Need some advice

[Guest]

[rns91294]

Hi.  I won a card on Friday night.  Prior to winning it, I emailed the seller to ask the condition.  I received a failure to delivery notice, so I did it again, and got another notice.  I left it at that since I placed a bid under what it normall goes for.  Last night, I checked my auctions and guess what, I won it!  I checked my email, and to my surprise, the seller responded to both emails that I thought did not go through.  I wrote to him again to let him know I would pay today, and again, got a faliure notice.  I have been waiting to see if he would respind before sending payment.    Should I email him again? Should I just pay?  He only allows paypal, and only has 5 feedback from items sold over 6 months ago.  He did sell a couple things that ended the same time as mine did, so I emailed the buyers to see if they had any problems with his email.  No one has yet responded.  Any advice on this would be great!!

Thanks,

[Nienna]

Hmm ...
You say you emailed him ~ was that through the 'ask a seller' facility? I'm guessing it was.
I do know that some email providers block AOL addresses which can cause this delivery failure and another common one is when sellers use the free Hotmail account with a small inbox. These soon fill up and have to be emptied before other mail can be delivered.
You say he replied to both of your emails ~ did he email you directly or through eBay?
Give it one last try stating you think his email address isn't working properly and that either his inbox needs emptying or his spam filters turning off.
I've had this happen a time or two and it's most frustrating when you can't get your messages through.
It's also happened when it's been MY email address which isn't working properly and to this day, I've no idea why. It got so bad over a two week period that I had to change it altogether, but it still keeps happening on odd occasions even with this new email address.

Wait a bit longer to see if these other buyers get back to you and for him to contact you too.
It could be that the emails are going through and he's reading them, but they're getting returned with this failure notice on them to your inbox.
It might also be an idea to ask him if he has an alternative email address you could use because of the problems you're experiencing with this one.
Just a thought ...

Keep us posted!

[rns91294]

His address is @worldnet.att.net .  I just tried writing to him from my work email and have not yet got a failure notice, although sometimes it takes a while to show up on my work email.  This is very strange.  And so far, none of the other buyers wrote me back. I am wondering if I should just pay and see what happens.

[rns91294]

Oh, and I get that message sending through eBay and from my own email.

[rns91294]

I noticed his PayPal email is different from his eBay email, so I made the payment and wrote to him.  Let;s see what happens next.

[Nienna]

Typical!
I would think his PayPal email address would be okay, but he really ought to try and find out what's wrong with his eBay one, as he'll soon get complaints if buyers can't reach him won't he?
*Fingers crossed* everything goes through smoothly ... I reckon we've had our share of turbulent transactions for this year thank you very much!

[rns91294]

Luckily, the total is only $11.01.  It is a charmed card, s1, the replica spirit board die cut card.  He did not give a picture, and when I asked the condition, although getting a failure notice, he responded to me that it went straight from the box to the plastic, great.  So he did get the email.  I just hope he isn't mad at me for all the emails I sent, but he should hopefully understand considering the cisrcumstances.  He only has 5 feedback from more than 6 months ago, but sold a few Charmed cards on Friday night.  I am just hoping that I didn't make a mistake here. I cuold of had the same card for $10 at a card show, and regretted not getting it later.  I hope this one is in good condition, as I figured $1 more wasn't that bad. I will let you know the outcome.

[Nienna]

Well at least you're getting something go through!
Good luck and it sounds as though it will be fine!

[kbmum]

Fortunately, it's for a fairly small amount (not that you'd want to lose even part of it!).  If for some reason you don't receive the card, you should be able to get back most or all of your money from PayPal.

[Roz]

Yep, I'd just pay because even if the email doesn't get through it will show up as paid on his ebay and he will have your info in his paypal account, it's hard to ignore!

[rns91294]

Update.  I got to work today and found a failure notice in my inbox, so the email I sent him from work did not go throgh either, and he still has not responded to my emails.  I went to eBay and saw something I never seen before.  Maybe you have, but I haven't.  Looks like there is an hourglass next to the item, which means my PayPal payment is still pending, he has not yet picked it up.  The auction ended on Friday night, so you would think he would want the money.  Oh, and after I paid, sometime last night, I got the auto invoice from Paypal, which confuses me even more since the auction did end on Friday and not yesterday.  I am starting to have my doubts about this seller

[Nienna]

I've seen this hourglass before and I admit it worries me when I get sellers who don't pick up their money straightaway.
It could be that he hasn't been online since he emailed you, so he wouldn't know you've been trying to get hold of him nor that you've paid him.

