Advice needed on lack of communication

[thestuffofchris]

Hi, everyone.

As a long-time lurker and first-time poster, I want to thank everyone on this board. The advice that has been shared over the past few years has been invaluable to me and I'm sure many others, even if we aren't regular posters or even sellers.

I've been fortunate enough to have few problem buyers over the years, and the ones I did have were fairly easy to deal with. Today, however, I have one that I'm hoping I can get some advice on. Here's what has happened so far:

Late Wednesday night, a buyer purchased a game that I was selling and paid immediately, but then sent me an e-mail asking if I would send the game to the person she had bought it for (in Canada) instead of to her (in the U.S.). I was hesitant, but after doing some research on the boards in the morning, I found others who did it regularly with no issues, and after considering it does seem a bit much to ship it to the U.S. only to have her ship it back to another Canadian address, I agreed to do so.

I sent her a reply both directly through e-mail, as well as in an eBay message where I acknowledged her e-mail. (One thing I've learned from these boards is to always keep communication through eBay whenever possible.) It is now Monday morning, and I have not had any communication from her since her first e-mail Wednesday night.

I know there are people who aren't online every day, or who may use a different e-mail for eBay that they don't check often, so I wasn't concerned at first when I didn't hear back from her, but now that it's been a little over 4 days and I have been holding off shipping (because I assume she still wants it sent to the Canadian address, and I can't ship it if I don't have the address), I'm not sure what to do next.

Do I send her another message and hope she responds in the next few days? Do I just ship it to her address, which is the one on the PayPal transaction, and if she ever does reply explain that I sent it to her address? Do I attempt to cancel the transaction?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

- Chris

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

Some people don't seem to check their email on the weekend so hopefully will hear from her today.If not, I would probably write again tonight asking again for the address that she wants it sent to. I'm not quite sure what I would do if I still didn't receive a reply within a couple of days.

Actually,something that worked for me once when the buyer wasn't replying....I looked them up on facebook and sent them a message there. They replied within a couple of hours. Of course if neither of you have have a facebook account that won't work. Or, if she is like me and has a facebook account but never checks the account, that won't work either.

[mr.elmwood]

And if they do not reply soon enough, send it to the address of record.

[rose-dee]

Hi -- I think by this time I'd try the good old telephone.  I'm always surprised how quickly an issue can be cleared up over the phone.  Just be sure to use a very friendly approach, and make sure you indicate right at the top of the conversation that you're the Canadian eBay seller she just bought a game (or whatever it was) from.  Tell her you've sent messages via eBay but that she may not have seen them, so you decided to call. 

If your buyer's phone number isn't shown on the eBay or Paypal transaction details, you can contact eBay Customer Service and ask for that information (assuming the buyer has provided it to them).  Have your transaction # handy, so CS can confirm you're the seller. 

Do make sure you check the time zone your buyer lives in so you're not waking them up in the middle of the night.  Usually I find that around 7:00 p.m. local time works best -- after supper, but not yet bedtime for most people.  And if there is no answer, definitely leave a detailed message with your return phone # as well as a request to check her eBay message inbox.  The buyer may not want to pay for a long distance return call, but the reminder about eBay messages may prompt her to respond that way. 

Best of luck with this.  BTW, if you do manage to catch your buyer by phone, I'd follow up with a message through eBay messages, that you've spoken to her and confirming the address she's given you to send the parcel to in Canada.  Just in case...

[pjcdn2005]

Phoning them is a good idea although rather than phone customer service, I would use the contact info function  

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/ebayadvsearch?_sofindtype=9

[thestuffofchris]

Thanks for the reply, PJ.

I was thinking about that, too, which is why I didn't worry about not hearing anything on the weekend. I think I'm going to wait to see if I hear anything today before making a decision on what to do next. I don't want to rush a decision only to have her reply today.

Unfortunately I don't have Facebook, so I wouldn't be able to contact anyone that way. It is a good idea, however, especially with many people these days having some form of social media account.

[thestuffofchris]

Thanks for the reply, Mr. Elmwood.

That was actually the first solution I considered, sending it direct to her. I'm going to wait and see if I hear from her today before making a final decision on what to do.

[thestuffofchris]

Thanks for the reply, Rose.

I will consider phoning her if I don't hear anything today. As PJ said, there are some who don't check their e-mail on the weekend, so hopefully that's just the case and she replies today.

I don't see her number in eBay or PayPal, so I will use the link PJ posted to get her contact information if I need it.

Thanks for the best wishes. I will definitely keep everyone up-to-date on what happens.

[maximus7001]

I find that the phone number usually shows up on the android mobile app even when it does not show on ebay.ca

Thats where I get the buyers phone numbers to manually enter on paypal canada post shipping.

[thestuffofchris]

Thanks for the reply, Maximus.

I don't have an Android device so I can't check that way, but I did check the iOS app with no luck. If I need to go that route, I'll have to get the info through the link PJ provided.

[ricarmic]

As a side note, if you are shipping to a Canadian address and you collect taxes, you have to charge the taxes now if it is shipped to a Canadian address (taxes are collected based on where it is sent, not where it was purchased from).

[thestuffofchris]

Thanks for the reply, ricarmic.

I don't collect taxes, so that's not a concern. Thanks for the information, though.

[thestuffofchris]

It seems PJ's advice to just wait one more day worked best. Late last night I received an apologetic reply from the buyer with the address, so I can now ship out the game.

Thank you to everyone for your advice and help. It has been greatly appreciated!