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LOL!!! Not always a bad thing!
When I was in college studying accounting, I was part of a group of students that my auditing professor was both proud and terrified about. We would challenge ways to get around checks and balances in the system to stifle auditors from finding things. He was sometimes really nervous…
Yep. No buyer protection unless they use PayPal…
Buyer protection
Under the eBay Money Back Guarantee, you’re protected for the full value of most orders, including shipping, when you pay with PayPal.
Other accepted payments
For items in certain categories (such as Motors or Real Estate) or those picked up in person, sellers can also offer to accept payment on pickup, COD (Cash on Delivery), bank-to-bank transfers, checks, money orders, or other payment services. With these methods though, you aren’t covered by the eBay Money Back Guarantee.
They aren’t in the same town. Seller in Colorado, buyer in Texas…
Yeah, it is a fun one…
Great learning opportunity! That is why I’m asking on the outside freight options. Mostly I’m concerned that if something goes fishy, the original seller (and us) are not caught up monetarily. The rest is logistics…
Yep. We were frozen once for a week, when they decided that they needed to verify our account. All funds on hold, couldn’t even ship out items, couldn’t receive payment, couldn’t list. It was a nightmare.
I had to open a personal PayPal account, invoice buyers through the personal account, then shipped from there. And still had to wait 21 days to get paid.
Not a fun time…
They could ask eBay, but since the sale on eBay would not show that the buyer paid (no PayPal), how could they give a refund?
We did the same in the 2 cases where we had a double sale (when we first went to Bonanza, sales took place on Bonanza, didn’t come off of eBay, and then later sold on eBay).
The buyers were OK and we didn’t even get a negative feedback, but the cancelled sale hit our seller account, to the point where one more mistake would have lost our TRS status. That was my main concern, especially since on my side, I can’t afford any negatives that would push me down in search.
Thanks Mike. He paid via PayPal on this?
I’m just thinking about this for our Dicken’s Village sale. I may or may not have to get in the middle, especially if the buyer wants to pay via PayPal on this each month. Then I have to worry about them opening a case with PayPal. Again, I assume all buyers are good…but I CYA as well for those that may not be good.
At $5,000, I don’t want to be on the hook with PayPal if something goes screwy…
If we don’t use PayPal, we use cash. A scammer couldn’t come back against us via PayPal, since they didn’t pay that way. And the worst they could do on eBay is open a case, but not sure how eBay would handle it. eBay would have no record of the payment (since they didn’t go through PayPal) nor any record of the delivery. At least in this case, we are protected monetarily.
I was asking on the eBay cancellation as I know your seller account is dinged if you cancel an order due to a mistake by the seller (out of inventory, broken, etc.) As long as you don’t have many of them, it shouldn’t be an issue, but I know that even at our level, if we get more than one of these types of cancellations, we are close to losing TRS level.
I agree with the last statement…but I also follow the “Trust…but verify” philosophy.
We have had people try to process claims via PayPal in the past, and we were covered since we had tracking. I’m of the belief that you don’t go through PayPal unless there is tracking. In my research via Dr. G, I hear a lot of issues via going through PayPal without tracking. Many have said that photos with IDs and the like would lessen the chances of a scammer, but has not worked when they filed the claim anyway (PayPal only accepts third party tracking).
So you have cancelled the sale and refunded the money before? Have you had any issues with eBay when you have done that?
On a related note, when you guys have done a sale that will be local pickup, do you always get paid outside of PayPal? If the buyer has a third party freight company (like UShip), can they pay via PayPal, but you can protect against a PayPal case buy using a UShip Tracking number that proves pickup and delivery? I have wondered if those third part freight companies provide you with tracking, and would that satisfy PayPal if a buyer opens a case of not delivered.
By doing that, does the buyer of the original item get a second shipping notice from eBay?
I know that it is an extra expense to pay for the $2+ for First Class, but this is why. Autotracking and no headaches.
That is a GREAT idea! It could especially expand out the shades of each color and help the buyers out. Monitors are all the same. Our shipping computer tends more to the blue side, so sometimes we have to triple check an item to make sure it is the right one.
Completely agree. It is a very interesting dilemma. And I’m very sure the debate has just begun! LOL!
Veronica and I were listening to this podcast this morning and when you said you cancelled the sale, we both looked at each other and we said “NOPE!”. But that is us, and that is how we would react.
And for you, even at that level, that decision isn’t life changing. You never have trouble paying your bills now, so the amount of money shouldn’t matter. Otherwise, we start asking the question “How much money does it take to cancel the sale? $10? $100? $1000? Is the right answer predicated on how many zeros are involved? If so, why?”
For us, if we had cancelled the sale, THAT would have haunted US.
I remember playing in a poker game one time, and the pot grew to over $2,000 (and this is a $1-$2 game). At the turn, I realize that I’m beat, and finally have to fold the hand. When the river card hit the table, I would have won the hand (with my full house beating the other two full houses). Do I still remember the hand? Yep. Was folding the hand when I had a 4% chance of winning still the best decision at the time? Yep. Does it bother me that I lost that money. Nope. I can’t focus on lost money like that. Learn my lessons day by day and move forward.
But I love the discussion and the different perspectives. Helps us learn.
If we all have the same perspective on things, then we aren’t learning from each other…
Very tough situation you were in with that Denim Jacket sale. Since you asked the question of “What Would We Do?”…
If we were in that situation, we would have honored the original sale for $60. Our thought was that at the time the sale was complete (payment), you didn’t know how valuable the jacket was. Learning after the fact (after they paid) doesn’t change that. Was it an expensive mistake? Possibly. You still would have made money on the deal, but not as much as you could have if you had known how valuable it was beforehand. The only “loss” is in the lost Opportunity Cost.
But how many valuable items have we all passed up in garage sales, thrift stores, etc. because we didn’t know how valuable they were? I’m sure we all do it all the time. And we bank on the fact that most of the rest of the population passes on them as well. And we love the fact that we are willing to learn more about items and put in the work to sell items at a profit. That knowledge is how we make our living. And sometimes…others will do it to us if they know more. There is always a bigger fish…
For Veronica and I, we always think that the right thing is if it works in the reverse. The best analogy I can think of is that if you were at a garage sale, found that jacket on sale for $60, you KNEW that it was worth hundreds if not $1000, you paid $60 (planning to flip it for huge profit on eBay), when another buyer at the payment table tells the seller what it was really worth, then the seller says “here is your $60, I obviously made a mistake, so the sale is void”. I can only imagine how that would have looked.
Would you have honored their request, after you had paid for the item?
I know that as a buyer in that situation, after I paid, the deal should be done. So if I would have expected the deal to go through as a buyer, then I have to honor the deal as a seller. For us, that is the line. You pay the money, the deal is done.
End of the day, this is just our opinion. And it is worth what you paid for it…zero. We are all free to do things as we would like. Can I tell you how to run your store? Nope. I love the phrase in the hiking world “Hike Your Own Hike”. Meaning that we should all do things in our own way, and we get the rewards and punishments as a result of those decisions. No two hikers carry the same gear, do things the same way, etc. But we can learn by asking others how they do things, and then decide what is best for us. Just like you did by asking this question.
Still lots of love for you guys, love what you do, and the service that you guys provide. Just a professional disagreement. Heck, we are still in disagreement on a lot of things: GTC vs 30 Day, List & Forget It vs List and Attend It, Mannequin vs Floor…
Just par for the course… LOL!
