eBay Update

The adventure continues, although we're nearing the end of what we've determined to be Phase One of the eBay/Craigslist experience. We have grouped the last of our CD's into six lots, ranging from 3 CD's to 100 CD's per lot, and put them up for auction on eBay. The last auction ends in 2 days and 1 hour, and then we'll be done for awhile.

Oh, we have a set of VHS movies for sale on Craigslist, too. They didn't sell in three or four lots on eBay, so we put them all together into one lot and have them advertised on Craigslist for now. We'll see if there is any interest on Craigslist, and then they'll probably become yard sale fodder in the spring.

(Another example of how I don't understand what people will buy: we couldn't even get any nibbles on eBay for those VHS movies, which are all truly in terrific condition. But some exercise VHS tapes in covers that were beat to hell (and I clearly indicated that in the description)? Sold 'em for $5.50. And three people were fighting over them. Go figure.)

It's been going pretty well so far. I've been getting positive feedback from some of my buyers, which is good. Many buyers probably haven't gotten their stuff yet. The ones who have responded all had their stuff sent Priority Mail or First Class. There are plenty of people, though, who should have gotten their stuff, but who have not taken a minute to leave me positive feedback. That's frustrating.

At any rate, we don't really have anything left in the house that we want to sell on eBay, and I need a break from it all for awhile, anyway. When it warms up, I'll head up into the attic to see what we have up there to clear out. I'll also check out what's in our storage shed. Maybe there will be a Phase Two when that happens, or maybe we'll determine that our remaining clutter is more yard sale material than eBay material.

So in a couple of days, Phase One will be over. Assuming everyone pays, of course.

Which brings me to my next update. The deadbeat who won one of my auctions last Tuesday, then said that "maybe" she'd pay on Friday, and "definitely" would pay on Saturday? She still hasn't paid. According to my calendar, it's now Monday. Further, she has made no attempts to communicate to me any problems she might be having with paying for the item. Her hollow promises to pay by Friday or Saturday were a response to ME contacting HER. She has made zero effort to initiate contact with me, nor has she given me any indication as to why she's not paying. What pisses me off even more is that since she won my auction, she has paid for two other auctions she has won--a toddler's outfit and a cell phone. She's new to eBay, so I initially wondered if maybe she just didn't understand how to use eBay or PayPal. At least this latest development clears up that concern.

My conclusion now is that she is simply willfully not paying me, for reasons unknown to me.

The Mrs. has an amusing theory. The deadbeat is from Louisiana. Part of my eBay moniker contains the word "Colts." The Mrs. wonders if this is some sort of deranged Saints fan...

Whatever the situation is down in the bayou, I'm done with it. I was going to wait until tomorrow to give her a full week to pay before taking action. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't being unreasonable. Maybe it's a total coincidence that the other 31 buyers I've dealt with in the past week have paid me within minutes or hours (and in two instances, SECONDS) of winning their bids, and she's the one and only person I'm having problems with.

So last night, I started thoroughly researching eBay's policies. I discovered that they have what they call a Resolution Center. After four days from the time the auction ended (which was last Tuesday, Feb. 9), I can notify eBay of a deadbeat buyer. eBay notifies the deadbeat of the open case, and the deadbeat then has four days in which to respond or pay. So clearly, eBay feels that having to wait four days for payment is too long. Turns out, I'm not being unreasonable at all.

After some thought, I decided to submit my case to the Resolution Center last night, rather than wait until tomorrow. At this point, the $46.00 she owes me is less of an issue for me than the fact that she has been a complete pain in my ass. Waiting two more days was going to amount to nothing more than two more days of me not being done with this ordeal.

I also want eBay to be aware of this deadbeat. People like this don't need to be on eBay, wasting other people's time. Hopefully, eBay will pin a scarlet "D" on the chest of this deadbeat's profile, for every other potential seller to see. As I wrote previously, the worst sin of an eBay buyer is to win an auction and then not pay for the item. Equally as bad would be if someone paid a seller for an item, and the seller never shipped it.

So I decided that it's time to take things to the appropriate higher authority, much like decisions I make at work about filing probation violations. (And this entire situation has been very similar to what I experience on a regular basis at work.) When do I notify the judge of a probation violation? When the probationer doesn't do what they're supposed to do? And when I confront them about their shortcomings, they make promises to correct the behavior, and then don't follow through with those promises? When the probationer has committed the worst kind of violation of the rules? Yes, that's when I notify the higher authority in the form of filing a probation violation with the judge. So using that train of thought, it was clearly time for me to notify the higher authority regarding this eBay deadbeat.

This probationer--er, I mean, this deadbeat--now has four days to respond to the open case in the Resolution Center. If (when) she doesn't, I'm not sure what eBay does to her, but I know what I'm going to do on Thursday evening. I'm going to offer the item to the second-highest bidder with a completely clear conscience. And then I'm going to leave the deadbeat negative feedback. I've already learned that when the deadbeat inevitably leaves me negative feedback in retaliation, I can get eBay to remove it from my feedback score because she didn't pay for the item. HA! Suck it, deadbeat! I'm also able to block her from ever bidding on any of my auctions again.

Who knows...maybe the deadbeat will surprise me and pay for the item within the next four days. My probationers have surprised me in the past by doing something to help themselves long after I had lost all hope.

I'm just a tad skeptical, though.

Stay tuned.