Need Advice With Non-Payer (Update: Negative strike for both parties now) What to do?

Redeema

Redeema

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So, I put up my Gears of War limited edition faceplate from E3 and it ended up selling for $102, but I never heard anything from the buyer, so after several attempts at contacting him I finally get a message from his "wife" saying,
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]hello this is xxxxx's wife he had to go to iraq he will be back in like 2 months i am sorry for the inconvince.[/FONT]
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Now, my faceplate is sitting here, I don't have $100 in my paypal account from the sale and I owe my fees, do I file a non-payment? This sounds almost like buyer's remorse, but at the same time if he did go to Iraq I'd hate to hit him with the penalty...then again who goes for just to months?

Any advice? Do I just pay my fees and hope to clear this up later?
 
Does he get dinged? Should I care about him legit excuse or not? Not that he's doing anything for me personally either way, I could sell that faceplate to someone else at a later date.
 
He deserves no remorse IMO. I've done some pretty stupid impulse eBay buys. Some were lucky in that I was outbid at the last minute. Some I had to accept my mistake and pay the price. He's the one that bid $102 and if he outbid someone who was legitmately ready to pay you $100 with no problems, than the headache should be on him. Of course you don't have to be rude when you tell his "girlfriend." Just state that you were selling things on eBay to MAKE money and cannot afford to pay eBay's fees for something that was no fault of your own. As for giving him feedback, I'd probably just give him a neutral.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I'll do just that. I just would've felt bad if he really went to Iraq to "fight the good fight", but I guess in the end I gotta look after me and my family before anyone else.
 
[quote name='Redeema']Thanks for the advice guys, I'll do just that. I just would've felt bad if he really went to Iraq to "fight the good fight", but I guess in the end I gotta look after me and my family before anyone else.[/QUOTE]
To be honest, if they're honorable enough to fight a war, then they are honorable enough to pay for an auction they bid on. Don't go soft.
 
If it was truly his wife, she couldn't pay? Also who gets shipped out at the last minute? They are just playing you, do the non paying bidder and they will have a chance to respond. If it is legit you could contact ebay and tell them that you have both mutually agreed to cancel the deal. They will contact the buyer and they will have to agree. You get your fees back and they don't get a non paying bidder mark.
 
Pretty good advice you're getting, so I'll agree with those above me.

OP, try to remember that ebay is the online equivelant of a business transaction; emotions need not play into the equation, (and most honest people won't tug on your heartstrings in an attempt to change the setup of the deal).

Besides, like the guy above me said, when you file a NPB strike, the buyer has a chance to respond, and most honest buyers will recitfy the situation before it gets to the next level. And if the guy is who his "wife" says he is, then they should either pay or have the dignity to ask you to file a "mutually agreed not to sell".

Either way, good luck and keep us posted on the results.
 
People in the armed forces get direct deposits into their account every 2 weeks. It's MANDATORY. I'm sure his wife has access to that account & could pay for the item.

There is nothing for you to feel guilty about. Plus, armed force personnels get at least a MONTH's notice before having to go to Iraq. So there's actually something fishy about the excuse you got there.
 
REPLY:

"That's funny. The U.S. Army gave you no notice that you were going to Iraq? :whistle2:( Advice - Don't bid on things when the U.S. Army tells you several weeks in advance that you're leaving home."

Wait one week.

Then open non-paying bidder in my ebay.
 
Here's the response I got after filing non-paying bidder on him:
s.gif

s.gif
hey i was sent you messeges about this item my kid got on my acct. and starting bdding on all these
gears of war things b/c thats his fav game. so i am really sorry you had to wait this long but please
can we just drop this dispute thanks again i aM REALLY SORRY..
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So, the moral of this story is to never believe what people tell you I guess. First, he went to Iraq then it's his kid, either way the entire family has some really bad grammar.
 
If he/she/it doesn't respond to the Unpaid Item dispute you can leave a negative & he/she/it can do nothing in return! My response (by email) would be:
>
>>>[FONT=Arial, Verdana]hello this is xxxxx's wife he had to go to iraq
>>>
>>>[/FONT]my kid got on my acct. and starting bdding on all these gears of war things b/c thats his fav game. so i am really sorry


So which story should I believe?
 
neither. Just leave a NPB strike and let them make the next move. If they do nothing, you get your fees back and get to relist. If they pay, then send and be done with it. If they try any more bullshit sob stories, tell them tough shit and escalate it into a claim after the traditional period of time.
 
So, do I leave them feedback now or do I wait until it's all closed? Then, should I just be nice and leave them a neutral or make them pay, so to speak? I don't really want to be vindictive, but then again he may end up costing me a lot of money because I may have missed the perfect time to list my faceplate right at release of the game.
 
Feedback is the last thing you should do -after- all the other crap is taken care of. (IMHO) You've got three months to leave FB so leave it last.


Oh and yes they deserve a negative. They wasted your time & money & your time. [Edit] - [Also if they don't respond to the dispute, then they can't give you a Retaliatory negative.]
 
