*JMHO* - to be taken with a grain of salt!
I've had this happen a couple of times even though I will wait a long time before relisting. My partner occsasionally gets a bit anxious......
Your options are limited....but here's a few
Contact the current high bidder and honestly explain the situation, whether to do this before or after is hard to say.
Don't say anything but later claim the item is non-functional or not as described. "I was just testing it before I sent it out and it went up in smoke" or "I never noticed but there's a giant crack in the screen"
You run the risk of a neg in either case, it all depends on the buyer and your communication skills (or how nicely you lie). You could just refund the first buyers payment but you lose the extra money and may still get a neg. Although the original buyer didn't communicate, he did pay and from the sounds of it approx. 2 weeks after the auction ended, this is slow payment but certainly not outrageous.
Relisting after only a week to my mind is too fast even with no contact. Unfortunately it's put you in a position where one of your buyers may not be happy. A neg from buyer 2 will at least be balanced by the extra cash, a neg from buyer 1 means both a neg and less money.
What to do what to do..........
Ben
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
Your options are limited....but here's a few
Contact the current high bidder and honestly explain the situation, whether to do this before or after is hard to say.
Don't say anything but later claim the item is non-functional or not as described. "I was just testing it before I sent it out and it went up in smoke" or "I never noticed but there's a giant crack in the screen"
You run the risk of a neg in either case, it all depends on the buyer and your communication skills (or how nicely you lie). You could just refund the first buyers payment but you lose the extra money and may still get a neg. Although the original buyer didn't communicate, he did pay and from the sounds of it approx. 2 weeks after the auction ended, this is slow payment but certainly not outrageous.
Relisting after only a week to my mind is too fast even with no contact. Unfortunately it's put you in a position where one of your buyers may not be happy. A neg from buyer 2 will at least be balanced by the extra cash, a neg from buyer 1 means both a neg and less money.
What to do what to do..........
Ben
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
You CAN'T cancel an auction with only 12 hours, but you CAN cancel all bids. I has a similar situation, I canceled bids (prayed no one would snipe), and changed the uploaded pic to say NO LONGER AVAILABLE, DO NOT BID.
Seemed to do the trick.
Seemed to do the trick.
That said, *I* would refund the original payment with a note of explanation (assuming you have a payment timeframe mentioned somewhere).
I sold to the original bidder and talked it out with the new winner
Excellent! A perfect example of good communication (or expert shmoozing), bidders are happy and you got the biggest buck for your efforts.
I had a different situation recently where a bunch of buyers had to wait a ridiculous amount of time to get their widgets (supplier problem on my end). In spite of 20 buyers having to wait almost 2 months to get their stuff I ended up with 20 really great positive feebacks. All it took was regular communication, excessive apologies and a bit of grovelling!
Ben
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
Excellent! A perfect example of good communication (or expert shmoozing), bidders are happy and you got the biggest buck for your efforts.
I had a different situation recently where a bunch of buyers had to wait a ridiculous amount of time to get their widgets (supplier problem on my end). In spite of 20 buyers having to wait almost 2 months to get their stuff I ended up with 20 really great positive feebacks. All it took was regular communication, excessive apologies and a bit of grovelling!
Ben
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
