[SEL] O.T. E-bay Dead Beats

Thu Sep 8 18:38:07 PDT 2005

Arthur the Arkansas man had changed his e-mail address and had never updated 
his profile on E-bay so when I sent him his invoice the message bounced back 
to me. I tried several times to send the message and each time it would 
bounce back. I got on Yahoo using people search and thought I had found his 
telephone number but it turned out to be his sister-in-law. She told me that 
it was her elderly brother-in-law who hardly knows anything about computers 
but loves to buy on E-bay. She gave me his number and I called him and I 
could tell he was an elderly man. I told him who I was and then ask for his 
new e-mail address. He was struggling to remember it but finally gave me the 
new e-mail address. I told him I would send him an e-mail right now with the 
total he owed as well as my address and for him to send me his mailing 
address and I would get his book ready to mail out.

Come to find out the second e-mail address he gave me was also wrong. I 
called his sister-in-law back and ask her if she would mind giving her 
brother-in-law my e-mail address and have him send me a message, this way I 
could get his correct e-mail address. She said she would do this for me. A 
few minutes later I got a message from the elderly man who apologized for 
all of the trouble and told me he was sending me a check. He also gave me 
his mailing address.

All of this back and forth had resulted in his book being left on the 
kitchen table along with the dead beat's book whom I was also waiting to 
ship. I just failed to look inside of the packages to verify that I had the 
right book and did not catch my error until I went to mail the Arkansas man 
his book.

This has been a nightmare.

Paul

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arthur Buchanan" <galoway4 at earthlink.net>
To: "The SEL email discussion list" <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 7:40 PM
Subject: Re: [SEL] O.T. E-bay Dead Beats

> How did you discover you had sent the wrong book if packages were alike?
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Paul Maples" <paulmaples at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "Stationary Engine List" <SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com>
> Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 5:51 PM
> Subject: [SEL] O.T. E-bay Dead Beats
>
>
> Well gang after using E-bay off and on for the last five years I finally 
> got burned and even though it was basically my fault I still resent it.
>
>
>
> I listed a couple of Gas Engine Books (not hit-miss) books on E-bay and 
> they both sold. One was sold to a man here in Arkansas where I live and 
> one was sold to a man in Michigan State. I failed to look at the man's 
> e-bay rating in Michigan who had bid on and bought my book. Had I checked 
> him out while he was bidding I would have saw that he had only made five 
> purchases from E-bay and already had two negative feedbacks for not paying 
> up. I don't know what my recourse would have been if I had checked this 
> bidder out and discovered this before the sale ended. How do you refuse to 
> accept someone's bid once the bidding has started?
>
>
>
> Anyway after the auction was over I sent the man in Michigan a message 
> asking for his full name and address so I could get his book packaged up 
> and ready to mail and I never got an answer, I sent (3) more e-mails and 
> finally got an answer and he said he was in the process of transferring 
> funds from his checking account into his PayPal account so he could pay me 
> and that he would be posting my payment on PayPal within two days so all 
> was well....wrong. He also sent me his mailing address and knowing that in 
> all of the years I have been on E-bay, I had never had an engine man rip 
> me off, I went ahead and mailed his book to him even though he had not 
> paid me.
>
>
>
> Now here is my second mistake, I inadvertently sent the book that was 
> suppose to go to the man in Arkansas to him by mistake. Both books were in 
> their shipping packages waiting to be addressed and mailed and when the 
> man in Michigan sent me his address I just picked up the wrong package and 
> address it to him and mailed it to him.
>
>
>
> I quickly fired off a succession of e-mails to this guy in Michigan and in 
> each e-mail I advised him I had sent him the wrong book, that the book he 
> was getting belonged to a man in Arkansas. I ask him to return it to me as 
> soon as possible and I would pay all postage. After (3) e-mails to him 
> over two weeks time he finally responded and said that he would return it 
> to me but he was sure wanting his book. I then went ahead and mailed his 
> book to him, not having been paid for it, hoping to entice him to send the 
> other man's book back. Keep in mind that I still had not looked at his 
> e-bay rating at this time. Meanwhile I notified the man in Arkansas of my 
> stupid mistake and ask him if he wanted me to immediately mail his money 
> back or did he want to wait on the book, he said he wanted to wait on the 
> book to be returned.
>
>
>
> I waited a week and never heard a word from the guy in Michigan and to 
> this day, a month later I still have not heard a word from him. Meanwhile 
> I had went to E-bay and checked out his rating and saw that he was a dead 
> beat and I knew I probably would never hear from him again. He has both 
> books and has not paid for nothing.
>
>
>
> I go to E-bay tonight to plaster this guy with a "Negative Feedback" only 
> to find out he is no longer a registered user so he has bailed on me with 
> both books. I returned the man's money in Arkansas and this has left me 
> with a bad taste in my mouth.
>
>
>
> Everyone watch out for:
>
>
>
> John Faccin
>
> 431 Lind Road
>
> Crystal Falls, Mi 49920
>
> E-bay Name: obcessed1
>
> email address: obcessed4 at aol.com
>
>
>
> The only way I know to protect myself from future situations like this is 
> to state in my listing's on e-bay that if you have any negative feedback 
> ratings do not bid on my items. I know this would be unfair to some folks 
> who have negative feedback ratings due to things out of their control such 
> as the Post Office screwing up etc.
>
>
>
> Yep, it was all my fault and I guess I deserve what I got but folks please 
> check out the e-bay ratings on your bidders so you do not have to go 
> through what I have nee through. I will no longer mail out anything until 
> I have payment which only hurts the good guys.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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