Serious eBay help needed ASAP!

[Kristi1357]

A person oin Germany bid & won about 20 of my auctions recently. I normally don't ship outside US, but she asked and I obliged. I was quite happy I did because then she bought a ton of stuff.

Anyway, I am waiting for her $150+ payment to clear Paypal. Should happen today, and I get this email:

Hi!
I have a big problem. It´s possible all my purchases to refund??? (I bought
items from you with the ebay-name: monster513)
All my last packages from USA don´t receive here. The customs have it
confiscate.
I must closed my ebay store and i´m not allowed clothes and articles with
Disney characters. All items from my store I must send to the customs and
they will it destroy!
I must pay an punishment (or penalty is the word? I don´t know) for
3500.-Euro!!! %^&*!
I didn´t know that I wasn´t allowed Disney clothes! So many people are sell
it here on ebay in Germany!
I´m so worn out!

I hope you understand what I´m meaning.
Please tell me if it´s possible.

Thanks and many greetings,
Annett


What the heck do I do? I am not about to lose my fees over her! Nevermind, the other work into constantly emailing her - holding sending these items since she kept bidding on new listings, etc.

Please help fast - we leave to drive to WDW tonight!!!!

TIA
Kristi

 

[kerry34]

While I am not an Ebay expert by any means, I would expect the payment regardless. Unless I am mistaken, I got the impression from her letter that she was asking for a refund....but without returning the merchandise?? You delivered your merchandise according to your contract, so why should you lose out on 150.00? It seems strange to me. Why wouldn't you be able to have disney items in Germany? Maybe someone else could shed some light on this one. I read that remark and all I could think of was what would happen if you visit Eurodisney and go back to Germany with a disney shirt, do they rip it off your back or what?? In any case, JMO, I would definately get your money.

 

[Beca]

I would contact ebay, copy this report to them, and ask them what in the world is going on? Unfortunately, there is no "legal" way to enforce ebay, and if this buyer paid via paypal, she can just reverse the payment. I'm really sorry, but at least try and figure out what is going on.

 

[Ilovestitch]

Here's what to do (emailing eBay won't help):

Tell her you are sorry for the problems w/customs but when you bid on an item its a binding contract and as the seller you have to pay $XX.XX in fees for all those items.

If she already sent payment and you are waiting for it to clear, then I would tell her you will refund her money minus your fees (listing fees, fees to relist everything, etc.). Then you can relist everything and I wouldn't leave any fb.

If she doesn't want to do that, then keep all the money when it clears and ship everything- she'll just have to deal w/customs- its not really your problem.

At least either way you are getting $$, its not like you are totally out of luck- you'll just have to spend the time relisting everything.


Hope that helps, Stephanie

 

[Kristi1357]

I was going to ship the box today - paypal should have cleared by this afternoon (4th day pending). So, I do still have the merchandise.

I was thinking of doing what Ilovestitch suggested. I just want to be sure there's no way this buyer could reverse the paypal payment in progress. I think it would be more than fair to refund her money, minus paypal & ebay fees. And actually, I should also include a dollar or two for the brown shipping paper and tape I wasted.

The kicker is that we leave to drive to WDW tonight, so I have to come up with a response fast. I won't have internet access at WDW and we'll be gone a total of 2 weeks!

Thanks for your input!

 

[CheapMom]

Kristi- I know it's a pain but I wouldn't charge her for the packing materials- That should be built into the shipping cost and you can re-sell these things when you get back. Ebay will allow you to relist the exact items and get a refund for the listing fees when they sell.
It is not your fault that she was uncommunicative and slow and if you can't come to terms today then she will have to wait two weeks until you can deal with her but assure her that you are willin to work with her- to try to discourage her leaving a neg while ou are away.

 

[Pamlur]

Ebay will allow you to relist the exact items and get a refund for the listing fees when they sell.

No, they think that the items are sold so the relist credit wouldn't apply in this instance. She can file for FVF credit but not for the listing fees.

 

[epcotfan]

I must closed my ebay store and i´m not allowed clothes and articles with
Disney characters. All items from my store I must send to the customs and
they will it destroy!

I don't understand what closing her Ebay store has to do with giving her a refund. Very weird. Sounds fishy to me.

 

[TinkerPixxie]

I know from accidently hitting the "submit payment" button twice there is no possible way for her to reverse it. I called within seconds of doing it and paypal can not reverse unless there is a formal situation ie: forms to fill out and a waiting period, an investigation, etc etc. The only way is for the recipient of the money to do it themselves. When you get a payment you also have an option of sending it back. I was fortunate that the person I sent two payments to was understanding, not a thief and returned it as soon as I contacted her. Hope this eases your mind.
I would refund her money once it clears, minus the fees and possibly small fee to cover yuor time listing, and going to the post office and packing.. all that. Thne just resell when you get home.
Tink~

 

[jwfla422]

I would also refund MINUS ALL of the fees you had to pay for listing. She has 100% feedback but obviously something's up. If her feedback was shady then I would also charge a fee for your trouble (that's still up to you).

