Unresponsive Buyer (already paid) who didn't specify variations - what to ship?

[archmeyer37]

Hello,

I recently had a listing with a Buy It Now price for a 'Lot' where buyers could choose out of many variations, and I requested that buyers just let me know which variations they wanted when they checked out. (because as far as I know, (and please correct me if I'm wrong!), you can't easily use variations and lots in the same listing).

I had a buyer checkout and pay for their lot, but they never told me which variations they wanted. I've messaged them twice asking and reminded them they can cancel if they changed their mind, but I haven't received a response. I'm not sure what happened - either they misinterpreted the listing and thought they were receiving every unit, not just a small 'Lot', or forgot to specify, or something else came up. 

I will definitely edit my listing, so that this does not happen again. In the meantime, what is the best way to proceed? I don't want to cancel without their approval, and I need to ship something before the shipping deadline. Should I just ship them their Lot and choose random variations?

Any input/advice would be appreciated - thanks in advance! 

[generaluser3]

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

You aren't supposed to have 'choice' listings.

---

I've read on this forum that this is the rule, but is it stated specifically in ebay policies?  The reason I ask is I've seen quite a number of "choice" listings.  There's a bookseller in particular that does a very nice business with You Pick/Choose type of listings, and it's been going on for years, as far as I've noticed. 

I've always thought that "choice" listings would be nice to do, since the buyer can then choose exactly what they want.  But the obvious downside is what the OP is going through now. 

---

Would this be the large seller who tanked the book categories by loading up a million books in the cookbook category where most didn't belong there?

---

I had to check to make sure they didn't add a million books to their inventory!  But, no, they are a small bookseller (154 listings).  This is just an example of pick/choose listings I've seen in the book category.  I think it's a nice service, though I would imagine it gets dicey when the buyer is nonresponsive, as in the OP's case. 

---

Be easier with a variation listing - that way the seller doesn't have to edit the listing every time something sells. 

---

So city*satins says:  There is currently no policy I can find against CHOICE listings - in the past, the only stipulation was that all of the items had to be available to satisfy all buyers if you offered it in a QUANTITY of >1  as a FP listing.  But using a variations type FP listing where you hardcode the quantity of each variation makes that unnecessary since it removes no-longer-available items from the counter.

Are you aware of a current policy that says CHOICE listings are not allowed?  I couldn't find anything either, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere!

[city*satins]

Right - but the seller is selling them all for the same price, so I tailored my response to them.

The conditions differ on the duplicates, so again, I tailored by response to them.

 
I did too. I looked at the OP's other listing for 4 specific beanies in fairly mediocre condition and thought perhaps they might find their way into the same variations listing if the OP decided to create one.

I wasn't criticizing you.  Sorry if it seemed that way.

[archmeyer37]

Thank you to everyone who has responded. I will definitely think about all the options for how to eventually edit and respost my listing. I thought I had seen it done similarly to mine for Beanies  in the past, which is why I thought this would work, but obviously there are much better ways to list. 

If I can't get ahold of this buyer to find out what they would like to do, would it be best to ship them a random assortment of 4, considering that they may be expecting the entire bundle and then return them and/or leave me negative feedback, or would it be better to just cancel the order on my end and take a default? I highly doubt this is going to end well, and that is obviously my fault for not setting up this listing more clearly - lesson learned. I'm just trying to find the best (or least bad) solution at this point. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

You aren't supposed to have 'choice' listings.

---

I've read on this forum that this is the rule, but is it stated specifically in ebay policies?  The reason I ask is I've seen quite a number of "choice" listings.  There's a bookseller in particular that does a very nice business with You Pick/Choose type of listings, and it's been going on for years, as far as I've noticed. 

I've always thought that "choice" listings would be nice to do, since the buyer can then choose exactly what they want.  But the obvious downside is what the OP is going through now. 

---

Would this be the large seller who tanked the book categories by loading up a million books in the cookbook category where most didn't belong there?

---

I had to check to make sure they didn't add a million books to their inventory!  But, no, they are a small bookseller (154 listings).  This is just an example of pick/choose listings I've seen in the book category.  I think it's a nice service, though I would imagine it gets dicey when the buyer is nonresponsive, as in the OP's case. 

---

Be easier with a variation listing - that way the seller doesn't have to edit the listing every time something sells. 

---

So city*satins says:  There is currently no policy I can find against CHOICE listings - in the past, the only stipulation was that all of the items had to be available to satisfy all buyers if you offered it in a QUANTITY of >1  as a FP listing.  But using a variations type FP listing where you hardcode the quantity of each variation makes that unnecessary since it removes no-longer-available items from the counter.

Are you aware of a current policy that says CHOICE listings are not allowed?  I couldn't find anything either, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere!

---

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html

[city*satins]

---

wrote:

---

Are you aware of a current policy that says CHOICE listings are not allowed?  I couldn't find anything either, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere!

---

I'm the policy monkey.  What can I say?   If I can't find a policy either current or archived, I don't try to answer based on the notion that one exists that isn't published.

Are you thinking that I should?

The original policy about CHOICE listings only restricted multiple quantities CHOICE listings, where there were for instance 8 color choices and a quantity of 40 total but the color choices had to be stated in a message to the seller upon sale.  What COULD happen is that 2 buyers could do the following (example only)

1. Buyer A picks quantity 10  and messages the seller that he wants all RED

2. Buyer B picks quantity 3 and messages the seller that he wants 1 RED, 1 BLUE, and 1 GREEN

The seller has only 10 RED so he can't satisfy both buyers even though both have bought and paid in good faith.

