Advice needed for dealing with a Jerk buyer!

BigKidAtHeart · January 3, 2004 2:17AM

ok, I have a buyer of a very low dollar auction
(2774763098 that intially did not
respond to my invoice or emails about payment.
Then sent Me an email requesting my address
(which I had sent him 2 times previously)
so I assumed that he just missed them,
so I sent it again
and he emailed a day later requesting it again.
so I sent it again.
and then sent an ebay payment reminder
with my address,
and he emailed a day later requesting it again.
and I did it again
and today he sends an email in LARGE BOLD PRINT
demanding I respond to his request for
my address to send payment.

His feedback is perfect, but I have to assume this
guy is either a dumbass or just jerking my
chain becuase I have sent him 2 official ebay invoices,
4 direct emails and an Ebay "payment reminder"
and he still acts like he is not getting them
and I have not responded?!

I am frustrated and annoyed, but also
worried about getting an unjustified Negative
from him....

WHAT DO I DO?

BigKidAtHeart · January 3, 2004 2:19AM

by the way, I have gotten absolutely NO
indication my emails are not going through
and have both Typed the email address in
and REPLIED to his emails and Sent him
emails through Ebay too.

UUUGGGHH!

Griffins · January 3, 2004 2:27AM

Jeff-
It is possible he's got your domain blocked or something similar, however unintentional. He's an aol user, and with the flood of spam it's entirely possible he blocked your first one accidentally and the rest were done automatically. I had a similar problem a few months ago and requested contact info from ebay and called the guy. If you'd like to pm me the info I"ll try and send it from within aol, if that helps.
Lot of work for $3.00, isn't it? Makes a great argument for paypal only.

wallst32 · January 3, 2004 2:27AM

It's barely been a week, plus it was a holiday, so I think negative feedback is a little premature.

I've had the same thing happen to me several times. You never know what's happening on the other side; full mailboxes not accepting mail, multiple users sharing the same email resulting in lost mail, poor mail service resulting in heavily delayed messages ..etc. All I can say is wait it out. The good bidders will come through, and the bad ones won't. I never leave negative until at least 4 weeks after close of auction; it's not like leaving it earlier benefits you in any way.

BigKidAtHeart · January 3, 2004 2:48AM

I am not upset becuase he has not
paid in this short time, but since HE
has emailed me numerous times saying
that he has NOT gotten my address
for payment, (each time it is right after
either I or Ebay has sent it to him....)
I am getting frustrated.

I could truly care less about the sale.
It is just $3, but he CAN leave feedback
and I do not want to get screwed.

I do not think it is a "domain" thing because
the Ebay notices should get through,
but, I did have my dad send him a note
(via ebay's "question for member" feature)

Griffins, I PM'd you the details for your help
thanks

BigKidAtHeart · January 3, 2004 2:52AM

<< Jeff-I had a similar problem a few months ago and requested contact info from ebay and called the guy. >>

I just did that
and I understand that HE Will
also get the contact infomation
for ME in that same email.

thanks

Rainman · January 3, 2004 3:48AM

as an aol user, i can tell you that email from eBay members IS being blocked. actually, aol recently began using a 'spam' filter- one you can only apparently access if you connect to aol.com via the internet rather than via dialup. but that may just be my version (i'm using the outdated aol 6.0 b/c i hate their upgrades). what this means is that roughly 15-20 emails/day go into this "spam" folder and i have no way of receiving notice of it...and no, i do not have my own spam folder set up on aol. in any case, i've also noticed buyers telling me that they're not getting the invoices (which DO have my address) from ebay (even though i ALWAYS send them) or paypal (i have it set up so they're sent AFTER auctions end). so it could be that there's some quirk w/ebay and possibly aol. however, i'd have the buyer give you an alternative email address if it's really that much of an issue. missing emails from ebay sellers isn't a huge issue for me since i pay via paypal on 99.99999% of my auctions so can simply go through ebay that way. another way the buyer could get your addy is if he/she goes through ebay's checkout process.

Virtualizard · January 3, 2004 3:51AM

Jeff,

You ain't seen nothin' yet!

I had this happen 2 months ago on a $2.99 card. I sent about 8-10 emails over the period of a month with no response.

Here are the frustrating details of my experience:

•Auction ended Nov. 2

•I got one email from the buyer 11 days after the auction ended on Nov. 13:

<< Hi, I'm trying to pay you via paypal but it's not working. Apparently I have no confirmed address, but who cares? Can I still use paypal? What difference does a confirmed address make? >>

•I emailed back the same day:

<< You can send payment now - I will need to approve it once you do.

As far as having a confirmed address, many sellers will not accept payments from unconfirmed addresses for liability reasons due to potential fraud. Read Paypal's information on confirmed addresses here: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help&leafid=161

I would suggest that you confirm your address with Paypal if you plan on using your account much. It will make for smoother transactions in the future.

Thanks for your purchase. I'll get the card out as soon as I receive payment.

