My Bad Blog Sale Experience: Advice?

Sunday 1 December 2013

Image Source - Edited
Being a beauty (or fashion) blogger, you often see girls popping up a post titled "Blog Sale" with a selection of products they don't need or want anymore and so are offering the rest of their readers a chance to buy something they like at a bargain price.

I always click on the post to see if there's anything that catches my eye, sometimes there is but it's usually just before pay day (typical) and I can't splurge. A couple of months ago, I spotted a few items advertised on someone's blog sale and one of them was an item I had wanted for ages. For once, I did actually have some money so I eagerly sent an email across asking if the items were still available. I received one back saying that they were and we agreed on a price and after a slight hitch with me sending the payment to the wrong email address, everything was sorted. 

A week went by of me waiting for Mr Post Man to knock and deliver my little selection of goodies but nothing turned up. I checked for a delivery card or if it had been left somewhere else because I hadn't been in but that wasn't the case. I sent another email across asking if she'd had the chance to send it across yet and I was assured that it was in the post and should be with me soon. Another 10 days later and it still hadn't arrived - obviously I was getting a little concerned that it must have gotten lost in the post at this point.

I sent another email across asking if proof of postage had been obtained and was told that it had and she would head to the Post Office to sort it out for me. That's where things started to go down hill, the communication became less frequent and I had to send a couple of emails prompting for an update and I then received an email back that I found a little confusing giving me information about how it had been delivered by a courier and it had been tracked down and had no missed deliveries for the day. 

I wasn't aware that Royal Mail used couriers so I asked my Dad who frequently uses eBay and often sends parcels and he told me that the information given to me didn't sound right, so I decided to head down to my local Post Office to ask for their advice and what would be likely to happen in this situation. I was given the procedure of what happens with a missing parcel and sent an email across explaining my concerns about what I'd been told. I received one back soon after telling me that she was given different information and that she would try and look into it for me and if she could clarify the situation, she'd send across a refund to me a week later as the items were clearly not going to turn up. I chased the situation up again a couple of days ago and was told a refund had been sent back to the account. I was dubious and when the Paypal account was checked, unsurprisingly, there was no money in there.

It's now been over 2 months since I sent across payment and my items still haven't turned up and neither has a refund. I don't know what to make of the situation to be honest, I wanted to think that it was just mis-communication or a mistake on her behalf but it seems I've clearly been given false information and although I don't want to think that someone is lying to me and has stolen my money, it's starting to become the only conclusion I can draw from the whole thing which is so disappointing. I don't expect a refund at this point, after a couple of weeks I pretty much guessed my money was gone and I wasn't going to be getting anything in return but I still don't want to let it go. Annoyingly, as I was told to pay through the "friends/family" option on PayPal, I have no way of putting in a complaint or reclaiming my money.

I just thought I'd post this because I feel I was far too trusting and probably quite unlucky too as I've seen a lot of girls talking about items they've received in a blog sale and thought that it would all go smoothly for me too. It's a real shame as I've met some lovely people through blogging that I will speak to on Twitter now and again and it's sad that as a little community, not everyone treats other people with respect and trust. I couldn't make my mind up as to whether to post the name of the blogger who's done this; they have a significantly larger following than I do and I'm not sure how many people will even read this or if it would cause a hassle. On the one hand, I want people to be wary of buying anything from her in the future but at the same time, I don't really want any drama as I'm not a fan of conflict so perhaps I should just forget about it... What would you do if you were me?

EDIT:  I have now received a full refund this evening, thanks for your advice for everyone who commented/tweeted. 

How have you found blog sales? Have you had any issues either as a buyer or a seller?

