Tell me your WORST buyer horror story

[nonyme]

99.9% of buyers I work with are an absolute joy. I just ran into one after 16 years on eBay who was the absolute WORST I've ever encountered. Yee gads.

Note that all communication was through eBay's messaging system!

Started out with the buyer asking me for a discount on a multi-item purchase. I politely pointed out the items were already on sale, and offered her free shipping.

She took the offer ... then paid immediately, before I could invoice her for the free shipping ... and then sent me a message that she was "sad" about having to pay shipping when I'd promised her free.

*head desk* I immediately refunded her the shipping.

THEN she demanded that I falsify the customs infomation. (International buyer.)

Ummm ... no.

I sent her a polite note explaining I could not do this, referring her the appropriate page on eBay, and cringed, because I had a feeling this was going to go south.

Yup. Entitled buyer felt entitled. She demanded I either falsify the customs info or ship in two package so the $$ amts would be less so she wouldn't have to pay customs fees. Or, she wanted me to cancel the order and refund her money. She also complained about the GAS and time needed to pick the items up at her post office, as if this was my fault and something I should refund her for. (Basically, she stated that if she was paying "X" amount for shoes, she shouldn't have to pay for the gas to go get them, too.)

Yeaaaaah. I refunded her order and sent her a cancel transaction request.

Cue immediate threats to leave me negative feedback if I didn't ship her the order RIGHT NOW and ranting that I just didn't understand. (Note: I've refunded her at this point!.)

2 1/2 hours of hold time later, I managed to get somebody at eBay who spoke passable English, and filed a report with Trust and Safety. While I was on hold, the buyer sent me a message indicating she'd reported me to eBay and they said I had to ship to her and demanding again I ship in two packages. (Though this time she offered to pay for shipping, implying that she'd planned on that from the beginning. We'd initially agreed to free shipping. In any case, I've been told by Trust and Safety as a friendly warning in the past that splitting an order into multiple packages is still considered customs fraud if the purpose is to avoid fees.)

I had already blocked the buyer, but informed her she was blocked, and told her to never buy from me again, and reminded her that her money was refunded. I suggested she find another seller(s) with the same items, and buy at different times or buy from two different sellers, if she wanted to keep the cost below the point at which she would be assessed a customs fee. 

Buyer's response was so profanity laden I couldn't post it here without getting banned from the boards myself, and it wouldn't make much sense if I redacted the profanity. Suffice to say she wants me to go somewhere hot, and also feels I'm a deveil, whatever that is. She also threatened to have all her friends buy from me and leave me negs. I reported her for the abusive language and threats. I resisted the temptation to respond with something along the lines of, "Do you mean devil, dummKopf?" (Really, if you're going to curse at someone, at least learn to spell the words correctly.)

I blocked all of Germany.

Then she purchased two of the SAME items from me, using a different ID ... with the same last name, mailing address, and paypal account. (Dunno how that happened as I had her entire country blocked, unless a block takes a few minutes to take effect.) What, she thought I was going to ship them to her AFTER she threatened to have all her friends neg me into oblivion, threatened me with a neg for refusing to falsify customs info, and also told me she'd reported me to eBay? Entitled dummKopf is a dummKopf.

I then called eBay and reported her for being an unwanted bidder and using a second account to circumvent my block.
I refunded her money, and sent a cancel transaction request, which I figured she wouldn't accept, but at least I could close it after seven days.

Buyer denied the cancel transaction request.

I called eBay AGAIN and, to eBay's credit, the rep was able to credit me my fees and assured me she was bumping this issue up to her supervisor for immediate review. I expect the buyer will be NARU'd very quickly.

I'm just ... boggled, however. She's not a newbie (2006 account), she's a competing seller, she's not a child based on her profile photo, and ... what, I caught her on a bad hair day? My first thought was that I was dealing with somebody's self-entitled 13 year old brat, but the account's been around since 2006 and she didn't buy things I would expect a kid to buy. She bought vintage Barbie shoes.

O've been on eBay since 1998.  For sheer irrationality, she was my Worst. Buyer. Ever.

[lt4235]

exactly

[fairiedoll]

I wish I could say that I got the Betsy McCall doll back, but she absolutely refuses my phone calls, or any messages, even after Ebay sent her the mailing label to send it back. It still makes me mad to think about it. I'm sure she is laughing at me for giving her the refund by mistake, but there is nothing that can be done except to say that she is a thief!