Listen to the man^^^ Feedback is the LAST thing you should be worried about doing; for now, concentrate on actually taking the steps we recommended and finding out if you are actually going to get paid.

When all that is said and done, (either with a payment for the full amount or a NPB strike against their account), then you can worry about leaving the feedback.

Which should be negative, given all the shit you've had to put up with, IMHO.
 
Okay the dispute ended up closing yesterday, so I'll drop him a negative and just explain it in the comments. Can he do anything to me as a retaliation?
 
He responded and we both mutually agreed to not complete the transaction and now I see he left me a negative, with this message:

" i sent this seller alot of emails and messeges but he didnt respond..not a good1"

Do I have any recourse? I mean I only have 18 feedback as it is, I'm not trying to make a career out of this, but would like the positive feedback just to back me up.

By the way it sucks that this guy gets hit for being a jerk and then retaliates against me with some BS lies about how he tried to contact me.

Edit: He is even trying to make it look more legit after the dispute has been closed by changing his part of the deal as "Payment has been sent" as of today.
 
[quote name='Redeema']He responded and we both mutually agreed to not complete the transaction ....[/quote] That was mistake. You should have insisted he pay & if he refused---- give him a Strike. Nothing you can do now accept file for 'mutual feedback withdrawal'.



You've made a LOT of mistakes on this transaction

- left a negative feedback about 60 days too soon
- believed the buyer's obvious lies
- you mutually agreed to not finish the transaction
- you failed to get a Refund from ebay
- and you failed to give a Strike (which the buyer deserved)

You basically let the Buyer escape w/o the punishment this Lying Scumbag ______ deserved to get. And screwed yourself out of money.

Well.

This is how we learn. :bouncy: Hopefully next time you won't repeat these mistakes & you won't let the buyer go free w/o a Strike.
 
What a fucking jerk. eBay's feedback system sucks balls. And if your wondering if eBay can remove feedback, they won't. I read their TOS and basically since they weren't a part of the transaction, they will not remove feedback due to it being their opinion and not fact.

Only thing you can do is respond to the negative feedback to explain that he's a fucking liar and should be castrated.
 
[quote name='fred_h_haddad']That was mistake. You should have insisted he pay & if he refused---- give him a Strike. Nothing you can do now accept file for 'mutual feedback withdrawal'.



You've made a LOT of mistakes on this transaction

- left a negative feedback about 60 days too soon
- believed the buyer's obvious lies
- you mutually agreed to not finish the transaction
- you failed to get a Refund from ebay
- and you failed to give a Strike (which the buyer deserved)

You basically let the Buyer escape w/o the punishment this Lying Scumbag ______ deserved to get. And screwed yourself out of money.

Well.

This is how we learn. :bouncy: Hopefully next time you won't repeat these mistakes & you won't let the buyer go free w/o a Strike.[/quote]
What happens if you open a NPB dispute and they decide to pay. After payment, can they still leave negative feedback since they are pissed they were "forced" to pay?
 
This is why I don't leave negative FB for NPBs. (I do go through the NPB process and give them a strike.) Since he didn't cuss in the FB I doubt eBay will remove it - using curse words is about the only thing I've seen eBay actually take down a mark for. You can try, but don't hold your breath. (I'm assuming here that you left him neg FB first, if he left it for you first it doesn't technically change anything, but wow that is one asshole buyer.)

Your best bet is to do the mutually agree to remove FB thing with the buyer. (I'm not sure exactly how you initiate it) Then the neg FB will be removed from both of your accounts. He'd have to agree so it's not a sure thing. Neg FB doesn't really hurt a buyer at all, I don't see the point of leaving it for them and risking an unwarranted mark in retaliation. Well it does let other sellers know a buyer could be a problem, but with eBay's screwy FB system I just don't feel it's worth the personal risk.

Here's eBay's page on feedback removal: http://pages.ebay.in/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

I don't know if this is against eBay's rules (you can have more than one account - I use one for buying and another for selling, but you probably can't make a new one just to get away from a black mark) but I'd consider just starting fresh with a new account. 1 neg to 18 pos is a terrible ratio.

And fred the waiting exactly 90 days to leave FB thing doesn't really work any longer, at least from the things I've read on this. Apparently the option to leave FB may still be available for a while after the 90. But I've never fooled with trying this myself so no first hand experience here.

Kendro - you can leave whatever feedback you feel is deserved. Ebay won't remove it in most cases without a court order AFAIK. A buyer could leave something like "The game took two days after payment to arrive F-" or just something like "Bad seller" and eBay wouldn't care. Although if you look at it from their perspective, removing neg FB that seems to be unwarranted would open up a serious can of worms.
 
Feedback's really not that important. It's the MONEY that matters. I don't understand why Redeema let the buyer go. It was obvious he/she was lying. Why release them from their contractual obligation?

If it were me I'd either have $100 in my wallet -or- the Buyer'd be staring at a Strike on their account. I NEVER let anyone go free; I don't list my items just to have my time wasted by non-payers who regret their purchase.

