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32 replies

Advice Needed: When a seller won't respond

S shannonMember
Hi all! I'm having a bit of a problem here and wondered if you could offer me some advice. About a week ago, I won two items from a seller. (They have over 100 positive feedbacks) Both were a little over $100. Immediately after the auctions ended, the seller sent me two invoices. I wrote back and kindly asked if it would be possible to combine shipping. Three days later, I haven't heard anything back. So I try again, thinking that maybe the email didn't go through. This time I say that if it *isn't* possible to combine shipping to please still let me know. That way I know my emails are getting through. Two days later and no response again. So I check to see if the seller is active on eBay, thinking maybe they had a family emergency or something and aren't checking their email. They're still bidding/selling items! So I go to one of their items and send a message through "Ask Seller a Question." Today I check my email and nothing still. Payment is due within 2 days and I don't know what to do at this point. I don't want negative feedback, especially since I have contacted this seller many times AND definitely intend on paying. I could go ahead and pay for the items both separately but I'm wary of doing that since the seller isn't responding to my mails. I want to be sure I'll get my items. With that, I'm at a loss. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Smile

Take care,
~Shannon :-)~
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G gardengnomeMember
You may find that the two invoices you've received were generated automatically and this is one of those sellers who has automated everything. In my book that's no excuse for not replying however.

Some commercial type dealers work this way and it's very hard to get a personal response from them. You have a legitimate reason for holding off on payment so he/she really can't complain.

keep at 'em.

GG


GG
D donaldjrMember
How are you paying? Paypal? I'd say pay the seller than in two seperate payments. If she sends them together, file a report on one of the items with Paypal, she will have a hard time proving she sent both of them when they were paid for seperately Smile If nothing else, it is not getting the services you paid for as you paid shipping on each item.
S samuraiblossomMember
I once had a similiar situation happen to me...but the items I won were $5 or less each. The seller stated in the auction description that he combined shipping charges on mulitiple items won within a certain time period...so I won all three items I had placed a bid on, then I emailed the seller for my shipping quote. Two days passed...no reply. But I tried again...still...no reply. It took a full week and at least three emails to get through to the seller, although he was selling things on eBay all during the time in which I was trying to contact him! I never did know why he never replied to the emails, and probably never will. I was just happy to finally get a response out of him so I could pay. Sometimes, for whatever reason, you have to give the seller some time to respond. Although it can be annoying. If you don't get anything within a week, just pay seperately through PayPal like Donald Jr suggested. If the seller is nice and a good sport, they will return the extra costs to you through Paypal and apologize for the inconvenience.

*~samuraiblossom~*
C chatterMember
Dondald said, "grr.. I have two buyers like that right now! Both are only asking their questions through the ask the seller a question feature and are wondering why I have not responded! I am about ready to leave them negs.. HERE'S YOUR SIGN!"

This implies that he is annoyed that buyers are contacting him through the Ask a Seller feature, because he cannot respond. He marvels that the buyers are wondering why he has not responded.

I was confused by this, as were at least two other members. Why would Donald NOT respond through that feauture? All is does is send an e-mail. Whether the buyers send him an e-mail directly, or use the Ask a Seller feature, he receives an e-mail either way.

During the checkout process, usually the seller's e-mail is provided to the buyer, and she can use that to ask the seller further questions. But some sellers have their eBay setup so that their e-mail address does NOT show up during the checkout process. In these cases, buyers who have questions for, or have not heard from, sellers, have no other option than to use the Ask a Seller feature. This was confirmed here:

Shannon said,"I don't understand either, Donald. In my case, I HAVE to use that feature. There's no other way to get ahold of them."

Donald responded,"You lost me Shannon.. Sending a message through ebay should be the same thing as sending it from an email program. They have to have an email program to read it."

That is EXACTLY Shannon's point, my point above, and Mrs. M's point:

Mrs. M said, "Donald, I think we both read your post and think for some reason you do not want a buyer to correspond with you through the ebay email response. We don't understand why and how else would a person buying get your address and what makes the difference?"

So, Donald, we are all three confused about this. You originally commented that your buyers were upset and wondered why you had not responded to the Ask a Seller feature, which led us, like your buyers, to also wonder why. When Shannon attempted to point that out, you seemed confused by the very same point.

