Sometimes trades just go bad and when they do there is usually a small window of opportunity to fix them. Both the buyer and the seller have to be reasonable and see things from the other guys perspective and work together to seek a solution that works for both parties.<\/p>\n
I recently had a huge spring clean and sold an awful lot of stuff on my Trademe auctions. All was going well until James bought a a Squier off me to mod into something better.<\/p>\n
Living where I do I have extra costs if buyers want something couriered or sent urgently. I have an arrangement with my RD man to do special runs up to Tuakau Post Shop for me that saves me 120km two hour return drive but costs me $20. My payment instructions clearly point out that extra costs are involved if the buyer specifies urgent delivery.<\/p>\n
James specified that he did want this, in fact he wanted the guitar overnight.<\/p>\n
The RD man had been and gone on Friday morning by the time I got James’ email so I got in the car and headed up to town. Overnight courier was quoted at $64. Now I know that it’s harder to seek more postage than to refund so I went with the 1 – 3 day Track and Trace. Postage cost $22 and 2 rolls of gaffer tape to secure the hardcase cost $4 from the $2 in Pukekohe. Total post and packing costs comes to $26. Had I made the RD man trip I’d have got an invoice for a further $20 so my P&P estimate of $45 was close enough.<\/p>\n
By the time I got home I had another email from James. He wanted to know the track and trace number so he could pick the guitar up from the depot in the morning. I emailed him the Track and Trace number and pointed out that I had gone the extra mile to get the guitar away as fast as possible.<\/p>\n
Monday rolls around and I have another email from James. He wants to know why I didn’t use overnight courier. I remind him that the auction stated NZ Post Track and Trace and tell him overnight courier for the item was considerably more than he had paid. I told him I work out postage and packing on a worst case scenario and refund the difference once the goods have been confirmed as arrived.<\/p>\n
Tuesday and James has his guitar. He sees the postage was only $22 and demands a refund of $23.<\/p>\n
I point out that he has omitted to allow for packing costs of $4 and ask that he makes this allowance before we settle on a refund figure.<\/p>\n
James refuses to accept the packing tape as a legitimate part of the P&P cost and once more demands a refund of $23 but this time he adds the closing line “I expect you to stop wasting my time and refund my $23.00 for postage as any thing less is tantamount to theft and as much as I really can not be bothered I will take appropriate action which if nothing else will waste your time also.”<\/p>\n
I take the opportunity to once more remind James of the packing cost which he deems to be theft and advise him that there is an inherent problem with a negotiating style that involves one party holding a gun to the other guys head and saying ‘do what I say or else’ and that is you are left with too few options if the other guy calls you on your threat.<\/p>\n
James reply is predictable, personal abuse and foul language “You appear to be a very petty and small minded twit, take your money and fuck off.”<\/p>\n
So I gracefully accept his kind invitation.<\/p>\n
James complains to Trademe about the overcharging, I reply to them advising that James was made aware of the extra costs and refused to acknowledge the packing tape costs and they seem OK with that.<\/p>\n
James gives negative feedback. I do the same.<\/p>\n
End result, James pulled the trigger, lost a $19 postage refund and hopefully learned a valuable lesson about negotiations.<\/p>\n
Negotiating while holding a gun to the other guys head is just dumb. When he refuses to back down all you are left with is a bloody mess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes trades just go bad and when they do there is usually a small window of opportunity to fix them. Both the buyer and the seller have to be reasonable and see things from the other guys perspective and work together to seek a solution that works for both parties.<\/p>\n
I recently had a huge <\/p>\n