To prevent this, eBay forbade choice listings WHERE a situation like this could occur and the seller might not be able to satisfy all concurrent orders.   But eBay didn't know about it unless it happened, as such listing were allowed to run, and were only a problem after-the-fact.

The long-term solution that followed, much later, was the fixed price multiple quantity VARIATIONS listing.

[fern*wood]

Since about every option is bad in one way or another, you could always ship them all to your buyer.  I thought that was about what beanies sold for now anyway.

[goodluckselling]

---

wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has responded. I will definitely think about all the options for how to eventually edit and respost my listing. I thought I had seen it done similarly to mine for Beanies  in the past, which is why I thought this would work, but obviously there are much better ways to list. 

If I can't get ahold of this buyer to find out what they would like to do, would it be best to ship them a random assortment of 4, considering that they may be expecting the entire bundle and then return them and/or leave me negative feedback, or would it be better to just cancel the order on my end and take a default? I highly doubt this is going to end well, and that is obviously my fault for not setting up this listing more clearly - lesson learned. I'm just trying to find the best (or least bad) solution at this point. 

---

Since you want to drop the lot variation, I would just end the current listing and start over with a new variation listing.  The reason is because once you sell something from that variation you can not remove it.  If that variation did not have any sales against it you could remove that option.

Buyers are going to want you to resupply that lot variation and it just is not worth the time to handle the CS tasks that will keep coming for this request.

Good Luck Selling!

[city*satins]

---

wrote:

Since about every option is bad in one way or another, you could always ship them all to your buyer.  I thought that was about what beanies sold for now anyway.

---

Ouch.  10X as many for the same price?  I realize you might think they're dross, but there really are still some buyers out there willing to pay for beanies.

---

---

[city*satins]

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has responded. I will definitely think about all the options for how to eventually edit and respost my listing. I thought I had seen it done similarly to mine for Beanies  in the past, which is why I thought this would work, but obviously there are much better ways to list. 

If I can't get ahold of this buyer to find out what they would like to do, would it be best to ship them a random assortment of 4, considering that they may be expecting the entire bundle and then return them and/or leave me negative feedback, or would it be better to just cancel the order on my end and take a default? I highly doubt this is going to end well, and that is obviously my fault for not setting up this listing more clearly - lesson learned. I'm just trying to find the best (or least bad) solution at this point. 

---

Since you want to drop the lot variation, I would just end the current listing and start over with a new variation listing.  The reason is because once you sell something from that variation you can not remove it.  If that variation did not have any sales against it you could remove that option.

Buyers are going to want you to resupply that lot variation and it just is not worth the time to handle the CS tasks that will keep coming for this request.

Good Luck Selling!

---

This wasn't a multiple quantity listing.  It ended when it sold.  So the OP isn't at risk of more purchases for this particular listing.

[generaluser3]

Sorry,

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

Are you aware of a current policy that says CHOICE listings are not allowed?  I couldn't find anything either, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere!

---

I'm the policy monkey.  What can I say?   If I can't find a policy either current or archived, I don't try to answer based on the notion that one exists that isn't published.

Are you thinking that I should?

---

Sorry, I had directed that question to d-k since you had already said you can't find a current policy, and d-k was the one who had initially said that choice listings were not allowed.  So that's why I asked d-k if she was aware of a current policy, because you never know what kind of information someone may have.

But thank you for the info anyway!  

[generaluser3]

Thank you very much for that link, southern*sweet*tea!   I'm going to bookmark it, so I can ponder what it really means later on when my mind is clearer.

[fern*wood]

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

Since about every option is bad in one way or another, you could always ship them all to your buyer.  I thought that was about what beanies sold for now anyway.

---

Ouch.  10X as many for the same price?  I realize you might think they're dross, but there really are still some buyers out there willing to pay for beanies.

---

---

---

I didn't mean it wouldn't hurt, but many sellers choose to take the hit when they mess up.  

[d-k_treasures]

---

wrote:

Sorry,

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

Are you aware of a current policy that says CHOICE listings are not allowed?  I couldn't find anything either, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere!

---

I'm the policy monkey.  What can I say?   If I can't find a policy either current or archived, I don't try to answer based on the notion that one exists that isn't published.

Are you thinking that I should?

---

Sorry, I had directed that question to d-k since you had already said you can't find a current policy, and d-k was the one who had initially said that choice listings were not allowed.  So that's why I asked d-k if she was aware of a current policy, because you never know what kind of information someone may have.

But thank you for the info anyway!  

---

I'm a HE.

And city is right - she IS the policy monkey. 

[janet9988]

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

---

wrote:

You aren't supposed to have 'choice' listings.

---

I've read on this forum that this is the rule, but is it stated specifically in ebay policies?  The reason I ask is I've seen quite a number of "choice" listings.  There's a bookseller in particular that does a very nice business with You Pick/Choose type of listings, and it's been going on for years, as far as I've noticed. 

I've always thought that "choice" listings would be nice to do, since the buyer can then choose exactly what they want.  But the obvious downside is what the OP is going through now. 

---

Would this be the large seller who tanked the book categories by loading up a million books in the cookbook category where most didn't belong there?

---

I read somewhere about this being an eBay glitch.  If I remember a seller was talkling about it as they were trying to list some books.. I guess that eBay is not in a hurry to fix it. This has beedn talked about for quite a while.

Here was the post about it.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/Catalog-Error/qaq-p/27305004