eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎12-26-2020

The buyer hasn't formally filed an INR, just sent me a nasty message threatening to report me to eBay if I don't refund their money on a coin that "should have been delivered a month ago", and they made sure to tell me they are not happy with the service they got.

Tracking shows delivered in November. I provided the buyer with the tracking number, a USPS link, and agreed that they are correct they should have received their coin a month ago (and it appears they did). I suggested they address this concern with their local Post Office (because tracking shows delivery to a PO Box, not a house, where it could have been delivered to a neighbour).

Anything else to do? How to protect against negative feedback when they're complaining they didn't get it and I have proof it was delivered?

C.

a_c_green · ‎12-26-2020

If he doesn't actually file the INR, it's all bluster. From your description, it sounds like you've already covered all the bases, and proof of delivery to a PO Box, of all places, is pretty difficult for him to argue against. I would stop responding to him at this point. He may do this with all his sellers, hoping to find one who doesn't know what his seller protections are.

calntom · ‎12-26-2020

Getting a neg removed when the tracking shows delivered should not be a major problem.

The buyer needs to locate their shipment through their local USPS as you suggested. You do not need to hold their hand through that.

Don't forget to add to your BBL.

The seller can't be responsible after delivery.

sin-n-dex · ‎12-26-2020

@a_c_green wrote:
If he doesn't actually file the INR, it's all bluster. From your description, it sounds like you've already covered all the bases, and proof of delivery to a PO Box, of all places, is pretty difficult for him to argue against. I would stop responding to him at this point. He may do this with all his sellers, hoping to find one who doesn't know what his seller protections are.

In this case, wouldn't file an INR because it's obvious they are going to lose. If they send a message and complain, then if I can't find the proof quickly enough and get flustered, I might refund (thinking it's going to save my reputation).

It's entirely possible the buyer didn't get it, or they got it and forgot, or they got it and misplaced the envelope before unpacking it... anything is possible. But none of that's my responsibility when it shows as delivered.

C.

little*blackdog · ‎12-26-2020

You have done all you can do. Providing the tracking information is THE thing you needed to do and you did that. Sounds like this buyer is a bully and is trying to intimidate you into refunding, but you don't owe them anything. Even your agreement to try and calm this buyer was only feeding their flames and really not something you had to do... but if your nature is to be kind and calming... I get it. You provided all the information this buyer needs. If they contact you again, you can ignore them. There's no more you can do other than aggravate the situation if the buyer is indeed looking for a refund. You owe them nothing.

Re feedback. It's just a number. If they threaten you with negative FB because you won't refund, that is against eBay policy and you can and should report them. If they leave you neg FB it's part of the game and you can respond to it on your feedback page (see options at the bottom of the page) and most reasonable shoppers will see that, consider it and not hold it against you. All you have to write is something like: Item delivered w/USPS tracking proof.

Good luck.

carolynnq · ‎12-26-2020

Call the buyer's post office - they have the GPS location of the delivery site. Give them the tracking # and they'll tell you exactly where it was delivered. IMO, it's odd that the buyer has waited until now to complain.

selling_everything_74 · ‎12-26-2020

On this sale if they leave you negative feedback you can have eBay remove because they used extortion as a method to get their money.... that is against eBay policy. If it says delivered then it's delivered. Tell them to open a case and when they do just put the tracking into the right box, hit submit and eBay will close it within a couple days. They got the package, they are just trying to pull a scam.

oneblindcat · ‎12-26-2020

Agreed. The timeline suggests that it's been sitting under the front seat of his car ever since he picked it up at the Post Office.

He just forgot about it until now.

______
I am a volunteer here to try and help others, so be nice and remember - My advice might well be worth what you're paying for it.

sin-n-dex · ‎12-26-2020

@little*blackdog wrote:
You have done all you can do. Providing the tracking information is THE thing you needed to do and you did that. Sounds like this buyer is a bully and is trying to intimidate you into refunding, but you don't owe them anything. Even your agreement to try and calm this buyer was only feeding their flames and really not something you had to do... but if your nature is to be kind and calming... I get it. You provided all the information this buyer needs. If they contact you again, you can ignore them. There's no more you can do other than aggravate the situation if the buyer is indeed looking for a refund. You owe them nothing.

Re feedback. It's just a number. If they threaten you with negative FB because you won't refund, that is against eBay policy and you can and should report them. If they leave you neg FB it's part of the game and you can respond to it on your feedback page (see options at the bottom of the page) and most reasonable shoppers will see that, consider it and not hold it against you. All you have to write is something like: Item delivered w/USPS tracking proof.

Good luck.

My partner says that people will see the total and not really go beyond that... I have noticed in the genre they I sell (and also buy in), I get good deals and win auctions on low FB sellers because they can't attract the same type of excitement in 100's of dollars of bidding on their stamp albums. (So this is good for me, and I haven't been disappointed by any of these new sellers... one at a FB of 8 when I bought his album, and it was beautiful. I left him glowing feedback for that.)

But anyway back to being calming... I work in a job where it seems a lot of the agents get yelled at by customers. (We have an online chat to page a supervisor and some of the agents seem to be in that chat all the time). I don't take any guff from the callers and when they're telling me "I was told.." and want to be told something different, I tell them "if you were told this already, that's how it is." I don't find myself needing to use that chat very often. So I guess that means most of my calls don't escalate into an explosive situation that requires a supervisor to take over the call and calm them down.

In any event the buyer did write back and apologized and made some excuse about checking their collection for the coin. I haven't heard anything since. My partner says to allow people to save face by making an excuse and just let them have it rather than to argue on who's right.

So I guess you could say this will probably work out OK.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎12-26-2020

@carolynnq wrote:
Call the buyer's post office - they have the GPS location of the delivery site. Give them the tracking # and they'll tell you exactly where it was delivered. IMO, it's odd that the buyer has waited until now to complain.

Buyer has a PO Box and tracking shows delivered there. I told them to discuss with their Post Office if their items aren't being delivered as scanned.

C.

ed8108 · ‎12-26-2020

Was the mailing address a PO box ?

sin-n-dex · ‎12-26-2020

@ed8108 wrote:
Was the mailing address a PO box ?

I don't remember, I didn't look into that in that much details. I did tell the buyer the package was delivered to their PO Box and to check with their post office, and they didn't respond in a way to suggest that it going to a PO Box was a mistake. In fact they actually said their post office is pretty good about delivering their parcels (and that they'd check their collection for the coin because it probably got put away before they left me feedback).

C.

futuremarine2011 · ‎12-28-2020

if you have a tracking number showing that the buyers item was delivered to the address on file with ebay and paypal which is on the order details then when a case is opened up for the reason you stated and when you respond with the tracking # to the case showing delivered then you dont have to do anything else as the buyer will not get a refund. unless you call in and get them to drop the case as they will when they see delivered with the tracking then automated takes a while longer but you will still win.