Big E-bay Problem.....HELP!

Jazz said:
Interesting .. he had money to buy a $1500 JossWest from Dak21st recently!!! Maybe you can PM Dak21st for his experience with this buyer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=21212&item=7216896064
Jazz,

Yeah, I checked out his feedback rating while the bidding was still going on. Looks like the deal with Dak21st went well. Positive notes on either end.

After sleeping on it, I'm sure I made the right call by giving him a choice. Things happen....they do to us all....so giving him two "outs" on this is about as fair as anyone can be, I suppose.

That, and my wife believes I did the right thing...instead of being a harda$$ about the whole thing, and forcing him to take what he bought. Spousal approval.....Bonus points for me!!! :) :) :)

More to come, when this gets ironed out.

Thanks,

Mark (Rat)

No word back from him yet. He's relatively close to my area (east coast-ish), so I'm thinking I'll get a response today.
 
PoolSleuth said:
#2 ...

Remember you can never make anyone happy.
That is som funny stuff!

I think you are doing the right thing: leaving the backer outer responsible for only the fees associated w/ transaction. Hope it all works out well for you.

One think I'd advise- tell him you will proceed w/ the refund after positive feedback is left for you by him. a comment, "Very understanding seller", or something to that effect, seems appropriate. You could leave either neutral or no feedback in return. I think that would really be the only aspect not addressed thus far.

GL!
 
Latest and greatest...

Well, the guy finally wrote me back, with a "counter-offer" to my offer to refund his money, less my listing and postage expenses thusfar. Below is the message traffic from today:

"Mark,
I understand where you are coming from...I'll forgo your selling fees, but I don't understand your shipping charges...the cue hasn't been shipped. The next fella in line for the cue will pay shipping to his address...see where I'm coming from?
$477 plus the $20 shipping is $497...That'll be okay with me.
Thank's again for understanding and I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards"


and then my reply:

"The $20 in postage has already been spent. I purchased the supplies, shipping labels and postage via the USPS website upon receipt of funds. I, in turn, boxed the cue and placed the postage on it to your address. I was merely waiting your return home so I could send it off. That is $20 taken from the total sale value of the cue, inclusive of the postage paid to get it to you.

Fair is fair, xxxxxx(name). I'm more than happy to refund to you what you can rightfully request($477), according to policy. I'm not, however, willing to eat the $20 in postage, which has already been paid, due to your change of heart or circumstance.

If this isn't acceptable to you, I will gladly ship the cue your way.

I'm sure xxxxxxx(name again), in the grand scheme of things, you can see that I'm willingly taking the brunt of this...and doing my best to extend the courtesy of a very fair refund to you on a sealed deal.

Kind regards, sir. Let me know how you want to proceed.

Mark"


I guess, to a certain degree, I can understand his reasonings and thought process....but I won't eat the prep and postage costs, just to have to turn around and pay for postage all over again. I think that's more than fair, and no one really loses on this one, right? I can't believe I'm having to go around in circles about it...but it doesn't seem this guy understands I'm letting him skate on a legally binding deal, here.

I recommend that ya'll check out the link to this auction (up top a bit), and take heed, should you deal with this guy. He's had good experiences thusfar...but it only takes one to cause concern, ya know?

Mark (Rat)
 
Have you contacted the guy that bid $500. Don't pressure the original guy to complete the deal. If he doesn't really want the cue he will never be happy.
I would think there would be a way to change the address label and postage since it was not canceled.
 
Jazz said:
Interesting .. he had money to buy a $1500 JossWest from Dak21st recently!!! Maybe you can PM Dak21st for his experience with this buyer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=21212&item=7216896064

Am I the only one that thinks there is something fishy here? His only big $$$$ transaction is with an ebayer by the name of Dak21st and his ebay id is mbkdak. Now I realize this may just be coincidence but..............
George
 
I think you've bent over backwards for this guy. All of your offers were fair. his mistake, he should eat the costs. I can't believe he'd think otherwise.
 
rackem said:
Have you contacted the guy that bid $500. Don't pressure the original guy to complete the deal. If he doesn't really want the cue he will never be happy.
I would think there would be a way to change the address label and postage since it was not canceled.
Heya rackem,

No, I'm not going to contact any of the other bidders or relist the cue until the backing-out bidder makes up his mind on what he wants to do....since, technically, he owns it at the moment...or does until I send him some money back. Odds are, if he decides to accept the refund I'm willing to give back, I'll advertise it here first.

I agree that pressuring him is not a good way to go...but I've offered a fair solution to us both, emphasizing that if he doesn't want to be totally fair on his decision to pull out of the deal, he can take the cue and resell it himself.

I am concerned about him taking the cue, and then filing a complaint about something allegedly being "wrong" with it...just to get a refund anyway....but I don't know what the point of diminishing return is, ya know?

Regarding the shipping...the shipping costs paid were to his particular zip code..which does me no good if I ship to someone else. Not sure how the refund for shipping (for me) should work out.

What a royal pain in the arse!!! (a quick tribute to my British friends!)

Rat
 
Sounds like you have been more than fair imho. After bidding he was bound to pay for it and take the cue. Nice enough of you not to force the cue on him in my opinion. He should be happy and not nit picking little things like shipping charges.
 
Am I the only one who thinks this guy (the buyer) is perhaps reading this forum in order to anticipate your reply Rat? Perhaps I just spent too much time analyzing data back in Quantico for the Marine Corps and have become a little bit cynical.

