Buyer From HELL

[tigerslionsandbearsohmy]

I recently shipped an item out from BC, Canada to Texas on Sept 8. Buyer claims she hasn't received it yet and is threatening to open a case unless I refund her ASAP. She claims that she has received no confirmation that her order was shipped and I am scamming her.

Even ebay says item will not arrive until the 29th and she hasn't allowed enough time to pass (It takes TIME) What can I do? Im nervous as ebay normally sides with the buyer if she decides to open a case.

I have been nothing but kind to her, even showing her proof that her item was sent (I sent without tracking, but have proof I sent an item to her ZIP Code). She still continues to send me multiple emails all in caps saying how angry she is and just being completely obnoxious. 

What can I do? I already know I'm getting negative feedback from her.

[tigerslionsandbearsohmy]

Just got another email from her. She will wait 2 more days. If Item is not received she is opening a case. 

I unfortunately, cannot make it magically appear faster. 

[pocomocomputing]

Be polite in all correspondence. State the delivery times the listing gives. Ask to wait for the latest delivery estimated time.

If she has threatened you with negative feedback if no refund, then you can call eBay and get it removed because of the threats.

Just stay calm and polite.

[tigerslionsandbearsohmy]

I've been extremely polite. I know losing my cool will get me no-where in a situation like this. 

[pjcdn2005]

You might want to tell her that if the item hasn't arrived by a specific date that you will refund her. That might buy you some time and stop her from opening a case. You could explain that delivery between Canada and the U.S. usually takes about  7 - 15 days (or pick your own numbers) so you are sure that she will receive the package very soon but if she doesn't receive it by the 24th (?) you would be happy to refund her then.

[holdmygold2]

It's not possible to open a case prior to the date eBay has posted as the date of arrival.

[theundercutter]

If your customer opens a case early, Politely respond to the case and mention the estimated arrival dates and point out they are estimates only. She will have to wait a while to escalate the case to a claim, and if she receives the item in the meantime the case will just close automatically. Be prepared for negative feedback, some customers will complain about slow shipping.

[amethyst1415]

If she opens a case they will refund her. PLUS you have two negative feedbacks from the last twelve months where the buyer claimed the same thing. Doesn't look good on your part.

[pjcdn2005]

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@holdmygold2 wrote:

It's not possible to open a case prior to the date eBay has posted as the date of arrival.

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A case can be opened the day following the first estimated arrival date. It looks as if most of the OP's listings have an 8-13 business day arrival time so depending when the item was purchased it is just at or past that time right now.

[pjcdn2005]

Good catch, I didn't look at the OP's feedback.

OP I don't like giving in to someone who is not being reasonable about delivery time but in your case, I don't think that you can afford to get any more defects. You might want to consider gracefully refunding her now and ask her to let you know when the item arrives so that you can arrange for payment.

You might already be doing this but if now...you should consider sending out a thank you message to your buyers once an item has been shipped to confirm that it is on its way and to give them an estimated arrival time. Doing that seems to work well for me.

Have a look at the first post in the following thread as it will give you some ideas on how to reply in situations like this.

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/I-haven-t-received-my-item-or-Item-not-received-case-the-...

[Anonymous]

Seeing that you charge around $13.00 to ship to USA, you would be better off using Tracked Packet with tracking number for $14.50 (one flat rate to all states in USA).

[dipmicro]

Isn't refund a defect as well ?

[Anonymous]

I was just checking your feedback history.  You have way too much of buyers saying they never received their items.

Don't you ever learned from this experiences and start to using mail service with tracking number to protect yourself?  I would do that.   Since eBay installed a new insane defect policy, I had to change mail service to the ones with tracking number to avoid having too many buyers asking "where is my item?" or "item not received" just because they had no patience to let the mail system to do their jobs.   It is not worth the hassle to save a few bucks in shipping costs to end up with too many defects due to their impatience.]

Once I mailed them, I inform them the tracking number and to please check them and to be patience before contacting me.  I think it is working better the last 3 weeks now than before.

You should consider otherwise you will continue to be screwed in a big way.  As I have said before, you charge around $13.00 to ship to USA when you could use Tracked Packet with tracking number for $14.50 (same flat rate to all states in US), only a few dollars more.

[pjcdn2005]

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@dipmicro wrote:

Isn't refund a defect as well ?

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Good point. I wasn't thinking about that.

[rose-dee]

Since your buyer is already irate, and you think she'll leave negative FB anyway, and since a refund is going to create a defect too, my inclination would be to let her open the case, but hope the item arrives in the meantime so that you won't have to lose any money. 

Unfortunately I'm not sure you can salvage this transaction without creating a defect of some kind or another. 

What is the value involved?  If you're shipping items of a reasonably high value, you may want to consider using a tracked service in future.

[reallynicestamps]

The OPs listing run from $10 or so to nearly $1000.

The low end items shouldn't need tracking, since the procurement cost should also be pretty low. It may be worthwhile to build a little self-insurance into the shipping cost. Which just means adding a 'handling charge' that also covers the cost of bubblewrap and poly envelopes. Maybe a dime or less.

On the high end items, it may be worthwhile to offer Free Shipping. Which just means "I've put the cost of shipping into the asking price" in ad-speak.

Buyers are very sensitive about shipping costs. The $13 referenced would pay for express/overnight service from a US seller using USPS, which may be why your customer is antsy.

Another suggestion, use Canadian spellings (cheque /catalogue/ neighbour) when writing to Americans. Mention Canada Post, the border and Homeland Security whenever reasonable. Heck throw in an 'eh?' now and then. Subtly reminds them they are dealing with a foreign country.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Another suggestion, use Canadian spellings (cheque /catalogue/ neighbour) when writing to Americans. Mention Canada Post, the border and Homeland Security whenever reasonable. Heck throw in an 'eh?' now and then. Subtly reminds them they are dealing with a foreign country.

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LOL! Love this. Whenever I ship I message people that I'm shipping from Vancouver with Canada Post and that it'd take 2-3 weeks (in reality it's usually around 7-10 days but I just ask them to wait longer just in case)... I don't think I ever had any "where's my item" messages for the past 2 years.