Would you block this buyer? (There are no wrong answers)

[city*satins]

On Dec 15 I sold a clothing item that was $150 when new but was pre-owned.  Before listing it, I'd carefully cleaned it, measured it, photograhed it etc etc and  wrapped it in tissue, bagged it, and put a little post-it note on the bag saying (brandname) top.

I accepted a $20 offer on it. mailed it and it was delivered on Dec 18.  No messages from the buyer, no feedback. I thought all was well.

Yesterday, doing a January 1 reoganization of my inventory what did I find but the  item!

I wrote the buyer and told her that I'd found the item, promised to ship it out right away, apologized, and asked her what she'd received instead.

Today she wrote back to say that she received a different item by the same designer and liked it a lot and would keep it and that I need not to bother to send the one she originally bought, thanks very much.

The item I sent her was new with tags and retailed for $188. I'd forgotten I had it and it was packaged the exact same way, post-it note included.

Although obviously I made an error - I believe the buyer should have alerted me that she did not receive the item she bought.  Instead, she apparently figured she got a windfall and never said anything.

Alhough sending the wrong item was my mistake, my view is that she took advantage of that mistake and said nothing, and then answered my query by announcing that she was keeping the more valuable item and  not to bother sending the correct one. 

The tone of her message suggested ( I admit that this is one of those sender/receiver kind of situations) that she was doing me a big favor by letting me keep the item that I originally sold her. 

I thanked her for her message, told her that I hoped she would enjoy her new garment, and confirmed that I would not be sending the garment she actually bought. (I don't quarrel with customers but....)

Then I BBLd her.

What would you have done?

[luckythewinner]

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Would you block this buyer?

No, I would not block this buyer. I would thank the buyer for teaching me a valuable lesson in inventory management. (Also IMHO it is a bit disigenuous to throw the $188 retail value out there, when we know from the original item that you were willing to take a $20 offer on a $150 retail item. )

I thanked her for her message, told her that I hoped she would enjoy her new garment, and confirmed that I would not be sending the garment she actually bought. (I don't quarrel with customers but....)

You don't quarrel with customers, but ... you can't resist taking a passive-aggressive parting shot at them 🙂

 Buyers have all the power on eBay, and IMHO poking a hornets nest could result in another stinging - in the form of a SNAD and the return of a used dishtowel.  

[turquoisetulips]

What would you have done? city satins  unquote -- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's a tough question ,, [sorry this happened]  .  I'm not sure what I would have done about it myself  . On one hand  you admitted it was  your error ,, but at the same time the buyer showed a lack  of integrity by not contacting you about it  . On the other hand  the buyer didn't set out to rob you , it sort of fell into her lap  instead . Does this make her a  totally dishonest person  that should no longer be trusted  by you or any other seller ?  I kind of doubt it . Tulips 

[7606dennis]

I probably wouldn't block her.  

I'm curious as to how you made the error and shipped the wrong item though?

[gramophone-georg]

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@city*satins wrote:

Wow. A wide range of perspectives!

Much appreciated.

Definitely figured out how I made this error and know how to prevent it in future.

So that part has pretty much 100% agreement.

Views of the error itself.  Personally I would rather have had the SNAD as I could have resolved that easily without a defect. A neg wouldn't have bothered me that much either.  Compared to the $ value (paid by me vs potentially sold by me) for each item, my view is that she absolutely got a windfall - a big one but I understand the contrary view.

Thank you all.

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Here's the wrinkle:

If you DO block her and she tries to buy something else, she has 30 days on eBay and 180 days to claim SNAD because of PayPal. She might do it "just because" if she sees she's blocked.

Just a thought.

[chipper01work]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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Would you block this buyer?

No, I would not block this buyer. I would thank the buyer for teaching me a valuable lesson in inventory management. (Also IMHO it is a bit disigenuous to throw the $188 retail value out there, when we know from the original item that you were willing to take a $20 offer on a $150 retail item. )

I thanked her for her message, told her that I hoped she would enjoy her new garment, and confirmed that I would not be sending the garment she actually bought. (I don't quarrel with customers but....)

You don't quarrel with customers, but ... you can't resist taking a passive-aggressive parting shot at them 🙂

 Buyers have all the power on eBay, and IMHO poking a hornets nest could result in another stinging - in the form of a SNAD and the return of a used dishtowel.  

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I always love it when the the answer is "the buyer could commit a Federal Offense instead of what they did do" it always shines such a positive light on ebay and it's users.

[mycheaperstuff]

Sorry that happened.  My list of blocked buyers fills the square.  Every case is unique.  Others have mentioned factors to consider.  I would add: Evaluate the  clarity of your message to the buyer.   Specifically, make sure you are interpreting the buyer's response relative to what you "actually" said, not just what you "meant" to say.

Did you say "I found the garment, I'll send it to you" - she would be generous to say no, keep it, I like what you sent -- in other words, I wouldn't ask you to give me two for the price of one. 

Or did you say, "Obviously what I sent you was wrong and I want it back"  -- if to which, she said, "no", I would block her. 

The best message might have been: "I am sorry, I should have sent what you bought.  Thank you for not making a fuss about getting the wrong item.  Please tell me what you received so we can discuss and agree on how to proceed."

Once someone goes on the list, there is no opportunity for them to give me a reason to regret not putting them on the list.

Good luck!

[rolenboy01]

I would have blocked them for being dishonest trying to keep the more expensive item anyone who is logical would.

[rolenboy01]

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@evodoor wrote:

I might have apologized profusely, then appealed to her sense of morality by explaining the loss you would be taking and asking her to consider paying a fair price for the item she got. You never know if you don't ask. I certainly would not block her.

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This buyer had no sense of morality if they did not voluntarily want to send back the more expensive item at the sellers expense so no excuses at that point other than lack of morality.

