Boy did I screw up
I haven't done this is YEARS!
Mixed up 2 orders and sent them to the wrong customers.
What makes it worse is ... one was $15 order ... one was a $200+ order.
What makes it even worse is the $200+ order was to a prominent member of the boards!
Let me get busy trying to straighten this mess out.
I'm hoping it is a good thing that the $15 order let me know about the error. I'm hoping and praying that means he is honest.
41 comments
grand-and-glorious-purpose
·7 months agoFeel you. I do it about once a year.
My stuff is all over the map.
Last one was $200 of dishes that went to Florida and a $50 baseball bat that went to Utah...and neither wanted the other's stuff.
Luckily even after the shipping I still made a bit of money.
inhawaii
OP7 months agoHopefully I send it to the right person this time. 😉
lakefor94
·7 months agoYou so got this...
lakefor94
·7 months agoReceived the order today, @inhawaii . If there is anyone with the touch to pull this transaction off, that would be James. Sends the original shipment to an old man in Sarasota, gets him to send it back to Hawaii and then James ships it on to DFW. I never blinked, never a doubt, lol.
Great products BTW. Gardening and yard care are a top hobby here. I like those Stihl products. Grandson is going to dig the snot out of the toy Corvette, really nice.
Thanks for the extra goodies, man. You sent those cookies I ordered in the past. My favs. The women will make short work of the hard candies. Appreciate it.
I saw that you uploaded the 2nd tracking number. Did you take a hit on “Tracking uploaded on time and validated†or since there was already a delivered status showing from the first label, you did not take a hit there? Just curious?
Have another son’s birthday coming up soon, soooo, Order In!! Best of luck shipping this one. hahahahaha
inhawaii
OP7 months agoUpdate.
The guy that ordered the $15 item received the correct item. I re-sent it to him as soon as I learned of the mix up. He agreed to send the $200 order back to me at his own expense "when he has time" but did not go through ebay because he said he doesn't know how to do a return through ebay. He's elderly and not very computer literate. The packaged arrived today (large Priority Mail flat rate box). He spent $36 of his own money to send it back. Amazing. Of course i'm going to reimburse him, but I don't know if he can accept electronic payment or not. He never answered me when I asked him. If not, I plan on sending him $40 cash via snail mail along with some kind of extra gift.
In the meantime the selling board member has been super cool about his $200 order. He was willing to wait this whole ordeal out. I'm going to re-pack his order, throw in a few extra goodies and get it out in the mail first thing tomorrow.
Even though it cost me $40 in return shipping + $25 in re-shipping + whatever goodies I throw in, I still consider this a happy ending. I still have faith in people. I think most people are honest.
Happy Valentines Day everybody!
simply-the-best-for-you
·7 months agoJust goes to show that most of the time, the original premise of eBay (people are mostly good) is still true. I find it with my own customers too. Almost never a problem & when there is, people are usually reasonable & kind. Yes, we've all had some doozies, but 99% of the buyers & sellers are great 🥇
adamcartwright
·7 months ago@inhawaii
So glad this worked out for you, and hats off to both of your buyers.
Eat some pineapple candy to celebrate this victory.
keziak
·8 months agoI"ve racked up plenty of switcheroos in my day. MOre than once it was a 3-way switcheroo! I used to work with the buyers to have them forward the packages but I gave up on that and just ordered replacements for them. This is possible with most commodity books but not for everything especially $200 merch.
12345jamesstamps
·8 months ago'Prominent member of the board'...if you are on good terms with the person I see no problem...have you always been nice to them?
And there is this length of time when each buyer 'might' ever receive the correct item.
The $200.00 item...if it can't be shipped to the buyer before a respectable time frame I would refund right away for OK feedback...and tell buyer to keep the $15.00 item.
I would also refund the $15.00 item to the prominent member of the board.
I consider it 'lost wages' if you can afford that.
babyers88
·8 months agoit happens, were human.
send each one a new correct label, then hope both are ok with handing it over to a carrier.
provide each with the new associated tracking number.
that's the fastest way to handle it
key factor in that is being communicative and customers being understanding.
what sucks is when you send one to Maine that weighs 45lbs when it was supposed to got to Texas
and vica-versa, easily a $100 in shipping cost down the drain.....
nh_sales_lv
·8 months agoI've never mixed up orders because I am perfect. I was born that way. 🤴
coastaltechsolution
·8 months agoGood thing you are so handsome 😀
stainlessenginecovers
·8 months agoThat's a tough one. Hope if all works out for you James.
I have items that are VERY close to each other with 'slight' variations and have to spend time REALLY thinking before attaching label- which I have done to the wrong package and then notice when I go to print the other, reprint, fix etc. but luckily caught before it was too late.
So far, 15 years, haven't done that...yet.
trip98
·8 months agoBummer, done that twice in my 25 years of selling online.
First time, both items were not replaceable, I resolved by sending labels with the other buyers address and a cash incentive to mail. Both items were in the same size very large box and in the same state far from me.
libbywebst
·8 months agoHappens to the best of us.
mantle1951
·8 months agoYes I remember your previous goof up in Sept. 1999, this one is really bad!!!!
gurlcat
·8 months ago@mantle1951 Holy smoke, you remember another member's switcheroo shipping post from a quarter century ago?? How do you remember the date and everything?
Or wait, were you joking?
