Sudden NARU of a buyer...

So I have a regular who buys my banknotes (the ones I call foreign exchange because it's left over trip money, although some you can't spend anymore).

He buys something every couple of months, has 2000 FB. Today he left a positive FB for me for the last note he bought and suddenly he went NARU and eBay messaged me to tell me they cancelled the transaction. (But on payments I see no refund was issued, so I guess that's good).

It's kind of weird that someone who has been buying for a while with such high feedback would suddenly be NARU and cancelled sale for concerns with the account.

Anyway not having a great day, I switched packages for the very first time in my eBay career (the first has gone out and left USA already and cannot be recalled, I caught it when sending the second package... so at least one buyer will get their item). Heading to the coin shop at 9:30 tomorrow to search the store for some similar freebie items. Buyer of the second package purchased multiple things, I refunded him for the one I don't have, but it's a common thing and I can find replacement stuff to throw in so he won't go away empty handed.

Don't know how this is going to turn out, but I'll post as soon as there's a resolution. Buyer in question has purchased three weeks in a row, so I hope he won't be too mad about the mistake (especially if I can replace some of the items in the lot with a bonus).

sin-n-dex

12255 View listings

Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

12 comments

a_c_green

·2 years ago

4196 View listings

@sin-n-dex wrote:
He buys something every couple of months, has 2000 FB. Today he left a positive FB for me for the last note he bought and suddenly he went NARU and eBay messaged me to tell me they cancelled the transaction. (But on payments I see no refund was issued, so I guess that's good).

It's kind of weird that someone who has been buying for a while with such high feedback would suddenly be NARU and cancelled sale for concerns with the account.

I hate to suggest this, but maybe he's died. Once relatives file the proper notifications with eBay, they'll close out the account.

I had one experience with that here, many years ago. A regular buyer of mine suddenly went silent (in between purchases). He was known to several other sellers besides me, and we were wondering in email exchanges what might have happened to him, until finally another seller thought to check the on-line obituaries in the guy's town, and sure enough, there he was.

sin-n-dex

OP2 years ago

12255 View listings

@a_c_green wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
He buys something every couple of months, has 2000 FB. Today he left a positive FB for me for the last note he bought and suddenly he went NARU and eBay messaged me to tell me they cancelled the transaction. (But on payments I see no refund was issued, so I guess that's good).

It's kind of weird that someone who has been buying for a while with such high feedback would suddenly be NARU and cancelled sale for concerns with the account.
I hate to suggest this, but maybe he's died. Once relatives file the proper notifications with eBay, they'll close out the account.

I had one experience with that here, many years ago. A regular buyer of mine suddenly went silent (in between purchases). He was known to several other sellers besides me, and we were wondering in email exchanges what might have happened to him, until finally another seller thought to check the on-line obituaries in the guy's town, and sure enough, there he was.

I could consider that, but he left feedback and then a couple hours later was NARU. So unless his relatives were leaving Feedback too before they closed the account, doesn't seem likely. I check feedback frequently to deal with any problems should any arise, so I noticed the feedback in the morning and later in the afternoon I get the NARU notice from eBay.

adamcartwright

·2 years ago

46 View listings

Awww... I know you must have felt back about that.

moondogblues

·2 years ago

3732 View listings

I had a case years ago where I had swapped the buyers. I caught it right away and messaged both that I would do a full refund (it wasn't much) plus postage if they would forward the packages to each other. They actually got a kick out of it and everyone was happy. That was back in the day...sigh. There was a lot more trust then.

sin-n-dex

OP2 years ago

12255 View listings

@moondogblues wrote:
I had a case years ago where I had swapped the buyers. I caught it right away and messaged both that I would do a full refund (it wasn't much) plus postage if they would forward the packages to each other. They actually got a kick out of it and everyone was happy. That was back in the day...sigh. There was a lot more trust then.

In this case, one package went out (international mail, it's not coming back under any reasonable expectations), the other one was caught. So the international buyer will get both sets of coins. Meanwhile I'm meeting the coin shop owner in an hour to buy a bunch of coins to go through (these were circulation issues from a country the shop puts aside), and see what I can give the buyer as a bonus. I expect he wanted the 500 yen in the lot, so I'm hoping to find at least one of those. I'll tell him what I'm sending and send it. I did give a refund because if I don't have exactly what they bought, I feel I should refund, even if the replacement is the same item, if the condition is less, I don't keep any of their money. Just send the replacement and an apology.

mam98031

·2 years ago

Owner / Operator19752 View listings

We would need to see the email you got. But when there is a problem with a buyer and Ebay sends out the email telling you that, it is usually well after the transaction and often after you've shipped.

I'm guessing since you didn't share the email you got, but it is something Ebay does and I thought you had one of these before, but I could be mistaken. Ebay does NOT refund the buyer. They don't do that in case the seller has shipped. The vast majority of the time the transaction goes off without a hitch. So try not to worry, you are doing fine.

I've had my share of these over the years. I have never lost my product or my money.

sin-n-dex

OP2 years ago

12255 View listings

@mam98031 wrote:
We would need to see the email you got. But when there is a problem with a buyer and Ebay sends out the email telling you that, it is usually well after the transaction and often after you've shipped.

