Need advice on a sale that is going sideways 7 7

[paul747]

Simple. The board member who purchased the books should be 100 percent responsible for the transaction. I would settle on a 15(%) percent restocking fee and be done with it! only fair.

[Bird]

Situation is unfortunate and avoidable. Even if it was not a sales thread the sales thread rules are good ones to follow, so if you had a return policy this could be more clear cut. The friend is relevant but muddles the picture...what are your return conditions and do they apply here. Answer that for yourself and go from there. Returns always suck, always, but they are generally unavoidable if the buyer wants to return.

[miraclemet]

2 minutes ago, paul747 said:

Simple. The board member who purchased the books should be 100 percent responsible for the transaction. I would settle on a 15(%) percent restocking fee and be done with it! only fair.

But if the boardie is "one hundred percent responsible for the transaction" and they agreed to the condition of the books and the price, and the request for return is without cause, why take the books back (per your 15% restocking fee)? Especially since he's already made anothner purchase with those funds (which means HE would have to break HIS purchase agreement to get the funds to refund the boardie).

[jimjum12]

This answer may or may not be popular..... but here it is.... but it is in the form of a question. Did you offer an unconditional return period ? With my sales, I accept returns for ANY reason within 2 weeks of receipt.... even for a change of mind. After 2 weeks it would depend on the circumstances..... undisclosed resto I try to cover for 6 months to accommodate for CGC's turnaround times. If this were my problem I would accept the return unless it was agreeded that I was out of the loop in advance. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Batman1fan]

You clearly have done everything you could to uphold your end of the transaction.  You took the time to grade each book and send multiple scans to the buyer, packaged them well and by the buyers own admission they were delivered safe and sound.  One question I have, is how does the boardie know if they are safe and sound if he didn't open the package?  If he did open it, I'd say he will have a tough time getting paypal to side with him, especially since you have records of all of your correspondence.  The fact that his friend wants to back out of the deal is 100% the boardies problem, not yours.  The fact that the boardie knew his friend didn't have the money for the books in the first place,  and he is obviously a sneaky person who is trying to buy books that he doesn't want his wife to know about should have been HUGE red flags for the boardie.  What if the friend couldn't come up with the money?  What if his wife found out? It's very likely that one or both of these situations did occur.  That is the boardies problem, not yours.  Your deal was with the boardie, his deal is with his friend.  Your deal was completed to the boardies satisfaction by his own admission.  The boardies deal with his friend is a separate transaction, and as such, it's not your problem.  You gave the boardie a good deal by selling him the books at less than half of guide value, and lets be honest, we are not talking about an Action 1 or Detective 27 here.  The 35 books come out to less than $20.00 per book.  If the boardie can't afford to uphold his end of the transaction, he might be indulging in a hobby that he can't afford.  Again, that's not your problem.  No decent person would attempt what this boardie is trying, and it shows they are of questionable character, at best. At this point, you have 2 options that I would consider: 1) Tell the boardie that you upheld your end of the transaction, his problem with his friend is not your problem. You can refuse to take the books back and let the paypal chips fall where they may, or 2) Tell the boardie you will take the books back, but he will have to pay for shipping both ways as well as any paypal fees incurred.  You also let him know that you will disclose his name in this thread, which you should direct him to if he doesn't already know about it. If he cares at all about his reputation, he will decide to uphold his end of the deal and keep the books.  If not, once his identity becomes known, his chances of ever doing business with any other boardies here are right about zero.  Reputations mean a lot, especially in relatively small communities like this.  I can tell you that personally, there is one boardie here that I used to buy a lot of comics from, both here and on ebay. He ran into some problems and his reputation took a big hit and even though I never lost anything on any of my transactions with him, I will never deal with him again.  If you have the time to deal with it, I would tell him you're not taking the books back, and the boardie can decide if he wants to do the right thing or not, knowing full well what the consequences will be if he doesn't.  Either way, I'm sorry this happened to you, as you in no way deserve it.

 

[wombat]

Did he even offer to cover shipping and paypal fees? I would also nominate him for the probation list. 

[jimjum12]

When a refund is made through Paypal, the fees are automatically refunded as well..... the seller is no longer "out" of the fee. Three way sales are always potentially problematic..... unless I know the buyer(s) VERY well, I would probably pass. The OP is always first class, so this is a sad development, although I wouldn't be sure that the middle man doesn't feel horrible about the turn of events.... it's premature to start assigning motives without hearing both sides. If it were me and I had ordered these books for a friend, I would feel responsible to have the funds to back it up.....knowing that if it imploded, I would be responsible to find another buyer on my own and that the books would be mine until then.... GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Shadow Images]

It's on the boardie who bought the books. What he was or was not doing with them is on him, transaction complete. Sound's like someone I would not want to deal with in the future as they take no personal responsibility for their own actions. Unfortunately it could and should cost said boardie the ability to deal with anyone here in the future.

