Even when there arent any disputes, you might run into a few transaction problems on eBay glitches that arent really anyones fault, but are just the result of a technical malfunction or another situation beyond the buyer or sellers control. The number one cause of problems like this is email.
Email Problems.
If you use the Internet a lot, youll no doubt be familiar with the problems eBay can cause, and many buyers and sellers are relying on email to keep them informed about their transactions.
Sometimes, you might find that your emails to a seller bounce you might have the wrong email address, or there could be a problem with their email. This happens especially often when buyers have free webmail accounts at places like Hotmail and Yahoo Mail.
When this happens, the buyer might not know youre trying to contact them. Consider it urgent to contact them in the real world, before they leave you bad feedback. To find out someones real-world contact details, follow these steps: Click Advanced Search near the top of your eBay screen, then Find Contact Information in the menu on the left (under the Members heading). All you need to do then is enter the other users eBay ID and the item number of what they bought.
You might find that the address you end up getting doesnt exist, and the phone number seems to be disconnected, or wrong. However, if you didnt get any working contact information for the buyer, then this means theyve violated eBays contact information policy. You can report them at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/identity-false.html, and nothing that they do from then on will reflect badly on you.
Be patient, though: Dont send masses of angry emails to someones account: for all you know, they might be having problems with their computer or their Internet connection. Try phoning, and try waiting a while for a response.
PayPal problems.
You might also find that you have problems with people who arent quite sure how PayPal works. For example, they might try to send you money directly and send the wrong amount this means that you need to refund any overpayment and get them to pay underpayment. If your buyer is reasonable, though, this should be an easy enough problem to solve remember that theyre hardly going to refuse to pay the right amount when youve already got some of their money!
If Nothing Helps, Who Do I Report It To?
You need to click Help on the toolbar and then Contact us, to contact eBays customer service. You might find you have better luck with the Live Help function than you do with trying to get sensible responses to emails. PayPal have the same procedure Help then Contact us and offer limited phone support if you need it.
If you run lots of auctions at once, some of your problems might be caused simply by things getting lost and forgotten, because you have no way of keeping track of them. In the next email, well look at how to manage multiple auctions effectively.
About the author:
Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.