Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

[Fueco]

Tell him to find some sage growing along the coast and compare the color directly.

 

[MMiUSA]

When my house got hit by a tornado earlier this year, and damaged by a hurricane, I lost some inventory (and also literally lost) some inventory. I deleted few scheduled listings that I needed to confirm were ok. eBay somehow listed those listings anyway, and did so at the recommended pricing (not the price I had set) and a few listings went up. One was for an expensive book.
It sold literally immediately. I cancelled and contacted the buyer that my house had been damaged by a hurricane and the inventory may or may not be ok. The end.

Until over a month later he left me negative feedback.

I know he can do that, but are there any seasoned pros here who know if it's possible to get that removed? Really sucks for a small seller like me who depends on this and another job to survive, all while legit having my house repaired and losing my house insurance over the natural disasters that occurred. Yay.

 

[Fueco]

When my house got hit by a tornado earlier this year, and damaged by a hurricane, I lost some inventory (and also literally lost) some inventory. I deleted few scheduled listings that I needed to confirm were ok. eBay somehow listed those listings anyway, and did so at the recommended pricing (not the price I had set) and a few listings went up. One was for an expensive book.
It sold literally immediately. I cancelled and contacted the buyer that my house had been damaged by a hurricane and the inventory may or may not be ok. The end.

Until over a month later he left me negative feedback.

I know he can do that, but are there any seasoned pros here who know if it's possible to get that removed? Really sucks for a small seller like me who depends on this and another job to survive, all while legit having my house repaired and losing my house insurance over the natural disasters that occurred. Yay.

I’d try contacting eBay. This seems a ****** reason to get negative feedback.

 

[Sartoriamo]

When my house got hit by a tornado earlier this year, and damaged by a hurricane, I lost some inventory (and also literally lost) some inventory. I deleted few scheduled listings that I needed to confirm were ok. eBay somehow listed those listings anyway, and did so at the recommended pricing (not the price I had set) and a few listings went up. One was for an expensive book.
It sold literally immediately. I cancelled and contacted the buyer that my house had been damaged by a hurricane and the inventory may or may not be ok. The end.

Until over a month later he left me negative feedback.

I know he can do that, but are there any seasoned pros here who know if it's possible to get that removed? Really sucks for a small seller like me who depends on this and another job to survive, all while legit having my house repaired and losing my house insurance over the natural disasters that occurred. Yay.

There's quite a bit to unpack here. Couple things: first, despite my being just shy of 27 years of selling on eBay, I'm not sure how a listing could have gone up "by itself" at a price you didn't set. This is puzzling. I do schedule a lot of listings, especially for auctions (using Auctiva, because it does it as part of the service, without an additional fee), but anything I schedule is something I will have completed, including setting the pricing, before it goes in the schedule queue. I have no idea how eBay could somehow override a price you had set. Anyway, without trying to interrogate that further, the point is: if it went up in your name, you're on the hook for it. If you missed a key step, like confirming or correcting a sell price, it's still on you.

If something is my error, and despite the pain and expense it may cause, I routinely "eat" that expense. I mean, unless it was like a thousand-dollar book that he bought for $10. I might try to wriggle out of that. But if under a hundred or two, not worth the consequences. Really. Sure, that buyer was fist-pumping at getting a steal deal, but if it went up at that price under your eBay handle, then you own it. Simple as that. Ya gotta eat it, painful as it is. IMHO, you should have sent him the book with gritted teeth, knowing it was the price of learning that lesson. We have all had many such experiences, always at a cost, and it seems like, when we can least accommodate it. High-$$ returns in particular can be terrifying when we already used that money for rent. That's happened to me more times than I can count. As in your situation, that's what this emoji is for:

We all learn early on that "hell hath no fury like a steal-dealer scorned", and this is a good example of that. You didn't provide the buyer with any evidence that his item had been compromised (and I'm guessing it actually wasn't), so he had every right to be pi$$ed. And if a month went by before he posted negative FB, was it when he saw "his" item get posted again at a much higher price? Or did he just stew on it for that long? Neither is something you want to invoke as part of your eBay "karma".

