grah! eBay! grah

[valis2]

A minor annoyance: the sound on my laptop has stopped working. The system sounds are fine, but nothing else will play. No more Gumby. Alas! Fixed.

A major annoyance: An overseas customer wanted to buy a bunch of stuff. A high dollar amount. I've sold to her before. I explained that I didn't have the stuff and I would charge her and ship her in late Feb. Long story short, she asked me to charge her before the end of the year and still ship her in late Feb.

I was very reluctant to do so, but because she's bought from me before, I agreed. I invoiced her through Paypal and she paid. Now that I'm here, I just sent her a note about how many of the items were in stock, and that I would ship them as soon as I got back to MI.

She has just sent me a note that she is going to inform Paypal that I have not sent the merchandise, and that after I send her the merchandise she will close the claim. She begged me not to refund her funds, to just wait and send the stuff and then she'll close the claim.

OMG. OMG. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS. I have no idea how Paypal will react to this. They could close my account. Seriously, I don't have enough funds to cover the money or I'd just send her the money back and say screw it. I mean, I do understand that she wants some protection, but this was agreed upon over a month ago!

I am nearly in tears right now. She could jeopardize my entire selling career on eBay, and I'm not sure how she thinks this would help her in the end.

Let me reiterate: I do NOT think she is malicious at all. I think that she is honest, and she feels that she must follow the rules and tell Paypal she does not have the merchandise.

grah.

ETA: Prickle being awesome.

Comments

[logospilgrim.livejournal.com]

:-(

I am not sure I understand either, my dearest one...

*tender robed embrace*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! And here is a Gumby short for you. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6L3j3XBNsE)

[hardboiledbaby]

WTF. I presume you have all the correspondence, but still. :-(

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I do, so I hope it will work out! *crosses fingers*

[kakiphony.livejournal.com]

It will be FINE. I've actually had to do this with sellers before. The problem is that if you for some reason didn't ship and she didn't open the claim within paypal's specified time limit (which is either 30 or 60 days, I can't remember which) then she has NO recourse. They will only deal with disputed transactions that are flagged within that set time frame. So it's just a protection mechanism for her to open the claim now even though she knows you will ship and agreed to the time since paypal won't make exceptions for agreed upon longer-than-normal ship periods. What will happen really is that she will close the claim as soon as you ship. No harm no foul, it is just a way for her to be sure that if you did turn out to be a flake, should *could* get her money back.

It really shouldn't jeopardize your account. They give you a set period of time to negotiate/make good. It's not an immediate claim is filed and they take the money for a refund kind of thing.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

WHEW!

Thank you so much. I can't explain how much this makes me feel better, thank you!

*giant hugs*

[kakiphony.livejournal.com]

It's pretty common in the world of perfume decant circles for limited edition perfumes. Some of the ladies I buy from are GREAT, but if the company doesn't ship for 4 weeks, it's hard for them to get me the stuff within the window. The standard practice is to file the claim and then shut it down when they ship. There have been too many swap-lifters not to protect myself, but everyone in the community knows about it, so it's not a big deal any more.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Thank you for making this make so much more sense. I'm just going to cross my fingers that it all goes well. *crosses fingers and toes*

*huggles*

[venivincere]

You must have written documentation since you conduct business with email; if PayPal raises a stink, give them all your evidence that this is what she agreed upon and they should take your side. But first, forward back to her the emails with the agreements in them and tell her that you don't feel you should be penalized because she no longer likes the deal she agreed upon. Let her know that if she complains, you will make a counter complaint offering your record of the original agreement as well her recent emails as substantiation for your complaint. If she thinks she might lose her PayPal account, too, she might think differently. I am incensed on your behalf. That's bogue.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh no, it's not that she doesn't like the deal; it's that she wants to protect herself in case I don't send the stuff out as I claim I'm going to. If she marks the items as "paid" right now, then she has no recourse whatsoever, and she's at my mercy if I want to send the stuff or not. So I am kind of understanding why she's doing that, but still, I'm wicked scared that I'm going to have issues. Hopefully Paypal will look at my excellent track record and find it all up to snuff.

*huggles*

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

That's why some people shouldn't be allowed to play on the internet...

[valis2.livejournal.com]

hee! Only too true. She's a nice woman, though, and I think she's just trying to cover her own tail. But omg, if this interferes with my Paypal...wah!

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

I think you can respond immediately and shut it down your end, even if you haven't sent. That's what's happened to me with shonky sellers.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Well, she's just a buyer who's concerned about being protected, I'm sure. And it turns out that this is a common practice for people who have to wait more than 4 weeks for merchandise. I was just not experienced with that. I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for the best. :)

Plus, I don't have the funds to refund her the money at the moment. :(

[thedoingofit.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds so stressful and so silly on her part! I hope that things have been resolved for the better by now... *hugs hugs hugs*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Thank GOODNESS everything is back to normal. She has canceled her claim and says she will not open a second one. *hugs in return* :)