eBay

fashion-files74 · ‎11-21-2003

Hello:

I just need to vent for a moment please.

About a month ago, a buyer made a payment for their auction (1 week late I might add) and I promptly shipped the parcel via Canada Post the following day as I do with all my auctions sold. This person emails me today that she did not receive the parcel and I email promptly advising that it was stopped at customs for a random inspection. Buyer returns the email calling me a liar and basically threating to cancel paypal payment!!

I told the buyer to check the post mark date when it finally does arrive as I am not a liar!!!

I have filed a complaint with Square Trade.

I can understand frustration with late parcels but she did not pay any additional shipping fees to have a tracking #. It is at the mercy of the postal system on the arrival now....

Anything like this happen to anyone here?

can-import · ‎11-21-2003

Always the same problem when we send with no tracking... we should always force them to use trackable shipping... Now you cant proove anything... so he can say whatever he wants!

I dont know why I dont force them to pay more for tracking... maybe because I would lose a lot of sales because shipping would be to high!

fashion-files74 · ‎11-21-2003

Exactly! Higher prices for shipping will turn off alot of buyers. If the item is a "must have" one of a kind item, then they will have no problem paying any shipping fee to have the item but if there is serious competition, then sales will become considerably lower.

itrecovery · ‎11-21-2003

Yes, it happens time to time.

This week I've got e-mail from customer, who stated that item is not as described and my listing is misleading.

And... he still did not get parcel delivered!

What is that???

Anatoly

mevans_cda · ‎11-21-2003

I've had a few of shipments to the US take up to a month recently. Seems the Xmas rush started already a few weeks ago. Most people are understanding and patient but I've had one buyer file with Paypal for non-delivery already. He'll probably get the package in a few days and still keep the money. Since your buyer paid with Paypal, she didn't need to pay additional shipping fees to have a tracking number (or DC). Its a requirement on your part as the shipper/seller, or she can get that payment back. Period. Its just the cost of doing business.

Just a suggestion, there is no way to immediately know if the parcel is stuck in customs even on traceable packages that I'm aware of. So perhaps another way to phrase it is if you just told her you can't be sure but your experience is that its either customs or misdirection in the postal system. And then calm them by letting them know the very small percentage of packages that actually do go missing (it is really very few in my experience). That's how I handle those questions, not that it always works either as evidenced by the chargeback I have in progress right now! Hope this helps 🐵

shooger · ‎11-21-2003

Sometimes you can tell a scammer right away. A few times, the buyer emails me within 4 or 5 days to say "the item never came, I need a refund or I'll do a chargeback". They don't seem to care that it can take up to 2 weeks within North America.

Now, if they email 3 weeks after I shipped it, then I tend to believe it a bit more.

fashion-files74 · ‎11-22-2003

I believe that she has not yet received the item however it is really out of my control. I had a customer once receive a parcel after 2 entire months... yes, that is 2 months but he was a gentleman and we were in contact every step of the way. The box he rec'd was torn and looked horrible he said but fortunately the contents remained intact. He was very pleased with the purchase and left a nice positive for me.

amberwoodottawa · ‎11-22-2003

Before we ship, we advise the customer the method of shipping that we are using and anticipated delivery time. We tell them that if they wish, they can have their parcel delivered faster however there is an additional cost charged by the carrier.

When we suggest delivery time, we will say something like "5-9 business days starting from the day after we ship."

Once every 2 months one of our customers will email us and say they havent received their parcel and 90% of the time, it is still within that 5-9 business day window (or 3-5 business days).

We will email them back and remind them when it was sent out and then we take the bold move to "guess" when it may arrive. We often get an email back from the people telling us it came on the very day we said it would and they were totally blown away with our prediction.

The fact is we usually send 3 emails to every customer before our instruments are shipped and we send another one, the day we ship out their instrument.

You will see in the comments in some of our feedback and we receive tons of emails from our customers recognizing that we communicate frequently with them and I feel that as long as we do that they are assured their merchandise has been sent and if there are problems it is out of our control, hence we have never been blamed for any late deliveries.

As an example, here is a snipit from an email I received this morning from a former customer looking to purchase another instrument from us:
"Just to let you know, I'm coming back because you responded to my emails quickly, got the violin over here quickly, and the instrument itself was
awsome."

Its all in the communication however I am sure that there are those scam artists that live off of receiving merchandise and never paying for it by claiming the item was never sent.

PayPal and eBay should evaluate the frequency some of these people are making similar claims. If an eBay member does this more than 2 times in 6 months I think eBay and PayPal should flag this guy and take a harder line with him the next time he makes a similar claim.

Malcolm

jaymor8 · ‎11-22-2003

So what's the thrust here. If someone buys from you and doesn't buy insurance (which for me means a padded envelope and air mail) they can claim that they never received it and we are obligated to refund them? What the he11 is insurance for, then?

They opt for insurance, they get reimbursed for loss.

They don't opt for insurance, they get reimbursed for loss??

Jackie...

amberwoodottawa · ‎11-22-2003

I suggest that insurance is a mandatory part of your selling otherwise what you are doing is self-insuring and you have to be prepared to eat the cost for the odd lost, damaged or fraudulently shipped parcel.

When filing an insurance claim, you are the customer and you collect the proceeds from CP to distribute to your customer or to offset the PayPal chargeback.

What do you care if the customer gets the package plus the insurance proceeds so long as you have been paid for what you sent?

And if you felt that the customer really did receive the parcel and collected insurance money, then block them from future dealings.

Malcolm

mevans_cda · ‎11-22-2003

If they use Paypal they do get reimbursed. Insurance, TOS, big disclaimers that we are not responsible if insurance is declined ... it all means nothing. Even if they mail payment, they can cancel it as TD Cda Trust told me some time ago and I've also seen it posted here. I think TD told me they have 15 business days for checks or money orders to be cancelled.

You could make insurance mandatory or hide a small fee in the price of your auctions to cover losses but for the rare cases where you have to reimburse someone, it may not be worth it.

can-import · ‎11-22-2003

Hi!
the only solution I found is:
I add 1$ to each shipping I charge. So even if I dont pay for insurance at post office, Since oly 2-3% of the buyers claim they didnt receive it, it covers the refund!

So everybody pays for the moron that claims he didnt receive his stuff even if he received it!

mevans_cda · ‎11-22-2003

Yup, its probably even less that 2-3%, at least for my products. Its like that saying "shoplifting costs everyone". Sellers raise prices to cover the loss.

amberwoodottawa · ‎11-22-2003

That is known as "self-insuring". Canada Post does the same thing however UPS deals with an outside insurance company and pays them a premium.

I cant do it as few things I sell are for less than $100 US and can go up to $1,000 US so that $1 per item shipped
could mean I would have to have a ton of good customers just to pay for that one bad customer.

As with everything else, all our businesses are different, as are our customer base and what works for one doesnt mean it will work for another.

Its great that we have this board to share our ideas and sort out our problems even if we dont or cant abide by what we preach ourselves.

Malcolm

www-labels4less-com · ‎11-22-2003

I ship about 10 small packet airs per day and can't remember the last time I received a "where's my order" email. I DO notice though that many who ship by ground often feel that customs is the culprit for slow shipping.

deltone · ‎11-25-2003

99% of the items I send are small and are not insured. I get my share of emails stating the item was never received and I just send another. I have no way of proving whether they got it or not, but I figure I'm pretty much obligated to send another as they can do a chargeback anyway (if using Paypal). Tis just the cost of doing business.