Hey, I'm with you on the challenge of trying to survive doing eBay, so I have sympathy for that part of it. It's never worked for me except as part time, largely because the dollars are too irregular. Sure, I've sold over a million bucks since I started, but some years $100K, others $20K, so it's not reliable in terms of paying bills, and I need other maintain other income to survive. I hear where you're coming from and I get it.

At the very least, it would have made more sense to engage in a conversation with the buyer and try to secure his assent to cancel (which also helps you with your service metrics by avoiding an "out of stock" ding), rather than forcing it on him unilaterally, which is what provoked the reaction. You might be surprised how gracious buyers can be when you level with them.

I know this was not what you wanted to hear, and sure, you should keep calling, as @Fueco suggested, until you find a sympathetic onshore rep (almost impossible these days), but since you were the locus of control on this glitch (despite the hurricane), it may be a hard ask. Still worth a shot.

You could also try to go in and work a deal on the book with the original buyer (if he still wants it), blaming the tornado/hurricane for you being freaked out and acting precipitately, and negotiating FB revision as part of consummating the deal (if you still have the book).

Sure, we all tell little white lies in this business to grease the skids of commerce (I, for one, have imaginary assistants and consignors to blame for the occasional glitch, as blame-shifting is helpful when a buyer comes in hot), but it seems to me that this was a preventable error that's your responsibility, and that's where it ends. Next time, send the book. Oh, and please post here for proposed solutions BEFORE you take an action that can come back and bite you. We're here to help!

 

[Sartoriamo]

Oh, and while I'm posting on this thread, it's time for all eBay store owners to take advantage of getting their free/subsidized shipping supplies for the quarter . . .

Doing mine right now, after posting the same PSA last quarter and then forgetting . . .

 

[Fueco]

Oh, and while I'm posting on this thread, it's time for all eBay store owners to take advantage of getting their free/subsidized shipping supplies for the quarter . . .

Doing mine right now, after posting the same PSA last quarter and then forgetting . . .

I’ve had that page open in a browser window for a month.

 

[MMiUSA]

There's quite a bit to unpack here. Couple things: first, despite my being just shy of 27 years of selling on eBay, I'm not sure how a listing could have gone up "by itself" at a price you didn't set. This is puzzling. I do schedule a lot of listings, especially for auctions (using Auctiva, because it does it as part of the service, without an additional fee), but anything I schedule is something I will have completed, including setting the pricing, before it goes in the schedule queue. I have no idea how eBay could somehow override a price you had set. Anyway, without trying to interrogate that further, the point is: if it went up in your name, you're on the hook for it. If you missed a key step, like confirming or correcting a sell price, it's still on you.

If something is my error, and despite the pain and expense it may cause, I routinely "eat" that expense. I mean, unless it was like a thousand-dollar book that he bought for $10. I might try to wriggle out of that. But if under a hundred or two, not worth the consequences. Really. Sure, that buyer was fist-pumping at getting a steal deal, but if it went up at that price under your eBay handle, then you own it. Simple as that. Ya gotta eat it, painful as it is. IMHO, you should have sent him the book with gritted teeth, knowing it was the price of learning that lesson. We have all had many such experiences, always at a cost, and it seems like, when we can least accommodate it. High-$$ returns in particular can be terrifying when we already used that money for rent. That's happened to me more times than I can count. As in your situation, that's what this emoji is for:

We all learn early on that "hell hath no fury like a steal-dealer scorned", and this is a good example of that. You didn't provide the buyer with any evidence that his item had been compromised (and I'm guessing it actually wasn't), so he had every right to be pi$$ed. And if a month went by before he posted negative FB, was it when he saw "his" item get posted again at a much higher price? Or did he just stew on it for that long? Neither is something you want to invoke as part of your eBay "karma".

Hey, I'm with you on the challenge of trying to survive doing eBay, so I have sympathy for that part of it. It's never worked for me except as part time, largely because the dollars are too irregular. Sure, I've sold over a million bucks since I started, but some years $100K, others $20K, so it's not reliable in terms of paying bills, and I need other maintain other income to survive. I hear where you're coming from and I get it.

