Blushing? You're blushing? Because you got a little impatient? I'll tell you blushing....... Blushing is when you are selling two different sets of drapes on ebay just a week apart, and you get so many emails from one of the buyers that you just can't see straight. So, this buyer Gushes when she gets my homemade drapes. She carries on about how beautiful they are and how she can't wait to hang them. I read and delete the email. Three days or so later, I get another email from this person saying she doesn't know what happened to me but could I please send her a tracking number for her shipment. She apologizes for being impatient but really is excited about my drapes. I am at first confused and then, I get it. She's trying to scam me into reimbursing her for drapes she already received. She's going to pretend they're lost. So I mutter some mean things at my computer, fire off a snarkey little response telling her she got her drapes days ago and whatever does she mean? (Thank Heavens I never actually put anything MEAN in writing!!) She sends back a sweetly worded email telling me that she is sorry if something happened to them, but she really wants that tracking number so she can check with UPS. So, I fly off the handle completely (to my DH and DD) and check on the tracking. UPS shows package delivered 3 days before. But then, I notice the note. "Package left on bench by side door" I wonder..........and I send her an email telling her this. She emails back one hour later all contrite and apologetic for bothering me. Turns out they never use that side entrance and her package had been there all the time. And the finishing touch to my story? I then check my feedback and find an almost word-for-word comment about the 'gorgeous drapes' or whatever........from the OTHER EBAYER who got drapes from me earlier. Their email addresses were slightly similar and the second ebayer (whose package was lost at her side door) was NOT trying to scam me as I had thought. That, my fine feathered friend, is Blushing. And the best part, is.........neither of them ever knew. Red

writersblock, thanks for pointing that out--I didn't know it. I was surprised to see Galaxy listed on the Fedex tracker. hm, it's so complex...I'll try to ferret out who's who, bearing in mind what you said. Would origination locale be an indicator? This was from La Grange, IL. gitananoel, thank goodness it looks like they finally made good on it and I won't have to do another dispute. The last one I did in 2004 was enough to last me for a while! neverdunn, I'll look at the implications of neutral feedback. At this point I'm thinking neutral--I have no idea what would have happened if I hadn't continued to bug them. Sure seems like my shipment lag time was longer than other folks' they've sold to.

Thank you for all the opinions and advice, I had no idea this topic would generate so much conversation. As I said earlier, I did send the seller a message requesting she research other shipping options. I received the following three messages. "I actually talked to my father in law who sells alot of stuff on ebay, He told me that the ups store is quite expensive, I thought they were all competitive, Let me go to a couple of extra places tomorrow and try to find a better price. Thanks for working with me, when I said 45 for shipping that is what my best guess was, I will check all the other places and see which is cheeper. I will let you know what I find tomorrow. Thanks" "I just wanted to clarify one more thing, I didnt buy the box for 34 or 35 dollars from the ups store thats just what they told me it would cost, There was a post office near buy that also sold boxes, I went there first but they closed down. I had never been to the ups store before. I did however get a box for free from my father in law so that will help, So dont send the 25 dollars you said you would, I might still be able to get to you for the 45 I said in the post. If it ends up being alittle more like 65 or close to that I can cover that, I just cant pay 135 to ship it. THanks again for being patient with me, I really do try to make everyone happy, And I will try to get this shipped out to you tomorrow. Thanks" "Hi, I just wanted to let you know, I went to the main ups office today and sent off your picture, The total cost including insurance was 45.41, I couldnt believe the differance from the ups store I went to, I was told the ups stores are induvidualy owned and can charge what they want. I will never use a ups store again. Sorry for all of the inconvienenc, Hope you love the painting." Hopefully the package will arrive in good shape and I will not have had to spend anymore money than I had originally planned. Thanks again!

You've already opened the case and waited the required amount of time. If the person hasnt paid and you close the case using non-payment as the reason ebay refunds your final value fee and it will tell you that right on the page if you read it. Then you can relist. You can't make a nonpaying buyer pay so if you don't close the case you won't get your final value fees back. I've been selling on ebay for 18 1/2 years, I'm not randomly making this stuff up. Its how you handle a nonresponsive nonpaying bidder.