19 comments :

  1. Wow I don't quite know what to make of this. I'm looking into doing my own blog sale soon and when I saw this post come up on my dashboard, I knew I had to read it. It's actually got me questioning whether I should even do one to be honest.
    I do hope it does eventually sorts itself out for you…Would love to know what truthfully happened on their part though.

    x

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    1. Thanks for your comment! I don't think you should be put off doing one, I think the key thing is to send your stuff via tracked delivery so that you can prove it was sent and give the name of the person who signed for it if you have any problems. She can't provide me with any details of who apparently signed for it and keeps skirting around my questions so I can only presume she never sent it at this point. x

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  2. This doesn't sound right to me but don't let the experience put you buying from blog sales again. The only thing I can recommend is you open a case with Paypal to retrieve your money, I personally have not done this before but know people who have & obtained a refund. Hope it works out for you x

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    1. Thanks for your advice, I would do but sadly I'm past the 45 day period I could do that as it's dragged on for so long :-( And I paid through the friends and family option which means you can't put in a claim! I can't think of anything else I could do x

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    2. I would personally then name & shame them on twitter a) to notify others & b) to put them in a corner to sort this out & refund you, they won't like the bad attention that's for sure x

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    3. Thanks for your reply, I had considered doing this as I thought the same thing but twitter can get quite nasty and I didn't want some war going on haha x

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    4. Not to intrude. But I think you should. Because otherwise others will fall into the same trap you did. Naming and shaming is horrible but it saves others from buying stuff from the same girl. Gosh. How rude. Also your obviously not going to get your money back. I would name them so you can warn others that she is not trustworthy to buy off of.

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    5. Of course you're not intruding Nadja, thanks for your input! It wasn't something I wanted to do to be honest, but I felt like I'd been left with no other option. I sent a final email on Friday saying that I'd feel obligated to take further action if things weren't resolved by Sunday and needless to say, they weren't. x

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  3. It is a risk buying something from a stranger. Because while we don't like to think that those type of people don't exist they totally do. For me, the only thing I make sure of is for them to send me an invoice instead of gifting the payment. Nice article!

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    1. I know, it's so annoying, wish I had been more careful and had a way to claim back. x

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  4. This is horrible experience. I hope it doesn't put you off, there are plenty of honest bloggers out there. Xx

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    1. Thanks Amy, I know, I hear so many good things that bloggers get from sales, it's just unfortunate I got unlucky on this occasion! xx

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  5. that's awful, i'm hosting my own blog sale I made sure I had proof of postage and send off the goodies the next day, I won't spend more than £10 on a blog sale incase anything like this happens to me because I would be gutted! xxx

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    1. Definitely a good idea as it can work both ways! Fortunately I did only spend £12 inc p&p but it's not really the money that I'm annoyed about, it's the fact that I've been lied to for the past 2 months. Hope everything goes well for you :-) xx

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  6. This is an awful situation for you to be in! I'm sorry to happened to you.. I think that we all need to be more careful with blog sales, swaps and anything that involves putting your trust in someone over the internet. As you said - the blogging community is beautiful but it's such a shame that some people aren't treating others with the same respect and trust.

    I would contact her explaining how disappointed and horrified you are in what she has done and then tell you that you have name and shamed her on your own blog.. Which I think you should do in this post! She did the wrong thing so you have everything right to be angry and upset. Especially if someone is going to buy from her :(

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    1. Thanks Sarah, I definitely agree it is risky sending money to people you don't know, especially unsecurely with no way to claim it back! I will know for the future though. I have taken everyone's advice and updated the post with her name. x

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  7. I'm really sorry this happened to you, have you tried emailing paypal anyway? They will sometimes help with this (I have had it happen to a friend, she got a refund)

    Ineffable Beauty

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  8. What a shame that happened to you! It's never nice to give and receive nothing in return. I would've said it was 100% misunderstanding until I read about the lack of communication and lack of refund... hmm! Let's just hope it doesn't happen to another person who is willing to buy their things xx

    Olivia | Thoughts, fashion and beauty.

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  9. Omg this is ridiculous, I'll be a lot more wary in future. Glad you got it sorted in the end xx


    Rachael from beautypea.com

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