MikeandLynnell's FAQ's
As of late October 2008, Ebay will no longer allow sellers to accept Money Orders or accept any other form of payment other than their sister-company Paypal or online credit card disclosure. This is, according to Ebay, a matter of TRUST AND SAFETY. We want you , our customers, to know that WE trust you, and if this is an inconvenience for you, please complain to ebay. We are sorry for Ebays rule changes, please understand it is not our decision. We will accept Money Orders until it becomes official.

Mike and Lynnell's FAQ's
( frequently asked questions )

Section 1: Shipping Questions
Section 2: Payment / non-payment Questions
Section 3: Pricing Questions
Section 4: Feedback Questions
Section 5: Our Policies and Assorted Questions

Please scroll down to the section that will better answer your questions.

Section 1: Shipping

Do we ship internationally? - Yes, we have shipped to at least 80 countries, and we continue to serve most countries today. We will not ship to Mexico or Israel anymore as in the past, absolutely none of the packages sent to those countries, made it to their destinations. We also only ship Global Priority mail internationally as we have had difficulty with past buyers asking for the slowest / cheapest shipping rates, and not having the patience to wait the allotted time for delivery. Sometimes the slowest shipping rates can take up to two calendar months, and buyers in the past, have rarely waited more than 10 days before complaining that they have not received their package. Again, we only ship Global Priority for international orders, e-mail for a quote on your desired item prior to bidding, and tell us where you live.

Do you combine shipping charges for multiple purchases? - Yes, of course, and we pride ourselves on how much we save our customers. We base our combined shipping rates on weight, and size of package. That's the only fair way to do it. We do NOT add a flat rate per item added, as it rarely works out to the customers favor.

How will I know how much my combined shipping will be on my order? - Please wait for us to send our invoice before paying for combined orders. If you pay by Ebays invoice, it will not reflect our combined shipping rates, and you will overpay us. Also, we usually pack and ship items immediately when paid, so if you pay each item individually, they will be packed individually and no shipping rates can be refunded.

Why does my shipping, or s/h seem high? - Very few Ebayers, especially buyers, understand what actual United States Postal Service rates are today, as they have gone up 3 times in the past 2 years. Also, they have raised their rates to reflect package sizing, the larger the package, the more it costs, not necessarily driven by weight alone anymore. Also, many other Ebay sellers illegally ship items via USPS media mail, and according to federal laws, only printed materials may be shipped media mail. We get an average of 15 ebayers a week asking us to break federal laws to ship their items Media Rate. The answeris NO, NEVER! We will not place our freedom at risk to save you a few cents. Also, when sellers do this, shipping to buyers media rate, illegally, it places both the seller and buyer at risk for prosecution, so if you are comparing our shipping rates to others that have used that practice, then, yes, our rates do seem high, but we ship legally. WE MAKE ABSOLUTELY NO PROFIT ON SHIPPING, NEVER HAVE, NEVER WILL!

How soon do you ship? - We pack items as soon as they are paid for. We go to the Post Office 5-6 days per week, and we have back door privileges. We take about 100 items per visit, and have been known to roll them right onto the Semi truck heading out of town. However, the local Main Hub for the Post Office has made an inter-office pre sort by zone mandatory. What that means is, now, every package brought in is sorted and seperated by destination zone, This sort is now delaying our deliveries by a whole day. If you look at our feedbacks, you will see most comments remark about our lightening fast shipping, so please do not worry about that extra day. In most cases, you will have your package within a week. Please allow longer for Holidays and weekends.

Why is my order delayed or late? - If you paid via a Paypal e-check, paying with your credit card through Paypal, please understand, we do not get paid until that e-check clears, it can take 3-10 days for your payment to clear and be credited to our account by this payment method. Of course we do not ship items until we have received payment.
Also, please make sure if you pay via Money Order or Cashiers Check, that you include the Ebay auction number in the envelope with the payment, so we can process your payment. You would not believe how difficult it is to find which item an anonymous payment belongs to. Many times, buyers have not even included their names or any information, we have had to find the zip code stamped on envelope to see the destination, and search all of our completed auctions for one going to that zip code, this takes days to do.