JEB. >>

•On Nov. 22, after no further contact, I emailed again:

<< I still haven't heard back from you. Do you intend to pay for this auction, or should I request that ebay refund my fees and relist the item again? Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since the end of the auction and today is a week since I responded to let you know that you could use Paypal without a confirmed address.

Please respond. If I don't hear back from you soon, I will be forced to file for a refund of my ebay fees and report this under their non-paying bidder policy. I have only had to do this once, and I consider it a last resort, but a necessary step.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

JEB. >>

•6 Days later on Nov. 28, after no response, I sent a payment reminder through ebay.

Still no response.

•On Dec. 5, I started the Non Paying Bidder process through ebay.

•On Dec. 8, I finally received an email from the high bidder:

<< Hi, I got this message for a second time. As I mentioned in a previous email, my records indicate this item as paid for . Please check for a payment from ****** or ******** >>

•I responded in under 30 minutes:

<< How did you pay for this card? I checked my paypal history and I have not received a payment from either of the names you mentioned. Check it on your end. As it stands now, this auction is unpaid.

JEB. >>

•3 days later, on Dec. 11, I get another email from him:

<< I am trying to put this on paypal right now, but it keeps on coming up an error saying that this Invoice has already been sent. I'm not sure what that means, but I'll try again later. >>

•I emailed back again, explaining step by step how to send payment.

•Several hours later, I finally had my $4.99 - 39 days after the auction ended. This was a Thursday evening.

•I shipped the card out on Saturday morning, Dec. 13, which I thought was more than reasonable considering what I'd been through.

•On Dec. 17 I received this message from the guy:

<< Sent payment for this card. Still have not received it. Please advise >>

•I responded immediately with this:

<< This auction ended on November 2, 2003. I received your payment by paypal on Thursday 12/11/03 and shipped the card on Saturday 12/13/03. It has been 6 days since you paid, 4 days since I shipped the card - much better than many ebay sellers in my experience.

I would imagine that the card will arrive tomorrow or Friday at the latest. Remember that the Post Office is extra busy this time of year.

I was very patient with you in waiting for payment for well over a month after the auction ended. Please offer me the same courtesy.

Let me know when the card arrives.

Thanks.

JEB. >>

•A few hours later I got this:

<< That's fine, just checking because I've been losing a lot of cards lately. Thanks. >>

And that was the last I heard. If he pulls that on other sellers, no wonder he's "been losing a lot of cards lately."

Sorry for the long post.

JEB.

BigKidAtHeart · January 3, 2004 5:45AM

<< i'd have the buyer give you an alternative email address if it's really that much of an issue. >>

and how exactly am I suposed to
get word to him to send me a new
address, if he is not getting my messages?

catch-22 huh?

ranch · January 3, 2004 6:11AM

BKAH, this guy whom you are dealing with has a good feedback, I don't think he is screwing around with you. Just like how Griffens mentioned, AOL is the problem. I used AOL for 3 years and their email system drove me nuts! I just stuck with them because I was paying only $3/month, it was a special offer AOL had with DCC workers called "Employee Connect" in which workers received a special discount every month up until the expiry date which is Feb/2004. I now use Rogers Hi Speed.

Here's what you do, PHONE HIM. Go to ebay and request his contact information.

Good luck.

BigKidAtHeart · January 3, 2004 8:44AM

thanks ranch, griffins and others.

I appreciate the help, advice and
lessons on aol.

2 people did finally get through to him
and received replies and
he also sent me an email too.
(and thinks this is all funny, so that is good!)

I am glad this is overwith.
(and now we can all laugh about it!)

~jeff

DeutscherGeist · January 3, 2004 5:43PM

That's some adventure for just a few dollars. You must be a good seller to be concerned about customer satisfaction.

34GoudeyCollector · January 3, 2004 6:27PM

Your definitely an awesome seller to go through all of that!

Ken

Jmnesq · January 4, 2004 1:09PM

Not so much being a good seller, but wanting to avoid the undeserved negative feedback...

BigKidAtHeart · January 4, 2004 1:46PM

I would like to think that it was
a combination of BOTH of those things.
I did not want underserved neg feedback,
but
I do feel that I am a good seller who does
care about each customer. I treat them the
way I would want to be treated.
(novel idea, huh)
~jeff

Gottabuyit · January 7, 2004 7:42AM

there seem to be more jerk buyers on ebay lately.

Boopotts · January 7, 2004 9:46AM

Why do you assume the guy's a jerk? If he has perfect feedback the odds are ridiculously long that he's trying to play games with you for a 3 dollar auction-- remember, he's probably as worried about his feedback rating as you are. If it were me, I'd assume there was some problem with me emails going through, even if there was no obvious indication of such.

BigKidAtHeart · January 7, 2004 12:25PM

well Boopotts,
not that it matters now that
it is all resolved, but the seller
only finally responded to me
after several other people besides
me contacted him.
and then admitted that they were
trying to ditch me, but begged forgiveness
and said they would send payment
asap, but I am truthfully not holding my
breath!
I just know that I did all that I could do
to make it work.

Advice needed for dealing with a Jerk buyer!

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