[fairiedoll]

Oh, and here is the item number for the doll. I'm not sure if you can still see it or not. By the time she got through with her complaint to Ebay, the doll was a hot mess. But I guess it was good enough for her to keep.

301104662837

[barberkat]

unicorn_philly

This is a user who likes to purchase doll items and file chargebacks.  BBL

[fairiedoll]

It just isn't my year so far.!!  I sold a hard to find Ideal Patti doll (Tammy Family) 2 days ago. Montgomery Ward exclusive for 1964-65.  It sold for 570.00. Two minutes later, I got a message saying she didn't want to pay that much and for me to cancel the sale and give her a second chance offer for a lower amount. What the heck?? I explained to her that if she didn't pay, I would have to file a non paying bidder agains her. She said, oh, please do that and then give me a lower price. I am just dumbfounded as this person has 545 feedback. What is going on lately with this kind of stuff? Needless to say I immediately blocked her. Now I have a headache 🙂

[treadmilltreasures]

This is all so interesting ... and scary. I'm fairly new to selling on eBay and except for 2 complete loons, my buyers have been great. But coincidentally I sold an item last week and I've had no communication, no response and no payment. Soooooo ... after reading through this thread, I went to this person's feedback and it's all been marked as "Private."

What's that all about???? And should I be afraid ... very afraid? Am I about to have a new buyer horror story?

And my worst buyer horror story? Well, so far it's about the buyer who took a week to pay me. I shipped the item 12 hours after payment was received. And that very same day the buyer opened a case against me for "item not as described" demanding a full refund including shipping. And she will not respond to any communication even though it's clear to everyone that what she purchased could not possibly have arrived the very same day it was shipped from 4 states away.

[treasures_collectibles]

Yes I had a very bad buyer one time from Australia. This was quite a few years ago with my other account so policy was different on ebay back then. I sold 2 my child dolls to the lady who I had a feeling would be a problem as soon as she started telling me how to pack them. The my child dolls have a hollow plastic head underneath the fuzzy fabric so I wanted to put them in a shoe box or small box to protect them and she insisted I use just a packing envelope with tape .... from Canada to Australia!!! 

I said no. Shipping was expensive but I gave the buyer the opportunity to back out because of the high shipping costs. She still wanted to go through with it (I insisted on a tracking number as the dolls were over $100)

Long story short she got the dolls and then claimed that I tried to paint the eyes (it was a plastic eye on a fabric doll) and that I cut the hair.. She mailed them back to me in a garbage bag in a box. When I opened the bag one doll was DRIPPING and SOAKING wet!! I couldn't believe why she would send them to me in that condition. It would be so expensive to ship something that was dunked in water!.. 

Paypal was siding with her so I had to go to a notary in town and have a document signed that I did not send the dolls like this and finally I was able to send the dolls to the liquitdy department and get my money back. I felt bad because they were beautiful dolls but it was too much money (close to $200 with shipping) to lose that amount ..... 

[beebee201219]

So, today, a seller emailed me that if I don't pay for a doll right away, she would open an unpaid case later. I made a best offer two days ago, which was Sunday, and she accepted it right away, the same day. This was the doll I've been waiting for for a long time and since it was my birthday, I made a risk and submit an offer. Yesterday, I had finals and papers to submit, so I mentally and subconsciously reminded myself to pay for it. However, I literally just crashed on my bed as soon as I went home last night. Then, I woke up this morning/afternoon and I received her email with a threat of opening an unpaid case if I don't pay pronto.

Now, from what I remember with ebay rules, for buy it now, yea, I have to pay right away at the time of purchase, but I thought it was a bit different for best offers? Shouldn't I treat it like i won the bid? I already paid for it although I sent an email asking her if I can pay for it later today since I'm at work and my workplace's wifi is not a secured network. I'm not sure if I made the right decision with this one or if I should've just cancelled the transaction because I'm already having some bad vibes on this one. :S

[beebee201219]

Oh, and just to make this clear, I'm not one of those buyers who bid, won, or make an offer and just don't pay. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night with that. If I couldn't pay on time, I message the seller. I guess this is just one of those times when I forgot to do it right away because I have to attend to my other important responsibilities and I got carried away. I guess I got a seller who is really really strict.

