I'm sticking to my guns on this one...
My husband recently bid on a ceiling fan on eBay, using my account. The auction was a week long and there was no reserve price on the item--the starting bid was $20. The auction was won at $50 (he REALLY wanted that fan) and the listed shipping was for a little over $5. I thought the shipping seemed low, but I wasn't going to argue, since it was a great deal, and I thought maybe it was being shipped at the slowest, lowest price. Whatever, it was my husband's bid. I got the email saying I'd won the auction and promptly paid via Paypal.
A few hours later, I went through the following series of exchanges with the seller:
Seller: There seems to have been an error made in the listing, I remember listing this item as a twenty pound weight, but some how it was listed as five pounds and the freight is over twenty five dollars. If you send me an additional ten dollars, I will pay for the remainder of the freight. I apologize for this error, again I don't know how it happened. Marc
- gardendesires
My response: I find this unacceptable. The reason I bothered to bid on something so far away from me was because of the low shipping cost, and would not have bid as much as I did if I had know there would be an additional ten dollar charge. I feel it is your responsibility to honor the auction as listed.
Seller: I understand what you are saying about the shipping costs, but it was not my intention to deceive anyone, but I am not asking you to pay for the entire shipping costs, if you wish to withdraw your offer you may. It is still a good buy for an additional ten dollars. think about it.
My response: Whether your intention was to deceive anyone or not, your auction ran for a standard amount of time--plenty of time for you to have realized the mistake in the listing. If I had won the auction for a smaller amount, you wouldn't have said, "Hey, that's not as much as I was hoping for, could you please pay more?" The error is yours here, and it's the cost of doing business if you make a mistake to honor what you sold it for. I want the item as I purchased it, for the amount I paid for it. If this is not satisfactory, we can go through the eBay mediation process and let them decide which of us is responsible.
Seller: Any reasonably minded person would have thought twice about the freight amount and considered an error. I am not profiting from the freight, it is what it is.
I pause in this log to not that I am now PISSED. He's saying that I'm not a reasonably minded person, and I'm on live chat support with eBay, trying to find out what I should do about this situation. This is where I start getting bitchy, and my next response is what the guy on eBay's chat told me I could do.
My response: Yes. It is what it is--an error on your part that you should correct at your own expense, not mine.
I've checked your other auctions, and the listed shipping is approximately between twelve and fifteen dollars. I have already paid more than five and you want ten more? I will wait until July 2nd, and if I have not received the item by then (the earliest time I can submit a claim for an item not received), I will report you to eBay's Trust and Safety Team to have you checked out and request further action.
Seller: Transaction canceled and money refunded.
I will interject here to say that I never asked for this action to be taken, and begin to wonder if the reason he has such pristine feedback is because he bullies unhappy customers into cancelling their auctions so that they can't leave negative feedback. I got a notice from eBay saying that the seller had petitioned to cancel the auction and that I needed to reply and agree to this. I declined the agreement to cancel. At this point I am feeling defrauded and bullied by the seller. He did indeed return my money via Paypal, but I am beyond pissed, now. Here's where he shows his true colors:
Seller: Amy, you are a very bitter person and I pity your family. Ebay members are not a corporation or sole-less entities, they are individuals who are trying to earn an honest wage, and yes they do make honest mistakes sometimes. I hope you can live with yourself, or better yet, I hope some one can live with you.
My response: Expecting to get what I paid for (and what was advertised) is not a bad or unreasonable expectation. A person who can not correct their mistakes without name calling and unfair selling practices has little room to judge others.
I have been a seller on eBay in the past, and have made similar mistakes in calculating shipping, but I ALWAYS honored what was promised in the auction, even if it meant that I mad no money on the sale item. Saying I "should have known" the shipping was incorrect is a cop-out; YOU should have known it, as it was YOUR responsibility as a seller to check something like that before posting the auction. That auction was a normal length, giving you plenty of time to realize the error and take measures to correct it. Since the item I purchased could easily have sold for twenty dollars or more LESS than the final bid, you were already taking the risk of not making as much as you did. It appears that you are simply an unethical seller who is not interested in honoring your commitments. You say that the sellers are not soul-less, but your barbed comments and insults belie that claim. I refused the cancellation of the sale on principle and intend to do what I can (however little) to make sure that you are not able to treat other buyers this way. If I allow that cancellation, I don't know if I would give up my rights to leave appropriate feedback or pursue an investigation in this matter.
Maybe I do seem bitter (angry and frustrated are more apt), but that does not excuse your own behavior in this matter. If you change your mind about honoring your commitment, I will gladly resend the money and accept the item. If you decide to continue with the name calling and rude commentary, I'll go ahead with reporting your behavior (and sending copies of our exchanges) to the proper eBay complaint handlers.
