Help eBay moral issue

[Bene505]

I sold a piece of sailing hardware on eBay this week. I underestimated shipping enough that if I ship it out to the seller, I will lose money overall.

I remember something about there not being a contract unless both parties stands to gain. Am I now to sell this thing at a loss???

I communicated with the buyer. I sent this:

Thanks for the email. I'd like to cancel the auction and get you a refund. I brought it for shipping yesterday to a place that does UPS, FedEx and USPS. The cost to ship it is a lot more that the total price (your bid plus shipping).

Regards,
Brad

And got this response:

it was a no reserve auction i bid on it in good faith and paid for it
you should have put a reserve on it if you didn't intend to sell it to
the high bidder

His reply actually pissed me off a little. It doesn't make sense why he wouldn't mutually cancel the deal.

So what do you think? Do I have to take a loss here, or should I involve eBay and work to get this overturned?

Regards,
Brad

[SJ34]

As painful as it is I would honor the deal and chalk it up to experience. You'll also preserve your rating.

[skipgundlach]

I believe this to be a case of caveat vendor - it was your responsibility to establish how much it would cost to ship it, within whatever geographic limits you wanted to set.

I don't know what it was which proved so challenging - oversized, overweight, etc. - but it could have been avoided by taking whatever it was to whichever shipper you chose and getting a specific price on the cost to send it to the furthest point you were willing to accept as a destination.

No contract requires both parties to profit. Gain is subjective; ask the lenders who are settling for pennies on the dollar in the foreclosure market, just to be rid of the problem.

So, if you promised shipping at a defined price, the price paid for the product is irrelevant.

Man up...

L8R

Skip, eating a few myself in the past


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[fordo]

The buyer is right. Ship it, take the loss, and chalk it up to education. You have a contract; there is no requirement theat both parties profit.

[seabreeze_97]

Turn it around. What if you'd over-estimated and the buyer decided it wasn't worth it? Life lesson. Bet you won't do it again.

[r.furborough]

Yep, I kinda agree, this is one of those deals that you have to 'suck it up'

It sucks though, but just chalk it up to experience.....

[eherlihy]

Been there - done that.

Sold a couple of things with FREE SHIPPING, or forgot to take into account Ebay and PayPal fees, and lost money on the deal.
I rationalized it by calling it "Education Expense," and I no longer sell with free shipping, and keep my starting bid high enough that I'll at least break even.

Heck, you sold it cause you weren't using it. Right? Therefore, even if you sell at a loss, the money in your account is worth more than the thing that you aren't using.

[DwayneSpeer]

Just send it as you promised and quite whining.

[BarryL]

Hi Brad,

I would not sell the item. You made an honest mistake, you are not trying to take advantage of someone. Why should he profit because you made a mistake? I would risk the hit to your rating and post it again.

Barry

[rikhall]

What's your word worth?