Dear eBay Queen;
After 3 years of selling on eBay, I finally have 2 problems that I am not sure how to solve. I can not believe they happened within a week of each other, and they both involve the post office. My first problem started out when I mailed a package to Louisiana over 3 weeks ago! The buyer has emailed a lot over the last three weeks. She has the delivery confirmation number, and it just shows “in-transit”. Yesterday the buyer emailed me and said she received the package, but she had to pay $8.95 for extra postage and she wants me to refund that money back to her or she will give me a negative.
I called my post office and her post office in Louisiana. I did not understand how she had postage due, when my post office put the postage on the box to begin with! After talking to both post offices I learned the buyer had moved from Louisiana to Alabama in July, and did not change her address with eBay or PayPal. The $8.95 she was charged was because the package was originally shipped Parcel Post, and it was the shipping fee to forward it to her new address. Do you think I should refund her $8.95? Am I obligated to do so?
My second problem is similar. I received a package back that I shipped off over a week ago. The label has “moved, left no forwarding address”. I immediately checked my PayPal payment and the invoice information from eBay. The address is the same as the one I shipped it to! I e-mailed the buyer, asked her if she moved, and told her the box was shipped back. She apologized, and gave me her new address. She did not offer to pay to ship the item back to her. What should I do? Should I charge her the shipping cost to re-send? Or should I just eat the cost of the shipping? It was only four dollars and some change.
JPK; Ottawa
Dear JPK;
In both cases you certainly did everything right. Your Louisiana/Alabama buyer may not fully understand what happened. I would email her, and let her know you feel really bad she had to pay the extra shipping money to receive her item. Tell her what you told me and all of the investigation you did to figure out what happened. I would explain to her she was charged the 8.95 because she chose parcel post shipping (there would not have been a fee to forward with Priority mail), and she did not update her address with eBay or PayPal. I would not refund her money, and she certainly went against eBay rules by threatening feedback. Her “you pay or I’ll give you a negative”, warrants you reporting her to eBay. That being said, if you are feeling kind and do not want to confront her, you could refund the money and not have any of the hassle.
When it comes to your second buyer, I would email her back and let her know the post office will not send it to her new address without charging you again to ship it. Offer to send her a new shipping invoice through PayPal. If the buyer is unhappy about paying the extra shipping, you should not feel obligated to do so. If she does not want to pay to have it shipped back and you do not want to pay ship it. I would refund her money.
All of us at some point and time will have a buyer who forgets to change their mailing address. I have been known to eat the shipping fees if the sale was a good one.
Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 130141225705 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page). I have this memory of going to my Grandmother’s house and seeing an old amber candy dish full of candy. Maybe it wasn’t just like this one, but maybe it was. Fenton Amber Hobnail covered candy dish SOLD $13,154.00. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130141225705
After 3 years of selling on eBay, I finally have 2 problems that I am not sure how to solve. I can not believe they happened within a week of each other, and they both involve the post office. My first problem started out when I mailed a package to Louisiana over 3 weeks ago! The buyer has emailed a lot over the last three weeks. She has the delivery confirmation number, and it just shows “in-transit”. Yesterday the buyer emailed me and said she received the package, but she had to pay $8.95 for extra postage and she wants me to refund that money back to her or she will give me a negative.
I called my post office and her post office in Louisiana. I did not understand how she had postage due, when my post office put the postage on the box to begin with! After talking to both post offices I learned the buyer had moved from Louisiana to Alabama in July, and did not change her address with eBay or PayPal. The $8.95 she was charged was because the package was originally shipped Parcel Post, and it was the shipping fee to forward it to her new address. Do you think I should refund her $8.95? Am I obligated to do so?
My second problem is similar. I received a package back that I shipped off over a week ago. The label has “moved, left no forwarding address”. I immediately checked my PayPal payment and the invoice information from eBay. The address is the same as the one I shipped it to! I e-mailed the buyer, asked her if she moved, and told her the box was shipped back. She apologized, and gave me her new address. She did not offer to pay to ship the item back to her. What should I do? Should I charge her the shipping cost to re-send? Or should I just eat the cost of the shipping? It was only four dollars and some change.
JPK; Ottawa
Dear JPK;
In both cases you certainly did everything right. Your Louisiana/Alabama buyer may not fully understand what happened. I would email her, and let her know you feel really bad she had to pay the extra shipping money to receive her item. Tell her what you told me and all of the investigation you did to figure out what happened. I would explain to her she was charged the 8.95 because she chose parcel post shipping (there would not have been a fee to forward with Priority mail), and she did not update her address with eBay or PayPal. I would not refund her money, and she certainly went against eBay rules by threatening feedback. Her “you pay or I’ll give you a negative”, warrants you reporting her to eBay. That being said, if you are feeling kind and do not want to confront her, you could refund the money and not have any of the hassle.
When it comes to your second buyer, I would email her back and let her know the post office will not send it to her new address without charging you again to ship it. Offer to send her a new shipping invoice through PayPal. If the buyer is unhappy about paying the extra shipping, you should not feel obligated to do so. If she does not want to pay to have it shipped back and you do not want to pay ship it. I would refund her money.
All of us at some point and time will have a buyer who forgets to change their mailing address. I have been known to eat the shipping fees if the sale was a good one.
Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 130141225705 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page). I have this memory of going to my Grandmother’s house and seeing an old amber candy dish full of candy. Maybe it wasn’t just like this one, but maybe it was. Fenton Amber Hobnail covered candy dish SOLD $13,154.00. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130141225705
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