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Hurricane help?
 

Ok I am going to need to call ebay ( first time actually calling in 18 mos ive had stealth )

we live in san antonio, evacuated Friday. we got lots of rain and flooding.
it stopped raining today, was able to make it home, out of about 400 orders sold over weekend about 40 are destroyed. we had flooding..
paypal has correct address here in san antonio..
But i am going to have to cancel about 40 orders that i cant clean replace ( cases of diapers, used game boy, coffee mugs they fell and broke - etc )

will whoever i speak to question why im in san antonio not alamo california that i live in? ( I get i can be on vacation for the summer, etc - but will they look far enough back to see that my ip never changed - im probably way over thinking this, i made sure to write down any thing they could ask me

Re: Hurricane help?
 

The location could be an issue. I had a similar problem last year when a hurricane hit SC and destroyed the road into our neighborhood. We couldn't get out and USPS couldn't get in for a full week. LUCKILY the account location was one state over so when I called to explain the delayed shipments my actual location was close enough to my stealth address for them not to question me.

You're going to need to call in either way IMO to get rid of all the defects. Surely you'll find a sympathetic rep. If asked, tell them you've been staying with a family member for the summer.

Re: Hurricane help?
 

I mean, you could also just message each of the buyers and tell them what happened, and just cancel them yourself without having ebay step in. Not once have I EVER gotten a defect for not having an item. Just gotta cancel it with " buyer asked to cancel". So message the buyer, tell them the problem, and when they respond, cancel the sale.

Re: Hurricane help?
 

^^ I guess that's an option but it's going to be difficult with 40+ orders. I could understand if it were only a handful but in the time it takes for 40+ buyers to respond to your explanation messages, you will have racked up "late shipment" defects for most of those orders. You can cancel all 40+, send messages explaining things to the customers afterwards, and hope none of them get mad. But honestly I think it would raise a huge red flag with eBay if all of a sudden you cancel 40+ orders. Especially if you say the customers requested all those cancellations. I think your chances would be better calling in and explaining some of your inventory was destroyed by a hurricane. They're sympathetic when it comes to natural disasters. Choice is yours though OP. I wish you the best either way. I hope the hurricane hasn't done too much damage to you and your business.

Re: Hurricane help?
 

Worst case scenario, you could say warehouse its being shipped from is in a different location to the registered address. The latter address being where you "operate" from.

i.e. both addresses are yours, but the goods were damaged at the other address.

Re: Hurricane help?
 

I thought about that, but have 40ish buyer cancel wont that bring rating down or red flag as well?

Re: Hurricane help?
 

I agree with this option. Simply cancel the order and select customer chose to cancel. I do this at times when a customer doesnt use international shipping programs or orders outside of the limit of the listing. Very rarely does a customer question. If they do question, simply explain this item was warehoused and affected by where the hurricane flooded areas, and you want them to be satisfied with product and delivery. It would take a true prick to argue with that in the situation that has occurred.

Re: Hurricane help?
 

Just cancel the orders with the "buyer asked" option as mentioned above. I have done this hundreds of times as I'm a dropshipper and sometimes supplier runs unexpectedly out of stock. I have always made up some excuse like software problems with eBay and never got a neg. deedback or a defect. Especially as you have a very good reason, they should understand.

Re: Hurricane help?
 

WARNING> EBAY LINK

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Announc.../ba-p/27410453

Re: Hurricane help?
 

Same thing they did for us after Matthew last year. The breaks given are regional though so this doesn't apply if you don't appear to be shipping your orders from an area in Texas affected by the storm. Not sure if the automatic breaks will be applied for an account registered in California. Calling in with the warehouse story seems reasonable though.

Re: Hurricane help?
 

Usually if your location on eBay is that disaster area, when a buyer message you, there'll be an automatic notice from eBay mentioning that you are in that area and to give you some time.

If they leave negative feedback, I'm pretty sure that they can remove it also.