Where do I send the check?

sweep9

Hi,

Can anybody offer any advice on my next steps...

A buyer won my auction (only £4.21). At the bottom of my auctions, it only offers paypal as a payment option and not payment by cheque. After 5 days, I sent a payment reminder as nothing had been paid. 2 more days passed and I received the above message 'Where do I send the check?'.

Being a nice sort of bloke, I decided what the hell is only £4.21, so I replied with 'I don't normally take cheques but send it to ... and put my address and who to make the cheque out to'. Another couple of days passed and I received the cheque, but the cheque account was based in Devon and the Ebay account in Preston which looked slightly odd.

Again as it was only £4.21 and I'm with A&L bank, I posted the parcel 1st class to the ebay address (Preston) and deposited the cheque at the same time at the PO (Tuesday) to make sure that she got it quicker.

Tonight, she has sent a message saying 'I have sent the cheque, my address is ...' and its bl**dy Devon!!!

I know this is probably going to lead to a neg, how do I avoid it or how do I get rid of the transaction. (I know I'll never see my magazine rack again).

edsjad

that's not your fault is it? Presumably you looked under order details/invoice and the address was down as being in preston. Just let her know that you've sent it to her Preston address as stated in the order details. That will be the official address she has logged as an ebay customer. I know that there are some sellers who will not post to any other address apart from the official one written down. (eg when I went to sister's at xmas, asked if someone would send there and seller refused). So yes, just say
'thanks for your message. Just to let you know that I have sent the item already to your confirmed address, as described on your invoice.'
She should be impressed that you have sent it out so quickly!! (I hope i have understood your query correctly)

Colin2511

yep as above,

reply telling her that you have posted the item to the address in ebay, and give her the address - ask her when she moved to Devon as she has not updated her records

It is her responsibility to give you the correct address, and as long as the cheque clears you have the payment,

she may neg you, report for item not received - all you can do it be factual and state she has a wrong address registered with ebay. If she gets funny (and there is no reason she would when she realises what she has done), then you can report her for false contact details

I would save your sold item, / checkout details that have her northern address on, otherwise if she changes them in the system you will only have her Devon address

sweep9

Ok, I've sent her a message... and done a screen print of ebay details for future use. I'll just sit back and wait now.

inmypocketnottheirs

You sent the goods before clearing the cheque?

sweep9

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

You sent the goods before clearing the cheque?

As I said above, I'm more bothered about reputation than the £4.21. As it had taken so long, I was nice and posted the item at the same time as depositing the cheque at the post office.

soolin

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

You sent the goods before clearing the cheque?

I struggle to get near a bank in opening hours so personally I couldn't wait for a cheque to clear for funds before sending goods out as it might take days or even weeks. Any form of payment on ebay is a calculated risk, and I understand the risk I take in accepting cheques and try to be as sensible as I can without ending up with huge shipping delays and disgruntled buyers.

As long as the buyer looks good I'll send within a day or so of getting cheque, if it is a larger amount, say over £10-£12 I might make a special effort to go to the bank and the wait a couple of days before despatch.

Yes I've had cheques bounce, but well after clearing for funds anyway so it wouldn't have helped if I'd waited 4 working days or whatever.

greenstreetprince

yet another case of the buyer expecting the seller to be some kind of mystic meg clone and extracting the shipping address from thin air!

its their fault they didnt send a note with their cheque, how much of an effort does it take! and its also their fault if they haven't updated their details on ebay. i really don't see how they can blame you, if thats what they do next.

neilwoods

Dont mean to sound bad or anything. But if your more intersted in reputation than the money, then i would stop selling if i were you.

How many companies do you know that would do this.

soolin

neilwoods wrote: »

Dont mean to sound bad or anything. But if your more intersted in reputation than the money, then i would stop selling if i were you.

How many companies do you know that would do this.

Quite a few...several companies I use send the goods and then bill later, it isn't unusual .

However, in this case reputation *is* money, if like me you struggle with getting to banks then your only way round this is to make everything paypal only, and there is a small minority of people out there who still prefer to use other means. If you don't post promptly then all that happens is that your stars go down, or even worse you pick up a neutral or neg, and you can forget about selling anyway.

I have seen a seller I regularly use get cheaper and cheaper since the star system came in...the reason being that he ships once a week and this irritates people. I know he does that now so I factor that in when buying, but he's now down to less than 4 stars on both despatch time and shipping costs and he's lost about 20% of the price on his goods compared to his competitors.

neilwoods

I work 9-5 5 days a week, so am unable to get to bank during week, only saturdays. I say paypal only, but will accept cheuqe, but they must read the terms of me accepting cheuqes (ie can only deposit on a saturday and will can take 3-4 working to days to clear before i will post the items to them)

Also stipulate they must contact me first about cheques.

I dont use ebay to get a reputation, i use it to make money. My lowest star is 4.8.

Also what i an trying to say is about cheque clearing is, when you buy from a company you have never used before, they will not send you the item before payment is cleared.

I also use a cpl of companies that send me goods and bill me later, but that is credit on account, you will only get that after you have used the company and paid first. Then you have built up a credit rating with them.