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K Pawz Guest

Okay here is my dilema, on 21 October my Papillon sold on eBay, a collector who wanted her immesley was outbid in the last 5 seconds of the auction thus didn't win by an automatic bid.....now the confusing part starts....the winner of the auction's husband contacted me and said that his wife went into the hospital for 2 weeks but set up to bid automatically, so I would have to wait two weeks until she got out of the hospital for payment...ummmm okay, I can deal with that, whats two weeks.....now the hard part, I sent an email on Monday of this week just to see how she was doing since it had been over the two weeks and still no payment....her husband emailed me back and said she took a bad turn and would be in the hospital for another 2 weeks, and thanked me for my patience with waiting for payment.....I have no idea what to do, I feel so awful for this lady, I pray she is okay...but how long do I wait for her to get out of the hospital? My creating is my "job" and a main part of my income, the papillon sold for $510.00 that would really come in handy, but I have no idea when!!! I know I am being a nice person and waiting, but how long do I wait? Meanwhile the person who got outbid is waiting for me to make her another one, and I just keep thinking well I won't start another one until I know whether or not this person is actually going to take this one or not....sorry for being long winded but I have absolutley no idea what to do here!!

SUGGESTIONS???

Hugs,
Krista

Daphne Back Road Bears
Laconia, NH USA
Posts: 6,568

Hmm... I don't sell on eBay much so from that aspect it may seem I'm of little use here. BUT... as a retail manager with experience in all forms of 'promise to pay' situations from Lay-a-way to store charge accounts to 'hold' of merchandise for 24 hours.... there are always rules set forth by the company who owns the merchandise that the buyer must adhere to. Like "customer must pay for goods within 14 business days or merchandise will be returned to inventory".

So, in the case of an auction I'd say that if you include payment terms in your auction (I always say that item must be paid for within X number of days or it will be relisted and a non-paying bidder alert will be issued.) then anyone who bids on the item agrees to the terms.

Hospitalization is an exception but surely if the husband can operate the computer, access her email and likely eBay account then he can certainly manage to send PayPal payment or what ever other payment arrangements. How is it that it's exactly 2 weeks in the hospital each time? Seems a bit odd. I'm a very trusting soul but also have to have accept the fact that there a lot of weirdos out there and that I'm running a business.

Personally, I'd say you have to do what you are most comfortable with but if you put payment terms in your auction stand by them no matter what. And if you haven't included payment terms be sure you do in the future.

Have you checked this person's feedback? Just curious.

Marlys Waggle Bears
So Cal Desert
Posts: 4,089

Well, Krista, since I don't use e-bay, I probably can't offer you any real advice. But just from my perspective, you will have waited at least 4 weeks for payment. It's sad the lady took a bad turn, but I wonder why her husband couldn't take care of the payment for her. And you don't have any real idea if she'll get better or continue to get worse. I would think the time you've waited would be enough to cancel the transaction. It's unlikely that your bill holders would wait indefinitely for payment.

TamiL Dolls N Dreams
Aurora, Colorado
Posts: 6,454

Sorry about all of that.  :hug:
That has happened to me in the past on my dolls, it is always hard to know what to do,
you want to believe that everyone is honest and you don't want to sound like you don't understand what they are going through, BUT, if I was in the hospital and had bid on your cute critter and I knew I won, I would be telling my husband to use my papal account and pay for the item. RIGHT????? Wouldnt you????
I don't know why he can't pay you?
Do you state on your auctions how long until payment is due??
Plus I don't remember is there a 30 Day policy on Ebay where you can't post (-) feedback if the 30 days are up????  I dont' remember, someone help me here....
I think I would tell them I have already waited long past my policy for payment, I would give them a few more days to send payment & if they do back out, post them a (-) and sell the item to the other lady.
Let us know what happens..

duff Deedle Bears
Dallas
Posts: 226

Hi Krista,  1st off, your creations are just amazing and wonderful!     I love them all!

