EBay for Dummies (53 page)

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Shipping Directly from PayPal

I consider PayPal shipping to be required for all beginning eBay sellers. By using PayPal, a seller can streamline the buyer’s shopping experience, making it simple to buy, click, and pay. Those out in the eBay world who haven’t used PayPal find the service to be a life-changing experience. Because you don’t need to use additional software or sign up with an additional service, shipping with PayPal is a convenient system for those who don’t have to ship many packages each week.

When you’re ready to deal with shipping, you simply sign on to your PayPal account and handle it right on the site. You can also click the Print Label link from the item’s page to start the process. There’s no charge for the service and you have a choice of U.S Postal Service or UPS (sorry, no FedEx Ground).

As of this date, PayPal will not print postage for First Class Mail International; it prints postage only for the far more expensive Priority or Express. If you plan on doing business overseas (like I do), be competitive with your shipping costs. It will bring you more business from savvy international buyers.

Chapter 13

Troubleshooting Transactions

In This Chapter

Dealing with a difficult buyer

Handling other auction mishaps

Ending an auction early

Canceling an auction after it ends

Getting refunds from eBay

Relisting an item

There’s no getting around it: The more transactions you conduct on eBay, the more chances you have of facing some potential pitfalls. In this chapter, I give you pointers on how to handle an obnoxious or difficult buyer as if he or she is your new best friend (for a little while anyway). In addition, I explain how to keep an honest misunderstanding from blowing up into a vitriolic e-mail war. You find out how to handle a sale that’s (shall I say) on a road to nowhere, how to get some attention, and if it all goes sour, how to sell to the next highest bidder legally and relist the item, and get back the final value fee you paid eBay. There’s no way that all of what I mention here will happen to you, but the more you know, the better prepared you’ll be.

Dealing with a Buyer Who Doesn’t Respond

Most of the time, the post-auction transaction between buyers and sellers goes smoothly. However, if you have difficulty communicating with the winner of your auction or fixed-price sale, you should know the best way to handle the situation.

You’ve come to the right place if you want help dealing with potential nonpaying buyers (more commonly known as
deadbeat bidders,
which is how I refer to them). Of course, you should start with good initial post-auction communication; see Chapter 12 for details. (For more information on how to deal with a fraudulent seller, see Chapter 16.)

Going into nudge mode

Despite my best efforts, sometimes things fall through the cracks. Buyers should pay for the item without delay through PayPal or at least pay within three business days of the close of the sale. Sometimes winners contact sellers immediately, and some use Checkout and pay for the item immediately, which saves you any hassle. However, if you don’t hear from the buyer within three business days of your initial contact, my advice is
don’t panic.

People are busy; they travel, they get sick, their computer crashes, or sometimes your item simply slips the winner’s mind. After four days of no communication, you can go to your My eBay page and send a payment reminder message. You find the Contact Buyer link on the item’s listing on the My eBay Sold page, as shown in Figure 13-1.

If a few more days pass and you still haven’t heard from the winner, you need to get into big-time
nudge-nudge mode
— as in, “Mr. X, remember me and your obligation to buy the Tiffany lamp you purchased on eBay last week?”

Send a polite-but-firm message letting Mr. X know that when he bid and won your auction, he became obligated to pay and complete the transaction. If Mr. X doesn’t intend to buy your item for any reason, he needs to let you know immediately.

Don’t threaten your buyer. The last thing you want to do is add insult to injury in case the buyer is facing a real problem. Besides, if the high bidder goes to sleep with the fishes, you’ll
never
see your money.

Here’s what to include in your nudge-nudge e-mail:

A gentle admonishment, such as, “Perhaps this slipped your mind,” or “You may have missed my e-mail to you,” or “I’m sure you didn’t mean to ignore my first e-mail.”

A gentle reminder that eBay’s policy is that every bid is a binding contract. You can even refer the buyer to eBay’s rules and regulations if you want.

A statement that firmly (but gently) explains that, so far, you’ve held up your side of the deal and you’d appreciate it if he did the same.

A date by which you expect to see payment. Gently explain that if the deadline isn’t met, you’ll have no other choice but to consider the deal invalid.

Technically, you can nullify the transaction if you don’t hear from a buyer within three business days. However, eBay members are a forgiving bunch under the right circumstances. I think you should give your buyer a one-week grace period after the listing ends to get in touch with you and set up a payment plan. If, at the end of the grace period, you don’t see any real progress toward closing the deal, say goodnight, Gracie. Consider the deal kaput and go directly to the section “Auction Going Badly? Cut Your Losses” (later in this chapter) to find out what recourse you have.

Do a little sleuthing

I’d like to say that history repeats itself, but that would be a cliché. (All right, you caught me, but clichés are memorable because they’re so often true.) After you send your polite and gentle nudge-nudge e-mail, but before you decide that the transaction is a lost cause, take a look at the bidder’s feedback history. Figure 13-2 shows you what feedback looks like; all this feedback is positive. It’s tough (but possible) to be this perfect.

To check a bidder’s feedback (starting at your item page), do the following:

1. Click the number in parentheses next to your winner’s user ID.

This action takes you to the member’s feedback profile page.

2. Scroll down the feedback profile page and read the comments.

Check to see if the bidder has received negative feedback from previous sellers. Make a note of it in case you need some support and background information (should you be chastised at a later date for blocking an unwanted bid).

3. Conduct a Bidder search.

Click Advanced Search and do an Items by Bidder search to see the buyer’s conduct in previous transactions. How many items has the buyer won? Click the item number to see the history of the auction. For more info on Bidder searches, check out Chapter 5.

If you’ve had a bad experience with a deadbeat buyer and you don’t want that person to be able to bid or buy your items in the future, you can set up a bidder block for his or her user ID. If bidders are blocked by you, they can’t bid; eBay tells them they have to contact you by e-mail before their bids will be accepted. You can add or delete bidders from your list at any time. eBay has managed to make the page very hard to find; you must go through the Help area or directly to the Buyer/Bidder Management area at
pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html
.

When all else fails, you may want to double-check with some of the bidder’s previous sellers. It’s okay to use eBay’s Contact Member system to contact previous sellers who’ve dealt with the bidder. They’re often happy to give you details on how well (or badly) the transaction went.

If the buyer’s feedback profile provides any indication that the buyer has gone AWOL in the past, start thinking about getting out of the transaction before too much time passes. If the buyer looks to be on the level, continue to give him or her the benefit of the doubt.

Be sure to ask previous sellers that dealt with the bidder the following questions (politely):

Did the buyer pay on time?

Did his or her check clear? (It could have been an eCheck)

Did he or she communicate well?

When e-mailing a third party about any negative feedback he or she has left, choose your words carefully. There’s no guarantee that if you trash the bidder, the third party will keep your e-mail private. Make sure that you stick to the facts. Writing false or malicious statements can put you in danger of being sued.