Buyer wants a refund after i shipped out(i shipped late)

[asuka10456]

Well this is a strange situation. The buyer asked me to ship next day or possibly the same day, i didn't ship till the next week, things came up, there was a holiday, my birthday and there was a matter of him having a unconfirmed address on a couple of hundred dollar deal. I didn't tell the buyer what i was doing till the day i shipped. I told him i didn't ship cause i wanted the funds to clear first since he seemed to be rushing me and i had a situation on paypal where i sold a laptop and the guy basically paid me $40 more for express mail then i shipped and it was a unauthorized transation so i basically lost a laptop for nothing. But anyways i ship today and when i get home i have a message asking for a refund.... I understand i didn't do what i said with shipping out when i said i would but is a refund really appropriate? i paid alot for shipping and i don't feel like relisting after i took apart the rig just so i can part out the items the buyer wanted. I guess i just made this thread because i don't feel like i should refund because i shipped out late.

 

[mavalpha]

Very ambiguous sitatuion.

The buyer asked me to ship next day or possibly the same day, i didn't ship till the next week...

This is completely your fault. No excuses, you said you would ship but didn't.

there was a matter of him having a unconfirmed address on a couple of hundred dollar deal.

Standard practice says you don't ship till funds have cleared, unless this was agreed upon beforehand. If you didn't agree to it, then yeah- he's asking too much.

I didn't tell the buyer what i was doing till the day i shipped. I told him i didn't ship cause i wanted the funds to clear first since he seemed to be rushing me

Bad communication on your part.

I'd say a refund is in order, or at least a very, VERY large chunk of a refund. I'm not even sure about shipping costs, because technically you shipped a week after you agreed you would.

 

[LogitechFreak]

if he wants a refund give it to him but dont give him full refund take out the material cost and shipping cost of what you paid to ship it. do not refund him until your items are back in your hands.

 

[techdude01]

I think the whole deal could went completely sour due to lack of communication. No seller should ship an item before payment clears, this is just common sense. Thats just like giving me a peice of paper that says "I owe you". If payment cleared and you didnt ship til a week later, thats a different story. You should send a PM and let the buyer know before then. If this was done, he couldve asked for the refund before you spend all that money to ship out the laptop.

In this case, I think you should eat the cost of shipping and refund the money once you get your laptop back. Thats just my opinion.

 

[Absinthe]

I told him i didn't ship cause i wanted the funds to clear first since he seemed to be rushing me ...

When you say that you wanted the funds to clear, do you mean that the Paypal payment was in the form of an e-check that you were waiting to clear OR do you mean that it was an instant Paypal payment and you were waiting for the funds to clear the transfer from Paypal to your bank?


When exactly did you agree to ship it and when exactly did you ship it? It sounds like you are clearly admitting your failure to complete the agreement, not to mention it is in very poor form not to communicate any of this to the buyer. You left the buyer with no choice but to accept your actions. By simply communicating the situation to the buyer and giving him the option either to continue to wait on you or refund at that point, would have avoided the unecessary shipping costs.

 

[bail_w]

No seller should ship an item before payment clears, this is just common sense.

I think you have not been scammed before...


Anyway, in my experiences, i really hate the sellers did not ship out the item as they promised but if you keep him update through the delay, it would have ended differently.

 

[lgestle]

Agreed with several people here.
1) Because of troll concerns, I agree the proper method is to wait for payment to clear before shiping. HOWEVER, you should have notified the buyer once you received payment once you noticed this issue. Also if part of the condition that you would ship the same, (or next day), and new you could not, you should have refunded the payment or received confirmation before shipping the item a week later with no commmunication inbetween.
2) Delay. Sorry this is a big issue for me. If you knew it was your birthday coming up ( I think you are given plenty of notice), a holiday, and knew this would delay shipment you should have informed the buyer.
So in my opinion you are stuck with the bill. I agree with others that now you have to wait for the item to return before issuing a credit, which now the seller is now incovenienced which is not fair in this situation.
Unlike someone else, I think you are responsible for the shipping charges due to the lack of communication on your part.

 

[RangerSVT]

This is rediculous, don't refund anything to that person, make sure he understands your situation and apologize for any wrong doings, as far as shipping when payment clears, that is definitely a must, whoever doesn't do that needs to be slapped in the face.

No refund is in order, newegg doesn't refund your money when they say they are going to ship an item out in 2-3 business days but takes 4 or 5 in some terms. Shit happens

 

[mavalpha]

...newegg doesn't refund your money when they say they are going to ship an item out in 2-3 business days but takes 4 or 5 in some terms.

