Pat Gaudette

I’ve done quite a bit of buying and selling on eBay over the years and the great majority of transactions have been fairly flawless. Now, however, both eBay and PayPal (which is owned by eBay) offer buyer protection but very little seller protection. My most recent sale will demonstrate what I mean.

On December 5, 2008, I received an inquiry about software I had listed on Ebay. The inquiry came from a new eBay member (as of Dec 3, 2008) located in the United Kingdom. The potential buyer’s message concerned the shipping:

“hi – im interested in buying this item, but I am unsure of the shipping. Will I have to be home to sign for the package ? The reason I ask is this – I leave for work at 7am, and get home at 6-30 pm each day, and Im nobody is home during the day to recieve parcels…it involves having to drive to the local Post Office to collect parcels if they are signed for, and it involves a 28 mile round trip – if you could let me know what shipping options there are that wouldnt involve me being home for delivery then I would be interested in buying the software.”

Before responding, since I usually will not sell to new buyers particularly new overseas buyers, I searched to see if he had made any other purchases and saw that on December 3rd he was high bidder on software sold by someone I knew. I sent the other seller an email inquiring about the status of that sale and he said he’d received payment and was shipping out the software.

I sent a response back to the potential UK buyer that I would ship via USPS Priority International Flat Rate Envelope and, according to the USPS site, if he wasn’t there to accept delivery, the postal person could sign instead.

On December 12 the UK buyer sent the following message:

“Hi there

Please could you send me an email confirming receipt of payment, and confirm that the order is OK and the item is shipped Thankyou in advance for your help Look foward to hearing from you shortly”

I logged into my PayPal account and confirmed receipt of the buyer’s payment of $161.95 and immediately used PayPal’s shipping service to process the Priority shipping label/customs form which I attached to the USPS regulation Priority Flat Rate Envelope containing the software. Early in the afternoon I drove to my post office and handed the package to the postal clerk who checked the label and confirmed everything was okay for shipping. I then sent a message to the buyer that the package had been delivered to the post office.

The next day I received another friendly message from the buyer wanting confirmation that I had shipped the package and I provided the customs tracking numbers which he also received from PayPal at the time I processed the shipping label. I confirmed, again, that I took the package to the post office the day before.

According to the USPS, Priority International shipping takes between 6 to 10 business days. That definitely is a “best” guess since customs can hold up delivery and I’ve talked to various people who have experienced shipping delays of 4 to 6 weeks. Other options, such as Express mail, are exceptionally costly.

On December 18, 2008, I received notice from PayPal that my “friendly” UK buyer had opened a non-receipt dispute and wanted his money refunded. This was early on the fourth business day after I shipped. I responded with the details of when I delivered the package to the post office, and, since I used PayPal’s service to print the label, they had the tracking information.

On December 19, 2008, the fifth business day after shipping, the buyer escalated the dispute to a claim.

I emailed the other seller and he said the buyer had filed a similar claim against him. Clearly, we were being scammed. I sent several emails to PayPal regarding this claim and I expected PayPal to “see” that this buyer was pulling a con but apparently my world and the real world have different ways of viewing things.

Yesterday, January 9, 2009, I received notice that PayPal refunded the buyer his $161.95 payment (they had already put a hold on this amount in my account) and I now owed PayPal the transaction fee of $6.62. A phone call to PayPal provided these details as to why they ruled in the buyer’s favor:

1. The USPS online tracking only indicates that the postal service received notice on Dec 12 to expect the package; there was nothing to indicate they had actually received it. “You could have just printed out the label and done nothing further.”
2. They (PayPal) felt there had been sufficient time for the package to be delivered; the PayPal rep said “It has been a month,” and I clarified that it was not yet a month and this was during a very busy holiday shipping season.
3. I owed the PayPal fees because they had refunded the buyer’s payment. If I had made the refund, I wouldn’t have owed the fees. Of course, if I had refunded the buyer’s payment I wouldn’t be able to appeal PayPal’s decision if I am able to provide proof of delivery within the next 15 days.

A trip to my post office wasn’t very encouraging even though the postmaster was quite cordial and helpful.

1. Any time online postage is used, they (postal personnel) don’t do anything other than pass the item along; no scanning, input, or other processing to indicate actual receipt of the item. The postmaster checked to see if he had any more current information on my package and he did not. I find it difficult to believe this would apply to insured items. (I did not have the option to buy insurance for this package.)
2. Shipping via Priority International Flat Rate Envelope does not provide the sender any protection against loss. In other words, despite the value indicated on the customs form, the seller is out of luck if the package is damaged or lost. No wonder the cost was so reasonable! And you can bet that’s the last time I’ll ever ship via that method.

So, I’ve wasted a lot of time and energy because I went against my natural instincts and was conned, clear and simple. I’m out the shipping fee ($11.95), PayPal fee ($6.62), eBay’s fees (listing fee $.35, final value fee $12.00), and the original cost of the software ($180.00). It’s been an expensive lesson but one I will remember.

As far as the buyer? He can rest easy knowing that eBay recently instituted a policy that protects ALL buyers, good or bad. Sellers cannot give negative ratings to buyers regardless of their selling experience. That means buyers such as this can continue to con sellers due to the protection they receive under eBay’s rating system. That same protection does not apply to sellers; unscrupulous buyers can give unwary sellers negative ratings.

PayPal’s email to me says in part: “This claim has been solved amicably. Please consider this when leaving feedback for this buyer.” Solved amicably? I don’t think so!! All I can hope is that the USPS provides me with delivery confirmation very soon.