Wednesday... it's one of those words that I've always struggled to spell right. The 'dnes' always gets me, confuses me, perplexes me. I don't know why.
Enough of this oddity....
As I was saying yesterday about eBay, the buyer is the one with the upper hand or covered, so to speak. They are happy little chappies that know they won't loose anything if they don't receive an item that they've paid for, whether the seller is some kind of scammer or not. Some might even take advantage of that fact. How? All you have to do is get into the warped mind of a dishonest person. Put yourself in their shoes by pretending you are one right now;
You bid on an item and you've decided that you really don't want to pay for it.
You win the item, you do actually pay for it BUT then even though you've received the item... you tell the seller that you never received it, or it arrived broken, or not what you thought it was. You live somewhere across the country, so do you think the buyer is going to come to your house to check it out? No. Can they prove you have actually received the item or was not broken on arrival? No. You have the upper hand, you poor excuse for a human being. (lol)
If you are an eBay seller you'll understand what I'm on about. If you are a buyer, you are oblivious to some facts. Now please understand that I am talking about the Australia eBay only. As for the other countries, I'm not entirely familiar with their rules. So here are some fact that you may or may not have known;
What happens if you are a (disgruntled) buyer
1. You place a bid on the item and you're offered standard postage,
which means it's not registered and you can't track it before it
arrives to your destination. You're offered registration /
tracking at your own expense (it says within the listing or you may receive an email after you've won the item).
2. You win the item.
3. You decide to not spend the extra $3.05 (W.A. cost) on registration / tracking - and that's fine, nobody can force you to. The item is then sent via standard postage which takes 4 or 5 working days.
4. For some unknown reason, the item does not reach you after 4 or 5 working days. The seller asks you to please be patient and wait a few more days. Yes, parcels may be misplaced within Australia Post or some other reasons - accidents always happen.
5. You still have not received your item after a week or more. The item mysteriously disappears into thin air and can't be tracked by Australia Post, simply because you did not want the registration / tracking option. You start getting antsy, blame the seller and get annoyed so you contact the seller again to see what's going on. The seller doesn't have much of an answer for you because they aren't the ones personally delivering the item and all they did was send the item unregistered as instructed by you.
6. You are now really annoyed that you've paid for an item that you never received and hey, fair enough.
7. After a certain time frame, you decide to start a dispute claim with eBay to get your money back. (eBay does tell the seller to try and fix the 'dispute' within eBay, but some sellers prefer to let eBay fix the problem which is also legit).
8. Eventually you are compensated either through eBay, or Paypal if this is how you paid for your item. Yay and happy days for you.
What happens if you are a (not-guilty) seller
1. Somebody bids on your item and you are offering standard postage,
which means it is not registered and you can't track it before it
arrives to the buyers destination. You offer them registration /
tracking within the listing or you may send them an email
offering it after they've won the item.
2. They win the item.
3. They decide not to choose to spend the extra
$3.05 (W.A. cost) on registration / tracking - and that's fine, nobody
can force them but it makes you a little nervous. The item is sent via standard postage which takes 4 or 5
working days and in the back of your mind you wonder if the item will reach its destination and if so, will it be broken / damaged / tampered with?
4. Your intuition was spot on. For some unknown reason, the
item does not reach the buyer after 4 or 5 working days and they contact you. You know they are upset so you kindly and gently ask them to please be patient and wait a few more days, just in case. Yes,
parcels may be misplaced within Australia Post or some other unexplained reasons -
accidents always happen etc.
5. They still have not received the item after a week or
more. It mysteriously disappears into thin air and can't be
tracked by Australia Post, simply because the buyer did not want the registering
option. They start getting antsy, blame you and get annoyed so
they contact you again to see what's going on. You don't have
much of an explanation because you aren't the one delivering the item
and all you did was send the item unregistered as instructed by them.
6. The buyer is now really annoyed that they've paid for an item that they never received and hey, fair enough.
7. After a certain time frame, they decide to start a dispute claim with eBay to get their money back.
8. Eventually they are compensated either through eBay or Paypal if this is how they paid for the item.
But hey, eBay buyers... have you ever wondered who repays you for your undelivered items AND postage? Do you think it's eBay or Paypal that kindly gives you your money back? Do you think they are that kind? Not so. What they do is take it from me, to give back to you! I loose money, and sometimes lots of it. Now I ask you, who's fault is this? I asked you if you wanted it registered for $3.05, a small price to pay when you think about it, but you didn't want it.
Of course I know most of you don't care... after all, you will always be compensated. But please show a little compassion for me, because I will never be compensated by anybody because of your choice.
Now... I'm not saying I've lost a lot of money by selling, but I was close to it and this is what happened; but firstly you will have to understand that I've recently had my eyes check and I need reading glasses desperately, which I'm actually picking up tomorrow.
So a lady put a bid on one of my items last month and won. I lovingly wrapped the item, went to the post office and sent off her goods, unregistered. After about a week (maybe a few days more) she emailed to say that she still hadn't received her goods. I asked her to please wait a few days more, just in case. I was very worried because it should have taken no more than 5 working days of course.
She waited. And waited some more. We were keeping in touch in the meantime and she never once sounded annoyed, but was rather understanding. Thank goodness for the more intelligent people out there. Almost two weeks passed and I had just come home and noticed a package in front of my door. Oh! I got something delivered, I thought. No. It was the returned package from Australia Post!!! On it was a sticker with the reason for its return - 'address unknown'.
What??? The husbeast and I did some quick research and found that not only did I miss a number within her post box number, but I also got a number wrong within her post code. My mouth dropped to the floor. In all my life I have never gotten an address wrong AND to that extent!
I was embarrassed to say the least so the first thing I did was notify her to explain everything. Yes, those new reading glasses will be very welcomed tomorrow! So I went to the post office the next day to re-send the goods, but unfortunately I had to pay for the postage again and out of my own pocket.
The only good thing that came out of this is that the postage didn't cost a lot, and at least I didn't have to pay her for the 'missing item' as well. It was only last night when I found her truthful but positive feedback - thankfully she received it this time. :)
What a big lesson that was. I've rectified this problem though. I now automatically add the $3.05 registration cost within the postage cost. My postage cost may look like daylight robbery even though it's not, but at least it covers ME.
My moto is 'if you don't want to pay for registration, then don't bid!' Simple as that, right? For those of you who don't know what registration is;
It firstly allows both parties to track the parcel (where is it at the moment?), and secondly (and very important for me) is that if the item goes missing (or it breaks in transit) and Australia Post cannot locate it after a certain time, I am compensated for up to $100AU. I can only stress that you say yes when this option is given to you, simply because it helps both parties. You will always be compensated - yes, but if you choose the option, I will also be compensated. Can't you do this just to be respectful, to empathize / sympathize or just simply care for another human being, at the very least?
And Australia Post.... oh Australia Post. Where do all those missing parcels and letters go? Into a black hole? Theft within the company? They won't and can't explain it. We SELLERS pay for their mistakes.
The moral to this story is please think twice about eBay sellers from now on.
Understand that if you see inflated postage, it might be because it's going to be sent registered.
Since selling on eBay, I've have a new appreciation for other eBay sellers simply because I now know how it works. I hope I've given you some good advice today, or at least you now have a better understanding, with fresh new eyes.