Either way, BE CAREFUL, something doesn't seem right.

I think you have extended this buyer every possible courtesy. Perhaps you may want to check with Paypal and see what would happen if you ship the cue and be done with it. Just as long as he is not able to do a chargeback.

Good luck Rat.

Taiko
 
supergreenman said:
I think you've bent over backwards for this guy. All of your offers were fair. his mistake, he should eat the costs. I can't believe he'd think otherwise.
Totally agree...but how far can I push it before it gets ugly and legally confusing??!! That's my main issue now.

I'm starting to think that E-bay deals are a work of the devil!! :)
 
ryeth said:
Sounds like you have been more than fair imho. After bidding he was bound to pay for it and take the cue. Nice enough of you not to force the cue on him in my opinion. He should be happy and not nit picking little things like shipping charges.

You should have told him $50 "Royal pain in the ass fee". That one he couldn't argue with. What a nit.

Chris
 
George said:
Am I the only one that thinks there is something fishy here? His only big $$$$ transaction is with an ebayer by the name of Dak21st and his ebay id is mbkdak. Now I realize this may just be coincidence but..............
George

I think coincidence - probably stands for "Dakota". Someone should alert Dak21 of this thread in case the guy pulls the same deal on him.

Chris
 
Rat,

Check with Paypal to see if a chargeback is possible even after the item has shipped. However, first make sure his address is confirmed before shipping.

At this rate, you're going to end up paying him just to go away.

Good luck brother.

Taiko
 
Taiko said:
Rat,

Check with Paypal to see if a chargeback is possible even after the item has shipped. However, first make sure his address is confirmed before shipping.

At this rate, you're going to end up paying him just to go away.

Good luck brother.

Taiko
Thanks, bro. The address is verified...I double checked that yesterday. I'll look into the chargeback issue if he tells me to send him the cue. If we settle with the refund, I'll have all the documented communications, so I have a legal foothold on it.

Be good, and thanks for the info.

Mark (Rat)
 
Hey Mark,

I think you've been real stand up with this guy and that shipping fee would be a dealbreaker with a refund as far as I'm concerned. I always try to deal with people the way I would want to be dealt with. I'm sure things can come up, but there is such thing as responsibility, and it's not your job to continue to "turn the other cheek" with this guy. You didn't twist his arm to make him buy the stick, and if he wants to worm out of the deal, then he should be responsible for your costs...period. Next time this kinda crap happens, just refer to the shipping as PIA (Pain in the *&*$&#) or SIF (^*%&# I forgot) charges...;) !!! If he doesn't think the charge is fair, follow through with the original deal.

After just doing a great transaction with you, I hate hearing this kind of nonsense! Always got to be one bad one in the bunch. Hang in there, there's still more good guys out there than this kind of jerk...

Regards,

Steve
 
Hunter said:
Hey Mark,

I think you've been real stand up with this guy and that shipping fee would be a dealbreaker with a refund as far as I'm concerned. I always try to deal with people the way I would want to be dealt with. I'm sure things can come up, but there is such thing as responsibility, and it's not your job to continue to "turn the other cheek" with this guy. You didn't twist his arm to make him buy the stick, and if he wants to worm out of the deal, then he should be responsible for your costs...period. Next time this kinda crap happens, just refer to the shipping as PIA (Pain in the *&*$&#) or SIF (^*%&# I forgot) charges...;) !!! If he doesn't think the charge is fair, follow through with the original deal.

After just doing a great transaction with you, I hate hearing this kind of nonsense! Always got to be one bad one in the bunch. Hang in there, there's still more good guys out there than this kind of jerk...

Regards,

Steve
Thanks, Steve.

I've done everything possible (I think) to be completely fair on this debacle...so we'll see if it actually pans out, or if I'm gonna have to eat some of that money. I'll fight tooth and nail, though, if I feel I'm gettin' screwed.

I like the PIA and SIF fees. I'll tuck those away for use at a future date! :)

I think I mentioned in the last e-mail I sent ya...I wish they could ALL be as easy as the transaction we just finished. Too much to hope for, I know...but a guy can dream, right??!! :)

My best to you and yours.

Mark
 
Nobody brought this up and it does not apply in this case (I think), but remember that someone could use a stolen credit card to pay funds to your Paypal account, then they could ask you to refund the cash... Then when the owner of the card discovers the charges (a month later), they will come after you, and you might end up paying the money back to the card owner...

There are many scams out there. Be careful!! It really is not as safe as many people think. I have just blundered around with transactions here and there and been fine (lucky)... but I am really watching who I do business with now.
 
Avatars

Sorry about the hijack but George and billyards need to let us know a little 411 on their avatars. They should be illegal.
 
I think you've been very fair with your offer. Personally I would not have sent the second offer to him and it was very generous that you did. When I first read it, I had the same reaction as the "buyer". I didn't understand how you could charge for shipping if it never shipped. If I was in his position, I would have asked the same thing. Don't forget that he is now being asked to pay $50 to get NOTHING at this point. You definitely deserve to recoup your expenses (plus some, in my opinion), but the buyer doesn't want to eat more than he has to at this point. With your explanation as to the shipping costs he shouldn't really argue. He can claim that you'd have to pay for that packaging when you ship it to the next guy down the line and it should be at the next buyer's expense, but considering he's got you jumping through hoops at this point, you should definitely make him eat any of the expenses you've had to this point and any you'd have in the future for a resale.
 
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