Buyer in Puerto Rico (hurricane)

[icidal]

Not sure what to do. I have a buyer with 100% feedback rating but auction closed on Wednesday, the very day that PR got slammed by the hurricane. As I understand it, most of PR has no power or internet.

Obviously, I haven't received payment or communication from them, and don't expect to  right now.  I completely understand.

What should I do?  Cancel the order?  Wait?  For how long?  eBay automatically opens payment dispute after a certain time, but I don't want to look like a **bleep**, or have the buyer dinged for non payment since this is totally not their fault.

What should I do with this order?

[femmefan1946]

First send a polite note to the buyer, giving your concerns and asking if everything is okay.

Tell them you are going to cancel the order, that this will not affect their eBay account in any way, and that they are welcome to buy from you when Puerto Rico is back on its feet and their own situation is better.

With no power on the island, and none expected for weeks, she may not get it for a while , but you've done your best.

Then cancel, using 'problem with address'.

[siberians_forever]

@icidal wrote:

Not sure what to do. I have a buyer with 100% feedback rating but auction closed on Wednesday, the very day that PR got slammed by the hurricane. As I understand it, most of PR has no power or internet.

Obviously, I haven't received payment or communication from them, and don't expect to  right now.  I completely understand.

What should I do?  Cancel the order?  Wait?  For how long?  eBay automatically opens payment dispute after a certain time, but I don't want to look like a **bleep**, or have the buyer dinged for non payment since this is totally not their fault.

What should I do with this order?

If you dont have Auto Unpaid Assist set up, give them a week to see if they make payment.

Dont cancel anything because then you get the ding.

eBay already knows about delays with shipping/payments...so dont worry for now.

If they dont make payment then they probably have bigger things to worry about then an unpaid item.

Just give it a week or so...

If you have Unpaid Assist Active, well then they got a week regardless too.

If and when they do pay, ebay will already have in place DELAYS on shipping time...

[centexcompsvcs]

Do the smart thing and just  Cancel  for "Problem with address".    Once eBay sees that the shipping address is Puerto Rico, you will not get a ding.  How is the buyer going to pay you with no electricity etc?  Why in the heck should the buyer get an "Unpaid Item" ding...this is not their fault nor your fault.

[siberians_forever]

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@centexcompsvcs wrote:

Do the smart thing and just  Cancel  for "Problem with address".    Once eBay sees that the shipping address is Puerto Rico, you will not get a ding.  How is the buyer going to pay you with no electricity etc?  Why in the heck should the buyer get an "Unpaid Item" ding...this is not their fault nor your fault.

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One unpaid ding is not gonna do anything to a buyers account.

And its not like they didnt have any warning a hurricane was coming.

Dont get me wrong, nothing against the buyer by any means...

Electric may come back on...Just saying give it some time...they might pay.

[mismarymarpl0]

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@siberians_forever wrote:

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@centexcompsvcs wrote:

Do the smart thing and just  Cancel  for "Problem with address".    Once eBay sees that the shipping address is Puerto Rico, you will not get a ding.  How is the buyer going to pay you with no electricity etc?  Why in the heck should the buyer get an "Unpaid Item" ding...this is not their fault nor your fault.

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One unpaid ding is not gonna do anything to a buyers account.

And its not like they didnt have any warning a hurricane was coming.

Dont get me wrong, nothing against the buyer by any means...

Electric may come back on...Just saying give it some time...they might pay.

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What if the buyer was bidding on other items and all their sellers get mean and issue a strike?

The power in PR is guaranteed to be out for at least 3 weeks according to the morning news.

The kind thing to do is cancel. Kindness never killed anyone

[keziak]

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@centexcompsvcs wrote:

Do the smart thing and just  Cancel  for "Problem with address".    Once eBay sees that the shipping address is Puerto Rico, you will not get a ding.  How is the buyer going to pay you with no electricity etc?  Why in the heck should the buyer get an "Unpaid Item" ding...this is not their fault nor your fault.

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Same issue here. The customer bought the       book at the height of the storm but nothing since then. 

[mismarymarpl0]

Just cancel with the reason "problem with buyer address". Its really not a lie, you dont know if they still have an address at this point

[castlemagicmemories]

You can turn off your Unpaid Item Assistant if you want to wait a bit.

You can cancel with problem with buyer's address.

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@icidal wrote:

Not sure what to do. I have a buyer with 100% feedback rating...

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Since other aspects of your post were covered, I will add that the above phrase is 100% redundant.  "I have a buyer" would have been the same thing, since all buyers have a 100% rating due to buyer feedback unable to be anything excepw 100% positive.  So next time you have a concern about a buyer, you can cut the phrase "with 100% feedback rating."

[papermoneyforme]

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@nowthatsjustducky wrote:

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@icidal wrote:

Not sure what to do. I have a buyer with 100% feedback rating...

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Since other aspects of your post were covered, I will add that the above phrase is 100% redundant.  "I have a buyer" would have been the same thing, since all buyers have a 100% rating due to buyer feedback unable to be anything excepw 100% positive.  So next time you have a concern about a buyer, you can cut the phrase "with 100% feedback rating."

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A buyer that also sells can have a rating of less than 100%

[nowthatsjustducky]

Feedback as a buyer can still only be 100%.  Feedback as a seller is unrelated to feedback as a buyer; that is why the feedback page is divided into three tabs (not counting the search Seller Feedback tab):  Feedback as Buyer, Feedback as Seller, the the most important one as far as being a buyer goes; Feedback left for others.

[papermoneyforme]

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@nowthatsjustducky wrote:

Feedback as a buyer can still only be 100%.  Feedback as a seller is unrelated to feedback as a buyer; that is why the feedback page is divided into three tabs (not counting the search Seller Feedback tab):  Feedback as Buyer, Feedback as Seller, the the most important one as far as being a buyer goes; Feedback left for others.

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Too bad they don't have a % for buying and selling separately which would make your back peddling a little more believable. They only have 1 rating as a percentage!

[nowthatsjustducky]

You seem to be confusing further explaining with backpedalling.

Besides, if a user has less than 100% feedback, that means that all of their non positives were as a seller; and it still is no reflection on them as a buyer.  Their feedback as a buyer is still 100%, making that number still meaningless.

[femmefan1946]

the the most important one as far as being a buyer goes; Feedback left for others.

Exactly.

This is the tab that gives a hint about the member's 'Buyer Personality'.

A buyer who leave negs, neutrals and false positives is the one to be wary about.