I had read accounts of egg sellers getting burned and I probably should have known better after reading threads like this one, but there's really no other place to reach such a large customer base so I went ahead and did it. I hadn't had any problems until recently, when my last two buyers didn't pay. Now, eggs are time sensitive, of course, so I opened an upaid item case (my eBay account is set up to do it automatically after two days go by and I'm not paid). The first buyer finally pays five days after the auction closes. Now the eggs that I had set aside and ready to ship for them, had they paid when the auction closed like it said to in my auction, couldn't be sent any more, they were too old. So I had to throw them all out. Obviously I can't send eggs I don't have, so I had to wait till the birds laid new eggs to send. While waiting (I had sent two messages to the buyer at this point, the first one asking for payment, the second explaining the situation, and gotten no reply) I received feedback for eggs she hadn't even received from me yet, calling me impatient but saying that the eggs were great. Now, I'm not impatient, firstly. Her delayed payment caused me to have to throw out 14 eggs I would have otherwise sold. Secondly, I hadn't even shipped the eggs yet, so obviously she was leaving me feedback for eggs she bought from someone else. I sent her a message telling her this, again got no reply. Finally got the eggs collected and shipped out yesterday and thought that would be the end of it.
Nope. Today she opened an unreceived item case against me. For the eggs I just sent yesterday. That she had tracking info for and could clearly see that they were sent yesterday. Also included was a message that said "havent received , eggs probaly arent good anymore". That was the whole message. So I responded, again telling her what was going on, that they were shipped yesterday, they were fresh, and they will probably arrive tomorrow. Then I included the tracking number in the case for good measure, in case she decides to try to escalate it to eBay support. So now, even though I've done everything right and the whole thing was caused by her not paying on time, I now have to sit and wait and see if she's going to open a case against me.
Oh, and the second buyer still hasn't paid. If they haven't paid by Tuesday I can close the case against them and be fine, but they have until then to pay, thanks to eBay making you wait at least four days after the first two days you have to wait before you can even open the case. If they pay, I have to send eggs. After already having to throw out the first ones I had set aside.
Phew. Feels good to get that off my chest.
Nope. Today she opened an unreceived item case against me. For the eggs I just sent yesterday. That she had tracking info for and could clearly see that they were sent yesterday. Also included was a message that said "havent received , eggs probaly arent good anymore". That was the whole message. So I responded, again telling her what was going on, that they were shipped yesterday, they were fresh, and they will probably arrive tomorrow. Then I included the tracking number in the case for good measure, in case she decides to try to escalate it to eBay support. So now, even though I've done everything right and the whole thing was caused by her not paying on time, I now have to sit and wait and see if she's going to open a case against me.
Oh, and the second buyer still hasn't paid. If they haven't paid by Tuesday I can close the case against them and be fine, but they have until then to pay, thanks to eBay making you wait at least four days after the first two days you have to wait before you can even open the case. If they pay, I have to send eggs. After already having to throw out the first ones I had set aside.
Phew. Feels good to get that off my chest.