Ebay Situation Question - Should I Go thru with Order?

[apanda0622]

So I sold a Monster High doll (Cleo from the Exclusive Ghoulia & Cleo pack).  I took her directly out of the box and listed her on ebay.  I saw she had some faint paint smear on her eye makeup so I mentioned in the listing about that and could be other factory flaws.  Someone bought it right away.

So I go to pack her and lay her down in bubble wrap, and that is when I see the paint smear under her chin.  It is definitely from the factory and nothing I did.  So I message the buyer with a picture.  That was yesterday morning.  I have not heard back from her if she still wants to go thru with purchase (she also bought another doll).

I know I should wait to ship until she answers back.  So my handling time is 3 business days, so I should ship by Wednesday.  Problem is I don't work on Wednesday or have a car so I won't be able to ship that day.  It would have to be Thursday.

So if she doesn't answer back by Wednesday, should I cancel both orders?  I don't want to ship Cleo knowing she has a flaw I didn't specifically mention in the listing to this buyer without her acknowledgement and permission to go thru with the order.

[Loa]

I think you can safely wait an additional day for the buyers response. If they don't respond, send, with a copy of your email explaining the additional flaw.

[apanda0622]

I think you can safely wait an additional day for the buyers response. If they don't respond, send, with a copy of your email explaining the additional flaw.

I am going to wait until Wednesday and then if I don't hear back then cancel the order for Cleo (and Ghoulia) I guess.  If a seller cancels an order because of something wrong with the item, does anything happen?  Can the buyer leave feedback?

[tulagirl]

So, are you basically cancelling because you fear negative feedback?  I would just send her with a note like Loa said.  If she is unhappy, take a return.  Or, be willing to also offer a partial refund if you want.  Did the flaw not show up in photos?  I don't know, I would thinking waiting until you hear something is far better than just cancelling.  You may upset your buyer a lot when they might not care.  When I have noticed a flaw after a buyer bought something, I have added a note to the box and, I wait to hear from them even if it takes a few days.  I have not ever cancelled a purchase.  You can do whatever you want I guess.  You have to be comfortable. I would not want something to happen.  Did you check to see what kind of feedback your buyer typically leaves?  Sometimes that helps you get an idea of the type of buyer they are.  Good luck with whatever you decide to do.  You know best.

[apanda0622]

So, are you basically cancelling because you fear negative feedback?  I would just send her with a note like Loa said.  If she is unhappy, take a return.  Or, be willing to also offer a partial refund if you want.  Did the flaw not show up in photos?  I don't know, I would thinking waiting until you hear something is far better than just cancelling.  You may upset your buyer a lot when they might not care.  When I have noticed a flaw after a buyer bought something, I have added a note to the box and, I wait to hear from them even if it takes a few days.  I have not ever cancelled a purchase.  You can do whatever you want I guess.  You have to be comfortable. I would not want something to happen.  Did you check to see what kind of feedback your buyer typically leaves?  Sometimes that helps you get an idea of the type of buyer they are.  Good luck with whatever you decide to do.  You know best.

Well, I don't think anyone wants negative feedback, but that is not the reason I am cancelling the order.  I just don't feel comfortable selling an item in which I did not mention (or show) the flaw.  With Monster High dolls, some collectors are particular about certain flaws just like pony people.  I would personally be upset if I bought a doll and it came with paint on the face that was not mentioned.

I rather have her acknowledgement of the flaw and permission to ship the item.    I checked her paypal transaction and it looks like she lives in Russia but is using a US address.  So obviously there must be a language barrier.  I went ahead and cancelled the order due to a damaged item.  I do not plan to relist the dolls on ebay.

[hathorcat]

I agree. Some collectors are understandably very particular about flaws - especially face flaws - you hear this alot with MH. If I was the buyer, I would much rather know before you shipped so I could decide if I wished to go ahead. A message sent to the buyer before sending is not going to get you out of a "item not as described" claim if the buyer wished to do so. And in turn, its definetely worth waiting to get a reply before you cancel.

If you send the doll with a cover note and the knowledge you will accept the return, this could start to get expensive for you as it will cost you postage to return and disk the doll in transit twice.

I hope the buyer comes back to you soon!

[Taffeta]

I realise that this is more or less resolved now but the location of the buyer/use of a US address doesn't necessarily mean a language barrier. A lot of sellers don't ship to Russia because of some past issues with shipping delays and this may be the reason. Also it may be cheaper to ship to a US based relative. And I know that there's at least one member on here (not in Russia) who ships everything to a US hub and then gets it shipped en masse to her in order to obey her country's import laws and save costs on shipping. So it might well be that the buyer speaks English, but had to communicate with whoever was taking the parcel for her before she could reply to you.

I think that probably the cancel was the best plan. But then if it were me as the buyer, I would've probably been upset to get a cancel notice so you really can't win either way. It's hard when the buyer doesn't get in touch :/ because without knowing the buyer and how they feel, it's hard to judge if they would care or not. I personally don't mind my MH dolls with 'freaky flaws' and don't care about the obsession other people have with eye wonk and such like, but you genuinely never know :/

[tulagirl]

I can remember once that a US buyer was shipping for a Russian bidder on one of my auctions.  There was no communication between that buyer or me.  I was initially worried that my package was going to a country I don't ship to and needing confirmation of that.    I got no personal message at all.  So, I tried to create a label and noticed a US address, but I can't remember how I figure out that this person was a third party.   So, I wonder if it is similar in that they have a shipper here but, they bid on their own auctions. I agree that if this is the case, you might want to cancel if you do not hear from them.  I never got any feedback from my buyer either.  I didn't realize this was what you were dealing with.  I would be upset too if I got a doll with damage, but then again I always respond to my sellers/buyers.

[apanda0622]

Update!  Cancelled the order as "item unavailable due to damage" with still no word from the buyer.

But I was able to sell both dolls with flaws fully disclosed on Facebook within 24 hours.  So lesson I got from this is avoid selling on ebay if you can LOL