Actually, yes they do. If I pay for three-day shipping and it takes more than three days, I at least get a refund on the shipping charges. Additionally, if I actually talk to the CSR, I'll usually get at least $20 credit towards my next purchase. What they do with UPS/FedEx in the back rooms is none of my business, but I'm sure UPS/FedEx reimburses them as well in these cases.

 

[GoldenTiger]

I would say he's probably having "buyer's remorse"... you sound like you went to special lengths to accomodate the purchase he wanted to make, and just shipped a day or two late. Personally, I would offer a bit back to be nice and help take away the sting of the delay (but more importantly, I would have kept in communication the entire time clearly), but tell him "no go" on a refund. It doesn't sound like you waited an inordinate amount of time, although it was a bit longer than it should have been for sure. However, I can see many people not offering any compensation back, and they'd probably not be wrong for it either. Really, it sounds like he's trying to bum a refund and/or scam you.

 

[asuka10456]

Well the person hasn't contacted me back yet, he messaged me saying he wanted a refund before i told him i already shipped but i wasn't home at the time to see the pm and was in the process of shipping at the time. I am 90% sure i will refund if he still wants it but not to sure on reimbursing for shipping fee's. I am flat broke as it is and couldn't deal with kicking out more cash towards anything but i still want to here other peoples opinions on this. I am thinking most people wouldn't refund, even though they said they would but in the end it is really my fault so i can't just say no refund. I will work with whatever decision the buyer makes.

 

[RangerSVT]

Actually, yes they do. If I pay for three-day shipping and it takes more than three days, I at least get a refund on the shipping charges. Additionally, if I actually talk to the CSR, I'll usually get at least $20 credit towards my next purchase. What they do with UPS/FedEx in the back rooms is none of my business, but I'm sure UPS/FedEx reimburses them as well in these cases.

Dude, be realistic here, he isn't a company and he isn't customer support, he's an individual who sold merchandise to another person on the internet and is more than likely having buyers remorse! It's common practice to wait until the payment has cleared before shipping, also I've had things delayed BY newegg and fedex, as said before they are companies and have customer service, so a refund is more than likely going to happen. Not likely that a seller on an internet is going to take the hit on shipping chargers, they don't have conpensation for that, unlike newegg or whatever. Be realistic bro.

 

[RangerSVT]

Well the person hasn't contacted me back yet, he messaged me saying he wanted a refund before i told him i already shipped but i wasn't home at the time to see the pm and was in the process of shipping at the time. I am 90% sure i will refund if he still wants it but not to sure on reimbursing for shipping fee's. I am flat broke as it is and couldn't deal with kicking out more cash towards anything but i still want to here other peoples opinions on this. I am thinking most people wouldn't refund, even though they said they would but in the end it is really my fault so i can't just say no refund. I will work with whatever decision the buyer makes.

I still see no error on your part if you have apologized for shipping it when the payment cleared, rather than shipping it due to payment clear duration. I see an apology to the buyer, NOTHING ELSE. It's not your problem to be out the shipping costs, deduct it from his full refund if he really wants it back, like the role of a company, restocking fee and so forth.

 

[Absinthe]

When you say that you wanted the funds to clear, do you mean that the Paypal payment was in the form of an e-check that you were waiting to clear OR do you mean that it was an instant Paypal payment and you were waiting for the funds to clear the transfer from Paypal to your bank?


When exactly did you agree to ship it and when exactly did you ship it?

asuka10456, please answer these two questions.

1. When you say that you wanted the funds to clear, do you mean that the Paypal payment was in the form of an e-check that you were waiting to clear OR do you mean that it was an instant Paypal payment and you were waiting for the funds to clear the transfer from Paypal to your bank?


2. When exactly did you agree to ship it and when exactly did you ship it?

 

[Nettwerk]

You should wait till you get your product back before refunding anyhow.

 

[lgestle]

asuka10456, please answer these two questions.

1. When you say that you wanted the funds to clear, do you mean that the Paypal payment was in the form of an e-check that you were waiting to clear OR do you mean that it was an instant Paypal payment and you were waiting for the funds to clear the transfer from Paypal to your bank?


2. When exactly did you agree to ship it and when exactly did you ship it?

I woud also add:

3) Was there any form of contact after the payment was received (how many days post payment)? If there was, what did the communication contain?

Reason I ask is I'm picturing the buyer asking to ship it that day or next day prior to sending payement. Once the buyer sends payment the seller drops all communication until a week later (almost troll like behavior).
I can't imagine anyone posting "he not a company" would agree after receiving payment the seller does not provide any communication on the delay until a week later (if that occured).

 

[LoneWolf]

I woud also add:

3) Was there any form of contact after the payment was received (how many days post payment)? If there was, what did the communication contain?

