.
A cancellation can be out of the way in a few minutes, and you can relist much sooner than you can with an NPB dispute. There's less time wasted than there would be if you waited to raise the dispute.
If they hadn't made contact, it would be different, but this sort of thing just increases the antagonistic quotient on eBay and I like to treat my buyers with courtesy and diplomacy - as it helps the general atmosphere. You will lose nothing - I doubt, unless you respond in an unfriendly and grudging way, they will leave a neg either."Well, it's election year, Bill, we'd rather people didn't exercise common sense..." - Jed Bartlet, The West Wing, season 4
Am now Crowqueen, MRes (Law) - on to the PhD!0 -
Cancellation for the person who wants to cancel, explain it won't mark their account.
Buyer with the wrong address, eBay should remove bad feedback (if wrong address confirmed via eBay messages) and the buyer will probably win an eBay INR (certainly a Paypal one) but you may be able to win an appeal on an eBay case. Best to advise the buyer to collect their mail from 2 streets away.
On the delays, Royal Mail on general go slow, floods causing some delays, Preston Office walkout if in that area and another buyer mentioned 2 weeks ago there was a walkout at his office. Best give it two weeks for dispatch and then chase it up with the seller, still leaves plenty of time for an eBay case if no joy from the sellers if they are being unhelpful after this time.In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces0 -
Mindless_Clone wrote: »Sorry for the bad song pun. Bit of a vent and a bit of advice on, um, what's turned out to be an interesting week on ebay for me.
I've been ebaying 10 years; had the occasional issue but this week takes the biscuit. I did a lot of buying over the summer, mostly from business sellers (only one issue that I resolved in a case) and I've done bits of selling on and off. But maybe it's because I had a big clear out and listed a lot the last week or so, or maybe it's because I've recently bought a few things from private sellers... anyway, suddenly I have a load of issues all at once.
1. A package with three things from one seller sent 25th Sept not yet received. Seller confirms it was sent 2nd class standard on that date but that's all (which kind of makes me wonder what the £6 P&P went on, because despite offering me postal reduction for buying 3 things, that sure is a lot for a 2nd class 3 item bundle of children's clothes that probably cost no more that £3.50 to send).
2. Another non received item. Paid on the 27th. Wasn't marked dispatched on the 4th Oct so I politely emailed seller to ask if it had been sent (I sort of figured they might have forgotten in which case, fair enough) but seller says sent 2nd class on the 1st October (still not marked it dispatched though). Well I guess it may still arrive in the next day or two but I'm not holding my breath.
Incidentally, meanwhile I have paid for and received other items sent 2nd class so there's no hold up with post my end that I can tell.
3. Sold a DVD last Sunday 30th Sept. Waited until Thurs 4th for payment and buyer paid just before I was going to NPB them. I posted promptly on the Friday and marked as dispatched, then got an email Saturday telling me their address was wrong and giving me the new address (only 2 streets away mind). I told buyer, too late as it was sent and suggested she go collect it from old address, but I'm waiting for the INR for that.
... I was going to say these things come in threes but... oh no, there's a fourth...
4. Buyer won another DVD last night. An hour later I get an email asking to cancel, as they'd been bidding on a couple and thought they'd be outbid on mine so have won it twice (obviously slightly higher on mine or they would cancel the other).
.... Aaaand breathe..... :mad:
OK, so advice needed please.
On 1 and 2, obviously I can open INRs if they don't refund (which I don't expect them to since they are private sellers and I probably wouldn't unless forced).
Will I have to open 3 separate INRs for the three items in the first one parcel? If I do, I will be effectively opening 4 INRs in one week which, face it, is dodgy looking at best.
On 3. What happens if she opens an INR? Can I go to ebay with the email she sent and say "this is why she's not received it" and get a case closed in my favour? It was a £2 DVD sent for £1.10 so I (stupidly) only got the receipt of posting not COP with address on it. Won't be doing that again.
On 4. What's the best way to handle this? Open a NPB or just go for mutual cancellation? Again, it's just a cheap DVD for a couple of quid but a bit of me is so annoyed at her inability to understand the basic principles of ebay, that I almost feel it my duty to award her an NPB strike and save my fellow sellers from future grief.
All in all, I've opened about four cases on ebay in 10 years, and had one issue against me (resolved outside a case). And now I might potentially be looking at more than that in one week. Slowly losing the will to ebay...yep... mama said there'd be days like this.
For the 3 items in one parcel I expect you paid in one go? so they should not be separate INR's - anyway hopefully it wont' come to opening a case and your seller will just refund you. As private sellers of 2nd hand goods they should get their sale price back from Royal Mail + postage so they don't lose out.
As for the buyer asking for a cancellation - I would just do it with a smile.0 -
Since Royal Mail don't officially consider items lost until 15 working days (normally 3 weeks) after postage, I would wait till then before asking for a refund from a private seller, but I would also expect them to refund after that time without the buyer needing to open a case.0
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Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »Since Royal Mail don't officially consider items lost until 15 working days (normally 3 weeks) after postage, I would wait till then before asking for a refund from a private seller, but I would also expect them to refund after that time without the buyer needing to open a case.
I don't thing you would find many buyers happy to wait for that long!0 -
Nor do I, but if I buy from a private seller I think it's reasonable. I wouldn't ask a customer to wait that long though.chemical.galaxy wrote: »I don't thing you would find many buyers happy to wait for that long!0 -
Thanks all.
As it happens, I have been in contact with seller and, since they've been pleasant and helpful about it, I've agreed to wait the 21 days - after all it's only another week now. and I am usually pretty reasonable.
I've cancelled the one who asked - again, going with the advice, at least she contacted and apologised. I figured life's too short. And I can second chance it to someone for only 10p less so hardly a massive issue. ::)
I'm still chasing the other INR but seller is double checking her PO just in case and I'm happy to wait for her to do that.
I haven't heard from the one who gave me wrong address so going on a no news is good news basis right now.
Feeling a bit less annoyed at ebay today. "So long and thanks for all the fish" :hello:0
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