Bambiboo3

[nnoitorah.livejournal.com]

This is further to my advice post here: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/530250.html

WHO: Bambiboo3 / Happy Tails / Audri

WHERE:
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bambiboo3/

WHAT:  Premade fursuit head and tail, as seen here: http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1026446.html

WHEN: Auction ended on 12th October 2011.

PROOF:

Here's a screencap of my communications with Bambiboo3 from winning the auction. A little explanation first though: I do not live in the USA. I had asked Bambiboo3 prior to bidding if she would ship internationally and she said no. Thus I asked if she would ship this to my very good friend of many years who lives in NC, she agreed, and I placed a bid. My intention from there was to either take a trip over soon and collect the partial or arrange for it to be delivered myself, either way, I made clear to Bambiboo3 that the final part of the delivery would be entirely my responsibility. This isn't really relevant to the beware at all but it might clear up any confusion.

Here are photos of the package:














NB: anything linking to address details has been edited out, as has Bambiboo3's surname as I have not seen this posted publicly.

EXPLAIN:

On October 12th I won Bambiboo3's auction for a premade fursuit head and tail over on Furbuy. I emailed her asking for a quote on shipping, which she told me would be $35, for a total of $435. I Paypal'd over $435. She replies to me stating that:
"you forgot to add the paypal charges so it came in $17.27 short. If you dont mind sending that last bit that would be great"

I was a little taken aback as nowhere on the auction had it mentioned a Paypal fee, and I knew this to be against Paypal rules. I also was taken aback that it was implied I'd "forgotten" it, as if I should have known to add this, or she'd told me to add it. I replied to her stating as much and her response was basically that she asked for $435, but that's not what she ended up with after the fee - thus I should make up the rest. At this point I admit my communications (seen above) got a little irate and not as well phrased as they could have been, I was feeling unwell at the time and was not expecting these difficulties. I asked a number of friends online what I should do (I really did want the head and she was saying she'd relist it) or whether it was fair, to which they said it was not. One of them told me it was against Furbuy policy so I contacted them too, asking about that. They responded that it was definitely not acceptable, and thus I replied telling Bambiboo3 so, and she decided to drop the charge.

So some days pass and the head arrives with my friend on October 26th. She immediately contacts me by IM to let me know and unpacks it to check everything is in order. The head, I am told, is just fine and is nice quality. She did say to me though, "how much did you say you paid for shipping again?"...to which I replied $35. She advised me it was stickered with $10.74 and a 70 cent Delivery Confirmation - making my bill over $20 higher than the actual shipping cost. I was also told it was packaged in an old blender box and packed with wadded up grocery bags, and you can see that in the photos above, meaning that none of that was spent on packaging, either.

Again annoyed, I emailed Bambiboo3 asking about this discrepancy. That was over 24 hours ago, and with all other emails being answered promptly and seeing as she's been faving things on FA, I assume she doesn't have a good simple answer for this. I may be jumping the gun but at this point I can only recommend against dealing with her. I know this head didn't go for as much as she would like - she was looking at around $700 for head and tail before putting it on Furbuy - but my impression is that she just tries to frisk the customer for anything she can get.

EDIT - seeing that Bambiboo has been faving art and posting FA journals, I decided to send her another email:

Hey again,

I see you have been active on FurAffinity so I guess you either did not receive or are ignoring my last email outright.

At this point I want to make you aware that I posted about our transaction to "artists_beware" because I am really not impressed with this.

- Sarah

I feel like I'm probably not going to get anything back at this point, but I think her (most likely) ignoring my last email is really the icing on the cake here.

EDIT 2 - Bambiboo3 has replied to my last email quickly. The conversation is as follows (screencaps available if needed, but it's quicker this way for now):

I havent recieved an email O.o when did you send it?

My response:

The email was sent on the 27th just after midnight your time. Here's a copypaste: -last email as shown above-

Bambiboo:

Wow im sorry , no the first one didnt come through.  So the package was shipped parcel? >.< Oh jeaz i apologize it was supposed to be sent express because i wanted to get it out to you as soon as possible since i was a couple days late getting it out. I dont have a drivers license myself so i have someone send the packages out for me they must have mixed up the packages i gave them that day. If you give me your paypal address ill refund that right away.

Me:

If you would like to refund I suggest you go to your Paypal and open up our transaction, from there you have an option to issue a partial refund. I would prefer it refunded in this way for my records if you could. It would be much appreciated and I will edit the LJ post to reflect this.

Thanks,

Sarah

She has now issued me a refund. I honestly can't say I am convinced by the excuses but I am happy to have a refund and consider the postage part of the beware resolved.

Comments

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Fursuit makers of A_B, do any of you force/order/guilt/cajole/backmail a user to pay the Paypal fee as such? Still? Even after all the discussions and facts that you figure it into your overhead as its not a separate fee?

Just so we know, I'm expecting cricket chirps on this.

[breakspire.livejournal.com]

absolutely not.

[astraldescent.livejournal.com]

I wanna be the first to say I am glad you posted this here. I really think her pushing you for the fees was wrong- and I stand by my original thought, too, that she DID tack it onto the shipping and then tried to get double fees out of you anyways because she ended up with less than she thought.

