Need Help: Ebay Buyer

ChronoChrono
in Help Wanted!
I tried searching around to see if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find much. I have a buyer in Malaysia who is claiming the package never arrived. He mentioned this about 40 or so days after he purchased and paid. I shipped immediately after he paid (within 24 hours). I told him to give me a day to look into it and he did. I messaged him back within 24 hours saying I could track it to Malaysia, but after that, I don't know what happened. I apologized and offered to refund the money as I thought I pretty much have no choice.



I didn't hear anything from him and I was actually hoping that he did receive it and was just leaving me hanging. Unfortuantely, he message me yesterday at the 48 day mark and asked for the refund. I looked on Ebay and it said he only has 45 days to open a dispute. Should I refund the money or has the time for him to have recourse passed? On one hand, it's only $5 including shipping, but on the other I don't like giving money away and I am naturally suspicious of the package not arriving. I have shipped over 175 items last year and never had a problem. People would say it didn't arrive and then a few days later, it's there and feedback is left. I guess there anything possible though.



Does anyone have an experience with this? What would you do?



Thanks ahead of time.


Comments

  • doner24doner24
    I would just refund and be done with it. $5 isn't worth a chance at negative feedback.
  • StarwanderStarwander
    I would say that he is proably telling the truth. Scammers know the dates of when they have to file disputes like the back of their hand. They would never wait until after the date has passed to open a dispute to ask for their money back.
  • ChronoChrono
    Those are both excellent points. Thanks. Doing the right thing isn't always fun I guess. :-p



    Cheers. 




  • Luke00016Luke00016
    Yea, probably easiest to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Worst case scenario, you get scammed out of $5. Not the worst thing in the world.



    I don't know how it works in South Korea, but this is a big reason I try not to ship internationally. The last time I did, package took over 6 weeks to get to its destination and I could do nothing more than say 'well, it is somewhere in your country, sorry'. I ended up refunding, then the package arrived and I got repaid. Unfortunately, just a big hassle.
  • milligangamesmilligangames
    My cut-off point to where I will take a negative feedback rather than simply refund a bad buyer is somewhere around $30. Anything less and I'll do whatever the buyer wants in most cases, no matter how stupid the situation is. Just the other day I sent someone a replacement $25 game without even asking them to ship back the defective one, only because they sounded like they were ready to leave me a negative if I asked them to ship the other game back. eBay is a brutal marketplace, you have to know when to cut your losses.
  • rubinhomotorubinhomoto
    Where I live, sometimes the package missing or take to long to Arrive in my hands...

    Yesterday I receive a loose copy of Zombie Nation for Nes... The US seller ships the game on February 13. Take almost 3 months to get the package... the problem was the track number wasn´t tracklabe and the Package was stuck on Brazillian customs... maybe in Malaysia the customs maintain the package that´s way he reports the item never arrived. Sometimes the item comes on Country whithin a week, but stuck over 2 months in the customs storage rooms...



    I have to ask refund, actually open a disputa because a chinese seller sell to me two ps3 games and after that... cancelled his profile on ebay... took 15 days for the ebay give me the money back...

    I always trust in the seller an take the risks, if say the shipping I will wait... sometimes pass the chance of ask dispute... i just don´t leave any feedback... but I never gave a Negative feedback for a seller on ebay.
  • ArchkNupArchkNup
    The only thing because i will refund him the money will be the negative feedback he may left for you.



    Regards
  • Robin MiharaRobin Mihara
    that would be a long elaborate scam for 5 bucks. If someone is taking 2 months to scam me for that much, im giving them the 5 bucks based on principle.... then probably hiring them
  • ChronoChrono
    It's strange because I go out for dinner with the family and won't think twice about taking a taxi a couple minutes up the road, buying an over-priced draft (or ten) and splurging on dessert for the kid. But you try and tell me a package doesn't arrive... oOOOooohhh... You're not getting that by me.



    FYI, I refunded the flow shortly after reading the first two replies.




Sign In or Register to comment.