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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Holiday Buyers, the Good & Bad

Well I have had another run-in with a customer, this time on Amazon.
I have had a few books for sale on there since forever.

Last week I sold one of those books which would have net me $33.  I paid $2 for the book when I bought it.
Sounds good right?

It's an out of print book and quite sought after by chess aficionados for teaching kids out to play competitive chess.  It's especially a good book because it was the edition that came with a chess "self" timer.

This is my last copy of the book and it was buried under a stack of other books so when I pulled it out I saw it had some cosmetic issues......a dog eared corner and a dent on the cover of the book, but it is unread and the timer is still sealed under plastic.
So not wanting any problems I wrote to the buyer and attached photos of the issues to make sure they still wanted it.

They answered me and thanked me for being forthcoming with the information and then said it was for a gift(grandchild)but the child wouldn't have a problem with the condition of the book.

THEN.....they went on to say they would have to "think about this" for a day before deciding if they still wanted the book......and mentioned that they could get a "new" condition book from a different seller on Amazon for $18.

I went and looked at the other identical books like mine on Amazon.
Then I cancelled the transaction with that buyer.
Why you say?

Because the $18 copy was NOT new and most probably in similar condition to mine except that it was also used.  Besides this $18 seller I was the lowest priced seller of a new or used copy, with most copies being sold for around $100 or more.
PLUS, NONE of these other copies was the edition that included the Chess Timer!  This timer makes my copy a STEAL at $33!

Yah, this guy was trying to get me to sell this for a lot less than what he was paying and lying about my competition......like I wouldn't have gone and checked. Ha!
I hate sneaky people like this.

So now if he wants this book he can buy a used copy for $18 or spend about $100 on it for a "unused" copy.....and ALL of them do NOT have the timer.
8-)
And I'll just tuck this book back in case any of my grandchildren(when I have some)want to learn to play chess like their grandpa does.

But on the other side of selling at the Holidays--I woke up this morning to find an Etsy sale in my account.
Among what this person bought was that remnant I posted a listing for, for that cheap buyer who then disappeared and didn't spend a whole $1 on it. lolz
So the .20¢ I spent on that listing isn't a total loss.....ho ho ho!

Have you ever sold anything at the Holidays and had a problem with the buyer?

Sluggy

5 comments:

  1. Good for you for sticking up for yourself! No problems so far with my Ebay or Listia sales. Here's knocking on wood. lol

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  2. Ha! Good for you. You should have added a note back to them saying, by all means, you should go buy that $18 one that is used and has no timer!

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  3. I don't blame you one bit. Serves him right.

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  4. When I was a vendor at craft shows, there were problems. When people took things apart, pulling and measuring things, then finally told me they could make that cheaper, I took back the Cabbage Patch garment and with a smile told the person, "I think that would be the best thing for you to do."

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  5. Hubby ended up having enough issues with ebay buyers that he just quit selling there. It got to be so much trouble and not as profitable or fun for him.

    ReplyDelete

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