eBay

dipmicro · ‎11-21-2010

I think buyers are becoming more nervous and post is becoming much slower last two months.

It's quite stressful to deal with this questions, so I designed standard procedure to deal with it. I have to say that most buyers are honest folks like you or me and they just need to know that you are honest as well.

1) Stock response with facts - Your item was mailed on /date/, to following address /address/. (If it was mailed by USPS, I insert USPS tracking # or customs code on international parcels, which tracks while in USA). Please allow up to 6 weeks for international deliveries (the 6 wks is also displayed in my listings). Also please check with your wife/kids/roommates if they did not intercept your mailing and forgot to tell you (I find this is very often the case).

Approx 90% of buyers simply need this reassurance and inform me after some time they have the item and are thankful for great service.

2) If buyer comes back and demands his money back, I ALWAYS ask them to file a dispute to "document delivery problem". Disputes that you resolve yourself via refund do not count against you as discount is concerned, but eBay/PayPal are tracking number of disputes someone files.

Approx half buyers who got to this level are never heard from or say the item just shown up.

3) Buyer files for refund or reship. Based on some hints I make decision if it's worth replacing the shipment or refund and block. You can recognize the buyer's remorse, genuine lost shipment or potential opportunist by checking their FB, FB left and the messages they sent.

I may be reluctant to ship to the "black-hole" unless there was a nice profit margin, where it's still profitable to replace the shipment. I never had an opportunist to have second claim on the reship and it should be statistically extremely rare situation, unless is a really black hole (bad neighbour, bad postie, etc).

I contact several sellers from buyer's feedback from before me and ask them if buyer "XY" claimed lost shipment in their case. If it turns out they did, there is a really good chance the buyer is abusing the system and I confront them. One such buyer turned feedback private after such confrontation to prevent sellers to see who they bought from and ended the dispute and was never heard from again. Some carry with the dispute and I simply refund since everything else was exhausted. You may contact eBay Trust&Safety with your finding about the buyer. Do not bother calling, send an email via web form. They may not respond at all but they WILL look into your report and you may find your neg gone and buyer NARU-ed soon.

Even if someone is demanding something that was not part of the deal and DOES NOT use the "I will leave you negative FB if you do not do this or that", I had the negative feedback quietly disappear after contacting the T&S.

bcbeautiful · ‎11-21-2010

Yes, have had an increase in slow shipments.

May be due to increased security (customs) following that recent terrorist problem in the US. regarding smaller shipments.

axe_n_gear_music · ‎11-21-2010

Yeah, it's the time of year, and people are getting antsy, especially over Christmas stuff that they want to ensure arrives on time.

Here's a standard copy and paste (and modify as needed) email that we just sent out an hour ago to a buyer in NC, USA who's item was purchased on Nov 7, and shipped Nov 8 via lettermail:
(this one usually works very well, - it stays positive, states facts, and ends friendly- all of which are very important when dealing with bitchy customers).
Hope this is of some help for some of you out there,

Cheers,
AXE

"Hi,
Looking at your order details and Postal receipt, your package was paid for on the 7th, and mailed immediately the very next day on Monday the 8th. As mentioned in both the listing and our shipping email to you, shipping times do normally average 7-14 business days to most areas of the USA, which of course does not include weekends and also depends on how fast it clears US Customs, etc. Rarely do parcels ever exceed that amount of time that USPS gives us, so I think things are still more than fine with your package. After thousands of shipments via our website store and eBay stores, we have not had one go missing yet.
When counting their delivery days from Canada, for example, Canada Post quotes that 14 business days would be Nov 26th, so they are still very well within their quoted time frame as it has only been 9 business days since your package was mailed. Please understand that we did our very best on our end by packaging it well, and shipping it from here in Canada asap for you after your payment. We always ship same day, or the very next business day to ensure that we do our part to get your order to you as quickly as possible. As a seasoned eBayer yourself, I am sure that you understand that this is a very busy time of year for the Post Office, and when rating us for shipping time, as you know the "Shipping Time" rating that eBay refers to, is for how fast the seller ships the item out after receiving payment, and not how long the package takes in transit to arrive, as we have absolutely no control over the shipping companies or US Customs, etc, that may cause delays in countries outside of Canada.

I hope this info helps, and if you have any more questions, I would be very happy to help.

Take care, and have a great day!
Stephanie,
AXE 'N GEAR MUSIC
www.axengearmusic.com "

welcometodorysplace · ‎11-21-2010

Oh thank you so much, I just had to reply to a buyer this evening. I wish I had your example to go by.

