Is it unethical to ask a customer to pay my fees if they reneg on a deal?

I can't imagine this is the first unreasonable customer you have had to deal with. It sounds like you posted just to blow off some steam. I think continuing communication with this individual will only cause you more aggravation.

 

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It's hard to believe he would give up the entire deal over a couple of missing components. My guess is that this guy had two (or more) deals going at the same time and the other deal came in before yours (or at a better price). There are eBay buyers who do this all the time -- bid on multiple auctions of the same coin and if they win more than one, default on all but the best one. If they get too much negative feedback, they simply change IDs. Bypassing eBay eliminates the possibility of negative feedback.

Most likely the guy uses this kind of dealing frequently and any attempt to recover fees or to reprimand him will have no effect.

 

I guess, as You are in the business, you might, as suggested by Imrich, say "well, it's been a mess, because some people interested in buying the items checked out before I could remove them. If you're interested in the others they are still available, and we'll let you know when/if the missing ones show up in the future". A bit of "swallowing your hat", but the only way to behave when in business, as customer is king.
That said, yes, that guy (gal) didn't act in the right way.

Just my two pence
Q

 

You could ask (if you had actual loses) but he could say no.

 

Agreed.

No need to let the situation escalate out of control.

"The last time someone pulled this crap on me he ended up wearing a cement overcoat in the bottom of the Charles River."

"Guido and Mario were very angry when I told them about what you did. You are fooling with the wrong kind of Italians, pal. I think they are calmed down now, but please do not aggravate us again".

 

I'd just block him and put the sets back up on eBay. Then figure how you will handle the situation next time, if it occurs. It's unfortunate, but at least you didn't ship them to him and have him claim they never got there!

 

Karma, Karma, Karma....Little to gain, lots to lose within oneself. IMO.

Jim

 

I would "let it go". Your payment is your experience and the knowledge that your experience is being shared by your friends on this site. Lesson: Make sure you get an understanding with your customer BEFORE the transaction. If you run into a similar situation in the future, ask for a small deposit to cover your costs in case the deal does not go through.

Richard

 

I agree. It's all you can really do.

 

Yeah, sometimes a bad penny just keeps showing up --- ya's gots to do something to slam the door on that thing!

 

I dont think its unethical for your to try to bill him but your blowing in the wind to think you will ever collect it.

Just relist your items on the Bay and move on. There are all kinds of flakes out there. These people are not worth your time or getting angry over.

If this is somene off ebay just block him and go on. I have people off the Bay wanting to know if I will take such and such an offer and want me to close an auction early. I simply tell them everything in my store is priced as marked unless BIN or make offer. I will not halt an auction bc someone made an offer. These people flake out more often than not and are not worth fooling with. Dont let tirekickers waste your time.

 

I'm late to the dance here but, if I understand correctly, you agreed to a deal where you accepted an off-ebay sale. This is against the rules of ebay and you left yourself open to any consequences that may have happened. The "buyer" backed out and you lost out on something you shouldn't have agreed to in the first place. It's a wash. Move on.

What I might have done is to tell the buyer to bid on all the peices he wanted and you would accept the bids and immediately end the auctions. If he wouldn't want to outbid the auctions already being bid on, he wouldn't have to bid on anything. He'd be back where he ended up anyway and you wouldn't have ended auctions with a non-payment and loss of fees.