How would you reply? Message for 'charity'

princesse_sarah_x

Just had a buyer message me asking for an item £5 cheaper than the price listed and with free postage as it's for a 'charity event', how would you respond or just block? Could be genuine but looking at previous feedback the buyer looks like a complainer anyway

harryfrombarry_2

I'd be certain to block someone like this.

hollydays

You could ask which charity event and who's running it.

RFW

princesse_sarah_x wrote: »

Just had a buyer message me asking for an item £5 cheaper than the price listed and with free postage as it's for a 'charity event', how would you respond or just block? Could be genuine but looking at previous feedback the buyer looks like a complainer anyway

Your options are
1) answer and say no
2) answer and say yes
3) ignore

You can dress 1 or 2 up to ask for information or whatever but you need to decide on one of those and go from there.

I used to get lots of these on Ebay and if I'd have obliged everyone (from sending out free things to bulky discounts) I wouldn't still be in business. I occasionally helped and sometimes that's good business, I'd say that most of these are genuinely people helping charities out, sadly there will be some chancers.

duchy

Dear Buyer

Thank you for your email.
I'm afraid I am unable to offer you a retrospective discount on your item you have already purchased however if you could send me details of your charity event I'd be delighted to consider if there is something that I may be able to donate seperate to our ebay transaction. I look forward to receiving your payment for the item you have purchased.

Yours sincerely

Translation -You've already agreed to buy -if you are genuine then put your money where your mouth is and pay up and send verifiable details of this supposed event and if I think it is worth it I'll donate something (maybe) but don't try it on with your already agreed purchase

bxboards

I would block and report the message - I would say 99% this is just a chancer.

If you want to reply, say as you are a tax payer you can Gift Aid the requested 5 pound donation, so the tax man will top up another pound. You will never hear from them again IMHO.

BJV

I think that the buyer has gone about it completely the wrong way. I do volunteer work for a charity which is always struggling for money. So before I buy I ask. If the seller says no fair enough. Chances are I am buying from ebay because it is cheaper anyway.


If they say yes fab. Charity or not I do think that it is unfair to ask for discount after you have committed to buy.

campdave

I have a standing order to a couple of charities I support.

I inform anyone who asks for free items from me of this, and apologise that I am unable to help.

princesse_sarah_x

Thanks for all the helpful replies!
I messaged them back, similar to the above message stating that I couldn't offer a discount on said item but may be interested in making a donation if they told me abit more about the charity? Of course haven't heard anything back. Funnily enough looking at their items for sale, they are very similar to the item they enquired about. I'm sure there are some genuine people doing this on eBay but I was shocked people do this!

RFW

princesse_sarah_x wrote: »

I'm sure there are some genuine people doing this on eBay but I was shocked people do this!

It's a lot less prevalent than it used to be. I've never had one similar enquiry on Amazon and I probably supply a lot of registered charities.

I remember one of my better earlier customers started off as a charity request. I'm always polite to enquiries as you never know what or who they are. It depends what you're selling but on some items I was able to send a bit extra that was barely any extra cost to me but useful to the buyer.