Experienced eBay sellers like Mace, please come in.

OK...where do I start?

I suppose the first thing I should state is that maybe those stories on eBay that you sometimes receive that sound like cop-outs aren't so crazy after all.

I guess that depends on the situation...card goes up $80 the day after you pay for it, and the seller tells you he accidentally spilled coffee on it, then issues you a refund...maybe a cop-out...probably, for that matter.

Here is my saga.

My wife's mother, sister, and twin 12-year old nieces came to visit this week.

We gave up our bedroom and decided to sleep in our 2-year old daughter's room. No other accomodations would have worked. No worries...there is a king-size bed in their from when it was a guest bedroom.

The house this week has been busy. Everything I normally keep in certain places has been up-ended and shifted...I often spend two-or-three trips around the house looking for my keys, wallet, and cell phone before I leave.

I usually keep them by the toaster, but that's too messy I guess when we have company. I don't make the rules. I just play within them.

You get the picture.

Last week, I received payments for the following cards which I still had at the house. I normally keep my cards in an office for insurance reasons, but I had these with me at the house from when I scanned them. The all-in-one I use to scan cards has been home for three weeks because my wife needed a fax machine temporarily.

Enough of the background.

With the company, hustle, and bustle, everyone is always trying to help clean up and stuff. Understandable.

I packaged the following cards from my Paypal payments last Tuesday afternoon:

1. Co-signers Courtney Lee Gold AUTO /25 ** $24.47 (prices include S&H)
2. BGS 9.5 Matt Holliday Bowman Rookie ** $17.50
3. Bowman Chrome Courtney Lee RC AUTO $12.75
4. Trevor Ariza Exquisite RC Auto $50.25
5. BGS 9.5 2005 BCDP Brett Gardner RC $20.25 (all subs)
6. 2008 Topps Chrome Courtney Lee Xfractor RC AUTO ** $58.25

The asterisks mean I don't have replacements.

I was in class Tuesday night from 6-10 PM and had a bunch of errands to run before class. So my wife said she would take the cards to the post office for me.

I put the stamped bubble mailers in a bag from Publix (typical shopping "plastic" bag), told her about it, and left them on the dryer in the hallway that leads to our garage. It's where we normally place things we do not want to forget. The dryer is the last thing we pass before we exit into the garage.

Today is Monday. The cards should have arrived by now.

I checked my stamps.com tracking for a package I sent from a previous shipment and saw that none of the packages I sent last Tuesday arrived.

When I questioned my wife about it, she told me she never took the cards to the post office. She said the bag was gone and she thought I decided to take them.

It turns out that her mother, who is almost 80 years old, mistook that bag of bubble mailers for a bag of dirty diapers. We use the same bags, and the top of the bag was tied to keep the bubble mailers from falling out.

She threw the bag in the garbage, which went to the curb Tuesday night.

So I am out the postage, the cards, the time it took to prepare them for shipping, and a few brain cells from rage control; however, I am only concerned about the buyers.

As is, they should have received their cards by now.

There is no way they are going to believe this story.

For the cards not denoted by asterisks, I can send the same product and a bonus for the time delay, but I don't know what to do about the others.

Has anyone had anything happen in the past where they could not fulfill orders? If so, how did you handle it. The refund process is fine, but these folks would not have bought the cards if they wanted the money, I can't replace what they bought. Not to mention I am already late.

Assistance requested.

Mike

WOW dude that really sucks. I dont know what to do in this situation but id probably refund their money right away

Mike,

I have found the best thing to do is just be honest, say you lost them in transit and refund them before they ever ask you where the cards are, this way they feel you aren't trying to screw them and only give them the refund when they ask. Give them the refund, the shipping included with the refund and offer free ship the next time they buy from you.

Its not perfect but its the best you can do.

Phil

sorry dude it happened to ya

i guess your story is so....detailed that it's hard not to believe it? lol!

good luck and hope all the buyers will understand

dave

Just provide a refund and let them know that the items were lost in transit. Nothing more you can do

Wow....bad luck. I would contact the buyers with a simple story stating the cards were lost and they have two choices. One, issue a refund...or two, select from a list of cards valued equal to or more ($10) than the orginial card they purchased. Most will be accomodating....I would leave out the details of the loss as people will be more likley to cry BS.

I think that path of least resistance is as follows:

1) Tell them this story - cut and paste it. They should be told what happened.
2) Offer to buy them the cards you don't have replacements for as soon as you can possibly find them.
3) Offer to reimburse them for the card if they can find it elsewhere, regardless of what they have to pay to get (albeit within reason! Maybel allow them 50% leeway?). Basically, you're looking at 3 cards:

Co-signers Courtney Lee Gold AUTO /25 ** $24.47 (prices include S&H)
BGS 9.5 Matt Holliday Bowman Rookie ** $17.50
2008 Topps Chrome Courtney Lee Xfractor RC AUTO ** $58.25

Unfortunately, one of them might be really hard to find again - the gold /25. I also don't know how often a BGS 9.5 Holliday Bowman RC surfaces. The xfractor might be the easiest to find.

