I am new to ebay, I have recently begun selling a few items I want to get rid of. So far I have completed 8 auctions and most people have been paying me immediately or the next day. So then I leave them good feedback and ship their item, they leave me good feedback and all is well.
Now last week I sold an item to a guy on Thursday and sent him an invoice. Monday I get a message from him asking for my address because he wants to send me a money order. In my listing I put that I only accept PayPal, not for any real reason other than it’s easiest for me. He didn’t ask before bidding if he could pay by money order, which annoys me, and he didn’t even ask if it was ok to pay that way after winning, he just asked for my address. I replied to him that I really preferred PayPal and that’s what I had in my listing (and I know he has an account, his other feedback all says “immediate payment” and such.) but if for some reason he really can’t pay me that way, I would accept a money order. Today I see he has marked the item “payment sent” but he never apologized or said why he couldn’t use PayPal, he didn’t reply at all before sending it. So I am a little annoyed with him. It’s a $10 item so it’s not like he needs to gather up the funds here.
Since I am new to ebay I don’t know what is proper here…should I leave him a positive feedback once I get the money order, since he did pay and I didn’t outright forbid him to pay that way, or a neutral feedback since he didn’t pay the way I specified in my listing? He has tons of feedback and one neutral isn’t going to hurt him, but I only have 4 auctions done with feedback for me so if he gets ticked and leaves me a negative or neutral it would affect me more.
So I guess I just want opinions, or stories about how you decide what kind of feedback to leave. Is this a typical story or is this guy being a prick?
As a sidenote, I was looking closer at his profile and he has 77 retracted bids in the last 6 months! How is that possible?
That situation sounds like he prototypical example of when neutral feedback is appropriate. The transaction was completed successfully, but not without a significant problem, caused by the buyer. Feedback isn’t just a mutual admiration society-- for the sake of the people who will deal with this buyer in the future, it’s important that your feedback accurately reflects how he conducted himself in the transaction.
If this guy made 77 retracted bids there is a problem. Since he’s already sent the payment (apparently), email him again that you will ship the item once the money order has cleared.
Even though it is unlikely for small amounts like your sale, there is a rash of counterfeit money order scams going on. The tripline is that your bank will usually show the funds in your account, and you will think that the money order cleared, but it really hasn’t. Many days later it bounces.
Deposit the money order and ask your bank how to know when it has actually cleared the issuing bank. Then wait, and ship.
Then after you ship leave neutral feedback that he submitted payment in a form other than required. Assuming it cleared.
He may get pissed and leave you neutral or negative feedback. IIRC you can add your own rebuttal if that happens.
While I would normally think this merits neutral feedback, the eBay culture probably would think it merits positive, assuming nothing further goes wrong. You don’t get 99+% positive feedbacks with an online / mail order business if every problematic (but ultimately successful) sale wound up neutral. People get positive for completely screwing up the order, as long as they give a full refund.
I’d wait until he leaves his feedback first, then leave him a positive (with a comment about the payment type, perhaps) if you got your money and he didn’t backstab you on the feedback. Leave him a neutral and you may wind up with a reputation as someone who will hurt your feedback if you deal with them.
I don’t necessarily agree with the eBay feedback system, but “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
That’s what I can’t figure out, his feedback is like 99% positive, only one negative and that was over 6 months ago, and from something he sold not bought. All his other feedback says stuff like “immediate payment, fast payment, great buyer, etc.” One positive comment says “there was miscommunication but it was cleared up.” I don’t know why he would insist on paying by money order, unless it is because I am a fairly new seller? I don’t know how a money order would protect him more though.
That is good advice on waiting to ship until the order actually clears, I will make sure to do that.
I am a little nervous because the item is kind of breakable so I am packing it super well so he can’t complain it was damaged. It has a flaw in it already but I made that very clear in the description and even took a close up photo that showed the flaw, but he is just making me worried that more problems are going to arise. I still can’t figure out how he can have that many retracted bids and have so much positive feedback, isn’t retracting bids against ebay rules?
See, this is exactly why the circle-jerk feedback culture sucks. Problematic buyers wind up with misleadingly inflated feedback scores because everyone’s so afraid to leave a negative, or even a neutral. Be part of the solution, Velma! Leave this joker a neutral (and explain the situation) so that the next person he deals with can make an informed choice.
I would just not leave any feedback in this situation. You’re too new to get dinged by a neutral or negative yourself (which he will do if you do it to him), and a lot of people won’t read those feedback rebuttals, they’ll just look at the number. Just don’t leave any. Then if he leaves you good feedback and insists you reciprocate (some people get abusive if you don’t leave feedback), then ding him with a neutral and add that the seller was “difficult.”
And definitely wait for that money order to clear before sending the item.
I have sold a ton on eBay, and this hardly merits a neutral comment. Any auction that results in payment in 10 days or less deserves a positive comment. If there were a few bumps, your praise can be perfunctory (Thanks for your bid!) rather than effusive (Fast payment! No problems!). Neutral implies a negative; you may disagree, but in my experience that is the reality.
I agree. Something is not right here. He may not be able to use PayPal because he’s hosed someone and they (PayPal) have gone after the money in his account to settle a dispute. PayPal is NOT a financial institution like Visa and they play by their own rules. Wait until the money order clears. If it does, I would give him + feedback.