Why haven't I received my package? - We get no less than 20 people a week telling us they have not received their packages, and since we purchase online tracking on every item we ship, we usually have to tell them to check with thier families, as it was delivered on a certain date. So, please check with your family or friends to see if they received it. We are not responsible for "lost packages" if the Postal Service shows it as delivered. Also, if you have moved, and have not updated your Paypal confirmed shipping address, there is a good chance that when we print out your shipping label, Paypal will supply us with your old address. We have had this happen, a customer moved from California to Kansas and failed to update his Paypal Address, of course we shipped it to the address he supplied in Paypal, which is what automatically prints. The package is still sitting at the target Post Office and the customer is angry WITH US because he did not get his package. WE are not responsible for your mistakes.

Can we ship your item to another address other than your own? - Yes, but please make arrangements prior to the end of auction, because when we receive payment, we ship to the address given in the account automatically.

Section 2: Payment / Non-Payment

What forms of Payment do we accept? - We accept Paypal, but we prefer Money Orders or Cashiers Checks. We do not accept cash unless we complete a transaction in person, and we will NEVER accept a personal check. Any personal checks received will be shredded and treated as a non-paid item.

What are our policies on Non-Paid items? - After buying , or winning the bid on an item, the buyer has 7 days to get their payment to us. In some cases, that means You will have to go to the bank to get a Money order that next day to mail it off, as we do count the mailing of payments as days, we also count weekends, so please be prompt in your paying practices. After 7 days, we reserve the right to file a non-paying bidder alert on customers, on the Ebay site, causing Ebay to get involved in the resolution of the non-paid item. A strike on your account, for non-paid items, will limit your ability to bid/buy on the Ebay site. We have to do this to get all of our sales fees returned to us. We cannot just look the other way and forget it, because every time someone clicks to buy something from us, it costs us money. If we don't get paid for the item, we have lost money. If you are having problems with your payment, please contact us and let us know. We are patient, but please, be honest. We are told at least 5 times per week, that someone cannot pay because of a death in the family. When this happens, we check their bidding history, and usually find they have bought many other items after buying ours, and paid for them. In many cases people have bid on several auctions, the same items, and pay only the one they win that is the lowest price, leaving the others unpaid.

Section 3: Pricing

How can we sell a $50.00 item for $10.00? - It's easy, we are professional shoppers. We shop in 9 states physically, and many more online. We physically average about 100 locations every week where we shop for the best, most collectible, rarest and most value for the money, items.We buy low and sell low. We know how to shop, and pay smaller prices, and pass the savings onto our customers, making a very minimal profit. Most auctions, we price the starting bid only about 25 cents above actual cost. We do this, because we know half the items we sell, are bid higher by other bidders, and because we dislike price gougers, on Ebay, or in any store worldwide.

Why did the price go up when we re-listed an item into our store, after it didn't sell in auction? - Sure, logic tells us that if the price was too high for an item, that when re-listed, it should be cheaper, but this is not the case on Ebay. Most often, it is not the price, it is the timing. The person, or people wanting those items did not search Ebay that week, and missed it. Also, we know there are many people on Ebay that are purposely stalking items, waiting for it to go off un-bid, so they can make low offers for the item. If we allowed this practice, we would have little luck selling anything in the future. We raise the price of an item, when we have to re-list it into our store, up to 10%, sometimes more, rarely less. Ebay has raised the rates again, to sell from the store is very expensive. Many buyers do not know that when an item is won at auction, it costs less for the seller than it does to buy an item from their store. Ebay takes a large cut out of every item bought from our store, and if we do not raise the price when re-listing, we will lose money every time, because again, we price items only a few cents above cost. Typically the only people to complain about an item being re-listed at a higher price, are those trying to get us to sell below our cost.

