I have got TWELVE unpaid items over at eBay. This is a good bit worse than usual for a given week. And it’s alarming not just number-wise but also because I have had some friends and even colleagues hit the "Buy It Now" button at eBay over the last few months and then not follow through on the purchase; this upsets me because I don’t like to have to file the case that results in my friends and colleagues getting a black mark on their eBay account. But I have to if they don’t pay me, unless I want to absorb the eBay fees for selling an item I never got paid for ($6 bottle of oil = twenty cent insertion fee + sixty-six cent final value fee + fifty-three cent paypal fee. I know loan sharks with better rates). This doesn’t have anything to do with feedback – I couldn’t leave bad feedback if I wanted to, as eBay no longer allows sellers to leave anything but positives. It’s a black mark eBay puts on your record called an Unpaid Item Strike. In order to recoup the final value fees eBay charges me when you push "Buy It Now," whether or not you ever actually pay, I have to file an Unpaid Item Case for each item. If you had six items I have to file six Unpaid Item Cases.
This takes up my time chasing down money and makes me cranky = bad.
But what’s worse is that if you don’t respond and I have to ask eBay to have the case closed and my fees refunded to me, you get an Unpaid Item Strike = bad. You collect a few of them as a brand new eBay member, you can get a suspended account. You collect a few in a short period of time, many eBay sellers have their accounts set so that folks with a certain number of Unpaid Strikes over a certain time period are not allowed to bid on their items. This won’t matter to you at all if you don’t shop on eBay much, but it can really cramp your style if you do.
Finally, I am closing on Monday for the holidays. If you have an unpaid item, and you don’t pay for it until next Wednesday, you are not going to get it until 2011, because you completed the purchase after the store was closed. Then you are going to get mad and leave me crummy feedback even though it’s your fault and not mine, and that really sucks. So this is your friendly neighborhood spiritual goods and services supplier asking you to please, please remember that you need to complete your eBay transactions after you push "Buy It Now," ok?
If the shoe does not fit, don’t wear it! If you and I are exchanging emails or details about an item and you are in touch with me and I know what’s up and that you have not simply forgotten about the item you promised to purchase, then this does not apply to you. I only file an Unpaid case/strike if I HAVE to. BUT the 20th as a store closure date applies to all – if you want it this year, you need to get it before then or I can’t make any promises.
Happy holidays and happy hoodooing!
Big Lucky Hoodoo 