I see the predicament you are in, not a good place to be.     I have never sold  bear on ebay but as a frequent buyer on ebay I always look at a bid on ebay as a binding contract.    I do understand that bad things happen to good people and hope the the buyer has a speedy recovery.  But in the end it is a business and  you need to be paid for the beautiful work you have done.      I guess what I do not understand is why he is not able to make payment on his wife's behalf?    Possibly is it best to let him know that there in only one more two week extension, give him a payment date and if payment can not be made by that date then there will not be another extension.   If that is the case, could you go back to your beloved customer explain the situation and offer her the papillon at her last highest bid?     I saw your little one on ebay but I can't remember if the listing had a note on how many days payment must be received in?        To ease your mind you may want to offer that you will not leave negative feed back if he can not make payment due to the situation...     Oh my so confusing,  the more I think about it the more a waffle on my thougths!       

I am sure there are others who will have better words of wisdom who will weigh in soon.     

I hope this all works out for you quickly.

K Pawz Guest

Thanks guys, her feedback is perfect and she bought from me in the past with no issues, I just don't want to seem heartless and say okay if you don't pay me by __ I will relist because he says she is in the hospital, but the bank who holds the mortgage to my house wouldn't be as kind now would they???.....I have in my auction that contact is appreciated within 3 days, but I just assumed that the 7 day payment policy was in effect for eBay and they would start to get nasty grams through eBay after that, so didn't think to put payment times in, but I will for sure after this....You are right though, I didn't think of that, if he has access to her eBay and email he should be able to access her Pay Pal account which is the only form of payment I accept, stated in my auction, and send payment off....although I have already agreed to another 2 weeks, so I guess I should stick to my word there, but after that is up I won't give them any more time...thanks for all the help.

Hugs,
Krista

AndreaM Drea's Bears
Ontario
Posts: 576

What an awful place to be in.  I agree with the others that the husband likely is able to access her account, but to be honest if I was worried about someone I loved being ill and taking a bad turn payment would be the last thing on my mind.  Of course if I was the woman who had won the bidding I would want my dog in the hospital with me....... Maybe he's thinking they may need that money for perscriptions or other treatments (if so he should most certainly have mentioned this). It's not a good situation for you and the 2 weeks followed by another 2 weeks does seem a bit odd, you just can't know for sure.  The only thing that I could think of is that you say that you have another woman waiting for you to make another one, if at the end of the most recent agreed time with the original bidder you do not recieve payment let them know that you will be selling the original to the second highest bidder and make the second one for the woman in the hospital when she is ready for the same price the auction closed for.  Then you don't have to make a second dog if it is not needed, because I'm sure it takes you quite a lot of time and energy to create your beautiful works of art.
I don't envy your position here Krista, it's hard when you want to be understanding and show that you care that they are going through a difficult time but you're right when you say that the bank that hlds your mortgage would not likely be so kind.
Good luck and let us know how it all turns out.

AndreaM bear_original

matilda Matilda Huggington-beare
WA
Posts: 5,551

What I cant figure out is why the husband doesnt pay for it? and if she has nt organised payment for it then I personally believe that she isnt as serious as she makes out.
Wendy

Cleathero Creations Cleathero Creations
Ripley, Queensland
Posts: 1,925

Ok I am speaking o nthe other side of the fence here.
I know that IF something were to happen to me my poor Dh wouldn't know what to do or how to pay or anything.  Unless I am there telling him exactly what to do then he is useless.  he can answer an email and that is about it when it comes to computers.
My Dh has all the passwords for everything but when it came time i ended up in hospital he contacted everyone that needed to be to let them know because he just didn't know what to do.  He may be ust saying 2 weeks because that's whet the Drs say, you know how it goes they say a week and it's either 4 days or 10.
I know you need the money and you may have to make a point of saying so after this fortnight explaining that you have bills to meet and this is your income etc etc and can he possibl get the info he needs from his wife etc etc.
But I wouldn't be surprised if he is like my DH and just has no idea.

MerBear MerBear Originals
Brockville, Ontario
Posts: 1,540

Why don't you just sell the one you have to the second bidder and then when the other buyer comes out of the hospital - she can have the secon one?
You can advise the husband that that is what you are doing.
Marion

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