Please help us understand! Thanks. Smile
J jlr43Member
I'm curious about Donald's situation too.

I have my own gripe about flaky buyers. Paypal sends out automated invoices after my auctions sell. I include my mailing address in the invoices for those who wish to pay by money order. I had a seller who recently replied to one of those invoices (it was attached to her email so I know she got it) and asked for my mailing address! Roll Eyes I did reply and gave her my address AGAIN. Of course, as my luck would have it I never heard from her again nor have I received my payment. I gave up trying to contact her after four emails went unanswered. It looks like I'll be leaving negative feedback sometime in the future again.
D donaldjrMember
I am really confused now Confused

If you use the ask a seller/buyer a question form, all it does is send an email to that users email address. Basically it is like you sending an email using your own email client/software. They have to use their email account to read that question.

These two buyers are sending their email through eBay because their email addresses are INVALID! With an invalid email account there is no way they can get my emails, period. Wether or not they were sent through eBay is irrelevant.
J jlr43Member
quote:
These two buyers are sending their email through eBay because their email addresses are INVALID! With an invalid email account there is no way they can get my emails, period. Wether or not they were sent through eBay is irrelevant.
I get it now. Why on earth would an ebay buyer have an invalid email address? I'm not expecting you to answer that. I'm just dumbfounded as to how they expect you to be able to respond to their questions if they don't have an email address. Duh.
C chatterMember
Got it, Donald. Your earlier words indicating that you "have two buyers like that right now" meant buyers who had invalid e-mail addresses, like the two suspended mailboxes in Shannon's earlier post. So what you really meant was that the buyers WITH INVALID e-mail addresses were wondering why you could not respond to their inquiries. I think we did not realize you meant buyers without valid e-mal addresses using the Ask a Seller feature.

I think that one is solved. Big Grin
S shannonMember
Hi all! And thanks for clearing that up, Donald. Smile

coralbelle, nope the seller never got back to me. Confused (It's been 2 weeks now since the auction ended.) I sent an email earlier (This is the last time I'm trying, 4 times seems more than enough IMO) from a different addy, just in case my others didn't go through. However, I don't have much hope in them getting back to me. But I find it funny that they're listing "Email us with any questions or for shipping info" on their current auctions.

I do have good news on the seller I bought from whose mailbox had been suspended. They contacted me the next day (From that same addy, guess it got unsuspended lol) and I sent payment. Hopefully the CD will arrive soon. Smile

Take care,
~Shannon :-)~
S samuraiblossomMember
I once knew of a case where a seller literally went missing for months and months...my friend had bought an item from her, and never got any response. She went through all kinds of trouble to get in touch with the person...mailing her, phoning her, posting on a message board she belonged to (which I and the seller belonged to since we collect the same items), emailing her, etc. etc. Finally she got a response and the seller said she mailed the package...but, no package came. The seller said the post office must have ripped it open and sent it back to the seller... Then, the seller went missing...AGAIN! It took two whole months to finally call her house and find out the person was in the hospital suffering from some kind of sickness. This was the same reason my friend couldn't contact her the first time. In the meantime the seller was gathering so many negs on eBay that she would no longer be able to sell a thing or have a good rep again. Finally, my friend got in touch with the seller's mother and the package finally shipped and arrived. But the seller never returned again...not to eBay or the message board my friend and I belonged to. So to this day I have no idea what happened to this seller...x_x I should hope this is a rare case when buying things on eBay...my friend went through a lot of trouble to finally get her item, as did lots of other buyers.

*~samuraiblossom~*
S shannonMember
Can someone please post the link I'd use to report a NPS? And do you think I should even bother with this since I never paid? Also, if I do file this, should I file both items or just one? Thanks for any help you can give, I'm not familiar with this process and hope I never have to deal with it again!

In happier news, I got my CD from the seller whos email addy was suspended and then unsuspended. He now has 3 positives, (no negs or neutrals) one of them is from me. Smile

Take care,
~Shannon :-)~
J jlr43Member
I don't know that you can report the seller considering you're not out of any money. I did a quick search on ebay and could only find links to reporting a seller if you paid and they didn't deliver the goods. I would definitely leave appropriate feedback tho. Protect yourself incase they turn around and try to say you didn't pay.

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