Did I do the right thing? Update: Grrrr....

[fuzzybabybunny]

I just sold an item and the buyer sends me this email:

hi i just bought iteam from you and i'm going out a country on friday so i was thinking can you please sand me this iteam by thursday A.S.A.P please thank you and please text me back if you have any questions

The buyer has zero feedback, an unconfirmed address in Illinois, and a very generic-sounding yahoo email address.

My reply was:

Hello and thank you for buying my item.

Unfortunately, I cannot accept your business because:

1. Your shipping address is unconfirmed.

2. Your paypal information makes me ineligible for Paypal Seller Protection if I sell to you.

3. You have zero feedback.

4. If you absolutely must have your item by Thursday, you will have to pay an extra $15 for USPS Overnight Express Shipping.

I'm sorry for any problems this has caused. I will refund your money now and leave you a positive feedback if you do the same for me.

Thank you,
fuzzy

I refunded his payment just now and I'm hoping he doesn't press the issue or give me a negative feedback...

My question is: How bad is it to have an unconfirmed address and no Paypal Seller Protection? Does this mean once someone gets an item they can just do a chargeback on me and I have nothing to defend against this?

 

[FoBoT]

yes, play it safe
somebody else will buy it, that doesn't live in nigeria

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Man, sometimes people really make me angry!

This is what he sent me after the above email I sent him:

Than go ahead ship to my billing address at home **** algonquin il 60102 I don't mind paying 15 dollar if i'm gonna recive the item on 10/26 which is Thursday please reply me back and we'll go further from there. thank you

I'm very sorry, but like I said in my last email, you must have a confirmed address and your Paypal information must make me eligible for Paypal Seller Protection in order for me to sell to you.

Not to sound distrustful, but without a confirmed shipping address I have no guarantee that who I'm shipping to is actually you. I also have no guarantee that the buyer is not using a stolen credit card. In addition, without Paypal Seller Protection I have no protection against a chargeback from a fraudulent buyer. I'm sorry, but I simply cannot afford to take a buyer's word on these matters.

Please understand my position on the matter.

If you do happen to get your shipping address Paypal Verified and I can qualify for Paypal Seller Protection if I sell to you, then we can do business. You must do this AND send me $345 + $15 = $360 through Paypal before 4:30 EST today (10/25/06) in order for your package to arrive by tomorrow.

I then opened an item dispute and hoped for a mutual agreement not to complete the transaction. The guy declines, saying:

i needed the item to be shipped by thursday 10/26/06 and also agreed to pay the extra $15 for overnight
shipping. if seller can have this shipped by Friday 10/27/06 9:00 a.m EST i would still like to have
the ****.

Note that at this point he hasn't even made a new payment for the item nor the extra $15 for shipping, and he wants me to ship it out immediately???

Priyesh,
I was recently notified that you still want to complete the transaction. If you are going to be out of the country Friday, and your address is still unverified, how are we going to complete the transaction?
-fuzzy

No reply. I send an email to eBay because the item dispute has been closed FOREVER and I don't seem to be able to get my Final Value Fee.

Hello,

The buyer **** bought my item, paid, and wanted me to ship to an unconfirmed address. I refused, stating that he MUST have a confirmed shipping address and that I must be elegible for Paypal Seller Protection. I then refunded his payment. He then replied and told me to ship it to a different address, which isn't even in the Paypal system, let alone confirmed! I restated that I will not ship to an unconfirmed address and I opened a dispute hoping for a mutual agreement not to complete the transaction. He declined the dispute, and is still pestering me to ship to his unconfirmed address, and he hasn't even paid me yet! Now I can't seem to get my Final Value Fee back because he declined the mutual agreement and the dispute is closed forever. Can I please have my Final Value Fee? This buyer is obviously fraudulent or trying to scam me.

All email records of our conversations are in my eBay inbox.

Thank you,
fuzzy

 

[SmoochyTX]

Why did you post his address? Couldn't you have just said 'blah blah' in Algonquin?

 

[chambersc]

Nothing to contribute. Felt like being a dick. I apologize.

 

[Compudork]

Word of advice: If you have any special conditions from buyers - state it right in your auction listing. It sounds like this was a fishy situation, but I know people who only buy with paypal, and don't attach a bank account and hence have uncofirmed addresses. If it were a legit buyer like that, your response would cause a lot of frustration on their end.

So, better safe than sorry, point your terms out in your auction beforehand. Then in situations like this, you can tell them "YOU broke the terms of my auction, please go back and look at the page, enjoy your refund".

 

[dethman]

why did you even mention the extra $15? should have just said...no verified address, no deal. bam.

 

[Slew Foot]

I think ebay has something in their dispute panel where you can automatically cancel a deal if the buyer doesnt have a confirmed paypal address and get your FVF back.

 

[sash1]

Send him a brick insured for $<value of whatever you sold here> and hope he pays.

In fact, I'll do it for you since you were nice enough to post his address in this thread.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Have you asked him to confirm his information? Confirming with a bank account is very fast and easy with PayPal, takes maybe just a few minutes at most.

 

[KarenMarie]

How muc final value fee are we talking about here?

if it is only a few $$$ just eat it and move on... save yourself the aggravation.

 

[jpeyton]

Lots of n00bish eBay/scam threads floating around OT lately.

1) Set your PayPal account to only accept payments from domestic buyers who have 'Confirmed' addresses. I might stretch the rules once in a while for Canadian buyers, but typically not.
2) Clearly state in your auction that customers paying with PayPal must provide a 'Confirmed' address for payment.

Instead, you know have one angry buyer (who still may leave you negative feedback), you're out the time spent on your original listing, you can't recover any listing upgrade fees, and you'll have to relist your item.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Why did you post his address? Couldn't you have just said 'blah blah' in Algonquin?

