Bounced Check Blues

I have been selling on eBay since January 2000. A check from one of my customers bounced! It looks like I am not going to get paid and I am furious over this.
In all the years I am selling on eBay, I only had one customer bounce a check, but he apologized profusely and returned my money, plus paid my bank fees, plus added another $20 for my troubles. I never have waited for "checks to clear", I just send the item out. A lot of eBay sellers lecture potential buyers about checks, tell them it will be 10 days to wait to clear the check if they send one. In the olden days, before most of my payments were electronic, I got a lot of checks in the mail. I was not able to fathom the headache of waiting for checks to clear before shipping- I looked at is as an administrational nightmare. Well not any more! No more Ms. Nice Stupid Moron EBay Seller!

I have had a very trusting attitude and never had a problem. The large majority of my customers now pay via Paypal, which is an email credit card system. The convenience and safety of this method is that I do not see their credit card numbers, and the payment to me is instant and guaranteed. About 95% of my customers now pay through Paypal as opposed to 50% 3 years ago and 25% 6 years ago. Now, the other 5% usually sends money orders. However, I have told some of the customers, that if it was easier to send a personal check rather than buy a money order, that I would not "hold the check to clear before shipping". I trust my menswear customers. They are not out to cheat me over the clothing.

This was a different situation; a different customer base. I was selling some Columbia Fleece jackets that I bought wholesale. The idea was to sell them before Christmas to get in on the holiday buying frenzy. There was a very low profit margin on each jacket. However it was pretty easy money, as they were all the same so once the first auction was done, it was all done. For those of you wondering about the scam of making millions selling on eBay, it is not as easy as it may sound. I shelled out $1100 to a wholesaler for 48 jackets. My total profit. after paying eBay and Paypal fees, is only about $300. The check bounced for $42 and the bank charged me $5 fee. So $47 loss from a total $300 profit is a significant percentage of my profit: more than 15%! I want to kill this bitch! Frankly, I didn't even consider the possibility that it would bounce, checks come so rare to begin with.

Her emails are being returned- she deleted the yahoo account. I have her phone number. All I need to do is get up the guts to call her on the phone. I also have her address, I could send her several invoices. I could also try to redeposit the check, but that is a gamble because if it bounces again, I get charged another $5. I could also post her personal information here! If anyone has any advice let me know. If anyone wants to call her for me, let me know!

I need to start being more wary of my fellow man. Between having my purse stolen and this customer screwing me, I am afraid I am becoming distrustful of everyone. Well, not really, one's basic nature cannot really change over night. But in general I do believe in the honestly of my customers and people I interact with. Most people who find a wallet would return it. Most people who shop on eBay are honest. Most sellers on eBay are honest.

Hopefully I collect this money. I do not like the idea of making a phone call to her. I do not know why I am such a wuss! Maybe I should publish her name and address on this blog? Shame her into paying me? Then I think about Stolen Sidekick fiasco and think twice about that!