eBay help needed - and positive thoughts

**freedeal** · 03-03-2006, 11:02 AM

Okay, I listed something on eBay during the 10 cent fixed price sale. It was an item I won and won't be needing. The retail of the item is $399- but I listed for $175 + shipping which is another $50. Heavy item.

Here is the problem. In my listing I accidently said I had the cable. Purchasing new it does not come with this so retail is actually correct on what I actually have. I caught the mistake and thought I had updated the listing but it was sold before I could.

I e-mail the buyer and explained the problem. I offered to ship free and let just have her pay her bid price. I will pay all shipping charges. I haven't heard from the buyer yet. I know this will be a small lost but in reality it won't because I won the item and we won't be using it.

I don't want this person to leave negative feedback. How would you handle it? I did have another person who kept sending messages and was going today to see if he could buy the cable. He really wanted it. It was after my conversations with him that I realized the cable wasn't included.

Any advice? Also, say a little prayer that it sells. This would be great to go with the $141 from half.com for the March Debt reduction challenge.

**FrugalMomof3** · 03-03-2006, 11:07 AM

I wouldn't worry about it, I mean here's what I am thinking:

Is it cheaper for you to go buy the cable then to offer free shipping?

If the lady doesn't respond, which she has to it's ebay's policy go do a contact information request to get her phone number, so you can call her and explain.

How much is the cable? If it's total retail value is $399 without the cable then you've done nothing wrong really and you can ask ebay to provide proof that your listing was updated to note that cable was not included.

Good luck and tell us how it turns out.

guest7 · 03-03-2006, 11:46 AM

If the buyer does not respond- you can contact ebay. But before you do- try to contact the buyer again. I know as an ebay buyer, that I get those ebay emails- blah, blah, blah- "You won it!" -stuff and I just file it away until I receive the item.
so maybe the buyer thinks it's one of those canned emails sellers send out.
try again.

**SHOPGIRL** · 03-03-2006, 09:39 PM

As long as your honest about it, you should be fine. You can't please everyone. Just offer her the option of not completing the auction. You can always relist it. Though, you did offer her a good deal so I'd be shocked if she was upset.

**madhen** · 03-04-2006, 12:37 AM

If you did not already do so, I would also offer the buyer the opportunity to withdraw her bid, just in case. Some people don't want to be bothered going out and buying peripherals, even if they are saving money by doing so. I usually put in my emails to customers that I strive for 100% customer satisfaction and on the rare occasion that there is a problem, I ask the buyer what I can do to make it right. I have never had one yet who has asked for anything unreasonable.

**freedeal** · 03-04-2006, 07:43 AM

Thanks for all the great advice. The buyer was extremely delightful to deal with. Her son said he really wanted the item and he would get his own cable. She was also pleased that I gave the the opt-out option which she definately didn't want to take.

This is going to be a great month for debt reduction.

**FrugalMomof3** · 03-04-2006, 07:53 AM

FreeDeal,

Glad it worked out perfect for you! Is she still getting free shipping?

**freedeal** · 03-07-2006, 08:39 AM

Just an update. The buyer was planning to paypal today (Tuesday) and I received an e-mail this morning that there had been a tragic accident and she lost her teen-age son over the weekend. She asked if I would relieve her of the obligation to purchase since she was purchasing it for him. Of course I would NOT hold her to this. I was just amazed that she was even able to e-mail.

guest7 · 03-07-2006, 08:55 AM

hmmm I'm a little sceptical there.
Me being the Inspector Cluseau type would want to investigate this more. If I lost my teenage son; I would not be on ebay- that's for sure. It would be the very last thing I worry about.

I'd check local papers where she lives- for obit.
That's just me. It's too suspicious.

**Kimberlina** · 03-07-2006, 09:21 AM

Gonna duck behind the couch here, but I'm always skeptical about people who back out because of terrible illnesses, etc. Only because there was this couple that my parent's bought some exercise videos from years ago, and they came up with every excuse possible, including that the wife had died, and it was all a lie. So now I am always hesitant to believe the people.

Anyway, if it is truw, that is very sad, but maybe you can go to the next bidder?

**littlemotherhaywood** · 03-07-2006, 10:41 AM

I hate to be skeptical too, but that sounds really suspicious. If something happened to one of my children, I certainly wouldn't be on the computer emailing about a sale. A few years ago I belonged to a playgroup and my dh's grandfather passed away and I didn't even think to call them to cancel the playdate we were supposed to attend. On the other hand, it could be true and doing ordinary things could be the only thing keeping this woman sane right now.

**slowtypinwoman** · 03-07-2006, 05:30 PM

When I lost my mom I had an e bay deal going. I was the buyer and was going to send something back. I hadn't been on in a couple of weeks. I e mailed the seller and ended up keeping the item. So it does happen. I happened to me. But this was also several weeks in the process. I had e mailed the seller that the cd I bought wouldn't play the first song on my cd player. I was going to ship it back to him and her was going to refund me the $

**madhen** · 03-07-2006, 05:50 PM

A lot of people have family members who seem to die or become seriously ill right about the time they are supposed to send payment! Very coincidental. Makes me not want to bid on anything for fear my mother will have to go in for emergency surgery as soon as I win it!! That said, who knows what her real reasons are for backing out. Maybe her son really did die, or maybe she is just too embarassed to admit that she doesn't have the funds she thought she would, and the gracious thing to do is to wish her well and let her out of the obligation. I agree with the previous poster that the best thing to do is offer a "second chance" to the next highest bidder.

One thing to keep in mind is that eBay charged you for the listing and also thinks you made the sale and will charge you a portion of the sale price unless you report it as unpaid. Unfortunately, I think the only way you can do that is to submit it as a claim through the dispute resolution, and then eBay sends an email to the bidder to try to mediate. I would email the bidder and let her know that this is the only way for you to recoup both your listing fees and the final value fees, and to expect to see an email from the eBay dispute resolution for that reason. You can be very sympathetic and say that you realize why she isn't paying, and to please not construe the email as you trying to get your money, but that eBay has no other vehicle through which you can recoup your losses from the withdrawn bid.

**freedeal** · 03-07-2006, 07:23 PM

After reading the discussions on here I decided to play "detective". There was a very serious accident in the town where she lives (I did an online search for the newspapers in her town). It seems two teens were killed and a third was in the hospital. Although the names didn't match with hers (she may use a different name for eBay) I am just going to forget about. It only cost 10 cents to list because of the fixed price listing, thus also no backup bidder and the item sold for $175, I am not sure exactly how much the cost is for final bid price but I since I would like to believe her and know that if I were in the same situation I would rather not worry about having to deal with eBay non-bidder stuff. So, I'm going to let it go and relist it.

Although I would have liked to had the money for my debt reduction for March it is not a major crisis.

Thanks again for all of your advice.