Now, I just sent this a short while ago, so he will probably continue to be an ass, but I might get lucky and have him give up on the correspondence. I don't expect to get the item at this point, but I will at least have my say. I don't think I am the one in the wrong here. What do you think?
A few hours later, I went through the following series of exchanges with the seller:
Seller: There seems to have been an error made in the listing, I remember listing this item as a twenty pound weight, but some how it was listed as five pounds and the freight is over twenty five dollars. If you send me an additional ten dollars, I will pay for the remainder of the freight. I apologize for this error, again I don't know how it happened. Marc
- gardendesires
My response: I find this unacceptable. The reason I bothered to bid on something so far away from me was because of the low shipping cost, and would not have bid as much as I did if I had know there would be an additional ten dollar charge. I feel it is your responsibility to honor the auction as listed.
Seller: I understand what you are saying about the shipping costs, but it was not my intention to deceive anyone, but I am not asking you to pay for the entire shipping costs, if you wish to withdraw your offer you may. It is still a good buy for an additional ten dollars. think about it.
My response: Whether your intention was to deceive anyone or not, your auction ran for a standard amount of time--plenty of time for you to have realized the mistake in the listing. If I had won the auction for a smaller amount, you wouldn't have said, "Hey, that's not as much as I was hoping for, could you please pay more?" The error is yours here, and it's the cost of doing business if you make a mistake to honor what you sold it for. I want the item as I purchased it, for the amount I paid for it. If this is not satisfactory, we can go through the eBay mediation process and let them decide which of us is responsible.
Seller: Any reasonably minded person would have thought twice about the freight amount and considered an error. I am not profiting from the freight, it is what it is.
I pause in this log to not that I am now PISSED. He's saying that I'm not a reasonably minded person, and I'm on live chat support with eBay, trying to find out what I should do about this situation. This is where I start getting bitchy, and my next response is what the guy on eBay's chat told me I could do.
My response: Yes. It is what it is--an error on your part that you should correct at your own expense, not mine.
I've checked your other auctions, and the listed shipping is approximately between twelve and fifteen dollars. I have already paid more than five and you want ten more? I will wait until July 2nd, and if I have not received the item by then (the earliest time I can submit a claim for an item not received), I will report you to eBay's Trust and Safety Team to have you checked out and request further action.
Seller: Transaction canceled and money refunded.
I will interject here to say that I never asked for this action to be taken, and begin to wonder if the reason he has such pristine feedback is because he bullies unhappy customers into cancelling their auctions so that they can't leave negative feedback. I got a notice from eBay saying that the seller had petitioned to cancel the auction and that I needed to reply and agree to this. I declined the agreement to cancel. At this point I am feeling defrauded and bullied by the seller. He did indeed return my money via Paypal, but I am beyond pissed, now. Here's where he shows his true colors:
Seller: Amy, you are a very bitter person and I pity your family. Ebay members are not a corporation or sole-less entities, they are individuals who are trying to earn an honest wage, and yes they do make honest mistakes sometimes. I hope you can live with yourself, or better yet, I hope some one can live with you.
My response: Expecting to get what I paid for (and what was advertised) is not a bad or unreasonable expectation. A person who can not correct their mistakes without name calling and unfair selling practices has little room to judge others.
I have been a seller on eBay in the past, and have made similar mistakes in calculating shipping, but I ALWAYS honored what was promised in the auction, even if it meant that I mad no money on the sale item. Saying I "should have known" the shipping was incorrect is a cop-out; YOU should have known it, as it was YOUR responsibility as a seller to check something like that before posting the auction. That auction was a normal length, giving you plenty of time to realize the error and take measures to correct it. Since the item I purchased could easily have sold for twenty dollars or more LESS than the final bid, you were already taking the risk of not making as much as you did. It appears that you are simply an unethical seller who is not interested in honoring your commitments. You say that the sellers are not soul-less, but your barbed comments and insults belie that claim. I refused the cancellation of the sale on principle and intend to do what I can (however little) to make sure that you are not able to treat other buyers this way. If I allow that cancellation, I don't know if I would give up my rights to leave appropriate feedback or pursue an investigation in this matter.
Maybe I do seem bitter (angry and frustrated are more apt), but that does not excuse your own behavior in this matter. If you change your mind about honoring your commitment, I will gladly resend the money and accept the item. If you decide to continue with the name calling and rude commentary, I'll go ahead with reporting your behavior (and sending copies of our exchanges) to the proper eBay complaint handlers.
Now, I just sent this a short while ago, so he will probably continue to be an ass, but I might get lucky and have him give up on the correspondence. I don't expect to get the item at this point, but I will at least have my say. I don't think I am the one in the wrong here. What do you think?