Then you are fully justified in deducting the difference from the $100.
Uniform Commercial Code, Rights and Duties of Secured Party Having Possession or Control of Collateral.
Actually, what might have the most impact on the buyer is if you send her like three bucks along with an itemized list of all expenses deducted from the deposit (you can make some up if you want, or count things like the envelope used to send the money back). That way she’ll be forced to think about how her behavior impacted her own funds, instead of just blaming you (the seller) for “ignoring” her. Kind of like how it’s more effective to give a quarter tip to a lousy waitress than to not tip them at all.
Yesterday, she emailed me again. The email was pretty much the same as the first one except that she used my name this time.
Last night, she called my house and left a very long, rambling message about the deposit, she needs the money, blah, blah, blah and that she knows I sold the books, again on ebay.
I’m still not sure how to respond. I had decided to ignore her, but I saved copies of her emails. I don’t want her calling my house again.
Anyone got any more advise ?
I’d respond with some of the stuff others have said above. Perhaps include some comparison between what you would have realized had she honored her original bargain, and what you got this time around. Say, the original auction went for 250. She gave you 100. You only got 175 this time around. So you got 75 bucks less this time than you would have if she had honored the original sale.
OK, add the 175 to the 100 she gave you originally and you actually got a total of 275. So you wound up with an extra 25 bucks. If you’re feeling generous, refund that 25 bucks minus every penny you had to spend to relist the item. Let’s say the second auction cost you 10 bucks. So you might for yucks send her the 15 dollars. BUT - you are IMO not under any obligation to do so.
Note - making up numbers here, I saw the books sold for 175 but no clue what they originally “sold” for, or what your relisting amounts for. You might still be out of pocket, in which case don’t send this deadbeat a dime.
Although real estate law is quite different, if a buyer puts up earnest money and backs out on the deal without valid reason, they stand a substantial risk of losing their earnest money. I think this principle applies here as well.
Do keep copies of all correspondence you had (or tried to have) with her in case she goes whining to eBay’s management.
Are you offering your opinion (which is, after all, appropriate for this forum) or are you stating the law?
I had several of those books when I was a kid. I think I recently donated them to ARC of Texas. I loved those books.
Some thoughts.
Obviously this kid has been monitoring whether the books went up for sale. Her claim that she had no access to e-mail is completely bogus. Even if she doesn’t have an e-mail account, I have no doubt that she knows SOMEONE who does. For all you know, she waited until you re-listed, had a friend purchase the books for her at the new price, and THEN decided to ask for a refund of her original price.
Dear E-bayer,
I am writing regarding your request to have your deposit for e-bay item number xxxxx (Sunfire Romance collection) refunded. As you know, we entered into an agreement for you to purchase these books after you posted a winning bid on e-bay on August x, 2004. After receiving a deposit of $100 on August x, 2004, I attempted to contact you numerous times to complete this transaction. I heard nothing more from you in over eight months.
Frankly, your claim that you were unable to contact me over an eight month period because your e-mail account was suspended is ridiculous. You know someone who has an e-mail account. You also knew my home phone number, which is evident because you called it yesterday. It appears you can contact me when you are sufficiently motivated.
As you know, because you reneged on your agreement to purchase the books, I re-listed them on April x, 2005. On April x, 2005, I received a winning bid of $x. The difference between your winning bid and the second winning bid is $y.
Even though I feel I am under no obligation to refund anything to you given your e-bay history and given your complete lack of communication, I will honor your request to refund back to you your deposit of $100, less $y (the difference between your winning bid and the second winning bid), less all transaction fees and PayPal charges.
Before I send this refund, however, I will need a note from you, in writing, agreeing that the amount I am offering is satisfactory to you and this completes the agreement we entered into on April x, 2004.
Sincerely yours,
Dragongirl
How did she get your home phone number? I think this could be considered harassment. I’d write to the folks at Ebay (instead of waiting for her to go running to them, which seems likely–this way they’ll hear your side of the story first) and explain the situation (mentioning all the trouble and expense you went to for this girl), and see if they tell you to give part of the deposit back or not. If they reply in the negative, send her a copy of the email, and tell her that Ebay made the final decision, not you. If she contacts you again, then it’s definitely harassment, and you can feel free to report her to Ebay (maybe they can double-ban her or something) or even the police (a friendly cease and desist letter would do wonders I bet).
I’m changing my position. She’s being unreasonable. Keep the money.
dragongirl wrote
How much less?
That along with relisting fees and a small inconvience charge should be deducted from the $100 at least.
Dragongirl, where’s the update???
Oops, didn’t realize anyone wanted one.
She called me about three more times, after I last posted. She only got my answering machine and she left messages saying, pretty much the same thing as in the original email she sent.
She also sent another email my way saying that she knew I sold the books already.
She wasn’t going to go away by herself, unfortuatley.
I finally replied to her by emailing her. I told her that if she knew I sold the books then she is aware that I sold them for $125.00 less then what she originally agreed to buy them for. I also added up the various charges I was charged as a result of the sale.
I told her that It’s a shame that she’s in a bad spot and I hoped things improved for her.
She hasn’t bothered me since.
Thanks for the update. IMO, you handled it very reasonably.