And fred the waiting exactly 90 days to leave FB thing doesn't really work any longer
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I didn't say it did. I said 60 days. I wait 60 days to make sure the scumbag didn't use a stolen credit card or other fraudulent payment.
 
So, then should I ask him to mutually remove the feedback? I wish I could just contact ebay and have them remove the strike from my account, but leave it on his because that's the way it should have been originally. I don't feel like creating a new account really, like I said I'm not a big seller, but I would like the opportunity on occasion to get rid of something if I feel like it. They really should have a better way to do this...*sigh*
 
[quote name='Redeema']So, then should I ask him to mutually remove the feedback? I wish I could just contact ebay and have them remove the strike from my account, but leave it on his because that's the way it should have been originally. I don't feel like creating a new account really, like I said I'm not a big seller, but I would like the opportunity on occasion to get rid of something if I feel like it. They really should have a better way to do this...*sigh*[/QUOTE]

That's what I'd do.

My comment to consider starting fresh was based on "I'm trying to make a career out of this" but going back to re-read that I think you meant to type "I'm [not] trying to make a career out of this." So yeah it's not crucial.

[quote name='fred_h_haddad']I didn't say it did. I said 60 days. I wait 60 days to make sure the scumbag didn't use a stolen credit card or other fraudulent payment.[/QUOTE]

Oh, so you are saying you wait 60 days to leave positive feedback? Even when they have left + FB for you? Seems a little extreme to me, but leaving FB at all is completely optional so I suppose you can do it however you like. Am I right in assuming you got burnt with that in the past and that prompted your system? (I figured you were assuming redeema was about 30 days from the end of the listing so +60 would put him at ~ the 90 day threshold.)
 
I edited that statement above to say, "I'm not trying to make a career out of this..."

Now this could leave a damper in me trying to sell off a spare Wii that I got yesterday. I mean I would imagine that this could mean the difference between somewhere between $20-40 extra on my auction. All because some lying jerkoff didn't want to pay up. Then I'll still have to relist that faceplate on top of it all. Anyone want to buy it for $115 shipped?
 
REDEEMA: (1) File for mutual withdrawal to remove the red splotch from your account. (2) Then followup to the negative: "Sorry but XYZ never paid me; Ebay gave him a non-payer strike." KEEP IT CALM AND PROFESSIONAL and buyers will know that YOU are a good person & the buyer is a douchebag.



Yes Wubb. I was burned by a buyer who I gave a positive but they left me a negative "Shipping Box was smashed". Never contacted me so I could fix the problem/give a refund.

So now even if a buyer leaves me a positive I still don't trust them. They can still do a credit card reversal. So I wait 60 days (or so).

[quote name='Redeema']I wish I could just contact ebay and have them remove the strike from my account, but leave it on his[/quote]
Quick note: A "strike" and a "negative" are two separate concepts. Neither of you traders have received a strike from this event. (Although the buyer deserves a strike.) And to do a mutual feedback withdrawl click here: http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MFWRequest

Looking back it seems to me you "rushed".
Instead of taking time to carefully deal with the situation
you rushed into it, randomly clicking your mouse button,
leaving negative feedback, and closing disputes,
without thinking of the long-term consequences.
(Or asking for advice: "Should I do this next?")


You've got roughly 45 days to complete a transaction. You don't need to "rush" into it. Take your time. Ask for help. Had you done that we would have advised you to NOT leave feedback, to NOT close the dispute and NOT let the buyer go free.

- In which case you'd have a clean feedback record.
- And either $100 in your pocket or a $3.00 Listing refund.
- And the buyer might be banned for non-payment.
 
[quote name='fred_h_haddad']- And either $100 in your pocket or a $3.00 Listing refund.[/QUOTE]

Agree with most of your points, but as a seller you do in fact get a FVF refund when you do a mutual agree not to complete the sale.
 
I got my FVF back. And actually, from some finished auctions I just looked at the value has gone up, so if I decide to relist I could actually make an extra $50 or so.

Also, I did rush just trying to close up the deal and get beyond it, unfortunately despite Ebay allows low-life's their peace and that's what got me.
 
Another update, he agreed to do the mutual withdrawal thing the same day I filed it, and yesterday I get an email saying there's been a change in my feedback. Well, it seems that his account has been suspended and now nothing shows, so I'm up to 22 positive feedback ratings and 0 neg's with 0 withdrawn! Maybe he was up to no good elsewhere too and they saw that? Kudos to eBay if they caught him doing garbage.
 
Something similar happened to me.
Sold a game. Shipped it.
Buyer left me a negative because "shipping slow"
(not my fault; I shipped on day 2; it was post office's fault).

BUT THEN the buyer mysteriously disappeared off ebay.
I filed a dispute because "user no longer registered" and instantly recovered not only my fees but also erased the negative!

Sweet.

It is so cool when stuff like that works in your favor, isn't it?
 
i am pretty sure if you file a npb account and state the buyer reused to pay, and you file the final claim after the waiting period, they can't leave you feedback. I am pretty sure they are blocked.
 
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