[odditiesandantiquities1]

I find it quite interesting that while most points of view are different from mine, I received 13 helpful's?   I guess they haven't posted yet.

[luckythewinner]

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@chipper01work wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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Would you block this buyer?

No, I would not block this buyer. I would thank the buyer for teaching me a valuable lesson in inventory management. (Also IMHO it is a bit disigenuous to throw the $188 retail value out there, when we know from the original item that you were willing to take a $20 offer on a $150 retail item. )

I thanked her for her message, told her that I hoped she would enjoy her new garment, and confirmed that I would not be sending the garment she actually bought. (I don't quarrel with customers but....)

You don't quarrel with customers, but ... you can't resist taking a passive-aggressive parting shot at them 🙂

 Buyers have all the power on eBay, and IMHO poking a hornets nest could result in another stinging - in the form of a SNAD and the return of a used dishtowel.  

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I always love it when the the answer is "the buyer could commit a Federal Offense instead of what they did do" it always shines such a positive light on ebay and it's users.

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If you re-read my post, you will realize the answer that I gave was that I personally would not block the buyer and that the seller needs improve his inventory management.

The part about the buyer committing fraud was simply a suggestion that the risk vs. reward involved when you antagonize a buyer is high.

The world has plenty of unhappy, mean-spirited, immoral, and unethical people ...  and there is nothing stopping them from buying on eBay.

IMHO it is not prudent to insult an eBay buyer, because eBay buyers have real power over sellers - and that behavior has plenty of downside and almost no upside.

[mg152]

I would not have blocked her. As others said, if it was similar she may not have noticed unti you contacted her. With all due respect, it was your mistake after all & you might be blocking a good customer. Maybe rethink that? It’s up to you of course.

[retrose1]

I recently had a buyer I had to refund because the item was lost (this wasn't on ebay)  The buyer bought something else which I immediately shipped to her and she loved.  She bought something else and the first item came back to me, so I sent it to the buyer with the other item she bought in replacement for the inconvenience.  She is a happy buyer and asking questions about some of my other items.

What few have paid attention to is that if the OP asks the buyer to ship the item back, then the OP would be out the shipping to the buyer, the shipping back from the buyer (since this was not a remorse return) and then shipping of the new item back to the buyer.  That is going to be at least $14+  that is going to be lost.  So the OP has to evaluate how much extra the more expensive item might have gotten and then see if it is less than the lost postage.

[odditiesandantiquities1]

As you pointed out Rose, you turned what could have been a negative situation into a positive one. One where the customer will likely become a regular repeat customer.

Win, Win, Win.

[monster-deals]

To the question: "To block or not block" the answer is always block.

[chipper01work]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@chipper01work wrote:

:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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Would you block this buyer?

No, I would not block this buyer. I would thank the buyer for teaching me a valuable lesson in inventory management. (Also IMHO it is a bit disigenuous to throw the $188 retail value out there, when we know from the original item that you were willing to take a $20 offer on a $150 retail item. )

I thanked her for her message, told her that I hoped she would enjoy her new garment, and confirmed that I would not be sending the garment she actually bought. (I don't quarrel with customers but....)

You don't quarrel with customers, but ... you can't resist taking a passive-aggressive parting shot at them 🙂

 Buyers have all the power on eBay, and IMHO poking a hornets nest could result in another stinging - in the form of a SNAD and the return of a used dishtowel.  

---

I always love it when the the answer is "the buyer could commit a Federal Offense instead of what they did do" it always shines such a positive light on ebay and it's users.

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If you re-read my post, you will realize the answer that I gave was that I personally would not block the buyer and that the seller needs improve his inventory management.

The part about the buyer committing fraud was simply a suggestion that the risk vs. reward involved when you antagonize a buyer is high.

The world has plenty of unhappy, mean-spirited, immoral, and unethical people ...  and there is nothing stopping them from buying on eBay.

IMHO it is not prudent to insult an eBay buyer, because eBay buyers have real power over sellers - and that behavior has plenty of downside and almost no upside.

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I

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@chipper01work wrote:

:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

---

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Would you block this buyer?

No, I would not block this buyer. I would thank the buyer for teaching me a valuable lesson in inventory management. (Also IMHO it is a bit disigenuous to throw the $188 retail value out there, when we know from the original item that you were willing to take a $20 offer on a $150 retail item. )

I thanked her for her message, told her that I hoped she would enjoy her new garment, and confirmed that I would not be sending the garment she actually bought. (I don't quarrel with customers but....)

You don't quarrel with customers, but ... you can't resist taking a passive-aggressive parting shot at them 🙂

 Buyers have all the power on eBay, and IMHO poking a hornets nest could result in another stinging - in the form of a SNAD and the return of a used dishtowel.  

---

I always love it when the the answer is "the buyer could commit a Federal Offense instead of what they did do" it always shines such a positive light on ebay and it's users.

---

If you re-read my post, you will realize the answer that I gave was that I personally would not block the buyer and that the seller needs improve his inventory management.

The part about the buyer committing fraud was simply a suggestion that the risk vs. reward involved when you antagonize a buyer is high.

The world has plenty of unhappy, mean-spirited, immoral, and unethical people ...  and there is nothing stopping them from buying on eBay.

IMHO it is not prudent to insult an eBay buyer, because eBay buyers have real power over sellers - and that behavior has plenty of downside and almost no upside.

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I was not accusing you of anything else but the fact remains that you can find statements to the same effect here all the time. The bar is certainly set very low for what is expected of ebay users. The fact that what you said has some truth to it makes it worse looking. It looks horrible everytime it is brought up. We should all just be thankfull we are not dealing with one of the numerous felons operating here is the logic.