auction dispute

[conticel]

Hi there,

I haven't really come across any issues with my auctions until now, but about a month ago I sold an old used laptop for about $19.99USD plus shipping. Now, I don't normally accept cash or money orders, but unfortunately I agreed with this buyer to accept a money order from him. The auction ended on July 20th. Since then he has had very poor communication with me, and has been giving me the run-around telling me I gave him the wrong address..just two days ago..saying he got his letter/money order back. I decided that since it had been this long and that this has been nothing but an inconvenience and waste of my time, that I'd email this man and tell him to just forget it and to void this transaction all together. Now today he emailed me saying he is just going to leave me with negative feedback then. I for one, don't think this is fair because of the lack of co-operation, and prolonged uncompleted transaction since the auction has actually ended. Any comments or opinions?

[shoplineca]

Never waste a month on a NPB. You must follow a set of rules and stick by them. Your buyer never had the money to buy your laptop so unless you want to sell your items on a lay-away plan, get on with relisting.

You are going to get the same neg that you would have gotten several weeks ago had you filed for your fees back when reporting him as a NPB. You could have relisted your laptop and likely sold it and gotten paid by a decent buyer by this time.

Report him as a NPB, give him a neg, get yours and file for mutual withdrawl of the negs.

Far too patient and too much time wasted for $19.99.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

I am with Malcolm on this one... in addition add him to your blocked bidder list.

Jeff

[conticel]

Thank you very much for your advice. :). I really appreciate it. I suppose people learn from their mistakes. I will do as you say and advise in the future to do anything to not let this happen again. Such a pain in the butt for such a little dispute.

[shoplineca]

conticel
One secret in running a successful business is setting some rules to follow and following them. That does not mean that there cant be exceptions, those will become your business decision however, there was no reason to make an exception to allow someone over a month to come up with $19.99.

A good exception to the rule, as an example is if someone was purchasing something from you for $1,000 and made a PayPal payment for $500 now with a promise to make a 2nd PayPal payment for $500 next week and then you ship your item.

By establishing some basic rules to follow (which you may even want to post in your listings), you can maximize your profits by minimizing risk and time wasted creating individual rules for every event.

Malcolm

[gem-n-i-gemstonz]

If you still have the email that has him saying he'll leave a neg, can you not forward it to eBay. Isnt that feedback extortion? Can(will) ebay remove negs based on feedback extortion?

Jaqui

[shoplineca]

Jaqui
Unfortunately this is not considered FB extortion by eBay.

They consider FB extortion when a Buyer tells a Seller that he will accept $5 for the $100 item or he will leave him negative FB.

It is when the act of extortion is used to negotiate a price change or give extra (like winning an auction for a guitar and saying neg FB will be left if you dont give me a free amp with the deal).

Malcolm

[conticel]

thanks for all the advice. so far nothing has come about this. i told him that our deal was off, and he hasn't left neg feedback yet or anything. i'll keep my fingers crossed.

[gem-n-i-gemstonz]

Thanks for the info Malcolm(sorry I was away for the long weekend, and couldnt check back in here).

I had thought it was extorting anything that they didnt allow(even a + fdbck).
take care,
Jaqui