Help!

lyniced

I 'sold' some aida (cross stitch) fabrics on ebay (6 assorted colours) and the buyer has sent me this email

Hi a few things to ask / tell you sorry but i cant get to the post office until friday ( will use pp if ac sorted ) as for the items ive bought from you i only want the cream and ecru any chance you can do me a dell on these and ask the next bidder if the like the outers price wise ask what you like if not ill just pay for all as agreed thanks.l

Apart from being hard to understand, I don't know what I should do - I would appreciate any advice. Thanks

Smickan

I gather from that that:

They've bought a selection of six
They only want two
They're asking you if you'll seperate them and sell the other four to a next bidder - or if not, they'll pay for the six they bid for [...... d'oh!]
They can't get to the post office to post payment until Friday but if their account is sorted they'll pay by paypal.


When did the sale happen? eBay give 7 days for buyers to send payment before they'll entertain an unpaid item claim.

To be honest if they feel genuine and it's under the seven days I'd wait

lyniced

Yes - they only want two of the 6 fabrics. I don't want to do a 'dell' deal as the fabric was sold as a set. I think it would be unfair to try and sell the other fabrics to the previous bidder. Apparently they want to pay by PO, as they are having probs with their Paypal acc. On the listing I state that payment is due within 3 days of auction ending (2 days ago) and they should have been aware of this before bidding. Basically they knew what they were bidding for and the terms, but have defaulted on them, and I'm off on my hols next week, so I would like to sort it out NOW.

Scarlett.1974

lyniced wrote: »

Yes - they only want two of the 6 fabrics. I don't want to do a 'dell' deal as the fabric was sold as a set. I think it would be unfair to try and sell the other fabrics to the previous bidder. Apparently they want to pay by PO, as they are having probs with their Paypal acc. On the listing I state that payment is due within 3 days of auction ending (2 days ago) and they should have been aware of this before bidding. Basically they knew what they were bidding for and the terms, but have defaulted on them, and I'm off on my hols next week, so I would like to sort it out NOW.

Re the bit I've highlighted above - unfortunately this doesn't matter one little bit because ebay rules are that the buyer has 7 days to pay.

I agree that the buyer is being a pain though - he/she bid on all 6 and really should pay for them all - why bother bidding? Grrrrrrr.

Premier_2

lyniced wrote: »

Yes - they only want two of the 6 fabrics. I don't want to do a 'dell' deal as the fabric was sold as a set. I think it would be unfair to try and sell the other fabrics to the previous bidder. Apparently they want to pay by PO, as they are having probs with their Paypal acc. On the listing I state that payment is due within 3 days of auction ending (2 days ago) and they should have been aware of this before bidding. Basically they knew what they were bidding for and the terms, but have defaulted on them, and I'm off on my hols next week, so I would like to sort it out NOW.

Did you offer postal order as an accepted payment option?

If so, the buyer is well within their rights to pay using that method and if it was crossed would take about 6 days to clear anyway.

lyniced

Yes I did offer PO, but thats not really the problem - he/she wants me to split the items and thats not what I wanted to do. I am not sure how I should reply to the above email.

Premier_2

You don't have to accept the buyers request to split, just tell the buyer to buy the lot as they have agreed to do.

But even if they had sent payment within 3 days, it could have left you with a problem unless you were prepared to post without the PO clearing. They may have done you a favour delaying payment for a few days - as previously mentioned they have 7 days to pay irrespective of any terms you sought to impose.

lyniced

Ok this is what I've thought of saying....

I would be happy to wait for your PO, but please be aware that I am on holiday from next Weds and will be unable to post until I get back. Please also be aware that I am not happy to split the items and feel it would be unfair to ask a previous bidder if they would like the 'surplus' items. Therefore please send the full amount agreed at the end of auction. If you do not want the other colours then can I suggest you try to sell them later yourself on ebay.

What do you think?

soolin

How long are you away for as you are going to run into problems if you delay the shipping too long. Not least of which a low star rating for despatch.

We were discussing on another thread a while ago that accepting cheques and postal orders, which of course many of us do, could actually hurt sellers in future as buyers don't necessarily appreciate that the delay is caused by clearing the cheque and not by seller delaying. A few low stars for despatch and bang there goes your business. I was mindful of that last week as for the first time in months I actually got a cheque in payment for a small items, and had the item despatched same day even though I couldn't even bank the cheque for a further 3 days.

lyniced

Well if I get a PO by Saturday, then I will post straightaway. I DO NOT accept cheques, as in the past I've had so many problems with buyers waiting for cheques to clear and I start getting snotty emails. Anyhoo, I really want to know how I should answer the 'strangely-worded' email.

Contains_Mild_Peril

I don't really see how it would be "unfair" to offer some of the items to an underbidder: they can always say no thanks! I can understand why you wouldn't want to though: obviously you don't want to be stuck with part of a set which you could then lose time and money on if you list them separately.
Other than that, the wording you suggested mostly sounds fine, though I would also mention the date when you'll return from holiday.