*sigh* I'm an idiot... (rant sort of)

J

Jen Loves LV

Member
Aug 19, 2006
2,390
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#1
So I occasionally sell on Ebay, just stuff of my own like my purses I need to get rid of to fund new ones, or old cellphones when I've upgraded, I've had to work hard for my 52 feedback...

My best friend of like 10 years asked if she could list some stuff on my Ebay and I let her cause I can't say no. Well it turns out that she totally screwed the buyers on shipping by overcharging them and shipping the slowest rate possible, their stuff has yet to arrive and I know people are gonna start getting pissed and I just know I'm gonna end up with some negative feedback.

I'm so disappointed :s but I guess it's my own fault for letting her use it. I'm just trying to figure out how to confront her about it. She owes each seller about $8-10 dollars back in shipping, not to mention if the post office finds out what she did she could get in trouble (shipping media mail when not media....).

Feel free to tell me what an idiot I am LOL
 
#2
I hear you. It is so sad when someone we trust ends up hurting our reputation. Chalk it up to a learning experience and hope that you get very few negatives off of it. I usually won't get too leery of an Ebayer who has lots of great feedback and a few negatives in a row-I just assume they have had a string of bad luck.
 
#3
Media mail can take WEEKS sometimes! I have let a few friends use my ebay account, however, I inspected everything (I wasnt going to list junk) , listed it all, calculated shipping, handled the payments into my Paypal account and I shipped everything. I deducted ebay, paypal, shipping fees and gas fees from the totals and then gave my friends their money. After all it was MY ebay reputation on the line. Have you contacted any of the buyers yet?...my Mom sent my daughter some books via Media mail, not a big package or heavy for that matter, but it took almost 4 weeks to arrive from South Carolina to California. They cant gaurantee when media mail arrives, it basically just sits and goes by donkey (kidding) from state to state.
 
#4
First off, I think you have a lot of courage to step up and ask what you can do about this, as opposed to just saying i didn't know, it wasn't my fault. IMO, You need to take over each auction and do your best to make it right-as if it were your item, and you went AWOL for a few days and returned to find a total mess. When you have done the best you can to make everyone happy, and absorbed any negative feedback that might come in spite of your best efforts, then you should take a time out from ebay. Concentrate on getting the auctions straight and out of your life, and try not to explain the unexplainable. You should print out each auction, and on the back make notes of what you had to do and how much money you had to pay out-then you deal with your "friend". If she has your password, change it (and change anything else she used that is password protected)-I would advise against changing your seller ID as it will only look as if you're hiding. When the dust has settled, if you still have the stomach for it, you can begin again-defending your good name is is something you have to do throughout life, not just on ebay-and so is saying no (practise!) I'm sorry this happened, but hopefully it will never happen again-good luck! PS If there are serious postal issues, they have to be addressed clearly-you do not want the Post Office on your back.
 
#5
ugh! It's never a good situation when a friend takes advantage of your kindness and generosity! She should've known better! But it's too late to be talking about that now... only thing to do is learn from it and move forward. Agree that you should have all your passwords changed and even though it's going to be a huge pain... you'll have to be the one to clean up the mess she created. :sad:

I think in the future the only way you can help out (if you even ever want to help her out still!) is doing what Donna does and having to list the things yourself and then net out the expenses and give your friend the remaining profit.

I know some friends of mine aren't eBay savvy so they ask the more eBay savvy ones if they'd mind listing and selling for them and they offer a commission of say 25% since the friend with the eBay savvy has to put in the time and effort and also putting their eBay reputations on the line plus the non eBayer gets to take advantage of being able to list under someone that has a good positive feedback record and many transactions under the belt. For the eBay savvy friend, it works for them since they get the 25% cut plus it's an opportunity to continue to build up their transactions number and build up on their eBay reputation.

aww.. well I hope things work out for you without too much stress and hassle!! Hope you friend is understanding and knows what a mess she got you in and is apologetic about it and willing to help you rectify the situation!
 
#7
Thanks guys :smile: I offered to ship all the items for her... and now I know why she didn't want me to! I have some of her payments in my paypal so I'm gonna start refunding some shipping fees to the buyers and start writing some emails apologizing. I told my friend that Media mail takes forever and a day, sure the PO site says 9 to 10 days, but i've ordered books shipped that method and it took over a week and that was not during holiday shipping!

Most of the items she shipped via priority mail as stated, but there are about 5 items she charged priority rate for and shipped media mail. I did confront her about it, but she said "well it ended up being more than I thought", and i said OK, but then I realized, Hey! Those items fit in a flat rate priority mail box that costs $8.10, WTF? Grr, the more I think about this the more angry I get.

*Edit* Ok, it's not as bad as I though, she only over charged 3 buyers for a total of $25, the worst part is she is slow at taking things to the post office. I really hope it all arrives soon!
 
#9
A Simple: My Account, My Rules, In The Nicest Way Possible For Future Endeavors. It Is Your Business, Even If It Just Funds Your Handbags And Not Your Mortgage. A Good Friend Will Understand That. The Considerations Of A Good Seller Include Timely Shipping And Costs In Addition To Authentic Goods. Not Too Hard To Abide By.
 
#10
Yikes it's never wise to mix friends and money :sad: My personal experiences haven't been wonderful too.

If she is using your account, I'm assuming all the costs/charges go to your account too right? Refund the shipping to your buyers first and then add them to the total costs your friend has to pay you at the end of the day. Be firm and tell her nicely she cannot ruin your public feedback profile just coz she's cheap about shipping!!

You got to brace yourself for the worst outcome with the friendship. If she agrees to play nice, celebrate your friendship and her ethics.

If she decides to play nasty, then you need to decide if you want to absorb the loss yourself just to keep those buyers happy and then console yourself that you get to see your friend's true colors with just very little money. No loss then.

I only saw my "friend's" true colors after losing US$150,000. Sad but true.
 
#11
well i told her I refunded some shipping to the 3 buyers she overcharged as well as sent them emails explaining that their packages might be late... I took the refund money out of the money she got for selling the items LOL, so no argument about getting it from her! She was cool about it, and now knows she'll not be allowed to use my account again.

I pride myself in emailing my buyers upon payment, updating them when it ships and following up when it shows as delivered, to have so many buyers treated poorly makes me sad!
 
#12
Hi dear don't worry about at least u r placing an effort to give money back to these buyers for their pstage. I'm sure your buyers will understand

No need to stress dear but if i were have a wording with your friend because it wasnt really right of her to overcharge really
 
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