[Jordysnordy]

3 hours ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Ridiculous.

Sorry this happened to you.  You were doing someone a favor and it went south.  Maybe I missed it but just to be clear, the person who “couldn’t afford them” is not a board member?

Correct. The boardie bought them for a friend, who as far as I know isn’t a board member. The boardie is the middle man. The boardie paid me for the books and I shipped the books to him. His friend is supposed to pay him back by the end of the month but supposedly his wife got wind of this and threw a fit.

[Jordysnordy]

2 hours ago, miraclemet said:

You fulfilled every requirement of your end of  the transaction, so you shouldn't end up being the one that gets screwed.

If the buyer jumped the gun before getting assurances that his buddy wanted the books, that's on him.

Sounds like with a little effort he can sell the books and break even (if you sold them for 1/2 market, he should be able to get that and more on ebay).

He (the boardie buying for a friend) made the mistake, he should have to deal with the consequences.

One compromise solution is you agree to take the books back and sell them again, but he doesn't get his $$ back until they sell. And if they sell for less than the original sale price, the boardie buyer eats the difference (again since this was his fault)

The buddy was supposedly showed the scans that I sent to the boardie and after seeing the scans he approved the deal.

[Jordysnordy]

2 hours ago, miraclemet said:

But if the boardie is "one hundred percent responsible for the transaction" and they agreed to the condition of the books and the price, and the request for return is without cause, why take the books back (per your 15% restocking fee)? Especially since he's already made anothner purchase with those funds (which means HE would have to break HIS purchase agreement to get the funds to refund the boardie).

I have committed the funds to another purchase but I won’t back out of any agreements. I can cover it but I try and finance new purchases with proceeds from sales of other books.

[Jordysnordy]

3 hours ago, jimjum12 said:

This answer may or may not be popular..... but here it is.... but it is in the form of a question. Did you offer an unconditional return period ? With my sales, I accept returns for ANY reason within 2 weeks of receipt.... even for a change of mind. After 2 weeks it would depend on the circumstances..... undisclosed resto I try to cover for 6 months to accommodate for CGC's turnaround times. If this were my problem I would accept the return unless it was agreeded that I was out of the loop in advance. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

To be honest we never discussed returns so some of this may be on me. I sent scans of all of the higher grade books and he asked for another scan which I also provided. I’m a pretty good grader and after they both saw the scans, everything was agreed on. I even told them to check my Kudos thread to see that I am actually a good grader and great packer.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Jordysnordy

[Jordysnordy]

2 hours ago, Batman1fan said:

You clearly have done everything you could to uphold your end of the transaction.  You took the time to grade each book and send multiple scans to the buyer, packaged them well and by the buyers own admission they were delivered safe and sound.  One question I have, is how does the boardie know if they are safe and sound if he didn't open the package?  If he did open it, I'd say he will have a tough time getting paypal to side with him, especially since you have records of all of your correspondence.  The fact that his friend wants to back out of the deal is 100% the boardies problem, not yours.  The fact that the boardie knew his friend didn't have the money for the books in the first place,  and he is obviously a sneaky person who is trying to buy books that he doesn't want his wife to know about should have been HUGE red flags for the boardie.  What if the friend couldn't come up with the money?  What if his wife found out? It's very likely that one or both of these situations did occur.  That is the boardies problem, not yours.  Your deal was with the boardie, his deal is with his friend.  Your deal was completed to the boardies satisfaction by his own admission.  The boardies deal with his friend is a separate transaction, and as such, it's not your problem.  You gave the boardie a good deal by selling him the books at less than half of guide value, and lets be honest, we are not talking about an Action 1 or Detective 27 here.  The 35 books come out to less than $20.00 per book.  If the boardie can't afford to uphold his end of the transaction, he might be indulging in a hobby that he can't afford.  Again, that's not your problem.  No decent person would attempt what this boardie is trying, and it shows they are of questionable character, at best. At this point, you have 2 options that I would consider: 1) Tell the boardie that you upheld your end of the transaction, his problem with his friend is not your problem. You can refuse to take the books back and let the paypal chips fall where they may, or 2) Tell the boardie you will take the books back, but he will have to pay for shipping both ways as well as any paypal fees incurred.  You also let him know that you will disclose his name in this thread, which you should direct him to if he doesn't already know about it. If he cares at all about his reputation, he will decide to uphold his end of the deal and keep the books.  If not, once his identity becomes known, his chances of ever doing business with any other boardies here are right about zero.  Reputations mean a lot, especially in relatively small communities like this.  I can tell you that personally, there is one boardie here that I used to buy a lot of comics from, both here and on ebay. He ran into some problems and his reputation took a big hit and even though I never lost anything on any of my transactions with him, I will never deal with him again.  If you have the time to deal with it, I would tell him you're not taking the books back, and the boardie can decide if he wants to do the right thing or not, knowing full well what the consequences will be if he doesn't.  Either way, I'm sorry this happened to you, as you in no way deserve it.