I don't think I'd worry too much about the auto PayPal invoice ~ I've had auto end-of-auction notices come through from eBay days after the auction has finished and I've sentmy payments off so I think they sometimes get a backlog of items to clear.
I paid for items last night and they were still showing as needing paying this morning, even though I'd received my payment notifications from PayPal telling me otherwise.
My guess is that eBay and PayPal are sorting themselves out at the moment ... site updates etc, so that might be why mine aren't showing properly.

Have you heard anything from the other buyers you contacted yet?

[rns91294]

You know, it took a long time for eBay to show I sent my money for this as well.  But I did get the email confirming I sent payment.  Luckily, as it is pending, i can cancel it at any time until he picks it up.  I am just not used to seeing it show up that way.  It stills shows and unclaimed at PayPal.  Maybe he only has access to a computer on the weekends?

Only one of his other buyers wrote me back.  she said she has not had any problems yet.  I wrote her back and told her about the pending payment, so we will see if she writes back.  If she paid Friday or Saturday and the payment was claimed, then I will give him until the weekend to see what happens.  I am debating on writing to eBay about the bad email address though.  I know he responded to my original question on Friday night, but to come back undeliverable to my yahoo account and work account just doesn't seem right.

[Anna]

Maybe he only has access to a computer on the weekends?

I know he responded to my original question on Friday night, but to come back undeliverable to my yahoo account and work account just doesn't seem right.

If he has one of those free email accounts, like I have, you would receive an undeliverable notice if his 2 meg limit was reached.  Notices sent from PayPal and ebay are large files and it doesn't take too many of them to use up your 2 meg allotment.  If he's a pretty heavy seller, his mailbox might just be full and that's why your emails won't go through.

[rns91294]

He only has 5 feedback from over 6 months ago and had about 6 items ending this past Friday night.  The fist undeliverable message I got was prior to those auctions ending.  Like I said, he did respond to me though, so even though I got the failure notice, he got the email.  His eBay account is through world.att.net and his Paypal account is with msn. I am starting to think he might only check on weekends, but if you had auctions ending, and were waiting for a buyer to pay for your item, wouldn't you want to check more frequently?  

The payment is still pending, or unclaimed.

I must say, this is an odd one.

[Nienna]

It sounds as though eBay is only something he does on occasion, so he probably wouldn't think it odd to leave people waiting!
You could try contacting eBay re: his 'iffy' email address, but you might as well get his contact details through them anyway. Perhaps he's been daft enough to put a phone number on his contact info?
If so, you could give him a ring or leave him a message!

I always smile when I see phone numbers for the international transactions I've done ... like I'm going to make an international call!!
If I'd bought something so expensive from a seller abroad, it would probably be cheaper for me to fly over and collect it in person! LOL

I think giving him till the weekend is a good idea, as it might be that he only has internet access then like you say. He could be working away during the week, or working shifts?

Keeping my fingers crossed it works out well!

[rns91294]

Or (and I did not even think of this until I read your response) Maybe he is on vacation this week and the auctions ended a day or two before he left!!  He is only a couple states away from me, so I could definitely call him.  Although, if it was an international call, I would just call from work.  I know that sounds awful, but I am making work phone calls to other countries very often, so it wouldn't look odd at all.

i will keep you all posted.  If anyone else has any opinions or experiences like this, please do share.  In the meantime, i will try to remain calm and patient and see what happens.

[Nienna]

That's true ... how inconsiderate of him if he's on holiday!
Now that is naughty making non-work calls but if you work all day when else can you do it?

Deep steadying breaths and quietly chanting 'ohm' should keep you chilled-out!

[rns91294]

Nienna, you are too funny.  

Yes, it is naughty, but I call overseas all the time at work (for work related reasons, as I deal with journal publishers and a lot are overseas).  But hey, by the time I get home at 6:30 pm, it is 11:30 pm in England, so i couldn't possibly call someone from the UK at that time...right?

Although, the seller is in the US, so none of that matters anyway

"Ohm"..........."Ohm"............"Ohm"......."Ohm".....

[Boggle]

I've still got some paypal payments showing as still needing payment, despite getting a receipt through. I reckon the system is either down or running veryyyyyy ssssllllllooooowwwwwlllllyyyyyy!
  Altogether now, ohm......ohm...