Here's the artifact from my 'Menage a DOH!' 3-way switcheroo. In trying to herd the 3 cats, I got so confused, partly because the username of one of them was nearly identical to a whole other buyer (not involved in this, but with whom I was also messaging about something at the time). So I had to start a graphic for myself, to keep the details of the 3-way straight.
I can only guess this was in 2019 or 2020.
bgt_masters_of_tiki_d
·8 months agoHappens to the best of us. Hopefully both parties are reasonable about the mistake and act like mature adults.
meme6253
·8 months agoIf it was a member from here, I would hope that they cooperate fully with you to get things resolved!
johnrj1226
·8 months agoGood Luck ..............
shire123
·8 months agoAs many have said we have all been there. When I did it the first time many years ago, I changed my process. I fill one order at a time, get it labeled, packed and sealed. Then I move on to the next item. Of course I only deal with maybe 2 to 4 orders a day so that process may not work for high volume sellers.
lakefor94
·8 months agoI did the same, many moons ago and was able to send labels to 2 cooperative buyers that sent them along to each other, thus alleviating my mess.
I have caught myself at least twice recently, after taping the wrong label on a package after printing off labels for 2 or 3 orders.
And of course, have sent the wrong item to a buyer. Buyer filed INAD and sent a message. I responded, "you are certainly correct. I only ever had one of those and it is still here, will get it headed your way today, just keep the mistake I sent"
That was only a ~$10 item.
I used to ship 10-12 Amazon orders per day and caught myself once not putting the item in the box. From then on I shook every box before I put them in my mailbox or dropped at USPS.
tobaccocardyahoo
·8 months agoI have had great cooperation from buyers.
I could not find my 14k gold and jade ring, one winter day. I knew I had been wearing it.
A buyer contacted me asking why was this ring in his package.
I offered him a return label, but he said "no problem, I will ship it Priority Mail".
It arrived two days later. I sent him a box of candy.
This is a dated story. Would be unlikely to arrive in two days in 2026.
adamcartwright
·8 months ago@tobaccocardyahoo
Okay, that's a great story!
trip98
·8 months agoNice buyer! Opposite end. Extras I have received have been scissors, small 1/2 used packing tape and a chewed-up doggie toy. Nothing recent though.
adamcartwright
·8 months ago@trip98
Poor dog dropped his toy into your box and then couldn't find it.
trip98
·8 months agoalbertabrightalberta
·8 months agoIf the $15 order person wasn't honest, he wouldn't have let you know of the error. My gut tells me he'll send it back.
If it's any consolation, I think anyone who sells long enough will make this mistake at some point.
epowerbargains
·8 months agoDang = proof that this mistake can happen to the best of us. Same thing happened to me. I found out when a buyer sent this message, " is there a reason you sent me a Swarovski Dragon Brooch rather than the oven mitts I ordered? Ugh such a sick feeling.....but both buyers were honest, understanding and just great. I sent them labels to return the items to me and once I rec'd them I mailed them out correctly. I even received positive feedback which I did not expect. Now I fill orders one at a time - step by step and double check.
Hope you are able to get the order resolved.
simply-the-best-for-you
·8 months agoI'm so sorry, that is a bummer! But if it's any consolation, it has likely happened to every single one of us at some point in time. Only once for me, but I developed a couple of tools to help prevent it in the future.
Of course it doesn't stop me from getting to the PO with a pkg I forgot to print the label for. That one has happened to me multiple times cuz I'm always in a hurry. Getting better though, I'm catching more of them before I leave home 😃
I hope/bet that everyone will be honest & it will all work out!
ten_o_nine
·8 months agoOf course it doesn't stop me from getting to the PO with a pkg I forgot to print the label for.
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Or forgetting the package at home. 😄
inhawaii
OP8 months agoNormally I would apologize and tell each customer to just keep the wrong item(s) and I will send the correct item(s). I can't do that in this case because some of the items in the "big" order I have no more of.
broto_64
·8 months agoWhy?
What would I do with something I didn't order?
I always return for refund, mixups, INADS, always reverse the order.
You could of course "rfr" and then refund without requiring a return, such as if it's really not worth the postage to return the items but...
I do feel you, I know I've made some blunders over the years.
gone.c-33
·8 months ago$15? Oh no! It was a plushie with a woody, wasn’t it? 😱😱
ten_o_nine
·8 months agoWhat makes it even worse is the $200+ order was to a prominent member of the boards!
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That actually makes better, they will understand.
wastingtime101
·8 months agoWouldn't that make it better? I feel like most regulars here are decent and would do the right thing to work with you on this, knowing you'd also do the right thing in working it out. 🤷
gurlcat
·8 months ago@wastingtime101 I think he just meant it would make him feel extra bad and embarrassed if the other buyer doesn't do the right thing, and keeps the forum member's $200 item. And that's the more likely scenario since they received something a lot more valuable than what they paid for. But he also said it was that other buyer who reached out (first) about receiving the wrong item, so it seems likely they'll cooperate.
le-5262
·8 months agoThat stinks...
fingers crossed for you.
adamcartwright
·8 months ago@inhawaii
That's really kind of someone here to have ordered $200 from you!
I hope it gets worked out.
simba6
·8 months agoToo late to recall the package?
sin-n-dex
·8 months agoSince the one customer let him know the error, I would say the package has already been received.
C.