Reason I ask is I'm picturing the buyer asking to ship it that day or next day prior to sending payement. Once the buyer sends payment the seller drops all communication until a week later (almost troll like behavior).
I can't imagine anyone posting "he not a company" would agree after receiving payment the seller does not provide any communication on the delay until a week later (if that occured).

I couldn't agree more.

As a seller, if I experience a delay, I'd

a) Inform the buyer that payment has to clear before I ship. Normally, I'd tel a seller this before they even plunked down the cash, so they'd understand where I was coming from.

b) If I have a delay, I am up front about it immediately. If I'm the buyer, and I have to ASK someone why it's taking longer than agreed upon, it makes me uneasy. On the other hand, if the seller tells me (before I can ask), "Dude, I'm sorry, but (insert whatever) happened, it's going to delay when I can ship to you (a day, two)", then I'm aware of what is going on, and I'm willing to accept this at least once. I provide the same communication as a seller should something delay my ability to ship.

I think it "being your birthday" is a weak excuse to delay shipping, unless your friends kidnapped you and took you off to Aruba to celebrate it. Boxing something up and bringing it to a post office takes most of us no more than 30 minutes. Still, I'd have accepted that as a fair excuse if I were a buyer, especially if you communicated about payment needing to clear. But, it took you longer than your birthday to ship out; it took you an extra week. So, I'd ask a fourth question here:

4) --How long after payment cleared did you actually ship?

After all, PayPal takes about 3 days to clear unless payment was by e-check. I'd expect that if you're a halfway decent seller, you'd already have that item boxed up, and just waiting to ship for when the payment cleared. If the seller wanted shipping almost immediately, and yet you waited until days AFTER the payment cleared to get it out the door, plus not communicating adequately, I'd say they deserve their money back if they want it, because if that is the case, I think you dropped the ball.

 

[Table21]

I think you should refund the guy in full. I hate with a passion people who take forever to ship. Also when it is made know that he needs the item shipped asap, that is part of the deal. If you could not do it, you never should have agreed to the deal.

I build systems for a large number of people. Most are my friends and some are friends of friends. But even friends have dead lines. If I have to drop off the system by the end of the week and the item I purchased here, on another forum or even from a store does not arrive in time it normally means that I have to run to the local computer shop and by the part for retail or in most cases a lot more.

It is very possible that he did not want or could not afford to wait the extra week or so, for you part to arrive and he just went out and bought another.

 

[bennetvu]

If it was up to me, I'd refund the buyer. You agreed to ship out the laptop the next day but yet you postponed a week later. Not only that, but you failed to inform the buyer during the process.

 

[pumbertot]

no i have a different take. basically you delayed in shipping so he didnt get the item shipped on time so tell him you will refund the shipping costs and the sale stays as it is, a done deal.

 

[sisq0kidd]

no i have a different take. basically you delayed in shipping so he didnt get the item shipped on time so tell him you will refund the shipping costs and the sale stays as it is, a done deal.

Please tell me this is not how you do business here.

I am a patient person. And if I didn't need the laptop in a hurry, I wouldn't mind. But it's obvious that this guy wanted it next day.

If the OP was too nervous about sending the laptop next day without Paypal clearing, he should have communicated that to the buyer and possibly voided the transaction then and there.

For those of you saying this shipping is not a big deal, please feel free to buy from me and I'll ship your items a year from now when they have depreciated in value and you have no need for them anymore.

 

[jackofalltrades]

I say the seller blew the deal by not emailing the buyer and telling him about the delay. Birthdays and holidays shouldn't take but a day or so longer but if the seller agreed to ship that day or the next at the latest as he stated and didn't the buyer has the right to ask for a refund because the seller broke the deal.
I wouldn't want to do business with someone who would hide after I paid then shipped after I figured I got scammed.
I would ask the seller to cover shipping as well because it is his fault I feel this way not mine.

My 2 cents worth

 

[ickywu]

I agree 100% with the guys that have a problem wit the seller and I have run into this myself. When, as a buyer, you reach an agreement with a seller that includes a time equirement, that requirement is as much a part of the agreement as the price. Just as you wouldn't expect the seller to decide he wanted $50 more AFTER he had your money, you expect him to keep a shipping committment he agreed to as part of the sale.

It's even worse to not ship when you said you would and not even bother to tell your buyer. That just demonstrates a complete lack of concern for your trading partner. Things happen, but at least do him the decency of letting him figure out what's best for him to do next. Sometimes, as a buyer, it's important when you get the item. That's why the guy bothered to specify shipping.

Last, the claims about "payment clearing" sound like BS to me. At least two people have asked specifically how the payment was made with no response.

