Seller's lack of experience causing problems.

[pimpom_in1]

I'm a buyer, but I will appreciate your opinions from a seller's point of view.

Recently, I committed to buy a product and chose Demand Draft as the mode of payment. The seller is apparently young and inexperienced. I had to explain FOUR TIMES in detail how to deal with a crossed DD.

It just so happened that my bank was short-handed due to a local incident and I could not have a DD made, so the next day I sent a cheque instead. The cheque was a core banking cheque and I explained that the process and realisation time will be exactly the same as with a DD.

Somehow, the seller managed to botch the process of depositing it into his account. I even talked to his bank and they agreed that there should not be any problem or delay.

The seller appears to be a decent young man, just totally inexperienced with banks and business deals. I told him to tear up my cheque and send me a photo of the torn-up cheque. He did.

It is now more than one week since I committed to buy the item. The seller is now demanding that I send him a DD, but I doubt his ability to deal with a DD any better than with a core banking cheque.

I'm leaving on an extended trip in a few days, so I requested him to despatch the item as soon as I send him a picture of the DD. He refuses, and says that I caused the delays by sending a cheque instead of a DD. He has also relisted the item on eBay - before we've concluded or cancelled the deal.

Please let me have your opinions about the whole thing.

[coolbrasco]

Hello pimpom_in1,

Sorry to know the situation. Good to know the seller is treated you nicely but did not ship the item.

Definitely you are very good buyer, there is no doubt about that. Unfortunately shipping an item with out receiving money credited in seller account is very dangerous for a seller. In case of credit failure, he looses all including shipping cost. We are very sorry say this to our buyers, we need to follow the eBay guidelines as a seller. Please see the following cases as a seller point of view

1. What if DD is lost in the courier.
2. What if the DD has been canceled after he took the picture.
3. What if there is a spelling mistake in DD that does not clear the DD.
4. What if the outstation cheque is not cleared.

Let me tell my bad experience : I used to sell children clothing in another account, that is closed now. A Lady customer from Pondicherry bought 2 items. He wrote excellent English and looked perfect eBayer, i was very pleased the way she wrote eMail, she said doing export business and rich. She bought two dress for her daughter for the value of 1500, they are expensive Princess costumes for special occasions. She told me that that's for her daughter's birthday and soon. So she said she will be sending a cheque to my address and ask me to ship as soon as i receive her cheque. I told her to deposit cash/DD in Pondicherry ICICI itself if she is that much hurry, she refused and she said already dispatched cheque to my address. I was a new seller and scared of shipping the item with out cleared credit in my account and waited for 1 week, then the Bank said the cheque is returned back because of insufficient funds. If i would have shipped 1500 item believing this buyer, i would have lost. I lost Rs.100 because of the returned cheque and still with me. After that the buyer is not replying. So my 1400 saved though i lost Rs.100.

So seller is in big trouble in case DD or cheque not cleared.

I recommend other method of payment which i am using right now. Seller has to have an account which gives online checking facility like ICICI bank, HDFC, Citibank etc, they have ATM every corner. Seller has to send his account number, so that the buyer can deposit cash, or cheque or DD in branch or ATM. The buyer should send the transaction number or DD number or Cheque number deposited. In 24-36 hours amount is always cleared, and seller can ship the item quickly. Also buyer saves time, money (Courier charges to send DD,Cheque). Also convenient for seller also check the amount credited and ship the item. Even for local cheques deposited there is no service charge.

Please don't mistake the sellers if they expect a credit in account. It is must for every seller and eBay does not protect sellers. If you are buyer even if you have a proof for Re.1 payment, you have complete protection for your money. But if a seller ships with out payment, it is on his own risk.

Please don't get discouraged by small issues, Happy eBaying !!!

Kind regards,
CoolBrasCo.

[blogram]

I'm a buyer, but I will appreciate your opinions from a seller's point of view.

from a seller or buyer anybody's point of view , you are being unfair to the seller

Recently, I committed to buy a product and chose Demand Draft as the mode of payment. The seller is apparently young and inexperienced. I had to explain FOUR TIMES in detail how to deal with a crossed DD.

all are young and inexperienced at some time , you would probably have to convince the best of sellers to accept a crossed DD ... eve if you explan FORTY TIMES , why would anyone accept a crossed DD? most legal businesses will prefer an account payee DD.