I'm guessing since you didn't share the email you got, but it is something Ebay does and I thought you had one of these before, but I could be mistaken. Ebay does NOT refund the buyer. They don't do that in case the seller has shipped. The vast majority of the time the transaction goes off without a hitch. So try not to worry, you are doing fine.

I've had my share of these over the years. I have never lost my product or my money.

I've gotten them once in a while. I didn't share it because I didn't think it contained anything important that the group could comment on. What I found weird (hence the post) was someone who has a couple thousand transactions and bought from me regularly is now NARU. I'm kind of disappointed about that. I never had a problem with this buyer.

mam98031

·2 years ago

Owner / Operator19752 View listings

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
We would need to see the email you got. But when there is a problem with a buyer and Ebay sends out the email telling you that, it is usually well after the transaction and often after you've shipped.

I'm guessing since you didn't share the email you got, but it is something Ebay does and I thought you had one of these before, but I could be mistaken. Ebay does NOT refund the buyer. They don't do that in case the seller has shipped. The vast majority of the time the transaction goes off without a hitch. So try not to worry, you are doing fine.

I've had my share of these over the years. I have never lost my product or my money.
I've gotten them once in a while. I didn't share it because I didn't think it contained anything important that the group could comment on. What I found weird (hence the post) was someone who has a couple thousand transactions and bought from me regularly is now NARU. I'm kind of disappointed about that. I never had a problem with this buyer.

C.

That of course is your right, however you came here for advice. Ebay sends all kinds of emails out. To be sure you are dealing with an email as I described and advised you on, seeing the email is the only way to be sure the advice is correct.

Still your right. If you don't want to give all details of the issue at hand, then who knows if you are getting the correct advice. You came here looking for advice but don't want to give all the details. Again your right, but then if you don't get accurate advice, that will be the reason why.

sin-n-dex

OP2 years ago

12255 View listings

@mam98031 wrote:
That of course is your right, however you came here for advice. Ebay sends all kinds of emails out. To be sure you are dealing with an email as I described and advised you on, seeing the email is the only way to be sure the advice is correct.

Still your right. If you don't want to give all details of the issue at hand, then who knows if you are getting the correct advice. You came here looking for advice but don't want to give all the details. Again your right, but then if you don't get accurate advice, that will be the reason why.

This is what I received from eBay (just a screen cap, I presume you've seen these kind of messages before):

It wasn't a bid, it was a sale, and they left feedback literally a couple hours before I got this. The item was also mailed to an address in Canada (and was something I could put a stamp on and mail), so there's no tracking. But I've never had a problem with this buyer before.

mam98031

·2 years ago

Owner / Operator19752 View listings

Thank you for the added info. Was there any other statements below that last bullet point you posted, or was it simply the signature line?

So far my initial response remains what I'd advise about this. This email is however worded a bit differently than the emails I've seen before, but that could simply be that Ebay redesigned the email.

sin-n-dex

OP2 years ago

12255 View listings

@mam98031 wrote:
Thank you for the added info. Was there any other statements below that last bullet point you posted, or was it simply the signature line?

So far my initial response remains what I'd advise about this. This email is however worded a bit differently than the emails I've seen before, but that could simply be that Ebay redesigned the email.

Here's the part I didn't share (since I assumed this was default, I've seen this type of verbage before with other cancellations):

I've only got one that I think was a real account security concern where they told me if I clicked on a link in that buyer's message to change my password. (It wasn't even a buyer, just some random yahoo that messaged me something incoherent, and then an hour later eBay sent a message that said "looks like you've been in communication with buyer" and a bunch of similar verbage to this, but since that person hadn't bought anything I did interpret that as a security concern.

mam98031

·2 years ago

Owner / Operator19752 View listings

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
Thank you for the added info. Was there any other statements below that last bullet point you posted, or was it simply the signature line?

So far my initial response remains what I'd advise about this. This email is however worded a bit differently than the emails I've seen before, but that could simply be that Ebay redesigned the email.
Here's the part I didn't share (since I assumed this was default, I've seen this type of verbage before with other cancellations):

I've only got one that I think was a real account security concern where they told me if I clicked on a link in that buyer's message to change my password. (It wasn't even a buyer, just some random yahoo that messaged me something incoherent, and then an hour later eBay sent a message that said "looks like you've been in communication with buyer" and a bunch of similar verbage to this, but since that person hadn't bought anything I did interpret that as a security concern.

C.

Thank you again for providing the rest of the email. While they have redesigned it a little bit, this is the email Ebay has sent out for many years when they feel they have discovered a problem with a transaction and the buyer. They aren't always correct, but these emails do get sent.

I've personally had a few over the years. Always well after I've shipped the item and even sometimes well after the buyer has received the item. None of these types of transaction have presented any problem to me over the years. All transaction went off without a hitch and never even a concern voiced by the buyer.

The email with the buyer giving you a link, is a completely different situation than this one. They aren't even related. Rule of thumb, NEVER click on a link in an email unless you are 100% positive it came from a trusted person. Some random buyer would never qualify as that as they are a complete stranger.