I think the seller needs to leave the buyer as he was before they met: buyer returns the item/s, seller refunds full payment and additional shipping cost.

 

[Bosom]

My guess is that he had to wait for the fund sto hit his bank to be able to pay for the shipping. Just a guess though.


My experience with sellers on this forum has been much the same as the way he describes himself.... I always ship out either the same day or the next day... but it seems like all too often that sellers get your money and then even though they PM'd you 7 times asking if you were interested, they all of a sudden lose interest in talking with you and shipping your item.

It drives me insane. If one more person tells me that the package came back undeliverable because the address was ripped(but the return address is miraculously intact) then I'm going to kill a kitten or something TERRIBLE.

I hate being lied to about how lazy you are more than I hate getting my package late, people should just man up and tell the truth.

I don't ship until payment has cleared unless it's someone I trust and I've verified their references. I let people know that if they're paying with a non instant payment method... but if someone pays me with Paypal, I immediately ship the item.

Bottom line, you need to be working this out with the buyer. Come to an agreement that makes your buyer happy and is fair, and learn from your mistakes.

 

[mavalpha]

It drives me insane. If one more person tells me that the package came back undeliverable because the address was ripped(but the return address is miraculously intact) then I'm going to kill a kitten or something TERRIBLE.

Actually, this has happened to me about three times- the most recent of which was last week. I have almost 200 transactions under my belt, all done through the same post office (only one around here open till 7pm). The clerks and carriers know me well by now, so as long as my name is legible, I'm good. They don't even need the full name- both my first and last name are unique for the area, so either one is enough in most cases.

There's also tape to consider- very often if I use tape to seal a box, it gets onto the edge of the shipping label. If that's the corner with the return address, it's virtually laminated. The rest of the label can still be exposed paper though, making it easy to damage.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

Actually, this has happened to me about three times- the most recent of which was last week. I have almost 200 transactions under my belt, all done through the same post office (only one around here open till 7pm). The clerks and carriers know me well by now, so as long as my name is legible, I'm good. They don't even need the full name- both my first and last name are unique for the area, so either one is enough in most cases.

There's also tape to consider- very often if I use tape to seal a box, it gets onto the edge of the shipping label. If that's the corner with the return address, it's virtually laminated. The rest of the label can still be exposed paper though, making it easy to damage.

I've had packages returned too. Its a lousy excuse but it happens for real more often then you would suspect.

 

[Table21]

no i have a different take. basically you delayed in shipping so he didnt get the item shipped on time so tell him you will refund the shipping costs and the sale stays as it is, a done deal.

Like I said earlier, when you get it can make all the difference in the world.

For all we know the buy was going to China for a year and wanted to get a laptop before he left. Or even better maybe he was going to give it to someone as a birthday gift. Would suck if he rush a deal or paid more because he was on a deadline.

 

[asuka10456]

it wasnt a laptop.....


the guy recieved it on tuesday and has been on since then but i still get no response from him

 

[mavalpha]

it wasnt a laptop.....

It doesn't matter what it was. How urgently he needs it, isn't your call. Maybe he has a project that requires it. Or maybe he just promised his wife/girlfriend/mother/friend/WHATEVER that he would have something by a certain time.

Whatever the reason, he asked you to ship by a certain date, and you agreed.

 

[Absinthe]

it wasnt a laptop.....

Very interesting that the question of if the item being a laptop is the only question that you will answer. Why wont you answer the questions I asked? How about you put the events in a timeline as they happened.

Also very interesting that you just just coincidentally happened to be out shipping the item when the buyer PMed you requesting a refund.

the guy recieved it on tuesday and has been on since then but i still get no response from him

I've posted a few times in this thread, that you, asuka10456, have opened and I still get no response from you. Why is that? Your actions make you look like your hiding something.

asuka10456, please answer these two questions.

1. When you say that you wanted the funds to clear, do you mean that the Paypal payment was in the form of an e-check that you were waiting to clear OR do you mean that it was an instant Paypal payment and you were waiting for the funds to clear the transfer from Paypal to your bank?


2. When exactly did you agree to ship it and when exactly did you ship it?

 

[Vertigo Acid]

This thread isn't going anywhere.
OP, if you're looking for vindication about your poor communication and shipping delay, you're not going to find it here. No amount of arguing back and forth changes the fact that you didn't live up to your obligations in this deal. We don't have the other side, so it's hard to tell how big of a deal the delay was to your buyer.Not giving a refund doesn't make you a troll, but certainly should result in your feedback taking a hit, along with some DNT additions. If that's the price you're willing to pay, then so be it.
If you do end up giving the guy a refund, PM me so I can update this thread.