Need advice from ebay sellers

[Shagley]

I have a situation and I am not sure how to handle it. I am open to any advice. I listed two identical items on ebay. On Sunday, the auctions ended and the same person was the high bidder for both items - one ended at $48 and the other ended at $36. I sent the invoices for both to the buyer, but never heard a thing from her until today. This morning she paid for one of the items - not both, of course the one she paid for is the cheaper one. I am sure she is going to stiff me and not pay for the other item, and I am not sure what to do.

Also, I stated in my auctions that I ship to Paypal verified addresses only. The address she has listed on Paypal is non-confirmed, and it is different than the address she has listed on ebay. Because of they way she is not paying for the one item, I don't have a lot of confidence in her, so I don't really want to send the item out to a non-confirmed address just to have her lie and say she never received the item. IF I send the item out, it will be UPS ground with a tracking # so I can verify that it was delivered.

I guess my options are...

1)Send out the one she paid for to the non-confirmed address, and then file a non-paying buyer complaint about the other one with ebay.

2) Refund her money for the one item and tell her that I can't send it to her because of her non-confirmed address then relist them both.

Any better ideas of what I should do? Either was she is probably going to hit me with negative feedback even though I haven't done anything wrong. Now I see why sellers hate ebay.

 

[Tampa Mousekeeter]

I have a situation and I am not sure how to handle it. I am open to any advice. I listed two identical items on ebay. On Sunday, the auctions ended and the same person was the high bidder for both items - one ended at $48 and the other ended at $36. I sent the invoices for both to the buyer, but never heard a thing from her until today. This morning she paid for one of the items - not both, of course the one she paid for is the cheaper one. I am sure she is going to stiff me and not pay for the other item, and I am not sure what to do.

Also, I stated in my auctions that I ship to Paypal verified addresses only. The address she has listed on Paypal is non-confirmed, and it is different than the address she has listed on ebay. Because of they way she is not paying for the one item, I don't have a lot of confidence in her, so I don't really want to send the item out to a non-confirmed address just to have her lie and say she never received the item. IF I send the item out, it will be UPS ground with a tracking # so I can verify that it was delivered.

I guess my options are...

1)Send out the one she paid for to the non-confirmed address, and then file a non-paying buyer complaint about the other one with ebay.

2) Refund her money for the one item and tell her that I can't send it to her because of her non-confirmed address then relist them both.

Any better ideas of what I should do? Either was she is probably going to hit me with negative feedback even though I haven't done anything wrong. Now I see why sellers hate ebay.

First, I would send her an email reminder about the unpaid item. You are assuming she is going to stiff you and it just might not be the case.
As far as the unconfirmed address, did she send you the address or is it unconfirmed thru Paypal?

 

[Kellydelly]

I sure wouldn't send her either item until both were paid for, or you are able to contact the second highest bidder on the one she didn't pay for and get them to buy it.

 

[RobinFabulous]

Are you covered as a seller if you send to a nonconfirmed address? If not I would send her a note asking about the other item and telling her that you need her to confirm her address or you will be refunding her. Try your second bidder if you don't hear something within a few days

ETA I got burned by shipping to a non confirmed address last Christmas. On a PSP. I had to eat it.

 

[Shagley]

First, I would send her an email reminder about the unpaid item. You are assuming she is going to stiff you and it just might not be the case.
As far as the unconfirmed address, did she send you the address or is it unconfirmed thru Paypal?

You are right, at this point I am just assuming, but since she paid for one and not the other this morning, I am concerned. I did send her another invoice for the unpaid item telling her that once she pays for the 2nd item, I will send out both items and give her a discount on shipping since they will be shipped together. I am going to give her a few more days before I do anything.

When Paypal sent me an email telling me that she paid for the one item, it listed her address as unconfirmed. BUT - just a few minutes ago I went on Paypal, and there they have the buyer listed as "unverified", but the address is listed as confirmed.

 

[HLAuburn]

I guess I'd give her a chance to do the right thing. Along with the invoice you sent, I'd send an email reminding her that she bid on and won the item, and she is obligated to pay for it.

Since she paid for one item and it looks like its a confirmed address, I'd go ahead and send that one if she doesn't pay after a few days. As long as you have a tracking number, PayPal should cover you if she claims she didn't get it. Either way, I guess she can leave neg feedback though, which really sucks. I'm not sure what grounds she would have to leave it, but people on ebay never cease to amaze me!

Good luck...let us know what happens.

 

[Dancemom03]

How did she pay for just one item? Did you forget to send a combined invoice for both or did she opt out of the combined invoice in the checkout process to only pay for one?

I'd think if shipping was combined, it would have been discounted and hence be a good reason to request her contact info and casually call to let her know the items are packaged together and just waiting for payment on the second item. That way, you can inquire if she overlooked the second item. I am ashamed to admit that I've even been known to imply perhaps the misunderstanding was due to a glitch in the ebay checkout system and I was just checking to be sure before shipping.

If she opted out of the combined shipping invoice then it's pretty obvious she doesn't plan on paying for both. I imagine her excuse justifying it will be pretty lame and would probably have been somewhat predictable & amusing if it hadn't already cost you money and endangered your feedback rating.

It's a tricky situation with her buying two as that's two negs she could leave - not to mention the low DSR stars which will hurt your selling account even more than a neg ever will these days - so you'll likely have to handle her with kid gloves, or I'd sugest filing an unpaid item on the second one now to encourage payment.