It just so happened that my bank was short-handed due to a local incident and I could not have a DD made, so the next day I sent a cheque instead. The cheque was a core banking cheque and I explained that the process and realisation time will be exactly the same as with a DD.

change your bankers if they are shorthanded to prepare a DD , whether the cheque is a core banking or hardcore banking , if a seller does not accept cheque , why insist ??

Somehow, the seller managed to botch the process of depositing it into his account. I even talked to his bank and they agreed that there should not be any problem or delay.

he did not want to deposit cheque , as simple as that

The seller appears to be a decent young man, just totally inexperienced with banks and business deals. I told him to tear up my cheque and send me a photo of the torn-up cheque. He did.

if somebody does not want to do what he feels as unsafe , he is labelled inexperienced . he is a wise man , if you can expect him to send goods without clear payment , is it not wrong of you to ask him to send photo of torn cheque ?

It is now more than one week since I committed to buy the item. The seller is now demanding that I send him a DD, but I doubt his ability to deal with a DD any better than with a core banking cheque.

if in doubt , dont send ! but the seller is right in not accepting cheque if he prefers a DD

I'm leaving on an extended trip in a few days, so I requested him to despatch the item as soon as I send him a picture of the DD. He refuses, and says that I caused the delays by sending a cheque instead of a DD. He has also relisted the item on eBay - before we've concluded or cancelled the deal.

you cannot force a seller to despatch item on picture of DD , in fact he would not be wrong if he does not despatch even with DD in his hands , he can wait till DD is cleared . definitely you caused delay and should have sent DD beforehand especially when you knew you were to leave on an extended trip

Please let me have your opinions about the whole thing.

whatever opinions you get over here , you're a smart EXPERIENCED buyer and will definitely make the INEXPERIENCED seller's life hard

[pimpom_in1]

@blogram :

Strong words from a month-old member with zero feedback. Let me answer your comments one by one.

all are young and inexperienced at some time , you would probably have to convince the best of sellers to accept a crossed DD ... eve if you explan FORTY TIMES , why would anyone accept a crossed DD? most legal businesses will prefer an account payee DD.

I'm an experienced businessman and send out several DDs a month - all crossed. I have never EVER known anyone to have a problem with that until now. It is simply safer than an uncrossed DD in case the DD gets stolen or lost in the mail.

This seller's difficulty was not with a crossed DD. He just could not grasp the idea of what to do with a DD - crossed or not crossed. I'm inclined to think he included DD as a mode of payment just because he saw other sellers do it.

change your bankers if they are shorthanded to prepare a DD ,

I said that they were short-handed due to a local incident. Half the bank employees were absent from work for a few days, and the seller was eager to get his money.

whether the cheque is a core banking or hardcore banking , if a seller does not accept cheque , why insist ??

The seller did NOT refuse to accept the cheque, and I did NOT insist.

he did not want to deposit cheque , as simple as that

You're jumping to conclusions all the time. He said that he went to his bank to deposit it. I called the bank later and they said there should not have been any problem.

When I asked him earlier if he had a bank account, he said that he had one with Mercantile. I'm now inclined to think he just named a bank in his neighbourhood without actually having an account.

if somebody does not want to do what he feels as unsafe , he is labelled inexperienced . he is a wise man , if you can expect him to send goods without clear payment, is it not wrong of you to ask him to send photo of torn cheque ?

Why is it wrong ? In fact, he asked me if he should send back the unused cheque or tear it up. I saved him the expense (and delay) of sending it back by accepting a photo of the torn-up cheque. I was quite aware that such a photo can be faked, but decided that losing Rs.2700/- would not ruin me.

if in doubt , dont send ! but the seller is right in not accepting cheque if he prefers a DD

Now you're telling me not to pay for an item I committed to buy. I repeat that he did NOT refuse to accept a cheque. He just didn't know how to deposit it (or a DD) into his account, or he lied about having an account but does not want to admit it now.

you cannot force a seller to despatch item on picture of DD , in fact he would not be wrong if he does not despatch even with DD in his hands , he can wait till DD is cleared .

