Please HELP!! out of stock item sold & marked posted!

[stylesilver]

I sold a necklace that I no longer have in stock. Somehow I must have relisted it. THEN TO MAKE MATTERS worse,I marked it posted before I packed order. I had 3 orders to send from weekend (who hoo, had a couple of sales!). Then as I was packing them off & checking addresses I thought "Yup! sending those 3 today" so marked them posted. Went to pack them realized 1 was out of stock. Sooo it's marked sent but I dont have it. So of course I've contacted customer & offered another item (or their choice) to a higher value instead, plus a free gift. Didnt hear back. So now Ive offered the,their money back & I'll still send a gift foir their trouble!! Havent heard back yet . SOOOO.... what can I do to make sure I dont get Negative Feedback. Can I give them their money back & then they cant leave me feedback? Or because I stupidly ticked SENT before double checking I had item - they can still do it.OR can I go into Paypal & cancel order (after I've marked sent?) Cant see anywhere to cancel a sent item on Ebay! At this point just trying to avoid Neg Feedback! As cant afford that with these already slooowww sales?

[*sparklz*]

You can unmark as posted.

But if they leave a neg there is nothing you can do about it.

If the buyer is not responding then refund them and I would not bother sending a bribe gift unless they reply and are happy with that.

Edit: Sending a gift will not stop them leaving a neg if that is what they want to do.

[curraone]

I reckon the most honest thing to do would be to refund in full immediately - include a note in the paypal screen explaining what happened and apologise profusely.

You can unmark as posted, that's the least of your worries

Don't try to cancel anything yourself = if you cancel because of out of stock you get an immediate defect I think.

Good luck.

[stylesilver]

Thanks for that info Cuuone & Sparkle - Didnt know I can mark unposted!! I'll refund them now .

[stylesilver]

Thanks again - If I refund them can I still get a negative ? Also I have their mobile what if I call or text them- could they please check their messages? A polite call to their mobile . Do you think I should call them or is that not on!

[curraone]

Yes, even if you refund they could leave a negative.

No, don't be a stalker.

They might not have signed on to ebay since they bought - but the paypal refund will go to a different email and that will get their attention.

[stylesilver]

OOOPPPSSS Heard from her now & she's VERY cranky. Says she needed the necklace for a special occasion etc next weekend ... Scared she's going to give me bad feedback....Didnt refund yet because was double double checking the item wasnt misfiled somewhere!! So is there any move I can make to stop a negative feedback now, as I'm about to refund & cancel order I dont mind getting a defect... just not Negative feedback!!

[daydreams_12]

While we are all human and mistakes can happen it is ultimately your fault.  If it was required for a special occasion, I too would be very upset as I am sure would you.  I am afraid that I would probably leave a neg in the same circumstance.  If you had repaid the paypal payment immediately instead of holding off it may well have helped.  You say it sold over the weekend and we are now at Wednesday.  JMO but you should have come clean at the time.  Bribery is not the way to go.

[bakeandfry]

There is nothing you can do to stop neg feedback.
I would not offer a "gift" because you cant supply, myself personly would consider it a bribe.
You will more than likly get a neg if you ask the buyer not to give you a neg (its called spite).
If you do get a neg, you can do a factual reply

[springyzone]

I would not be sending a freebie as that doesn't really have anything to do with the transaction as such.

The main problem as someone else pointed out is you have left things a bit late. If you were packing on the weekend, then you really needed to contact her by Monday.

You may have been able to work something out-perhaps a different necklace with a bit of a discount?

But I don't know you have left enough time now for that & to get it to her, unless she lived in the same city.

Probably your best bet is a full refund. In the circumstances, if I were a buyer, I would be peeved to find you marked it as sent, it wasn't sent, you didn't have the item and didn't let me know immediately. I would give you neutral (on the grounds I at least got my money back) not a neg.

But each buyer is different, does it really matter that much if you get a neg?