Section 4: Feedback

Why is our feedback rating under 100% - Not for a lack of trying! When dealing with the public, anything can happen. Our first negative feedback was from someone who "just wanted to be our first". We got 3 negative feedbacks from someone trying to steal from thier employer, charge them for the shipping of personal items through their business account, and using stolen funds to pay for the items, we refused to do business with this person, and contacted their employer. We got 3 negatives from them for our honesty. We have received many negative feedbacks from people who bought items, did not pay, and left us a negative in retaliation. We have even had buyers buy an item and leave a negative immediately, just to be mean, and then not pay for the item. Most of them are no longer on Ebay, as their behaviour got them ejected. Oh, and here's a good one, we have received many negatives accidentally. People say "great item great job" on a negative feedback. Still, our feedback percentage being as high as it is, and having sold as many items as we have, we are very proud of ourselves.We have deserved 5 in the past 3 years, and regret those.

How will threats be handled? - Anytime we receive a threat from a buyer, threatening to give us a negative feedback unless we conform to their demands, we report this to Ebay security, as it is a breach in their policies, and we reserve the right to contact law enforcement if a law has been broken.

Section 5: Our Policies and Assorted Questions

What is our return policy? - We are in business to sell a few things and make customers happy. If you are not happy with your purchase, please notify us immediately. Every circumstance is different, and in some cases refunds are given, whole or partial - depending on the issue. If the issue is not our fault, no refunds or exchanges. Our customer satisfaction guarantee will be null and void if you leave negative or neutral feedback without first trying to contact us about the problem. Now, this can be broken down into further questions and answers, there are several circumstances that can cause a customer to be dissatisfied. First, it is the buyers responsibility to make sure they want an item they are bidding on, once they bid, it becomes a binding contract. Failure to read item descriptions is not a reason to not complete a transaction. If you wear a size large shirt, and bid on a medium, you must purchase the medium, it's your fault for not reading, and we will not forgive the debt. We have had several customers cut open their packages with scissors and ruin the product inside. We are not going to refund for damage that obviously is not our fault, which includes the Postal Service. Please see next question.

Why should you buy shipping insurance? - The United States Postal Service delivers approximately 100 items every day for us, odds dictate that sometimes some will get lost, or arrive damaged. We claim no responsibility for this occurance, as we package all of our items, thoroughly, safely, and professionally. If you chose not to purchase insurance, and your plate shows up in a million pieces, you will have a million reminders to buy insurance next time. If you Do purchase insurance, and a problem occurs, we will assist you in filing your claim. Notice, this problem happens approximately once a month, out of thousands of packages.

Why does my item seem different than in the auction? - We hear this question frequently, Please understand, there are 3 of us here, listing items into our account, using three different computers and 3 different cameras to take the pictures, and from 2 different houses. Sometimes the lighting in a room, or the flash of a camera can make an item look lighter or darker than it really is, also please understand, you are looking at the pictures on YOUR computer, and we cannot possibly know how you have your monitors settings set. Your settings may be set darker or lighter, thus adjusting the color in the pictures.

How can I cancel a bid? - Please do not ask us to cancel a bid, we won't do it. It is YOUR responsibility to cancel your own bids if you wish to do so. Please click into the auction you bid on, and into the bids to adjust or cancel yours. Your bid cancellations are logged and tracked by Ebay, and may affect your bidding future if it becomes frequent.

Why do auctions for video games have such a long message? - It's really sad, but many video game buyers illegally attempt to defraud us by buying an item from us, and telling us it doesn't work, when we know it does. They try shipping their own broken game or game system back to us and think we will refund their money, thus giving them a free replacement for their broken games. This is fraud , and theft by deception, and it is illegal, and we WILL report this to the local Police, and to the department where the customer lives. Please keep in mind too, video games and their systems are fragile, micro-electonics in most cases, and shipping can jar or damage systems easily. Please buy shipping insurance, or any damage in shipping is on you.

If this page has not answered your question, please go back to the auction, and ask us a question. We treasure our customers, and the friends we have made in service to our customers. Please see our feedback, it proves that we have satisfied many thousands of customers, and shows our willingness to be fair. Thanks for looking.

MIKE LYNNELL AND JESSICA

mikeandlynnell on Ebay.com