Market place ethics

[Dale]

disclaimer first

The following scenario has not happened to me, I have had no trouble on the market place forum. The scenario is presented as read, no inference as to any identity can be read into. No discussion will occur with regard to identity, forum or time.

end disclaimer

I've heard of a recent transaction where a seller quoted a price, and shipping to a buyer. The buyer then used one of the online payment systems to pay the seller the quoted price.

Has a purchase taken place, is the seller obligated to ship the item at this stage?

The buyer subsequently received an email from the seller stating that the online payment system had billed the seller an additional amount, in this case around 2% of the transaction amount, and as such the seller was canceling the transaction. No additional funds where sought to cover the difference.

Is this ethical, would you deal with the seller again? Should the seller receive negative feedback?

My gut feeling is that this very poor form indeed.

Thoughts anyone?

Dale

[Kguru]

Apparently according to contract laws once money changes hands the contract is in force. However in real life it's not practical to pursue for damages for every contract broken, meaning sometimes you have to accept you cannot enforce a contract.

Having said that, if I were the seller and for whatever reason I had to cancel a sale after buyer has paid, I would ensure buyer receives a full refund including any $ taken away by transaction fees.

[Photo Tramp]

Totally bad form on the sellers part. In fact the seller should have known if using PayPal there would be a 2% charge added to cover the cost of using the service. Knowing this the seller should have ask for another type of payment.

[JCSullivan]

Not knowing the circumstances I'll offer my input in general terms.

1. The seller should have at least informed the buyer.
2. Apologise
3. Asked the buyer whether s/he would be willing to pay the extra charges
4. Think hard about it, if the buyer refuses
5. Decide to ship, take the loses and chalk one up for experience
6. Decide not to ship and cancel transaction, possibly lose face and chalk one up for experience.

End of opinion.

[daacon]

Ummm seems more like a case of Seller's remorse as there was no attempt at reconcilation ? As long as the buyer got all their money back I would leave neutral feedback as eveyone ended up with what they started with. If this is the whole story and happened as described I would not deal with that seller again though.

[Mechan1k]

But what happens though ... id the buyer is then told ... another person has been given the sale because they chose a different form of payment with was cheaper to the seller?

Looking at JCSullivan's post ... if i was the seller and it happened to me ... I'd have to go along with No.5 (as it was more my fault for not knowing all the ins and outs of selling and using PayPal or other similar tools).

I'd put it down to experience and know better next time. I am not one to screw another person over.

On here ... I treat others that way I prefer to be treated myself. Simple really.

[AML]

I agree with Simon. Once money has changed hands it's sold and should have been sent to the buyer. It's up to the seller to make sure of any fees with all forms of payment before offering items for sale. Do i think it's ethical what the seller did.....No! Would i deal with that person again.......No!

[Geekybiker]

Once money changes hands the sale is done. No getting another buyer saying they'll pay more, no seller's remorse, no asking for additional fees. I've sold quite a few items for free or at a loss on ebay because auctions ended well below what I expected, but what is done is done.

[Eaglerapids]

You make a deal, you get paid, you ship. That's the way it works.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by daacon

Ummm seems more like a case of Seller's remorse as there was no attempt at reconcilation ? As long as the buyer got all their money back I would leave neutral feedback as eveyone ended up with what they started with. If this is the whole story and happened as described I would not deal with that seller again though.

That sounds about right.

The payment was rejected by the seller, so no money actually changed hands. The reason for rejection was that there was an $8 charge!

The buyer has attempted reconciliation but to no avail. Sellers remorse would be the case.

Thanks Daacon for pointing out that the buyer did not loose in a financial way here, just the inconvenience of missing a purchase. Thus neutral feedback and a comment to the effect of Sellers remorse would be suitable.

I think deciding not to ship and chalking one up to experience is the outcome.

I'm wondering just what it would cost to remove neutral feedback.

$8?

Thanks for all the replies.

[Arpe]

I'm no paypal user, but does it make it obvious to the payer that the extra money is going to be charged?

[Igilligan]

I just think it is bad form to not go ahead and ship the lens with the example given....

At the same time, I am stuck using a paypal bank card because I refuse to give paypal a link to my bank account. So when I see a seller trying to charge me not 2% but 4% because mine is a card backed paypal account, I just dont buy their lens. I have missed a few lenses because of my opinion on this, but I am already paying interest on the darn card so why should I also pay % points to the seller for using it. It is a protected means of changing cash online for both of us, so why should I take the entire financial burden of it?
It kinda burns my craw even more on this forums marketplace, because the sellers are not even being charged fees to sell like they are on ebay...

I wish if the sellers wanted to charge extra for the transaction fee that they would just ask more money for the lens up front... And not single out folks like me with a CC backed account.

That is the end of my silly rant.

[monochrome]

Originally Posted by Igilligan

I just think it is bad form to not go ahead and ship the lens with the example given....

At the same time, I am stuck using a paypal bank card because I refuse to give paypal a link to my bank account. So when I see a seller trying to charge me not 2% but 4% because mine is a card backed paypal account, I just dont buy their lens. I have missed a few lenses because of my opinion on this, but I am already paying interest on the darn card so why should I also pay % points to the seller for using it. It is a protected means of changing cash online for both of us, so why should I take the entire financial burden of it?
It kinda burns my craw even more on this forums marketplace, because the sellers are not even being charged fees to sell like they are on ebay...

I wish if the sellers wanted to charge extra for the transaction fee that they would just ask more money for the lens up front... And not single out folks like me with a CC backed account.

That is the end of my silly rant.

I wish it were the Marketplace convention that we offered a Firm Price, shipped (stated where) and Paid (stated how), plus perhaps an option for a lower price plus International Shipping.

Such as:
$110, shipped and paid net of fees, CONUS.
(International Buyers only, $97 plus actual shipping to your location by method of your choice).

IN the example given above the seller demonstrated that most modern disease, the inability to honor a commitment in the event something doesn't go exactly the way you thought it would. This is closely related to the inability to accept responsibility for the consequences of one's actions.

I once had a change of heart after a PM was sent and I heard nothing from the seller for 16 or so hours.

I PM'ed that I was withdrawing my offer due to lack of response, and posted a "PM withdrawn" message on the thread so other potential buyers might be inclined to make an offer.

The item eventually sold.

To this day I'm not sure I did the right thing.

[JCSullivan]

I suppose I should have added one other point

Ask to split the difference.

[Big Dave]

Originally Posted by Dale

disclaimer first

The following scenario has not happened to me, I have had no trouble on the market place forum. The scenario is presented as read, no inference as to any identity can be read into. No discussion will occur with regard to identity, forum or time.

end disclaimer

I've heard of a recent transaction where a seller quoted a price, and shipping to a buyer. The buyer then used one of the online payment systems to pay the seller the quoted price.

Has a purchase taken place, is the seller obligated to ship the item at this stage?

The buyer subsequently received an email from the seller stating that the online payment system had billed the seller an additional amount, in this case around 2% of the transaction amount, and as such the seller was canceling the transaction. No additional funds where sought to cover the difference.

Is this ethical, would you deal with the seller again? Should the seller receive negative feedback?

My gut feeling is that this very poor form indeed.

Thoughts anyone?

Dale

I would be willing to bet that the seller had another offer, either for more or from a friend and this was an easy way out of the transaction. I had a simular situation happen to me on ebay. I accepted a second chance offer and paid for the item, because the high bidder didn't pay. When the high bidder finally paid, the seller refunded my money. Ebay said that he was required to honor the SCO, but wouldn't enforce it in anyway. What are you going to do. At least, I got my money back.

Dave