eBay

smashedbunny · ‎03-02-2015

Haven't used Ebay for years and the first item I post gets a buyer that refuses to pay. The listing was for a Garmin GPS and it was shipping from Canada to the US. The buyer has 344 feedback. I specified the winner pays for the actual shipping cost. I doubt I will ever use Ebay again.

Seller) Hi I need your mailing address and what kind of shipping you want or if you have your own account with a shipping company to bill to. I think the best option might be Canada Post/USPS.

Buyer) It would be basic shipping to zip 15037 can you give me a price?

Seller) The cheapest option would be $20 for 6 business day shipping through Canada Post/ USPS, because it has to be tracked with delivery confirmation. The faster option is 4 business days for $35 through Canada Post/ USPS Decide what you want and Ill send you an invoice with the shipping cost.

Buyer) Please cancel my order. I made a offer but never agreed to those shipping costs.

Seller) Well what do you expect? You seem like a seasoned ebay user. The cost of shipping is not my fault. Like i previously said if you have an account with fedex or UPS I can bill the shipping directly to you. This is not an Item i can just dump in an envelope and put in a mailbox. There has to be protection for the seller as well. I can't be blamed for damage or claims of it not being received if I have no way to verify.
I'll give you another chance to rethink your shipping options, but it seems foolish what you're trying to do.

Buyer) U seem foolish to except a offer without specifying a shipping cost. You have no rights as a seller so cancel it or eat the cost of the listing.

Seller) Well the listing did say buyer pays for shipping. I will start the claim with ebay, goodbye.

femmefan1946 · ‎03-02-2015

Seller) Well what do you expect? You seem like a seasoned ebay user. The cost of shipping is not my fault. Like i previously said if you have an account with fedex or UPS I can bill the shipping directly to you. This is not an Item i can just dump in an envelope and put in a mailbox. There has to be protection for the seller as well. I can't be blamed for damage or claims of it not being received if I have no way to verify.
I'll give you another chance to rethink your shipping options, but it seems foolish what you're trying to do.

Buyer) U seem foolish to except a offer without specifying a shipping cost. You have no rights as a seller so cancel it or eat the cost of the listing.

The buyer was right. There is no good reason not to give the cost of shipping in the description. You even get some small boost in your Search position for including it. Very small since most sellers do include either Flat Rate or Calculated Shipping in their listing.

The buyer was foolish to bid without confirming the cost of shipping, since he is then deemed by eBay to be willing to pay whatever the seller deems appropriate. You could have charged him $100 and eBay would back you on that, since he knew the

S&H before bidding.

You were wrong not to give this information since it is important to buyers and is quite easy to do. The Calculated Shipping option does all the work for you once you put in the dimensions and weight of the parcel (in metric) and choose the service YOU want to use. For this item, I would suggest that you choose a service that gives tracking /Confirmation of Delivery.

You were wrong to whine. It's unprofessional.

The buyer was rude. And while you do have some rights as a seller, they do not include forcing the buyer to pay.

Go to the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page. Open an Unpaid Item Dispute. You can't do this for 96 hours after the purchase. Escalate to a Claim and close after another 96 hours.

Count your blessings. You had a hostile buyer who if he had paid, would probably have trashed your Detailed Seller Ratings in addition to leaving negative Feedback. FB is a problem. DSRs are a disaster.

smashedbunny · ‎03-02-2015

i did have the calculated shipping in my listing.
I'm done with ebay after my UID goes through anyways. Things have changed the past 4 years and it seems that there are too many options to screw sellers.

femmefan1946 · ‎03-03-2015

Then the buyer would have had no reason to get in touch with you nor you with him.

If the shipping is available, he would be invoiced automatically.

And you would have his shipping information (including his email address) without having to ask for it.

I suspect one of two things went wrong here.

You chose a service that did not match the dimensions you put in. If you did not use metric measurements this is very easy to goof up. Canada Post went metric in 1974 and anything else is an approximation.

Or because you were not firm about the service you wanted to use, eBay was unable to bill the customer. It is up to the seller to decide how she will protect herself in choosing the service. Some may be happy to use LetterMail because it is fast and cheap although tracking is impossible. Others will use the more expensive, faster and tracked ExpressPost. But this should always be the seller's choice not the buyer's.

In the long run, all that happened is that you had a failed transaction. (And a rude buyer, not that your own response was all that gracious). Not all transactions will be successful.

In fact, having a buyer on your first (recent) listing is a bit of a miracle. Only about 40% of listings are successful according to eBay stats.

maximus7001 · ‎03-03-2015

" I'm done with ebay after my UID goes through anyways."

That is a pretty silly statement especially since this whole scenario was your fault in the first place. You should not have even included USA in the countries you ship to unless you were prepared for it. It is common knowledge that many residents of USA just fell off the turnip truck so as a foreign sellers we have to anticipate this.

We do not have issues like this from USA buyers because we are prepared for almost any scenario in advance.

jt-libra · ‎03-03-2015

This post has been bothering me since I read it yesterday.

Buyer) Please cancel my order. I made a offer but never agreed to those shipping costs.

Seller) Well what do you expect? You seem like a seasoned ebay user. The cost of shipping is not my fault. Like i previously said if you have an account with fedex or UPS I can bill the shipping directly to you. This is not an Item i can just dump in an envelope and put in a mailbox. There has to be protection for the seller as well. I can't be blamed for damage or claims of it not being received if I have no way to verify.
I'll give you another chance to rethink your shipping options, but it seems foolish what you're trying to do.

I know I'm being judgmental but this is one of the rudest responses to a buyer I've ever read.

While the buyer should not have made an offer without knowing the shipping options, the seller should have made them clear in the listing. To ask the buyer after the sale how he wants it shipped is very problematic. Many U.S. buyers have no idea how much it costs to ship from Canada and, most likely, he was expecting a quote that he thought was reasonable. When he learned the cost, he asked to cancel.

As sellers, we've all had experiences with difficult buyers and ones that were far less easy to resolve than the one you've faced, but I would find it hard to believe that most of would offer such a rude response. It's so unprofessional.

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2015

When I went to check your feedback history, I noticed you have a message saying that you are a poor university student and to please buy your stuffs so you can buy other stuffs. That kind of message certainly turns me off and wouldn't want to buy your stuffs for that obvious reasons.

lucitabby · ‎03-04-2015

Did you have a question for ebay members on this board?

grannio204 · ‎12-10-2017

Hear! Hear! I have just canceled all of my items. How come eBay does not include a way of warning honest sellers about sleazy bidders, like they used to?