Screw half.com

[wagegoth]

A few months ago, I tracked down two copies of The Colorado Kid for my husband, the giant Stephen King fan. He had started watching Haven with me and wanted to read the book. (It turned out he already had, but it made for a nice gift.) Since I got two, one brand new, one used in new condition, he told me to sell the new one and make a little money.

I listed it on half.com and it sold. Unfortunately, I was really sick at the time, and it took me a couple of extra days to ship it out. The day I mailed it, the buyer emailed asking about it. First bit of weird, as they wanted it shipped media mail, not a rush service. They included instructions not to enclose the invoice as the book was "a gift." Second bit of weird, as the book was going to the buyer, not a giftee's address. I ship it off, carefully packaged to protect the book, which wasn't even cracked.

Then, big surprise, exactly 90 days later, I am notified by half.com that the buyer is claiming they never received the book. 90 days means that I cannot rate the buyer. I have no feedback recourse. They never emailed me about this very important gift in the past three months.

It appears that they are resellers, and my guess is they got the book, sold it, and decided to take advantage and get their money back from me. Because of the changes at eBay and half.com, and the way the book was shipped, I have absolutely no recourse or way to prove that the book was shipped and received.

I'm never going to sell anything on half.com again. If I can't ship without a tracking method, I will not sell anything there.

[Andara Bledin]

If I can't ship without a tracking method, I will not sell anything there online.

Fixed it. This is sage advice to anyone selling anything over the Internet.

However, if the recipient is claiming non-receipt but isn't filing any lost package reports or attempting to contact you regarding it, report him to the USPS (if applicable) for attempting to commit mail fraud, since that appears to be what he's doing.

By the way, USPS is the applicable agency for reports of any form of mail fraud for any item shipped in the US, regardless of actual carrier.

^-.-^

[Sapphire Silk]

This kind of crap is why I quit selling online, except for Craigslist. Everyone else wants too big a bite out of your profits, and does little to protect the seller.

Sorry to hear that happened. I used to sell a lot of RPGs on eBay and always used media mail because it was so much cheaper. This is good warning to use tracking if I ever decide to sell more stuff online.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Because of the changes at eBay and half.com, and the way the book was shipped, I have absolutely no recourse or way to prove that the book was shipped and received.

And therefore you are squarely in fucksville.

Seller not able to prove receipt=buyer receives full refund. Period. The end. I'm not quite sure how half.com's policies differ from ebay's, but I would assume this to be the case on both sites.

Also, just personally, I would not offer media mail as a shipping option. Now that buyers have all the leverage and sellers can't neg buyers at all, I can end up getting negative feedback just because some idiot doesn't understand that media mail's low price means slow shipping and gets impatient.

[MoonCat]

There's no limit on how long a buyer can wait to report that they didn't receive something? That's messed up.

Any way you can search the site to see if this buyer listed the same item for sale recently? That would point to his having actually received it.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Any way you can search the site to see if this buyer listed the same item for sale recently? That would point to his having actually received it.

But not to half.com/ebay's satisfaction. That wouldn't actually prove the item they sold is the item they purchased from the OP.

Only online tracking and delivery confirmation fits the bill.

[fireheart]

That's why when my parents sold stuff online, they put down "pickup only"

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That's why when my parents sold stuff online, they put down "pickup only"

Not a good idea unless payment is cash only at the time of pickup. Otherwise your buyer can claim he/she never received the item and win by default, because again you do not have online tracking and proof of delivery. And checks can always go bouncy bouncy.

Sorry if I'm lecturing too much. It's never a good thing to see good people out their money and out their stuff.

[Sapphire Silk]

For pickup order, I follow the Craigslist rule of thumb: cash only, in a public well lighted place, during the day.

Still not absolutely fool proof, but a lot safer than letting strangers know where I live.

[fma_fanatic]

I thought there was a way to print postage, tracking labels with Paypal?

Actually, don't give up on selling online. You can download an application from USPS.com called Shipping Assistant. It will let you create a label with tracking, but you still have to either put on your own stamps or buy postage at the post office.

http://www.usps.com/shippingassistan...ppingassistant

I use it when I ship stuff and pay for my postage at work. You can also buy postage online via USPS, but it only allows for Priority and Express mail, where as Shipping Assistant will allow for all mail services.

[Imprl59]

So why are you upset with half.com? I can understand being mad at the sucky buyer for ripping you off or even being mad at yourself for shipping via an untrackable means but I don't see any reason to be mad at a web site.

[Aethian]

You can do payment through online and get free delivery confirmation through USPS.com

[ThirdGenRetail]

I second not giving up on selling online, but add a stipulation to your items - All items WILL be sent in a manner that they can be tracked, and they WILL be signed for. It might weed out the would-be scammers.

[wildman]

I second not giving up on selling online, but add a stipulation to your items - All items WILL be sent in a manner that they can be tracked, and they WILL be signed for. It might weed out the would-be scammers.

That is exactly how I state my terms when I sell something online. When a buyer complains about the terms, I tell them it's my way or the highway.

[wagegoth]

So why are you upset with half.com? I can understand being mad at the sucky buyer for ripping you off or even being mad at yourself for shipping via an untrackable means but I don't see any reason to be mad at a web site.

I'm mad because I have no recourse with half.com. eBay purchased half.com and altered the way things were done. I have to offer media mail shipping, which I don't on eBay, but half.com allows me to list books for an unlimited amount of time until they sell. If I list a book on eBay and it doesn't sell, I'm still out listing fees. Half.com gave me little time to respond. Because of media mail shipping, I can't track the package or verify delivery. They allowed the buyer to make a claim, did not require them to show proof that they contacted me, did not hold the buyer responsible in any way. It didn't used to be this way. They've altered the way feedback is set up, so I can't out a bad buyer, or check up on them.