Hello surplusdealdude. You answered a previous qu of mine. My total experience on ebay is as a buyer. I became a seller when I decided to use ebay as an Internet moving sale. I have to say, this is interesting. I have had sellers cancel transactions on me after I paid for an item, and ebay did absolutely nothing about it.
I happened to mention post sale to a seller that Portmeirion, which I collect, hadn't produced enamelware in over a decade (she had listed some enamelware pieces, which I won at auction as brand new). I really was just being chatty and helpful. I knew what I was buying and didn't care how she listed it. Well, she decided that I was going to be a problem, so she cancelled the transaction and refused to give me my pans. I begged her, too. Nope.
Another time, I won some 15 separate bolts of yardage and we combined shipping for it. 15 separate auctions. Well, when I got the box, I discovered that she had made a substitution without asking me. I let that go. But then I discovered that one of the items wasn't in the shipment. She made me return all 15 (14) items for a full refund. I said "You can't make me do that: I own these things. This was 15 different auctions that I sat there and won." She insisted that this was one transaction and she would not issue a partial refund. All or nothing. So, I sent all of it back and ate a $40 UPS charge, too. Ebay did nothing.
I have been reading in the forum and learning from what people say. One person told another who had a hideous buyer that she should have cancelled his bid and blocked him before he won the item. I was kinda operating out of this attitude. My buyer didn't pay. I had other buyers that I didn't want to lose. I wrote to my first buyer, and very politely explained why I deeded to ask if she still wnted this item. Her response was sarcastic . . . and, she didn't pay. Two more days went by, and I thought "Problem buyer. Get rid of her."
Now, I am not arguing with you, as you clearly know what you are doing and I don't. Oh, and I see you are a "Regular Advisor." I don't want to do things wrong, and I don't want to be unfair to anyone. I just didn't want a problem buyer, someone who had already been snarky to me, on my hands. I just wanted her to pay so I could mail the item out and close the loop on the transaction. Oh, I forgot to mention: she's been on ebay 3 years and has bought 8 items total and weird **bleep**, too. Nothing as nice or costly as what I was selling. So anyway: if the second person I offered it to has paid already, now what do I do? I already promised it to her and told the other woman the item was no longer available for sale. But, I've got the first buyer's money sitting in my PayPal account as pending, so I can't get at it. To issue a refund to the first buyer, I'd have to use my own bank funds. That's what it says when I click refund. That's scary, as that is my money not hers.
I made a real hash of this didn't I? I didn't mean to. I thought I was solving a problem, but I just made it worse. What do you think? Tell me more. Thanks, really, very much. I'm Valerie.
