Expert: Rob James - 8/28/2008

Question
I am new to selling on ebay and I don't know how to handle a circumstance with a buyer.
This buyer won two auctions and didn't pay for two weeks. I filed in unpaid item dispute.
She then emails me asking to combine the two auctions he won in one envelope for 4.80. Her grammer and clarity is rather poor but I made out that she was asking for the shipping discount because she is terminally disabled. She mentions in the next several emails that she's not doing good and she's ill and something bad happened, and so fourth. We coorespand for a few days over this because she wanted to get another auction at the starting bid price and have me end it early and mail it in the same envelope. And in every email she tells me I'm terminally disabled and he wants a shipping discount or the item discounted or whatever.
I told her that if she wants the 3rd auction to bid on it, adn i'll wait to ship out the other two. However, I can't fit 2 let alone 3 of the auctions in an envelope so she'll have to pay the large flat rate box price.
It's been a couple days again and I haven't heard from her. This is getting frustrating.
What should I do from here?

Answer
Melissa,

Basically, if she hasn't paid you are under no obligation to send anything at all. If she did pay then she is bound by the terms of your listing. That is, of course, unless you decide to work with her to accommodate her request.

Once you have made it clear what your policies are you shouldn't feel frustrated about it. What I would do is send one final email to clearly explain your terms and that you will not vary your policies. Any further questions would be met with a referral to the terms.

In case you weren't aware, eBay is imposing some huge changes in the coming weeks. Final value fees will be increased by as much as 6 percent on certain categories. I am seriously rethinking my presence on eBay and am looking into alternatives. Just something you may want to consider as a new seller.

I hope the information helps.

Rob