Accident. Edited. But chambersc quoted me

Originally posted by: Compudork
Word of advice: If you have any special conditions from buyers - state it right in your auction listing. It sounds like this was a fishy situation, but I know people who only buy with paypal, and don't attach a bank account and hence have uncofirmed addresses. If it were a legit buyer like that, your response would cause a lot of frustration on their end.

So, better safe than sorry, point your terms out in your auction beforehand. Then in situations like this, you can tell them "YOU broke the terms of my auction, please go back and look at the page, enjoy your refund".

I'm stating such information from now on. Thanks.

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Have you asked him to confirm his information? Confirming with a bank account is very fast and easy with PayPal, takes maybe just a few minutes at most.

I have certainly said that he needs to confirm his address if he wants me to ship to him. Instead, he just basically says "ok ok ok you can ship to this other address" (which isn't even in the paypal system, let alone verified...) It's like he's avoiding my request and hoping I'll fall for something.

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
How muc final value fee are we talking about here?

if it is only a few $$$ just eat it and move on... save yourself the aggravation.

It was about $10. Not too much, but frustrating nonetheless. I always hate it when people with zero feedback bid on my stuff. I've had to do this whole process three times already, all with people with zero feedback who never end up replying to my emails...

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Lots of n00bish eBay/scam threads floating around OT lately.

1) Set your PayPal account to only accept payments from domestic buyers who have 'Confirmed' addresses. I might stretch the rules once in a while for Canadian buyers, but typically not.
2) Clearly state in your auction that customers paying with PayPal must provide a 'Confirmed' address for payment.

Instead, you know have one angry buyer (who still may leave you negative feedback), you're out the time spent on your original listing, you can't recover any listing upgrade fees, and you'll have to relist your item.

1. I just did that. Thanks. I didn't even know that there was such an option. Definitely gives me greater piece of mind.

2. Done so just now.

The buyer and I have actually already exchanged positive feedback, so at least that's over with. The buyer has been blocked from bidding in any of my future listings.

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Why did you post his address? Couldn't you have just said 'blah blah' in Algonquin?

Accident. Edited. But chambersc quoted me

Sorry but I don't believe that for a second. Why? Because I saw you posting around here at the same time and you had plenty of time to edit that before it was quoted. I actually pay attention to times when people are logged in.

You were sloppy here just like you were with this auction listing on eBay.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Why did you post his address? Couldn't you have just said 'blah blah' in Algonquin?

Accident. Edited. But chambersc quoted me

Sorry but I don't believe that for a second. Why? Because I saw you posting around here at the same time and you had plenty of time to edit that before it was quoted. I actually pay attention to times when people are logged in.

You were sloppy here just like you were with this auction listing on eBay.

What? It was an honest mistake. I edited out the names and I completely forgot that the guy had put his address in there. It wasn't in standard address form either. All I did was glance quickly at the post, thought that it was fine, and left it at that. Just because I posted in other threads afterwards doesn't mean that I'm constantly checking back on this thread...

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Why did you post his address? Couldn't you have just said 'blah blah' in Algonquin?

Accident. Edited. But chambersc quoted me

Sorry but I don't believe that for a second. Why? Because I saw you posting around here at the same time and you had plenty of time to edit that before it was quoted. I actually pay attention to times when people are logged in.

You were sloppy here just like you were with this auction listing on eBay.

What? It was an honest mistake. I edited out the names and I completely forgot that the guy had put his address in there. It wasn't in standard address form either. All I did was glance quickly at the post, thought that it was fine, and left it at that. Just because I posted in other threads afterwards doesn't mean that I'm constantly checking back on this thread...

Whatever you say. But I've never known somebody to post a thread like this asking for others' opinions and not checking on that thread that they posted for 5+ hours previously yet they still post in other newer threads.

But maybe you're different.

ETA - You know you can ask a mod to pull the address out of your threads and out of quotes in this circumstance right?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Why did you post his address? Couldn't you have just said 'blah blah' in Algonquin?

Accident. Edited. But chambersc quoted me

Sorry but I don't believe that for a second. Why? Because I saw you posting around here at the same time and you had plenty of time to edit that before it was quoted. I actually pay attention to times when people are logged in.

You were sloppy here just like you were with this auction listing on eBay.

What? It was an honest mistake. I edited out the names and I completely forgot that the guy had put his address in there. It wasn't in standard address form either. All I did was glance quickly at the post, thought that it was fine, and left it at that. Just because I posted in other threads afterwards doesn't mean that I'm constantly checking back on this thread...

Whatever you say. But I've never known somebody to post a thread like this asking for others' opinions and not checking on that thread that they posted for 5+ hours previously yet they still post in other newer threads.

But maybe you're different.

ETA - You know you can ask a mod to pull the address out of your threads and out of quotes in this circumstance right?

I was gone from 7:30 to just about 11:30 because I was over at a friend's house playing D&D and watching anime. The last time I checked in the thread was at 11:30 when I just got back. You're welcome to believe what you want to believe but it really was an honest mistake. I'm going to go PM a mod now.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Whatever you say. But I've never known somebody to post a thread like this asking for others' opinions and not checking on that thread that they posted for 5+ hours previously yet they still post in other newer threads.

But maybe you're different.

ETA - You know you can ask a mod to pull the address out of your threads and out of quotes in this circumstance right?

Wait.... I'm really confused now. The message that I posted with the address was posted at 7:18PM, and you say that I was posting in other threads after that? Which ones? I bet you can't find any because by that time I was on the road to my friend's...

 

[chambersc]

To be fair OP, I would have edited out the address. I just wanted to have a little fun at your expense. I'll re-edit my post and I hope all goes well for you.