mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
I had a seller bid on an item had that was new with tags she made an offer I accepted her offer, well after 3 days no payment 4,5,6 days no payment so I sent her an email simply stating don't ruin your ebay account by not paying for your bid ok she paid,
Dang as a buyer I'm not sure I would have reacted well to that being said to me. First off it isn't true and second, it simply isn't a good approach to take. A simple professional response will most times prove to be a better approach. Something like: Thank you for your purchase on XXXX. According to our records, your payment has not yet been received. Please submit your payment.
I wrapped it in bubble wrap sent it off she received it put it out in her yard oh by the way it was a Mickey Mouse Solar light, I have its companion still at my location and yes it still works. After 2 weeks she tells me that it no longer works, I told her that cant be it is brand new, but if she wants to keep it I will refund her money minus the shipping she wrote me back DONT BOTHER THEN FILED A RETURN
Well you called her a liar by saying "that can't be". Not a good way to communicate with a customer no matter what the truth of the matter is. And yes a solar light can be defective and stop working after a short period of time just like any other product. And with a solar light, it is recharging a battery in the unit. If that battery went bad, that could cause the issue they had.
If I got an email like that from a seller. I too wouldn't mess with it and file for a return.
well I fought it well automatically Ebay issued her a return label I got the item back they refunded her money back I didn't they did paint chipped all over it solar panel ripped out of it grass all over it I appealed their decision sent them pictures there response was how do we know you didn't do this really I appealed it again, same response I was a top seller until I have had 2 bad buyers ruin that for me.
Ebay significantly changed the return system last fall. It is NOT in the seller's best interest to try and fight a request for return at all. I will result in exactly what you experienced. Ebay will step in and rule for the buyer. And when that happens you get a defect for not resolving the return without having to have Ebay step in. When this happens you often won't get your FVFs refunded either. And if a seller tries to fight the return of the item, Ebay can just let the buyer keep the item and force the refund.
Here is a link to last year's Seller Update that explains the changes in the return system.
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2018-summer/simplified-returns.html
Hopefully you will be able to work yourself out of this issue quickly and get your TRS back. Try using a less direct approach to your communications will also help. Clean out those closets and list as much stuff as you can. Diluting the numbers will help you a lot.
I know that it can be very difficult dealing with some buyers. But just remember it isn't personal it is business. Don't let your feelings be reflected in what you say to a buyer. It can backfire on you big time, as you have found out the hard way.
@ge-254604 wrote:
I hate to tell you this but I bought three of those Mickey solar lights and not one of them lasted longer than a month.
Had you just file the unpaid item strike, or cancel the transaction when you didn't get paid you could have saved yourself the entire headache. When buyers are treated badly they tend to return the items in bad shape
Not a good idea to cancel a transaction due to non payment. That isn't what the cancellation process is for and it offers no protection for the seller either in a case like this. In fact, the seller would have to pick a reason that would give them a defect on their account because the cancellation process is not for a non paying buyer.
The UID is great advice. That will protect the seller. They can be opened as soon as 48 hours after the purchase and closed another 96 hours later if no payment arrives.
@earlyant-77 wrote:
@luckythewinner wrote:
@crossra wrote:I sent her an email simply stating don't ruin your ebay account by not paying for your bid
Why would you tell the buyer something that is not true? Failing to pay for an item will not "ruin" an eBay account - in fact nonpayment it has almost zero consequences.
That aside ...
I learned long ago that it is foolish to try to force a reluctant buyer to pay for something he or she clearly does not want. And as you have discovered, an unhappy buyer can inflict real damage on a selling account.
Everything you said, lucky, is true, however filing a UID is 'forcing a reluctant buyer to pay for something'. And it may get worse, especially for items that shouldn't be auctioned. Maybe an option for the buyer to respond with a 'cancel' request in the UID would solve that(a seller option when opening one) - but I wouldn't really like to see it and I imagine there might be a lot of abuse of that.
It's been about 10 years since I opened a UID, and I only do auctions. However, I may need to open one tomorrow. I don't even know the wording of the email a buyer gets, since I've never had one opened on me. Some buyers may just see it as a reminder, but others may see it as a nastygram.
I think you misunderstood. Filing a UID does NOT "force" a buyer to pay. There is no vehicle on Ebay that can do that. But Lucky wasn't referring to the actual filing of a UID but of the email the OP sent the buyer threatening them in essence that a UID would hurt their selling account if they didn't pay. That was the force here. Trying to scare the buyer into paying. And as the OP found out that backfired on them big time plus cost them more money as well as got their selling account a little damaged.
Never use the cancellation process in instead of filing a UID. A UID has some protections built in and it is meant to handle a non paying buyer. That is not what the cancellation process is for. There is no reason a seller can use in the cancellation process for a non paying buyer and that is because the cancellation process is not the right way to handle this. Besides if you give a seller reason for filing the cancellation, then you get a defect on your account and you are likely not to get your FVFs refunded. If you choose a buyer reason, then it isn't accurate and you can get in trouble for that too as well as get the defect on your account.
UIDs are the proper process for a non paying buyer.
Auctions are not the only type of listing that has non payers. It may happen more often with auction, but it can happen on any listing that doesn't have IPR.
@cashvaluerecovery2011 wrote:
Uid is how the seller gets their fees back and can safely relist their item for sale without the dead beat buyer keeping the item in limbo.
And protect their FB.
@crossra wrote:
The point is I did not threaten her
I was trying to keep her from getting an unpaid item on her account and
i offered her money back minus the shipping if she wanted to just keep it, instead of sending it back
and if it didnt work why not just send it back intact not tore apart and destroyed. but its not just this I sent a guy a practically new laptop he set a password forgot it and didnt know how to recover the system and reported it useless again i had to refund the money and another defect on my record it only took two to take my good seller account down, but I'm not here to argue I'm trying to find a different road to take that doesnt cost me an arm and a leg in sellers fees and is more for honesty than crooked buyers
Yes you did. You said her account could be ruined if she didn't pay. That is threatening and completely untrue. There is no need to do this. If you want to explain something to your buyer, make sure you understand the policy yourself first. There is no need to scare a customer or threaten their account.
I understand you were just trying to get them to pay. But there are better ways of wording your communications so that they aren't as rough around the edges.
I don't know why it came back in the condition it did. Since it didn't work, you wouldn't have been able to resell it anyway. But still not an excuse to come back torn apart.
As to the refund, it is likely your buyer wanted the original shipping refunded too as it was almost as much as the item itself. If I were the buyer and had a defective item, I would want all my money back, so I understand why they choose to return the item to you for a full refund.
You wouldn't get a defect on your account if you resolve your returns without Ebay having to step in. You need to process your returns all the way through to include refunding your buyer. Then if you had a problem with these SNADs, you file an appeal with Ebay and you Report the buyer for abusing the return system. I did provide you with links earlier in the thread so you could review the policies on this so you can better protect your selling account.