I still encourage you to report this to paypal, though, if you haven't already. You definitely have proof of her blatantly asking for fees.

[claytronic.livejournal.com]

cheese n crackers thats ridiculously priced

maybe tracking cost a bit?

[nnoitorah.livejournal.com]

A check on the USPS website shows that the delivery confirmation (tracking) costs 70 cents. Last time I was staying in the US I also mailed a few packages and that's about what I paid for DC too.

[genkigami.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you posted this, it'll help others on the suit market! And yikes, she was really squeezing you for money!

It's sad because from what I can see of that head, it's super cute. If she didn't have crappy business practices, a bad attitude, and a horrible track record, I'd considering commissioning her.

[weirdmisty.livejournal.com]

This seems completely awful to me. I have over-quoted shipping charges for products by mistake in the past, but when its happened, I was quick to inform the buyer of the calculation error and refund the difference, because it's just not okay to pocket that extra money for no good reason.

[breakspire.livejournal.com]

She may be keeping the extra shipping money to cover the paypal fees, especially since you mention to her in your email that artists factor the fee into shipping costs. Maybe she was confused by the USPS site and over-quoted shipping, then when she paid for it and realized the overage was about what the paypal fees cost, she decided to keep it?

[conigliomannaro.livejournal.com]

Still pretty dishonest.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Is she even serious with that box? I am appalled and surprised. My local post office does not really take kindly to boxes like that being used unless it's brown-wrapped. O.o

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

Really? The only time I've ever had a product box turned away is if it's a liquor/alcohol box.

Though, people really, REALLY should not use those boxes for shipping. They're not meant for shipping and are only 1/8th as thick as a standard shipping box. @ _@

[koisnake.livejournal.com]

I know some people tend to overcharge on shipping so they can use the extra funds to buy packing materials. In thiscase, no. All of these were obviouly household items.

[everainsley]

Even if they -had- purchased new materials, a box from Staples and a roll of bubble wrap is no where near $20. And this is just recycled material. :/

[dreamerdragoon.livejournal.com]

So wrong. I think everyone expects to pay a little more than the actual cost of shipping to cover handling, but $23 extra? You have been well and truly ripped off and I hope you can get a well-deserved refund on that excess.

[karthegrax.livejournal.com]

Dear oh dear. This seller certainly seems to be making a name for herself around here. Hopefully this will be a simple - I looked at the wrong postage service and quoted incorrectly, here is your $20 back.
That might at least restore a little of her reputation.

[hellfire99x.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. It is true (based on past experiences with eBay) that many auction sellers work fees and other costs of doing business into the shipping charges. $23 over is rather excessive though, even if she considers it to be covering the costs of Paypal's seller fees (which, of course, are meant to be paid by the seller.)

Plus, I can't shake the feeling that the lack of proper packing material was a retaliatory move. Reusing sturdy old boxes, I can understand, but... wow.

[rileycostello.livejournal.com]

aghgh SO THIS WAS THE ONE FROM BEFORE

this chick has the worst business practices EVAR.

As a seller you just come to expect paypal fees, it's part of the privilege of using the service (just like ebay people expect ebay fees)!!

I'm sorry you had to go through this, this girl is the queen of passive agressive bullshit... it's a shame cos that's a cute head.

She needs to REALLY REVISIT HER BUSINESS PRACTICES.

[marus-puppy.livejournal.com]

"But if it makes you feel any better I can just change the price of shipping, if I would of known the fees were going to be a problem I would of just tacked extra onto the shipping."

I don't have the words to describe how much that rubs me wrong. At that point, I probably would've demanded my money back.

[nnoitorah.livejournal.com]

I think I might be partially to blame with that one. I did say that usually you'd include it in the price and/or shipping - though I was saying that as an artist who mainly deals in fees of a few $. :/

[obsidianwolfess.livejournal.com]

A $400 head/tail and she's complaining about losing $17 to paypal fees? Talk about being petty. Fees are a cost of doing business online, and she needs to realize that.

Also not a fan of her passive aggressiveness towards the buyer. "If I would of known the fees were going to be a problem I would of just tacked extra onto the shipping." Looks like she did. Terrible.

[lackoflollies.livejournal.com]

Yup. Never doing business with her.

[cappucola.livejournal.com]

The only time I ever had to cover paypal fees was for some artwork I commissioned, and it was only an extra 50 cents/1 dollar. nothing wrong there really. But this? geeze. she could of at least stated in the auction that it had to be covered, so you knew..but yeah this just isn't nice at all, especially with the whole shipping thing :S

[vellacraptor.livejournal.com]

There is no way that package would have cost that much, even with her searching an estimate idk how she'd come up with 35$
Considering shipping outside the us for a similar package was only 40$ :/

I hope she refunds you. I'd at least report her to PayPal anyway.

[nnoitorah.livejournal.com]

Yeah we actually just priced it up to send the package over here to the Netherlands. Ironically, about $35.

[ducttapeninja.livejournal.com]

I remember reading that post, and somehow I'm not surprised that it's Bambiboo...