 

The box arrived and the boardie says he did not open it. Unless the box got destroyed by USPS I will assume the books are safe inside as I am a VERY good packer. He did not mentioned any condition issues with the box - just that it has arrived. He has not opened it because he is saying he will return it to the post office and refuse it. He seems to be more knowledgeable than me about USPS rules as I’m in Canada and am no5 familiar with USPS regulations.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Jordysnordy

[Jordysnordy]

2 hours ago, wombat said:

Did he even offer to cover shipping and paypal fees? I would also nominate him for the probation list. 

Not yet as we haven’t gotten that far. He is supposed to speak to his buddy again today but he has already “warned”me that his buddy is going to probably put him on mute/ignore 

[newshane]

12 hours ago, Jordysnordy said:

I recently sold about 35 books to a boardie who was buying them for a friend. He did his friend a favour. The boardie paid me and then his friend was going to reimburse him after he receives the books from the boardie. It took me quite a while to properly grade and price each book and then send multiple scans of the higher grade books so that the boardie could verify my grading. I’m a pretty good grader and he was happy with them. We then agreed on a price, meaning the boardie’s friend accepted the price. I packed them all up and sent them out after receiving the payment from the boardie. (I didn’t ask for friends and family even though I gave him a very good deal). I got an email from the boardie saying that the books were delivered safe and sound but now his friend wants to back out of the sale. The friend won’t pay the boardie and the boardie wants to return the books to me for a refund. The boardie has the box and it is unopened and says if his friend won’t pay him, he will take the box to the post office and refuse it ( I’m in Canada and not sure if you can even do this as I’m unaware of how USPS works). I feel bad for the boardie and I’m not sure how to handle it. We never discussed returns as he was happy with the books from the scans. I already have committed the funds to purchase other books so I’m torn over what to do. Advice would be appreciated. I have never had this happen before and want to try and be as fair as I can be.

That is HIS problem, not YOUR problem. Please tell me who this is so I can block them.

[Jordysnordy]

1 hour ago, jimjum12 said:

When a refund is made through Paypal, the fees are automatically refunded as well..... the seller is no longer "out" of the fee. Three way sales are always potentially problematic..... unless I know the buyer(s) VERY well, I would probably pass. The OP is always first class, so this is a sad development, although I wouldn't be sure that the middle man doesn't feel horrible about the turn of events.... it's premature to start assigning motives without hearing both sides. If it were me and I had ordered these books for a friend, I would feel responsible to have the funds to back it up.....knowing that if it imploded, I would be responsible to find another buyer on my own and that the books would be mine until then.... GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

The middle man had the funds to pay me but now that his boardie won’t pay him, he says he needs the refund to pay his rent. “Friend” was supposed to repay boardie at the end of April. I haven’t divulged any info about the boardie because I don’t want to cause him any board damage - that’s not my intention. I truly want advice on the best way to handle this mess. I have done many, many transactions on the boards and this is my 1st issue.

[Jordysnordy]

2 minutes ago, newshane said:

That is HIS problem, not YOUR problem. Please tell me who this is so I can block them.

Unfortunately it may be my problem if he can actually return the box to the post and office and thus refuse it. Plus if he claims against me with PayPal who knows how this will play out. 

[newshane]

Looks like I'll be adding NO THIRD PARTY SALES to my sales thread rules.

It's a shame you have to write an essay just to cover your own tail...

and I'm also amazed at how many people don't bother to read the rules of sale in the first place! SMFH

[newshane]

3 minutes ago, Jordysnordy said:

Unfortunately it may be my problem if he can actually return the box to the post and office and thus refuse it. Plus if he claims against me with PayPal who knows how this will play out. 

 

I think that he is basically threatening you in order to get a refund. That's the part that angers me the most. Disgusting.

[Jordysnordy]

2 minutes ago, newshane said:

 

I think that he is basically threatening you in order to get a refund. That's the part that angers me the most. Disgusting.

He hasn’t mentioned a PayPal claim yet - that’s just me assuming that would be his next step after “refusing” the box if I don’t accept the return.