Cindy

dipmicro · ‎11-21-2010

I insert the address we shipped to because it happened many times they buyer did not realize they were buying to their old address. Then it was a simple thing of them to drive to the previous address and pick-up mail (people often move within same town). While if I did not include address in the fist place they would think the parcel was lost.

Now I have one guy who made an unusual request - we mailed to the address he provided, tracking showing out for delivery, then notice left, pick up at post office. He says it's a forwarder and he wants me to reship or full refund. Of course I refused and told him to straighten it up with their forwarder. If we did not have tracking, this would be a guaranteed lost shipment.

Another one - turns out he got to the level 3 and I am getting responses from his past sellers that he in fact did claim lost shipment in EVERY SINGLE CASE. What a blatant abuse of Buyer Protection. Instead of confronting him I emailed eBay CS right away, hope they will review his communication.

Axe, I find your response too long, if I was a buyer, I would not read it. State the facts on 2-4 lines of text. You don't need to tell them you already told them, it's too defensive and makes them look stupid. if you make your buyer looking stupid, they turn on you, so don't do it even if they are (this also works in real life, you don;t tell your wife that cooking was bad, you tell her, it was interesting).

dipmicro · ‎11-21-2010

Btw. my wife learned what "interesting" means, so I cannot use it anymore 🙂

femmefan1946 · ‎11-21-2010

2) If buyer comes back .... but eBay/PayPal are tracking number of disputes someone files.

Approx half buyers who got to this level are never heard from or say the item just shown up.

I find this information that eB/PP are tracking buyers useful. Has there been an announcement or did the info showed up in a forum like from Griff or Vincenzo?

dipmicro · ‎11-21-2010

2) If buyer comes back .... but eBay/PayPal are tracking number of disputes someone files.

Approx half buyers who got to this level are never heard from or say the item just shown up.

I find this information that eB/PP are tracking buyers useful. Has there been an announcement or did the info showed up in a forum like from Griff or Vincenzo?

There was no announcement, PayPal support told me. He refused to reveal the details, but he said they have a triggering mechanism for excessive disputes. I dont think they would announce something like this (we are watching you). Also they might rely on the community support, so if you had to refund the buyer, add a note to their feedback "lost shipment replaced/refunded". This helps the next seller after you.

I wish eBay/PayPal made the number of times a buyer was refunded public. That would make identification of such addresses/customers easier and one could add the tracking/insurance instead of taking the risk of shipping to obvious "black hole".

axe_n_gear_music · ‎11-22-2010

Axe, I find your response too long, if I was a buyer, I would not read it. State the facts on 2-4 lines of text. You don't need to tell them you already told them, it's too defensive and makes them look stupid. if you make your buyer looking stupid, they turn on you, so don't do it even if they are (this also works in real life, you don;t tell your wife that cooking was bad, you tell her, it was interesting).

Sorry dipmicro, I disagree. This buyer had the nerve to ask if it had even been shipped yet...(after we had sent out his final shipping email with shipping details the day it shipped). After sending the reply to his "where is my item" question as shown above, he replied and said that he was very happy that I took the time to help and fully explain the situation. Some buyers you have to take by the hand and lead them to where they need to go. Stating facts and supplying good info will not make them feel stupid, rather it will make them feel informed and kept in the loop.

That generic reply can obviously be modified to include tracking info, ship to address, CP/USPS phone #'s, etc, or be shortened as required for the specific buyer and situation.

(And I don't have to tell my wife that her cooking is bad...she already knows it!!!) :^O

Cheers,
AXE

zarzuella · ‎11-22-2010

I'm finding lots less 'where is it' questions since eBay provided the space for the DC/tracking# on the transaction record.

The only problems I have with 'missing' packages are Canadian shipments - and then only those that were light enough to qualify as Oversized Lettermail (no tracking). Odd how they go missing (3 in 3 months) yet Expedited packages never do. I have started adding a follow-up to the feedback left indicating if an item was replaced or refunded.

Ann

dipmicro · ‎11-22-2010

I have started adding a follow-up to the feedback left indicating if an item was replaced or refunded.

Ann, we all should be doing that. The more sellers will do it, the easier it will be identifying postal black-holes.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-23-2010

What exactly do you write Ann? I had a quick look earlier but couldn't see where you had done that and it would be great to have an idea of how to word it.

zarzuella · ‎11-23-2010

One I just did yesterday was from October. My follow-up:

Buyer has claimed non-receipt. Replacement copy mailed Nov22/10.

This buyer has only 2 FB, one of them mine, yet was very conversant with the INR process.