Who's talking about "forcing" him - except you ? It was a request, a proposal.

definitely you caused delay and should have sent DD beforehand especially when you knew you were to leave on an extended trip

There was ample time to conclude the transaction before my trip if his ineptitude had not caused the delays. His repeated questions about what to do with a DD (crossed or uncrossed) alone caused a delay of several days.

Last night, he asked me to send a CHEQUE again and has given me a different bank account - that of a company where his cousin works !!!

whatever opinions you get over here , you're a smart EXPERIENCED buyer and will definitely make the INEXPERIENCED seller's life hard

Did you bother to read my feedbacks where most sellers said that I'm prompt with payment and communication ? Some of them were first-time sellers and I had to guide them through the deal - same as I've been doing with this one. Many of them carry on regular correspondence with me on other matters of mutual interest long after we concluded the deal.

Once I voluntarily paid more than the winning bid amount to a first-time seller who did not know about setting a reserve price, although I could have insisted on buying at the winning price.

Some of them did send the item as soon as I sent them pictures of the DD, envelope and despatch receipt. They did that without my asking them.

This is the first time I've requested anyone to do that, because I'm now pressed for time. I would not have had to do that if he could perform the simple act of depositing a cheque/DD into his account (I even gave him instructions on that) or (probably) lied about having an account.

[bestofkashmir]

Hello,
From a seller's point of view, I would say you must check before buying an item if you can pay using the options available with that particular listing. If you sent a Cheque instead of a DD, you are solely responsible for making it work; the buyer may know about DDs and not cheques; it's not uncommon or got anything to do with business experience.
So when the buyer asked you to send a DD, he is only stressing the fact that it is what he has asked from buyers in his listing.


Regards

[pimpom_in1]

@bestofkashmir
Thanks for replying to my post, but I think you did not read my posts carefully. The problems and delays arose NOT because I sent a cheque, but because he just could not understand what to do with a cheque or a DD. Sending a cheque was only incidental.

If you read my second post carefully, you'll see that he has now asked me to send a cheque again. He never objected to my sending a cheque in place of a DD.

If I could post the contents of all the emails we've exchanged, you'll understand. But it would be too long, boring to readers, and an invasion of privacy to the seller. So far I've sent him 19 emails, and he's sent me 16.

He relisted the item a few days ago. I told him he should not do that unless we cancel the deal, but he has not withdrawn it yet.

I proposed twice that we cancel the deal, but he does not want to do that. If I simply stop responding, he could file an Unpaid case against me. What would you do in my place ?

[runalaila_in1]

It Would Be Immature To Comment Judging Only 1 Side Of The Story
The Buyer's Conduct On Ebay Actually Suggest He Is A Fair Person
And Knowledgeable Too
So This Is Just A Plain Case Of Misunderstanding
Regarding Cross DD
We On An Average Deposit Around 16 DD's Daily
But We Never Accept CROSSED DD's ....
Only A/c Payee DD's Are Acceptable To Us

[pimpom_in1]

@runalaila_in1 :
Thanks for the reply. Your statement about making a comment from hearing only one side shows a mature attitude. But I don't understand why you consider a crossed DD and an A/c payee DD as two different things. They are the same thing.

A crossed DD is simply a DD that is marked "A/c payee only". This makes it impossible for anyone except the payee to encash it. I provides protection against theft or any unauthorised use of the DD. In fact, banks usually insist that any DD above Rs.20,000/- MUST be crossed.

Sending a crossed DD is standard practice in any business transaction, especially when it is to be sent to an unknown person in a distant place.

I explained this and other things so many times to the seller. It is why I asked the seller if he has his own bank account. I think the whole problem arose because he lied about having an account in his own name.

[coolbrasco]

Dear runalaila_in1,

Your answer is simple and easy to understand that there is a misunderstanding between seller and buyer.

To : pimpom_in1 added to long answer, my simple answer is, once your 100% money is in our account, your item is ready for shipping. So it is buyers responsibility is make necessary arrangement to credit Sellers account as soon as item is purchased. It is as simple as that.
Thanks for your kind co-operation.

Kind regards,
CoolBrasCo.

[pimpom_in1]

@coolbrasco :
It would be as simple as that if the seller can accept payment the way everyone else does. But he cannot. That is the whole point.

It is like trying to buy something from a shop whose owner does not know how to count money.

You can just walk away from a shop, but I cannot do that because this seller refuses to cancel the deal.