school a newbie sil vous plait...

prof_rockwell

OK, so I have made my first foray into selling off my doubles on eBay (thanks Microwave!), and I had two guys bid on records 'just to cover the shipping costs', one of which now wants to retract his winning bid because he didn't win the record he wanted. Sooo, what's the protocol on this? Is this common practice of bidding on something you don't want just to 'make up for shipping costs'? I'm not sure if I should be Nice Guy and cancel the winning bid (the runner up did not want to take a 2nd chance offer), or play it by the rules and be "well, you shouldn't have bid on it if you didn't want it, sorry dude". Or offer to lower the shipping?Is this an indication that I am charging too much for shipping? (personally I don't think so when you factor in time taken to take photos, grade the vinyl/cover, time to post the item, cost of shipping materials, and time to pack and take them to the post office).

pcmr

Sooo, what's the protocol on this? Is this common practice of bidding on something you don't want just to 'make up for shipping costs'? I'm not sure if I should be Nice Guy and cancel the winning bid (the runner up did not want to take a 2nd chance offer), or play it by the rules and be "well, you shouldn't have bid on it if you didn't want it, sorry dude". Or offer to lower the shipping?

dont lower the shipping he just meant to maximise his order by gettingmore records shipped at once. you bid and win you pay. thats it. i dont want this album GTFOHWTB

spelunk

The guy's excuse is BS. Tell him he must pay. You laid out your terms, and he bid, there were no provisions for his excuse. What are you charging for US shipping?

prof_rockwell

The guy's excuse is BS. Tell him he must pay. You laid out your terms, and he bid, there were no provisions for his excuse. What are you charging for US shipping?

$6, but this guy is in Japan.

JustAlice

Damn in my experience the japanese are usually very pleasant to deal with. You bid you buy, his excuse is poor.

We keep getting overseas dudes who buy stuff and then ask how much surface costs. Our listings clearly state that we do not ship surface and we always tell them the same thing...no.

I think it was Johnny Paycheck who told me if you have a policy stick to it. If you go against your own policy and something goes wrong you have no one to blame but yourself. Anyways, if he doesnt end up paying for it make sure you file a unpaid claim to get some of your fees back.

parsec

The guy's excuse is BS. Tell him he must pay. You laid out your terms, and he bid, there were no provisions for his excuse. What are you charging for US shipping?

$6, but this guy is in Japan.

Tell him you'll ship his record surface mail for $7 and he can enjoy his record in 6 weeks the cheap bastard

CinisterCee

well you weren't selling the records together, they were separate auctions, so fuck 'im, he's in a contract now.

sounds like a cheapskate that isn't appreciating the "handling" part of "shipping/handling". In business, repeat business from a cheapskate is hardly a priority.

i say you make him pay for it and send him a bomb.

prof_rockwell

Thanks for the op-eds folks. While it is a bummer what he did, he was very polite about asking me and sent an email as soon as the auction ended, but I am gonna stick with my guns and ask him to honor his winning bid.

Controller_7

as ebay states it, it's a legal contract. When you bid on something you enter your amount and then you get that second page that basically says "are you sure you are willing to pay up to XX amount? You will be legal bound to pay for it if you win."

I sold about 25 records this past week and I've encountered some of the biggest turds ever. Ebay is very simple and easy to understand, but some of the winning bidders are emailing me the most annoying things. Not to mention some guy in France who keeps offering me money for a record he lost. Offering less than the winning bid too.

He's gotta pay. Unless he agrees to cover your listing fees and final value fee.