[tree*fern]

Hi BeeBee, please don't be upset with your seller.  They're not being strict, they're doing what they're supposed to do when a buyer hasn't paid in 2 days without contacting the seller at all.  And after seller files Unpaid Item, you have another 4 days to pay.  Please see the policy here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/unpaid-item.html

It's understandable what happened to you and why you delayed paying, but your seller didn't know that.  

There are many buyers who just buy things with no intention of paying.  There are even some competitors who buy and don't ever pay, just to temporarily knock the competition off the market while their own competing item is listed.  It costs a seller time, work, and money when buyers don't pay, and in the meantime they can't sell the item to someone else until after 6 days.  It happens a lot, so it's understandable if a seller becomes a little frustrated by non-payers.

As you said, you already know that when you aren't able to pay immediately or you need more time than 2 days to pay, you just need to contact the seller right away to let them know.  

Since you weren't able to do that this time, I hope you won't hold it against your seller - they had no way of knowing you weren't like other problem buyers.

[beebee201219]

Yea, I understand sellers and I would be worried too if my buyer didn't send a message to notify me, but I just found it upsetting and a bit rude for that seller to threaten me with opening an unpaid case right away without asking first if I need more time or what. Plus, I did message her when I found out that she accepted my best offer two days ago and I asked if I can pay a day later. But, she didn't reply, so I was just left hanging in the air, until today.

[tree*fern]

Keep in mind she may not have even received your message, as eBay's message system is notorious for not working right all the time, or delaying messages.  (Also, I remember reading there were reported problems with Best Offer messages a while ago, and I don't know if they ever fixed it.)

Even so, when I'm a buyer it's my responsibility to let a seller know if I want more time, not the seller's responsibility to ask me that.  

Many other sellers will just file the Unpaid Item report without contacting you first before filing.

I can understand if some sellers get a little crabby about it, even though they shouldn't.  And I always try to remember that online communication is a two-way street - we can't see facial expressions or hear tone of voice, and sometimes we can take things in a different way than the person meant.  It happens to all of us.  You've had a very stressful couple days with finals and papers (and probably little sleep, if you're anything like me way back when I had finals and papers).  Please be kind to your seller over this, even if they came across as rude or crabby when contacting you first before filing Unpaid Item. 

[beebee201219]

lol yea, sleep was non-existent for me these past couple of days but I'm thankful it's done now. I guess I'm overreacting a little bit too since this is the first time someone do that to me here plus I had no sleep. Thank you so much for enlightening me with these things.

P.S. Nobody filed any case so far since I already paid right away, and hopefully nothing happens to my doll. :S

[tree*fern]

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@beebee201219 wrote:
lol yea, sleep was non-existent for me these past couple of days but I'm thankful it's done now. I guess I'm overreacting a little bit too since this is the first time someone do that to me here plus I had no sleep. Thank you so much for enlightening me with these things.

P.S. Nobody filed any case so far since I already paid right away, and hopefully nothing happens to my doll. :S

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If this is for the Effanbee doll, I don't see any reason at all to be worried about that seller's packing skills resulting in shipping damage.  Top Rated Seller, 100% positive feedback for the past year, more than a few buyer comments about "well packed," 4.9 DSR for shipping cost and more importantly than ship cost, all 5.0s for the rest.

If it's the Barbie Grecian Goddess, maybe there's cause to worry about shipping damage, maybe not.  That's a very inexperienced seller who got 2 negatives over the holidays, one a damaged breakable shipped during the holiday season (which, due to volume, is a time of year when even the best-packed boxes can be damaged).  Then again, there's more recent positive feedback for a NRFB Barbie (which like breakables is a challenge to pack and ship without damage).  So that is maybe a beginner who made mistakes and who has improved their packing skills since then.  You're always covered by Buyer Protection if something goes wrong.

[rosegoldwitch]

you don't have to pay right away if a seller has unmarked the new pay immediately box the same with the box that has ebay immediately open up an unpaid against the buyer if they haven't paid within barely 3 days of the purchase [including weekends oO] I personally don't think it was real professional of her to contact you like that after 2 days and she should have something in her listings saying that she needed payment in a specific amount of time. I believe in giving my customers some slack as they usually buy multiples and that is a good thing. I usually pay right after I've made up my mind but also like to take some time if need be to do so if someone has multple items I'm interested in