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Thread: Bizarre Situation With a Buyer

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    Great Puma (Level 12)
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    Default Bizarre Situation With a Buyer

    So, I don't sell on Ebay that often (in fact, this is the first time I have done so in probably two years), but after posting an older import game with a controller accessory for sale on several message boards over several months without much interest, I decided to go ahead and list the item. The item sold within an hour using BIN and the buyer paid with Paypal instantly. Unfortunately, the buyer's address on Ebay (and therefore the way the automatic shipping calculator made it's calculations) was literally within a hundred miles of my location, but the actual Paypal verified shipping address was several states away, so I basically ended up eating $4 in additional shipping costs. Content with the quick payment and the fact that the item had sold, I went ahead and ate the extra shipping and didn't say anything to the buyer. The day after payment was received, I mailed the package out via Priority Mail with tracking and didn't really think about it again.

    Late last week, the package shows up back at my house with a note from the USPS saying the buyer refused to pick up the package from the post office. They apparently left multiple pick-up slips over a period of a month and the buyer just ignored them.

    I sent the buyer a message via Ebay and explained that the package had come back and that I wasn't sure why he hadn't picked it up. He replied three days later that it was a postal mistake and that I should ship it again. Having already lost $4 and not wanting to spend another $12 to ship the package again, I replied that I was happy to ship it again, but that he would need to pay for the costs to re-ship the package. It has been several days now and no response.

    I guess my question is, what should I do? He still has two weeks to make a Paypal claim and although my tracking shows it made it to the post office in his town and delivery was attempted multiple times, technically it wasn't delivered. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation in the past? If so, what did you do?

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    If anything it sounds like the post office should eat the cost of the shipping... Either that or he's lying about never getting notifications about the package being at the PO.

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    Pac-Man (Level 10) ryborg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevincal View Post
    If anything it sounds like the post office should eat the cost of the shipping...
    Yeah, good luck doing that. Even if it were a postal error, this ain't happening.

    Anyway, do you have the package in front of you? Is it marked up with the words "Refused" or "Unclaimed" stamped anywhere on it? I highly doubt it's a postal mistake. It sounds like you're dealing with either a terrible scammer or an incredibly stupid buyer.

    No way would I ship again until shipping is paid again in full. No matter how you slice it, it was his mistake, not yours. Having to eat the $4 initially was bad enough, and it's exactly why I don't use the postal calculator. I charge the same amount for everyone.

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    Bell (Level 8) darkslime's Avatar
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    I'd refund him the cost minus your shipping, paypal, ebay etc fees, and relist it.

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    Smile

    I've had a couple bounce back. Not exactly like this, but I also do alot of shipping and know the ladies that work at my post office pretty well. Well enough to know witch ones I want to get when getting up to the front there is one lady that always walks away and acts busy until someone else takes me. Thats fine I. Sorry got off track.

    But yeah some have bounced back and I contact the buyer. Then I go in and talk to the the postal Ladies. Tell them what happened. Usually the Postmaster Lady will put my package in a big envelope thing and she stamps it with some manager stamp. Granted this is after I've payed and shipped it off and I'm showing up with the item in my hand.

    Go talk with them. They wont make you pay shipping again. I don't think you have to. I think you could drop it in a mail box. No?
    In yo face!

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    Great Puma (Level 12) jb143's Avatar
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    Maybe you did this but just didn't mention it, but if there's ever a discrepancy in addresses between ebay and paypal, you should always ask the buyer which is correct before shipping. This could simply be a matter of him not updating his paypal account when he moved and it caused you to ship to an old address. I almost had this happen to me once but I happened to notice right before shipping.

    Deffinatly keep in contact with the buyer about what your doing, planning/thinking of doing, or even what they would do if they were in your situation. It's easy to assume that they're a scammer but more than likely it's just a regular joe that is probally more afraid of you pulling a fast one on him. (Sounds like the guy is just a bit flaky to me, forgetting to change his address, forgetting about buying something off eBay...it happens)

    I'd personally go with darkslime's suggestion but make sure you communicate to the buyer that that's what you want to do first.
    "Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...

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