"A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger." Prov 15:1

A UK bidder had placed a $.99 bid for one of my items, then checked the calculator and discovered it was $21 S&H (only one dollar was H). She fired off a nastygram to me--the usual buyer accusation of exorbitant shipping. She pointed out that she'd bought something from the US only two weeks ago, and shipping was a lot less.

My first inclination was to be nasty right back. I don't have much respect for people who want something cheap, but don't bother to check the S&H before bidding.

Instead I thanked her for checking S&H and agreed the item simply wasn't worth the shipping. I then explained what had happened on May 14, and suggested that she tell her fellow Brit eBayers that there had been Big Changes in postal fees on the other side of the pond. I mentioned that it wasn't a simple rate increase, but new classifications, so they really needed to check on particular items' costs rather than just assuming it was all more expensive. I canceled the bid and thanked her again.

Now the reward--this morning I got an apology!

Makes my day.

Ned