e-Bay sale: Wow what a problem customer

Folks I am in a tough bind here. As often is the case both sides have some
foothold in this claim but I feel that this guy is being very unreasonable.
I have maintained professionalism thus far but now this guy is threatening
my PayPal account.

The background:
I was out of the country when an auction ended. I notified the buyer within
48 hours of the auction ending that I was out of the country and would
return on May 1. Upon returning I would mail his item ASAP. I received no
reply at that time.

I return to the country on May 1. On May 2, in the evening, I package this
guys item up. On May 3 I mailed the item right away in the morning. Upon
returning home that evening I find an e-mail from that was sent on around
10:30 PM May 2 saying he wants to back out of the sale if the items have not
shipped since he has a customer waiting on the items and has another venue
to purchase the same item. There is a follow up e-mail at 11:09 AM on May 3
with the same buyer stating that he need the items shipped ASAP as another
customer is waiting on them. Then I get an e-mail on May 3 with him wanting
to back out of the sale. In each e-mail he points to text in my auction
which states that "Checks must first clear with the bank before the item is
shipped. PayPal and money orders ship immediately". On the May 3 e-mail he
states that since the items were not sent as stated in the listing that he
wants to back out. As a somewhat unrelated side note his e-mails are filled
with spelling errors.

I e-mail the seller explaining that i shipped the previous day (a mistake in
verbiage, unfortuately as you will soon see).

On May 5 he receives the items and sends me this e-mail:
"hi patrick,

i find it very perculuier that you stated you shipped out day before you
replied to my email, yet postage was paid/stamped, and initiated on the 3rd
from your post office.
this is very disturbing, again as i had asked since you didn't expidite the
quarters to me as was stated in your listing, and i had to make other
arraingements for my customer, due to this.
i had made a promise to my customer, and needed to follow through, to make a
sale and keep a customer for future business.

i don't need these quarters now, and am not happy with how this worked out.
you made a promis commitment to ship out immeadiately on your auction
listing, and i bid accordingly to your promise/commitment.

we need to resolve this matter in a hopefully healthy manner, what do you
propose?????

i await a reply, and hopefully healthy solution, one we can both feel
comfortable with."

My reply to him:

"I stated at the time that the listing ended that I would not be able to
ship
until after May 1. You made no indication whatsoever at the time that you
needed the shipment to be expedited. Had I known there was an urgent need
to ship before that I could have contacted someone in the states to handle
the situation for me. There was never a request to expedite until May 2 -
one day after I informed you that I would return. By that time the order
had been packaged and it was sent before I read your e-mail.

All my auctions come with at least a 14 day return privilege, from the time
the goods were received, no questions asked as long as you have not opened
the boxes on them. Simply send the quarters back and I will issue a refund
check for the purchase amount less postage, e-Bay/PayPal fees, and
insurance."

Just before midnight on the 5th of May I get another e-mail from the guy:

"you made the statement concerning not shipping till beginning of may via
email after the auction had ended, and stated you were out of country. how
would i have known that other arraingments could be made with you being
away???? i am not the "amazing cresken".

the statement i am initially referring to, and what i went by in making my
decision to purchase was what you have listed in your auction page fore
these coins (located at the bottom of your listing) stating this
verbetim(actually copy/pasted your shipping instructions from listing:

Seller's payment instructions
PayPal, Money Orders, and Personal Checks are accepted. PayPal is mandatory
for international orders. PayPal and Money Orders ship immediately. Personal
Checks must clear before item is shipped. I do offer combined shipping for
multiple auctions won within 48 hours. Additional items are just $1 more. If
paying by check or money order you may combine auctions that finish within a
7 day period.

PAYPAL AND MONEY ORDERS SHIP IMMEADIATLEY.......... nothing states: OUT OF
COUNTRY, WILL SHIP UPON RETURN.......

I WILL NOT INCUR THE INITIAL 18.40 S&H AND INSURANCE PAID (WHEN IT COST YOU
ONLY 10.00 TOTAL) AND THE ADDITIONAL S&H/INSURANCE BACK TO YOU.

It took 10 days for you to act on this and i emailed you and got a reply a
day before you truly did ship out the coins, & i feel like you where trying
to salvage the sale, telling me they were already shipped out, when truly
they didn't ship till next day.

i ask once more to try to amicablly work this out, or i will contact ebay,
and leave appropriate feedback, and also file w/ paypal for transaction not
as stated and have your account frozen up till resolved.

this is something i would rather avoid, nor want to put the time/effort
into, but i am asking for a solution that is workable, or will be forced w/
no other choice, if it becomes nessesary."


Now at this point I am very angry. I was tempted to fire back an e-mail
saying that I do not appreciate threats. Perhaps for the future I should
change the text of my auction to say Paypal and money order ship as soon as
humanly possible. I mean if someone really wanted to get picky they could
claim if I did not ship within 5 minutes of a PayPal payment being recevived
since that does not constitute "immediately". The text was meant to
indicate only that checks have to clear first unlike Paypal and Money
Orders.

He asks how he was supposed to know I could make arrangements but on the
flip side how could I know he needed the shipment expedited if he did not
ask anything? Futhermore the $10 he cites is not shipping costs but merely
postage and signature confirmation. I offered this guy a return and he is
now treatening to shut down my PayPal account!

The reason I post this to the group is for a reality check. Am I being at
all unreasonable? He is clearly being unreasonable, yes?

Thanks for comments and criticisms alike.




--
CIA DEA DIA FBI KGB NSA WMD TLA