Protocol Question

[kizbear]

I had an item listed. A ebayer bought a couple of itmes from me (instant payment and free postage) and requested a third item at a cheaper price as all the items would be posted together. I changed to listing to "For...ebayers name....

Another ebayer has come along and bought the item with instant payment.

Is it unreasonable to request the buyer cancel the transaction?

Do I have the right to cancel the transaction and refund the money as it quite clearly states that it was for a specific ebayer?

Advice appreciated.

[digital*ghost]

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@elusiveeditions wrote:

It doesn't seem very sporting to list an item with "For XXX only- Nobody Else!"... it's probably the closest you can get to trading outside of ebay w/out trading outside of ebay, but if it works then great.

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eBay used to have a facility whereby a seller could create a private listing, viewable only to the member it was for, unfortunately they stopped allowing it because people were abusing it in some way to manipulate feedback scores (or so I have read in the past, the function was a little bit before my time).

This sort of thing could also be avoided if eBay would introduce, and/or expand, the options for discounting item prices, either before or after an item has sold, but for now, sellers have to work with the (lack of) tools they get, and truth be told, negotiated - exclusive - prices for package deals, repeat custom, etc, is a regular occurrence in most fields of selling, professional or casual. 

[treasuress.4207]

It's a sticky one.  IMHO it comes down to a matter of ethics.  Good luck sorting it tho.

[kizbear]

Thank you all for your suggestions, advice and support.

I cancelled the transaction after notifying the buyer that I would, and the money was refunded. I explained that it was listed for another buyer and I had put "for........." specfically for that buyer.

I also offered a discount on another simiular item to make up for her dissapointment.

She replied with a lot of abuse and that she was going to tell the whole of facebook how unethical I am.

I replied that I didn't know why she would buy something that was listed for another ebayer, but I understood her disappointment and offered my sincere apollogies.

Another message of abuse, more about being unethical and I she say's she has reported me to ebay. I'm sure they will enjoy her messages to me.

I have seen items put up for specific buyers, understand that some negotiation has gone on and think, this is for someone in particular, nothing to see here and I move on.

It''s just common sense and Ebay still get their fee's

I personally think I would have been unethical by not honoring my first buyer. I see it as going into a shop and putting something aside, then the shop sell's it to someone else before I come back with the money before the agreed timeframe

.

Someone was going to be upset, I have just tried to do the right thing.

As this buyer is so upset with my customer service I have made sure she doesn't make the same mistake of buying from me again by blocking her.

As she said I have lost a valuable customer and this is indeed sad, as none of us can affort to loose an instant paying buyer. I can do without abusive bullying buyers though.

Life' too short.

If faced with the same situation, I would tell the first buyer "if" they buy the item I will give them a discount vial a paypal refund, but only if they got in first to buy the item.

Thank to you all once again.

[clarry100]

If we get a situation like this we send an invoice directly to their PayPal account since we already have their PayPal email address from the prior transaction. I know it's considered an off eBay transaction but it just saves all the hassles talked about above.

[harley_babes_hoard]

I would be keeping that hush hush clarry

[phorum_junkie*]

If you do want to list for a specific buyer I would give it a one word title and put a question mark as the description after telling the chosen buyer what I was doing, if somebody else then went in and purchased you could send them a printed page with a ? and they couldn't complain it was not as described.

[joxamara]

"If faced with the same situation, I would tell the first buyer "if" they buy the item I will give them a discount vial a paypal refund, but only if they got in first to buy the item."

Just tell the buyer to purchase, but wait for an invoice before paying - you can adjust the price in the invoice before they finalise.  I do it all the time.   just remember to NEVER use the re-calculate button before you send cause it isn't re-calculate, it's "rest to original price/postage"

[kizbear]

I have been trying different things to see if it makes a difference to sales.

At present I am trying buy it now with instant pay, so they don't have an option of waiting for an invoice, otherwise I would have done that. Thank you for the suggestion all the same.

For the record, purchases have picked up. Don't know if it's because of the buy now, pay now or because things are just picking up a little anyway.