Then allow them to respond to your offer. Some might just thank you for the honesty. Others may take you up on the offer, but in the end, they know you're being completely honest with them and I don't think anyone could ask for anything more than this type of offer from a seller!

I hope this helps!
Bill

Tell them the truth and maybe add 10-15% of what they spent to their refund just to keep them quiet.

Stuff happens Mike, and normally ebay buyers understand that for the sellers with good track record. I would worry too much about it.

I would let them know what happened, in simple form, and send them a replacement or refund. For the people that you can replace the card, I would just send them a new copy priority mail today.

The others, just send the refund and tell them you are very sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi mike, I’ve had something similar happen (right down to the yes, I thought it was garbage- cringe). Here’s what I’ve done-

Profusely apologize to everyone W/O going into all the details (basically just say for reasons beyond my control, cards were lost). Even though your story’s true, people don’t want to hear it b/c they’ve been scammed by ebayers before (I’ve had way too many sellers use the oops spilled coffee/coke on it, my cat peed on it stories, so frankly, I am suspicious of ALL stories now).

If replacements aren’t available, offer a FULL refund- incl. s/h. Alternatively, offer to buy replacements on ebay IF the buyers agree + IF you can get the SAME widget (ex., all 9.5 subs)

Offer replacements when available- upgrade to priority mail so they get it asap. I tossed in an extra card (or cash- refund shipping) w/the item

Offer free s/h if they buy from you again

make sure you knock grandmas teeth out

boomo said:

make sure you knock grandmas teeth out

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thanked

I sell with the intention of the customer is always right, and in a case like this, how the customer reacts is well within there rights, good or bad. As a buyer, any deviation from the simple plan of purchace can be looked at negatively if not completed in a timely manor(for ANY reason). As a seller, I can only try my best to make every transaction a satisfying one, and as such, this is what I would do in a situation like the one mentioned above...

Dear Buyer,

It is my deepest regret that I have to inform you that Item XXXXXXXX you recently purchaced can not be fufilled. It is my sole responsability as a seller to give quality service 100% of the time but events beyond my control has made it impossible with this sale. As you read this, I have allready made a full refund, plus an additional 10%, of what you paid(including shipping) as a gesture of good faith on my part. Also, any Item(s) purchaced from me within the next 12 months will come free of shipping.

I hope you can understand my frustration and that I am trying to do whatever is necessary to make things right with you. I appreciate your activity and look forward to doing business with you again! Thank you for your time, patience and understanding. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask!

Best regards, 'insert name here'

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Something like that, but better spelling.

Thanks for the advice. Will be refunding everyone fully for the cards I cannot replace. For those unfortunate people, I will also be sending out something related to the card I could not send them.

For those who I have replacements for, I am sending them replacements and refunding half of their purchase price to make up for the delay.

I hope that eases their pain.

It doesn't do anything for mine. Not like that matters to anyone but me, but I have to live with myself. :lol:

Jen and I live parallel lives, I am convinced.

Lol mike, reading your story made me cringe @ the memory- though it wasn’t my 80 yo grandma but a good friend helping me out during a crazy busy time (mom was really sick, grandma was hospitalized, house was being cleaned, had guests staying over, etc.- like you said, nothing was in its place). Oh well, the card gods have been good to me since then, so maybe this ‘bad episode’ will bring you some good card karma

They are gonna be pissed off it seems.I know if I buy something then I expect to get it.Not in a rude way or anything but its simply the fact that I as a buyer have decided to spend my time and money on your items when I could have possibly gone elsewhere.So that's how they will most likely look at it.And when you tell them the story or even just that something beyond your control happened they may still be ****** but the main thing to understand is there is nothing you can do to rectify that.All you can do is be honest and refund them the money they spent.I am not sure I would send and extra percentage of money because I as a buyer wouldn't personally expect it.I wouldn't feel its the sellers job to do that.

You seem like a reasonable guy and I would do pretty much what others have mentioned...just refund all their money and tell them something happened.Its not like any of these guys are going to blow up and become mega hot stars right this second so I can't foresee there being any debating about your motives.If need be you can explain that to them.If this were a mega hot prospect card that had just tripled in value or something I could see it.But since its not...


As for your family...I know its your business and I have enough problems without telling anyone else how to run their lives but I personally will not allow my wife's grandmother to clean any of my stuff for this very reason.Things wind up in the trash can.Whereas your situation most likely stems from goodheartedness...mine stems from people thinking the cards I buy are merely children's toys or just plain trash.That's why I demand my stuff be left alone and I have my own little room in the house.You do not go in there unless you are my wife or me.You also do not touch anything in there if you go in there unless you are me.There are no exceptions to this rule.I don't even let my wife go in there usually because if something were to happen to anything I would be pretty upset.Its not like I don't trust her but I have had people break things on accident and it would have never happened had they not been fooling around with them in the first place.When I used to collect Action Figures I had some vintage he-man that my friends son aptly pulled apart and he laughed and thought it was funny because as he said "Its only a toy. Don't be so mad".Well that doesn't cut it.

Good luck with your situation but I think two things you may have learned is if you want something done right do it yourself and do not let other people touch your things because even if they mean well...it can cause problems.