An eBay Issue - Who Would Have Thought?

Recently I sold 3 electronic gadgets on eBay, for the purpose of buying a Nokia N810 that I otherwise couldn't have afforded. It will do what the other 3 have done for me, but I just about had to carry a suitcase with me wherever I went, to carry them plus their cords and extra batteries and earplugs and so forth...anyway, 2 of the 3 sales went flawlessly. The first 2 buyers paid at once, and wrote to me before I even had a chance to contact them; in both instances I sent their items out the very next day, via Priority Mail, with delivery confirmation. And in both instances I gave immediate feedback (fast pay! good communication!) and requested the same from them. Both paid via Paypal to which I provided the delivery information - when confirmation was received from the USPS, my funds were released to me. Smooth and easy and lovely transactions.

Then came Joe Girmscheid. I'm not worried about using his name, I'm just writing about my own experience here, and he is part of it. He purchased my Palm Pilot. Same as the previous 2 buyers, he paid instantly via Paypal, and sent me an email requesting I send the tracking number to his @verizon email address (as had one of the others also, not a problem); like the others, I left him the same positive feedback. Within 14 hours I had his Palm on the way to him, and sent him the tracking number to the email address he requested. I got my little note from Paypal that my money would be held pending delivery confirmation or positive feedback, as I had for the others.

And that's where the similarity to the others ends. The Palm was delivered to him 48 hours later, but the postman for the Trevose, PA route neglected to scan the item, so there was no delivery confirmation. So I wrote to Joe Girmscheid and asked him to please leave my feedback so that my money could be released. No response. I wrote again, a couple of days later, this time through his eBay account, his eBay email address, and his @verizon email address. No response.

I contacted our postmaster, Tom, here in our little town. He is GREAT. He contacted the postmaster in PA, nope they couldn't find it but the mailman "remembers" delivering it to that address. But they can't provide proof of delivery based upon the mailman's memory. Our postmaster and the one in PA go back and forth for a few days, Tom is right on top of it, calling me with updates, etc., and getting the district management involved here in MI. He learns from the Philadelphia postmaster that it's really common there, "a big problem," that mailmen don't bother to scan packages for delivery.

Meanwhile, with every communication from Tom, I'm updating the eBay messages and also sending them to Joe Girmscheid's 2 email addresses, along with requesting a feedback and/or letting me know he has the Palm, so that my money can be released. Absolute silence at his end. My frustration is enormous. Joe Girmscheid has become a thorn in my side and I've left him a positive feedback that says "good communication" - HA! I can see why sellers wait to provide feedback now...anyway, the other thorn in my side is the PA end of the USPS who can't provide any proof that the Palm was delivered because somebody didn't do his job.

And so it goes. Nearly 3 weeks later, Tom is still trying to get something from them, Joe Girmscheid still refuses to communicate, my funds are still being held by Paypal, and I'm fighting a really strong sense of the unfairness of it all, as well as bitterness toward Joe Girmscheid, which is not the way I typically operate as a Christian. I pray for him anyway.

Lessons learned:
Withhold feedback until the entire deal is done, and Paypal has released the payment.
Add as many layers of CYA as you can - don't just ask for delivery confirmation, request a signature, and insure.
Don't assume that the buyer is as honest and helpful as you are; don't assume anything - get proof of everything.

I won't stop selling on eBay but I will never sell anything again to Joe Girmscheid of Trevose, PA.