At the very least, it would have made more sense to engage in a conversation with the buyer and try to secure his assent to cancel (which also helps you with your service metrics by avoiding an "out of stock" ding), rather than forcing it on him unilaterally, which is what provoked the reaction. You might be surprised how gracious buyers can be when you level with them.

I know this was not what you wanted to hear, and sure, you should keep calling, as @Fueco suggested, until you find a sympathetic onshore rep (almost impossible these days), but since you were the locus of control on this glitch (despite the hurricane), it may be a hard ask. Still worth a shot.

You could also try to go in and work a deal on the book with the original buyer (if he still wants it), blaming the tornado/hurricane for you being freaked out and acting precipitately, and negotiating FB revision as part of consummating the deal (if you still have the book).

Sure, we all tell little white lies in this business to grease the skids of commerce (I, for one, have imaginary assistants and consignors to blame for the occasional glitch, as blame-shifting is helpful when a buyer comes in hot), but it seems to me that this was a preventable error that's your responsibility, and that's where it ends. Next time, send the book. Oh, and please post here for proposed solutions BEFORE you take an action that can come back and bite you. We're here to help!

Sorry for the delay in response.
To respond to your inquiries:
It has happened to me twice in recent months for the first time since I have began selling ~13 years ago. I don't know what causes it, but I have scheduled listings, and I had to remove some from the tornado damage + hurricane damage. I genuinely couldn't get to my inventory, so naturally I had to remove some / delay some. Of these, most were removed as per expected, but a few of them actually ended up listing and it went up at, what I assume, was the eBay suggested pricing. I caught the other one, because I had a watcher instantly and realized the price was effed up (it was an Allen Edmond shoe). The book however slipped through. I don't know how to replicate it or prove it, but yes - after 13 years, this is only a recent problem and I am not sure what causes it. It is legit though, IDK why I would have a reason to lie here on SF - you guys are the reason I do this and I adore being here. I have made mistakes for sure, but this is definitely not one (or at least, not one I know how to replicate / prove or how I did it in the first place especially when I put a blanket remove listing on pretty much everything that I knew I couldn't get to using the select all box, and what I didn't I delayed purely because - well, house exploded partially). Like I said this issue with the listing going up not priced properly and after I rescheduled or cancelled has happened twice to me this year for the first time ever.

The item did not end up being compromised. The issue is I had no access to it at the time and wasn't sure of the condition being that the roof was ripped off. I usually swallow costs too, this had nothing to do with that - there was literally no way I could access the inventory.

I didn't include this is the former post (at least not clearly), but I did communicate with the buyer. I told him the entire ordeal, I also told him I would try to remember to contact him when I found it. I guess he took that to heart, but obviously by the time I found it, I had forgotten. A lot going on in life (obviously) and it just wasn't on my mind.
I haven't contacted eBay and IDK if I plan to or not. It just sucks, my reputation is pretty stellar and I have always done everything I can for a buyer - but this one just hit the wrong way. If I never told the dude about the original ordeal, which short of sending photos of my house and storage being exploded from the tornado and then later flooded by a hurricane (lol right - buried my mother, my grandmother, had to put down an animal, got hit by a tornado and hurricane all in the last 16 months - but hey, I was on the news for the tornado at least!) I don't know how I can prove it (you can look at my post history and see when I talked about it in the thrifting thread originally in April), it just sucks.

Is what it is, I guess.

I am not telling any white lies here, truly, haha. I know every story has 2 sides, but that is legit the entire thing. I no longer have the book, and frankly I wouldn't work out a deal with them now anyway. Had he messaged me privately I would have absolutely made it right. He didn't. Even after I sent profuse apologies form the original cancellation.

Thanks for the response, I respect the heck out of you!

 

[eddyroxx]

Any suggestions when listing pants that measure a different size than tagged?
Which figures do you input in the item details?

 

[goatamous II]

I put the tagged size in the listing details, but if i can fit it in the title i put "fits big" or "fits small"
and i make a big note in the description about measurements