It is a bummer, but since you still have all the mds. as other posters mentioned you can resell. Definitely tell her you will refund her money less the fees you had to pay to list, etc. because these items were taken off the market during a peak selling time. At least you have the discretion as to what you want to refund her.

With her last comment (tell me if it's possible), she seems to expect that she may be "out" some of her $$.

 

[Kristi1357]

Thanks again for all your replies!

I will email her telling her that I will refund her money minus the various fees. I will also let her know that this won't happen for more than 2 weeks since I will be out of town.

All the items are new & Disney products also, so it shouldn't be a huge problem to re-sell. Just a PITA!

 

[CheapMom]

No, they think that the items are sold so the relist credit wouldn't apply in this instance. She can file for FVF credit but not for the listing fees.

She can file a claim of "mutually agreed not to complete sale" and then they should refund her listing fees on the second auction when her items sell. They did it for me.

 

[jwfla422]

If you relist your items and they sell you won't be charged a relist fee but you will still be charged the fees from when you listed them the first time around. (they actually DO CHARGE YOU THE LIST FEE WHEN YOU RELIST but WILL CREDIT THE LIST FEE once it sells or if a bid is placed on it-I forget which one). If something doesn't sell the 2nd time around, then you would be charged another listing fee. SO it's up to you if you want to build that into the amount you plan to take off of her refund. Just something to think about. Hope that makes sense! FORGET ABOUT IT FOR NOW AND ENJOY YOUR TRIP!!!!

 

[TandyR]

Yes I was reading this thread and I was going to suggest that the OP file a claim of "mutually agreed not to complete the sale" and eBay will change the listing to not being sold and she could relist them and eBay will refund the fees. I just found this out this week because I was looking around finding out how to deal with a nonpayer....and you submit basiclly the same form for a non-payer.

 

[DorotheaJN]

I don't understand what closing her Ebay store has to do with giving her a refund. Very weird. Sounds fishy to me.

Being an European EBayer myself this is what really annoys me. It is cases like this that makes trades across the Atlantic difficult.

I've had my share of dealing with danish customs. That is part of buying things from the US. If you chose to do so it is important to know the rules that applies. I can buy used items or new items up to a certain value without having to deal with customs. When I bid on an item I'm aware of the rules and if taxes are levied on the deal I know and takes this into consideration when bídding.

Also If you do a lot of reselling you would have to be registred as a seller and add VAT to your sales price before shipping. If you break those rules your shipments might be confiscated to cover missing payments.

It sounds that this could be the problem for your buyer or perhaps this is just an excuse to get out of the trade. I have bought lots of Disney items in regular stores in Germany including clothes so that is definately not the problem

Anyway I hope you solve your problem and hopes that this hasn't totally spoiled it for other non US bidders

Helle

 

[epcotfan]

Also If you do a lot of reselling you would have to be registred as a seller and add VAT to your sales price before shipping. If you break those rules your shipments might be confiscated to cover missing payments.

It sounds that this could be the problem for your buyer or perhaps this is just an excuse to get out of the trade. I have bought lots of Disney items in regular stores in Germany including clothes so that is definately not the problem

Anyway I hope you solve your problem and hopes that this hasn't totally spoiled it for other non US bidders

Helle

Now that you have explained that makes more sense. I too have to deal with paying duty and taxes on imports when purchasing from outside of Canada. It goes with the Ebay territory. I guess I was confused because I never thought customs would actually seize items to recover unpaid VAT. That is why it seemed odd to me for the person to have to close their store.

 

[disneychrista]

You can get your FVF refunded by filing nonpaid item form Selecting that you "mutually" decided to not following through on the sale.

 

[Kristi1357]

Ok, this buyer from Germany is now no longer a registered user! She must have backed out on more auctions and been reported to eBay. That's the only reason I can think of. Well, I guess she could have canceled her own account due to her problems. She even had positive feedback given to her as late as 12/15 - never one neg. out of 300+.

I did email her yesterday, asking for $12 in eBay fees. I had 2 email addys for her and tried both. We'll see what happens, but I am not holding my breath.

I already tried second chance offers on a few of the items - so far no bites.

Thanks for all your advice! I'll have to try to relist after the holidays. Even bigger bummer since one of the outifts she left me with is a Pooh, Baby's 1st Christmas one. ARGH!!!

 

[seashoreCM]

You need to find out from her whether the shipments are being confiscated unconditionally or whether the shipments are being confiscated just because she is reselling the merchandise, or whether the shipments are being confiscated because she is running a store but not following all the regulations and collecting/remitting VAT or sales tax.

I have had non-commercial Canadian buyers complain that they have to pay "an exorbitant amount" of customs, duties, taxes, etc. at their post office to receive an eBay item I sent.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Last trip: Jan. '05, Pop Century
______________________________

<small>Does the billowing of a cloth cover let alone the act of stretching it over the car buff away at the finish faster than not covering the car and letting the sun beat down on the finish?</small>

 

[DMRick]

Aren't all other countries considered unconfirmed with Paypal? If so, can't they just say the items weren't delivered and get all their money back..including the fees you kept? And since you didn't mail the items, they can get a chargeback? I don't know the answer, but I'm sure someone does.