Question re Selling on CPAP Auction

[plr66]

I rarely seem to see discussion here about transactions on CPAPauction.com, and am hoping that no news is good news. I've just listed a package deal there for an auto A-flex machine--my first selling auction--and I'm just sort of in the dark about how these transactions usually pan out. Would really like to hear your experiences with selling on this site. BTW--How do you receive people's questions?--is it in the forum Inbox, or by regular email?
Edited topic again....gettin' it right!

[cpapernewbie]

early this year I bought a used M series A flex with humidifier for $200.
Now it seems that the price in CPAPauction is not going down but going up, contrary to market expectation.
Only the S9 market seem to be going down. I think the auction site have too much new sellers so that the price is out of whack

[plr66]

Thanks for the response. I'm really looking for those with experience in selling items on the auction--how it all went in terms of the selling process with unknown buyers.

[Jay K]

The real problem is getting stuck with a deadbeat seller. I recently purchased an S9 that was listed as including the climateline hose. When I received the package it did not include the hose. I wrote to the seller who said that has happened on a few of her sales (the package did not include the upgraded hose) and she promised to send me the missing hose. Over one month later I have received nothing and she has refused to respond to my emails.

I contacted CPAPauction to register a preliminary complaint, and although they claim to have a dispute resolution procedure they did not even bother to respond to my complaint. But I guess I'm not surprised. When I earlier sent an email to cpap.com regarding one of my orders with them, they too did not extend the courtesy of a response (I mention this at risk of receiving flames from the cpap.com apologists on the board ).

[Mary Z]

nothing

[plr66]

Ever wonder where these people are getting this stuff? An odd mask or new machine I understand, but a lot of 12 of something I think has a high likelyhood of being stolen from a DME, Doctor, or sleep lab.
We may save, and do, in the short run, but I feel like we pay the price someplace else along the line. That said I do use the auction for unused masks and have gotten some good deals.

Geeze, MaryZ, Please do not de-rail my post. I'm a long-time ranter about folks who ripoff their Medicare by hording unneeded supplies and then selling them at profit. I'm absolutely not one of them, and I paid out of pocket for all the supplies & equipment I own.

[Jay K]

Yes I did give that seller a negative review and said what happened. However, I noticed she may have stopped selling things under that name, although I also noticed "someone else" from the same general area of the country just started, so there is a chance she is playing musical handles.

I should note that my email to cpapauction about this situation also expressed my concern that if I left negative feedback I was opening myself up to retaliatory negative feedback from the seller. So, I asked if there was any mechanism in place to prevent this. No answer. I nevertheless decided to post a negative review to alert others about this seller's unethical, and frankly criminal, practices.

Perhaps the reason the website failed to respond to my inquiry is they are not interested in having negative feedback posted (after all they get as a commission close to 10 percent of the sales).

[LoQ]

although they claim to have a dispute resolution procedure they did not even bother to respond to my complaint.

I had a similar problem with cpapauction.com, which is owned by cpap.com, I'm pretty sure. I may have had to write twice or it took the person at cpapauction.com a while to respond or something. Anyway, they didn't really resolve anything, they just asked the seller for a response. He was eventually banned from selling, but I never got any resolution for my problem, just a "sorry" from cpapauction.com.

I mention this at risk of receiving flames from the cpap.com apologists on the board

I recently bought something from cpap.com. I give them very high marks. I took advantage of their low price guarantee, and they honored it without weaseling. I was very impressed.

[LoQ]

Ever wonder where these people are getting this stuff? An odd mask or new machine I understand, but a lot of 12 of something I think has a high likelyhood of being stolen from a DME, Doctor, or sleep lab.

Wow, you are REALLY full of assumptions. There are lots of people selling on cpapauction.com who have online businesses selling medical supply, and find that cpapauction.com is just another channel for them. I don't think most of them give very good deals, but if they can sell there, more power to them.

[plr66]

Please folks...This post was intended to address Seller's concerns....
You can always open a new thread to deal with issues about buying on cpapauction.com
This is not the one.

[dtsm]

Please folks...This post was intended to address Seller's concerns....
You can always open a new thread to deal with issues about buying on cpapauction.com
This is not the one.

To answer some of your questions, this is what I learned earlier this year as a seller:

1. when you register on cpapauction, you need to include a valid email address. so when a buyer has a question, the question will come through via that email account.

2. you should always ask that buyer pay through paypal, and that it be include a verified address. what that means is either buyer's bank account and/or credit card address of record is the same as the shipping address.

3. some buyers are not experienced, so you need to be patient with them re payment. i had to walk two of them through registering with paypal

4. follow-up politely with a request for feedback - these make a big difference in distinguishing you from other sellers.

PM if you have any other questions.

[plr66]

Thanks, dtsm--Your post was quite helpful. And I'm relieved that you apparently had few or no problems other than #3......in which case, I'd better go figure out how to "walk somebody through PayPal!" (Seriously, does Seller have to email a link for the PayPal payment to be made by the Buyer? Or does it show up on the Buyer's page like on eBay?)

[dtsm]

(Seriously, does Seller have to email a link for the PayPal payment to be made by the Buyer? Or does it show up on the Buyer's page like on eBay?)

When you list your item, there are a number of payment methods, just make sure you only click: 'paypal'. Pretty dumb proof
When the auction is over, ask Seller to advise his paypal email address, then you can generate an invoice/request for payment via paypal.

[torontoCPAPguy]

To the prior posts, most of which are excellent suggestions, as a very experienced eBay seller and a newbie on cpapauctions I would add the following:

Make sure that when you are SELLING that your email communications is outstanding and reaching your customer. AND that it is saying what you mean for it to say. For instance, on eBay, my standard terms and conditions as well as my emails have always said "Payment due within 3 days of end of auction" and "I work during the week and will do my best to get your purchase shipped within 48 hours of receipt of payment" and " Please allow sufficient time for your shipment to arrive before getting excited" and lastly " Sometimes I am called out of town at the eleventh hour and may not be able to get your shipment out for an extra day or so nor respond to your emails".

My eBay rating is 100% positive and well over 500 (means my total transactions on eBay are probably over 1500 as not everyone leaves feedback). The above has worked pretty good as a seller but as a newbie on cpapauctions I forgot what to do and left this off my first two sales transactions. One puchaser was fine with it as his items were shipped within 48 hours; however, I did get distracted on the second sale and missing the deadline at the post office, did not ship until day 3. Customer filed a dispute on PayPal which I am hoping he will now dismiss. ALWAYS ship with tracking information so that your customer knows that their goods are on the way and then go to the post office website and enter the customer email address and tracking number so that your customer gets tracking information as the package progresses.

When purchasing items, check to ensure that the seller has some sort of feedback rating, check competitive pricing to ensure you are not paying too much, etc.

PayPal, when you sign up (and eBay) have loads of good tips on both buying and selling. And if you use the mail, especially the US Mail, there are very tough penalties in place for both sellers and buyers - the US Postal Service is VERY serious about "mail fraud" and has the teeth to back it up. I have made about a dozen purchases on cpapauctions with ZERO problems. Sellers have been most accomodating. I have only had the one issue in selling and have corrected my methods on listing as mentioned above. If you are not going to ship same day do not let your buyer think that this is going to happen by silence... state how long it takes to get the box out the door clearley and follow up with emails galore.

Good luck!

[dtsm]

Wasting bandwidth, sorry folks.