Help with half.com situation, please!!

[Cara]

Hi, all!! I have been selling quite a few books through half.com. Last night a buyer made a purchase of a textbook from my inventory. I confirmed the order and have packaged the purchase. This morning I received this email from the buyer...

Comment/Question: Hi,

Could you please cancel this purchase. I'm sorry it was a mistake because i saw the wrong ISBN number.
Thanks alot..

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It seems I cannot cancel an order that has been confirmed. I have already been charged commission by half.com. Here is the response I am considering to the buyer....

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Here is what I have been able to determine. Half.com has already removed this item from my inventory, since you placed the order, and I confirmed it. Half.com has also already charged me a commission for this sale. However, it appears that your credit card has not yet been charged.

Here is the official language from the half.com website.

Can I cancel an order that has already been placed?

At Half.com, purchases are made from other Half.com members across the country. Once you place an order on Half.com, the process of your item being shipped to you begins immediately. Half.com emails the seller and the seller confirms and ships the item to you within 24 hours of that confirmation. This often happens within hours of placing an order.

Due to the nature of this system, buyers cannot cancel orders once they are placed. This includes duplicate orders. All sales are final, except for those cases defined in the Half.com Buyer Protection Policy.

If you believe you can contact the seller before they ship your item, you may contact them by following the instructions below. Please understand, however, that the seller is not required to cancel the purchase.

Since it appears there is no way for me to recoup my commission or the cost of the materials I have already used for packaging, I am willing to refund your purchase, minus the commission I have already been charged (82 cents). I am also willing to absorb the costs I have incurred in packaging the material for shipping (i.e. bubble envelope, additional bubble wrap, packaging tape, etc.).

I will not be able to issue the refund until your credit card has been charged, which may take a day or so.

Please let me know if this is acceptable to you. Our other option is to continue with the sale.

Thank you.


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What do you all think? I want to be fair about this, and I have glowing feedback to date. I don't want to risk a negative fb. What would you do?

Thanks!
Cara

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

I think you are being more than fair. If I were the buyer in question, I would be very relieved by your response.

Good luck, and please let us know how this turns out.

 

[Lewisc]

I don't know anything about Half or E-Bay .
As an "outsider" if the buyers credit card is charged I think your're right authorize a refund less .82 BUT if for some reason his credit card isn't charged I'd eat the .82.

The buyer sounds legit and I think I'd feel really cheap asking someone to mail me a check for .82.

 

[Cara]

Thanks, all. Mrs. Snowgod, I did email the response I had posted.

Lewis, half.com payments are only processed through credit card. Since I confirmed the purchase, my account has already been charged the commission, and the buyer's credit card will be charged for this purchase. The only way for the buyer to receive her money back is for me to authorize the refund.

Thanks.
Cara

 

[TEK224]

and receive a decent response?

I purchased 2 DVD's, from separate sellers. My credit card has already been charged. I made this purchase on June 3rd. I received the one DVD in about 3 weeks. I still have not received the other one. I've gone to my page on half.com and clicked on the link to contact the seller. I asked about the status of the item (which showed it as shipped on the status page) and indicated I still have not received it. I've done this twice.
All I get is canned response about checking the stauts page (done) and e-mailing seller with questions.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong, to keep getting the canned response instead of the actual seller.
I bought the DVD's because they're older movies (from the 80's)that I can't find in any store now.

Any suggestions?
Terri

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

I'm fairly new to half.com, and it seems a little bit more difficult to maneuver than ebay. It seems like your only recourse at this point is to use the feedback mechanism to see if you can get satisfaction. Perhaps write one more email, via the half.com process, and state that if you don't receive any response you'll have no recourse other than to leave negative feedback and pursue further action to have your money refunded. Good luck!

 

[Cara]

Terri,

Click on the "help" icon at the top fo the half.com page. Then click on "Order Problems" in the Buyers Handbook section.

This is the answer I found:

What happens if I haven't received my item and it's past the estimated arrival date?


You can contact the seller using Half.com's Email Forwarding System to resolve this issue.
Click the My Account link near the top right of the page. You may be asked to sign in.

Click the Purchases link. Your most recent purchases will be listed on this page.
If the purchase in question is not on this page and you have the transaction number, enter it in the "View Transaction:" box and click the "Go" button.

If the purchase in question is not on this page and you do not have the transaction number, you can locate the purchase by selecting the month and year in which it took place and clicking the "Change" button.

Once you've located the purchase, click the corresponding "Details" link on the right side of the screen.

Click the "Contact Seller" button. This will take you to the "Contact a Half.com Seller" form, which you can use to send an email to the seller.

If you do not hear back from the seller or you are unable to resolve the issue, you can return to this page and click the "File Claim" button.

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I had to do this once with an order that never came, and my credit card was credited promptly. Good luck!

Cara

 

[TEK224]

I may have to file the claim. I've gone through half.com's contact the seller link twice and have gotten no reply. Not sure how long it's supposed to take for delivery. Both DVD's were listed as shipped on June 3rd. Got the one in late June, nothing from the other.

Terri

 

[ritchie56]

I'm a half.com seller and can answer a couple of questions here, I hope. First, if you issue a refund for the full amount of the purchase, half.com will refund their commission to you too. So, giving the buyer the whole refund won't cost you anything. (Well except for the materials you used to package the item--you could deduct that amount if you wanted, but probably isn't worth incurring the buyers wrath.)

Second, even media mail shouldn't take six weeks and you should get a response from your seller within a day or two (allowing for weekends) of e-mailing. If you didn't, and it's been six weeks, I would advise filing the claim too.

 

[TEK224]

leave negative feedback at half.com?

(Quick recap: ordered two items at same time from different sellers. Received one item in 3 weeks. It is now six weeks and other item not here yet.)

I have twice used the half.com link to contact the seller with no response. Also, e-mailed customer support @ half.com. No response there either. I have already been charged for the item.

If I leave negative feedback, maybe I'll finally get a response from seller? Does this sound reasonable? I've never left negative feedback before. This is the first time I've ever had an ebay or half.com problem.
Terri

 

[Cara]

Terri, if I were you, I would probably just file a claim with half.com. I did this once, and I got my money refunded quickly and with no problems.

An update on my situation... I did issue my buyer the refund, minus the 82 cents. It DOES appear that half.com is going to refund me the commission, though the website states they do not have to do this. My buyer is happy and has already left me positive feedback.

Thanks for the help!
Cara

 

[TEK224]

An update. I filed a claim with half.com and got a response today that my money was refunded and would post to my account within 7 days. It seems the item was out of stock and not available.

It would have been nice if they had informed me of that earlier. The status said it was shipped.

I tried my luck again and ordered from a different seller. Hopefully I get better results.
Terri

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

That's good info.