Forget the original title, this is now the "I am a thief for using PP gift" thread

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LorenzoL

LorenzoL

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First I want to stress that this happened on another forum, so I am not going to give names or anything. I just want to hear your opinions about an awkward situation stemming from a knife I shipped to Russia over two months ago.

Back in early May, I sold a custom knife to a Russian member on another forum, he paid with a PP gift and requested that I ship with USPS Intl. Express. He also insisted that I write the address both in English and in Russian. I followed his instructions and also added tracking, although I was not sure it would work all the way. Of course, I forwarded the DC number to the buyer.
A couple weeks later, USPS track & confirm showed the package as delivered. After a week or so without hearing from the buyer, I contacted him by PM to see if everything was OK.
It took several more PMs over another couple weeks to get him to respond. I was quite stunned by his answer, which was in effect that he did not remember which shipping address he had given me! I immediately forwarded him his original PM with the address and also the link to the USPS track & confirm page. That was a month or so ago and I never heard from him anymore.

Of course, I know I should just move on and be thankful that it was a PP gift, but I am wondering whether I should leave some sort of cautionary feedback about him in the forum where the transaction took place (BTW, I see that he is very often online, so there is no way he does not receive my PMs).
I will also probably never ship to Russia again despite the fact that I had a smooth deal with another Russian buyer during that same period.
 
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First things first: NEVER DO A PAYPAL GIFT FOR AN ITEM SOLD!!! Not only is it stealing (stealing from Paypal is still stealing), it affords you no protection from Paypal, something I find very comforting when shipping knives overseas. When somebody ask me to accept or pay with Paypal Gift payment it shows me they are dishonest right from the start and dishonesty + no protection = trouble!

As far as the guy in Russia not responding, don't worry about it: He paid with Paypal Gift and there is nothing he can do whatsoever about it now ;)
 
why should you leave a cautionary feedback? it's pp gift so you are covered all the way, you have tracking to prove it's been shipped and delivered, he's made no accusation of non-delivery. Where exactly do you feel the need for caution?

the most you can say is that he's not good at communicating, but what communication is really needed if he paid you on time with a non-refundable source?
 
Horizon_Seeker said:
why should you leave a cautionary feedback? it's pp gift so you are covered all the way, you have tracking to prove it's been shipped and delivered, he's made no accusation of non-delivery. Where exactly do you feel the need for caution?

the most you can say is that he's not good at communicating, but what communication is really needed if he paid you on time with a non-refundable source?
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+1

If he did not receive the knife, he'd likely be sounding off and you'd hear about it. I think you should simply move on, perhaps leaving no feedback rather than something positive. A cautionary note in feedback is being overly "nit-picky" IMHO.
 
You got nothing to worry about. Sounds like he got the knife and wanted to possibly feel you out to see if he could say he didn't get it. Either way pp gift option provides him no recourse and believe me, if he didn't recieve it you would have heard from him.

Oh yeah I forgot. No point in making a thread. If there was a thread for every inconsiderate person these feedback forums would be filled to the brims.
 
Thank you all for your helpful comments (that is, apart the first one about PP, a gift payment should ALWAYS be requested when shipping Intl.). I know I might be over-reacting, but as Nate just pointed out I believe the buyer was trying to find out whether I knew the knife had been delivered or not. How could someone ask for a package to be sent to a friend's address and then claim that they don't remember which friend's address they gave?
 
I don't give a damn what your rationale is, if you sell something and the buyer uses paypal, it ain't a gift and you're stealing from paypal, plain and simple.
 
Aside from any paypal issues, some people are simply not good at communicating. I recently did some business with somebody and, while everything worked out OK, the other guy was just not a communicator. It's almost like he wanted to do the deal without actually having to talk to anyone. A little odd but, as I said, a successful deal and nothing to stress over.
 
Gatogordo said:
I don't give a damn what your rationale is, if you sell something and the buyer uses paypal, it ain't a gift and you're stealing from paypal, plain and simple.
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Probably you are not familiar with PP's Buyer Protection and the fact that if a buyer opens an "item not received" claim the seller has to prove that the buyer actually received it.
How do you do that with Intl. shipping when tracking does not always work all the way for some destinations?
Why would you do that if the seller agrees to assume all shipping risks.
Clearly you have an agenda but please express it in your own thread, make about people like me cheating PayPal out of their hard-earned fees, and quit posting in my thread, I do not want it to turn into a discussion on PP.
 
Why should a person make payment as gift and give up all buyer protection? Too easy for someone to take the money and not send a thing.

If neither the seller nor the buyer trust the other party and both are only trying to cover their arses, there is never going to be any deal, obviously. Unless it happens as an exchange of cash and goods in the presence of witnesses and preferably lawyers too.
 
Dude, you have been on this Forum for three years and not a single transaction in your feedback, so why do you feel you know something about selling or trading knives?
 
Well actually, I have done a couple of deals here and more elsewhere. Have sold several knives to buyers in other countries so I do know a little something about it.

But this is not about me or what trading I may or may not have done. I was only trying to point out that having every angle covered for both buyer and seller is pretty near impossible.
 
LorenzoL said:
Probably you are not familiar with PP's Buyer Protection and the fact that if a buyer opens an "item not received" claim the seller has to prove that the buyer actually received it.
How do you do that with Intl. shipping when tracking does not always work all the way for some destinations?
Why would you do that if the seller agrees to assume all shipping risks.
Clearly you have an agenda but please express it in your own thread, make about people like me cheating PayPal out of their hard-earned fees, and quit posting in my thread, I do not want it to turn into a discussion on PP.
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Well, I guess, duh, I'd arrange for a different form of payment because I don't plan on cheating paypal or anyone else. I'd also have it in writing that the BUYER has accepted all shipping risks.

Unless you have some type of internet based business, I'd bet serious money that I've used paypal a helluva lot more than you have and, I absolutely stand by my statement, you're not cheating, you're stealing from paypal if you instruct someone to pay you using paypal as a gift when it clearly isn't.

PS: My agenda is that I don't like thieves, large or small, and I like hypocrites about as much.
 
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Gentlemen, we will have infractions handed out like door prizes if the personal attacks do not stop. Now.

Discuss the topic. Do not discuss each other.
 
This thread is closed. The new title is a guarantee of arguments and an admission the original topic is of no further interest. The forum has already done a PayPal ethics thread -- and that was closed yesterday for personal attacks.
 
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