This person has some of the worst business practices I've seen, and I'm really sorry you ended up getting involved with her in the first place. Hopefully you'll get the money back, that's absolutely despicable.

[film2edit.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I'm not shocked either.

[film2edit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, two things on that. ALL CHARGES ARE INCLUDED. She can not tap on an additional fee for Pay Pal. If the person doing the transaction wishes to use the Personal Tab for it (which in an auction, you generally shouldn't), that is one thing. The auctioneer should take the fee into effect that the final total may or may not get a fee taken out by Pay Pal.

Any overage for shipping should have been returned to you, otherwise it is false advertising. Whenever I run an action, I ask for shipping info, then send a total to the winner.

I'm glad your package didn't arrive beat to hell. Mine did, and she had claimed where she shipped it from the shipper had packed it for her. I had purchased something pre-made from her, and it took months of attempting to reach her, which wound up with me contacting local authorities to look into her residence after seeing that she was moving via her Facebook. At that same time she messaged me via Gmail's IM system and refunded me.

Personally, I will not do any transactions with her in the future.

[nnoitorah.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. If it was packed anything like this one I can see why it might have arrived beat to hell - my friend tells me the box mine was sent in is really flimsy. Most of the time, you can get away with it..but sometimes the postal service manages to mangle even the best packed things, so it's not worth the risk.

And yes, I wholeheartedly agree that all charges should be included and stated upfront. It's only good manners, apart from anything else.

[aerospiritual.livejournal.com]

thanks for the beware, OP.

definitely going to stay away from this person.

[otherscape.livejournal.com]

If she did factor in the Paypal fees in the shipping cost and did not buy a proper materials to ship it with, I could see where she would charge $35 to cover both shipping and the Paypal fees. However, the fact that she asked for the fee's after the $35 is suspicious. If she had included Paypal fees with shipping, the OP would have had to pay $52.

Also, do all fursuit makers always include the fees in the base price, or do some just include it in shipping?

[borderdog.livejournal.com]

I never include paypal fees in shipping, since with fursuits they are not just a couple dollars.
Sometimes I will add a little extra to the actual price of the suit to help cover the fees, but generally I do not.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Uhg. I like how

1) She attempts to bully you to paying fees you should not have to pay by saying she'll cancel the transaction, and when you agree she backs down
2) She's still not sending out packages when she says she will, with no notice until you poke her

With all that I'm dubious this shipping overcharge business was accidental, I don't know how you would not notice that/forget. But I guess it's possible if she was sending out a bunch of stuff at once.

On the plus side, she has refunded you the difference so, that's good.

[nnoitorah.livejournal.com]

I'll be honest, I'm really dubious she wouldn't have known, because I assume she had the receipt in order to give me the tracking number and the receipts are printed with the service used. Like, DC ones are bright green with delivery confirmation on them, express ones look different. In my experience at least. Also she never said "I've sent this express" and her quote was issued within a few hours of the auction ending - while her excuse was "It was supposed sent express because I was a couple of days late in getting it out".

Also I think the "I didn't get the email" is quite unlikely too - she uses gmail just like me, it definitely sent on my end, and I've never had a part of a gmail "conversation" go missing, personally.

But well, it's all done now, and I am glad to have the refund regardless. It'll pay most of the way to ship it on further.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Tagging the post as resolved. Glad to see it didn't turn out badly.

[jess-littlebit.livejournal.com]

I had a similar incident, but it was much more hostile on her behalf.

I was looking for someone to make my Porter Corgi suit, and she was the first person I saw that was cheap and decent, so I contacted her. Gave her my phone number so we could chat quicker, and discuss everything in a timely manner. She told me to send her a money order for ~$200 as a deposit and she'd start working. Cool. I sent it.

About two and a half weeks later, I text and ask if she ever received it. No response.
Try again a couple days later, and get "Oh, I'm sorry. I moved and lost the original money order. Can you send me another one?" (The total for a partial suit that I had commissioned would have been around $375. Sending her another $200 money order would have been giving her a hefty "tip" of sorts.) I said "Uh, no. That $200 was what I had for the time being, and was supposed to be spent on college books. I'm going to cancel the money order and find someone else that's responsible enough to keep up with that much money." She said "WHAT!? NO! SEND ME THE MONEY. THAT'S MY MONEY AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO WITHHOLD MY MONEY. DON'T MAKE ME TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST YOU!" I told her to go ahead. (I was an aspiring law student at the time, so I knew that she would have just been laughed at.)

A couple weeks later, she texts me and says "I have Porter's head started!" I said "Sell it or use it for someone else's suit. I'm having Porter made by someone else." Anger ensued. "I CAN'T JUST USE THIS FOR SOMEONE ELSE. THIS WAS SPECIFICALLY MADE TO BE PORTER AND I CAN'T JUST SELL IT OFF TO SOMEONE ELSE." Even though she did.

And this is the suit she used it for:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3822842/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3822860/

She's rude, and pretty unprofessional.

[norsepaw.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should make your own post about the incedent on here because this is just getting crazy and scary that she does something like that.