I'm with you though, it doesn't sound as though she plans to pay for two from what you've said. If you have an extra, I'd send a second chance to the underbidder now. The more time that passes the less likely your underbidder will accept the second chance. When I have duplicates I like to list one at a time and then immediately send a second chance to the underbidder as soon as the auction ends if the price is acceptable. In that scenerio, they usually accept but I've rarely had a second chance offer accepted more than 2 days after the end of an auction.

Phone calls always work better for me than emails in tricky situations as people have a harder time being ignorant, rude, or dishonest when they have to tell you what they're planning in person and realize that you're a real person willing to work with them instead of a large faceless company that can afford to write off loses...

Whatever you do, here's wishing you good luck with it.

 

[Shagley]

How did she pay for just one item? Did you forget to send a combined invoice for both or did she opt out of the combined invoice in the checkout process to only pay for one?

I didn't send a combined invoice, because I had sent the invoice for one before I realized it was the same buyer for both. I don't sell very much on ebay, so I haven't figure out the best way to do things yet, but from now on I will certainly use combined invoices if they buy more than one item. It makes me so angry that buyers can pull this kind of crap (bidding on two items and only paying for the lowest one) and there is nothing sellers can do because they can't leave negative feedback for crappy buyers. I have a feeling that if I do send out the one item, as soon as I file the non-payment with ebay for the other she will leave me negative feedback for both anyway.

Thanks for everyone's help. I will give her a couple more days - but I think if she was planning on paying for both, she would have paid them both at the same time.

 

[Dancemom03]

I have a feeling that if I do send out the one item, as soon as I file the non-payment with ebay for the other she will leave me negative feedback for both anyway.

That's why I suggested calling her. Even if she says she only wanted one, it could help as long as you keep your cool during the conversation. You can always offer to cancel the sale, then file the UPI that way to get your fees back, but you wouldn't want to do that without communicating with her first to explain and get her agreement.

Keep in mind that you've already set a shipping time when you listed it, and ebay will have that in their system for her to see. Now that payment has been received, the timer starts counting down toward delivery so you can't wait too long or she may ding your shipping stars even if she's happy with the transaction after delivery.

Hopefully you've already added her to your blocked bidder list to minimize further damage. If you haven't yet, maybe think about taking a minute to do that tonight...

 

[jls886]

Speaking from experience being burned, DO NOT send both items together with discounted shipping if she pays for them separately. In order for you to be covered by Paypal's seller protection policy, you must have a tracking number to prove shipment and deliver for each purchase. So if she pays for them separately, you'll need a tracking number for each. I was nice and combined shipping for a guy who paid for two things separately, and what do you know...he files a claim with his credit card a couple of months later for one of the items. Since I sent them together, I only had one tracking number to give Paypal, leading them to determine that I had only sent one of the items.

In your email from Paypal saying that she paid, there should be a green checkmark that says "Okay to ship" or something like that. If it says that, you are covered by Paypal's seller protection policy assuming that you follow the guidelines. Anything that you send must have a tracking number in order to be covered by paypal. If you can't prove that you shipped it, they will almost automatically rule in favor of the buyer. If you can, they may prove in your favor as they have done for me in the past.

So if she does want both items, I would either send them separately and she can pay shipping for both. Or you can refund her first payment, send her a combined invoice, and she can make a new payment for both items together.

 

[ceecee]

You must also mail to a confirmed address.

 

[terri01p]

This is what I would do :

Send her an email and say " just noticed that your address was unconfirmed, please confirm your address, so I can ship out the item, sorry I can't ship to unconfirned addresses". This will take her minutes to confirm, should be no big deal on her part.

Second I would treat the sales as two separate sales, if she has paid for one send the one out, if she has paid for two then send them both out, maybe she is waiting to pay for one with next weeks paycheck??? So after she confirms her address, ship out the one already paid for and wait a few days and then offer it to the next highest bidder if she doesn't pay for the higher priced one, send her an email and ask if she still wants it, if not no big deal you will offer it to the next person???

Don't stress about the feedback.

 

[DisneyGerry]

simply ask? wouldnt be different if two people won each auction and just bad luck only the cheaper item was paid for?

I dont let PayPal non confirmed addresses bother me--I sometimes ask about it but (knock on wood) never came back to get me.

 

[Shagley]

Thanks for all the great advice. I emailed her this morning, but I haven't heard back. When I received the email from Paypal, the email stated that her address is unconfirmed, but later when I signed into Paypal, her address is now listed as confirmed. She might have confirmed it between when I got the email and when I signed into Paypal.

I sent her an email this morning to the email address listed on Paypal, but it came back as undeliverable because it wasn't a valid email address. I then sent her the same message through the ebay messages but haven't heard back. It was a polite email that just asks her if she still wants the one she hasn't paid for, because if not I want to offer it to the next bidder. I'm still mad about the situation, but I am going to stop stressing over it since ultimately the worst that will happen is that it will end up costing me a few bucks in sellers fees. Tomorrow I will go ahead and send out the one she paid for (since that will be 48 hours since she paid and that's when I put in the email it would be sent out by), and see if the second chance bidder still wants it. I am going to send it UPS so I get the tracking #, and I will make it so someone has to sign for it.

 

[surfergirl602]

You are NOT covered by paypal if you send unconfirmed. You need to send a message stating she needs to confirm the address on paypal before you ship anything. Send this message through myebay so that you have record of it if she tries to say you didn't ship. I would not send either until she pays for both, and verifies the address. If she won't, then give it to a second chance offer and see if they will buy it.