Confusing buyer

[zee-chan]

So, I was making use of the free auction promo and relisted a bunch of old books. An Aussie buyer (I haven't had one in a while) messaged me first saying my starting bid is too expensive since I'm also getting paid shipping to Australia. The message itself was kinda rude too.

Then minutes later she messaged me asking if she buys all 20 similar books, what's the cheapest price and again stating she's from Australia. She totally had me scratching my head wondering if she's aware of how far Canada is, or if she thinks Aussies should get a deal?? First she complains about one book being too expensive, yet wants to know how cheap I can go if she buys 20??

I checked her feedback and looks like so far she has only given out positive feedbacks. She's a 4 years buyer with around 20 feedback. Judging from the sellers she tends to buy from, those sellers start their auctions low and can afford cheaper shipping from Asia.

How would you handle this one?

I decided to reply only because she hasn't left any negative (not false positives either) to other sellers. Pretty much told her that I can't lower my starting bids, how much airmail shipping would be for all 20 books, and told her that there's nothing I can do about the expensive shipping from Canada to Australia but I do offer combined shipping for multiple books. Will see whether or not she responds lol.

The good part is, that means my listings aren't completely invisible on eBay! I listed those auctions about 12 hours ago so getting a message about them so soon means people are checking them out. Hopefully some of those watchers will turn into a buyer... 🙂

[femmefan1946]

In my opinion, sending a single order in a single parcel outweighs any possible savings.

Because you know they will arrive on different days.

And the buyer will panic.

YMMV.

[zee-chan]

Just phoned CCE and they said it's gonna be around $90 for Priority and $110 for Xpresspost for under 4kg. Which is interesting cuz Canada Post quoted Priority as the more expensive service.

Anyhow, my buyer hasn't paid yet (we agreed on end of the week) so we'll see.

[recped]

The prices you got from Chit Chat are for sending via USPS! They were talking about USPS Priority International or Express International (as opposed to Canada Post Xpresspost or Canada Post/FedEx Priority)

You can send it via Chit Chat's cheap untracked  service (via DHL Global Mail) but you would have to split into two packages (max weight 2kg) for $31.55 each.

The service is very reliable, delivery speed is pretty much the same as a Canada Post Small Packet (because that's what it is except it's a German Small Packet).

[zee-chan]

I do want them tracked so I'm pretty sure I'll go with the $90 priority USPS option. That's already $70 cheaper than CPC Xpress post, so once i actually complete the sale I'll visit CCE. The $70 saving is more than worth the drive there.

[zee-chan]

Just to hijack my own thread... I reached 400 feedback!  

Nowadays with less buyers leaving feedback and low sales overall, it's hard to get up on feedback score. I think only about half of my buyers leave feedback. I'm not even sure if I'd ever reach 500 feedback before I quit selling here, so I might as well celebrate the 400 mark 

[pjcdn2005]

Congrats!

[lucitabby]

A sweet Valentine for you.  Congrats!

[ricarmic]

[zee-chan]

Haven't heard from the buyer again since the last message where she apologized for not responding and said she'd pay in a day (she didn't)... My UID will activate in 3 days. Debating if I should message her... Should I ask her if she's encountering issues with payment? Or even let her know that my UID is set at 7 days so it'll automatically run if no payment is recorded by then?

Though I didn't have high hopes for this sale to begin with, so I haven't even packed the books yet lol. I have picked them out and they're in their own little corner of the room with a box. The only inconvenience was that I wasted 15 min of CCE's time with my questions lol. But at least I have a general idea of how CCE works now.

[momcqueen]

I don’t even look for the items in my inventory until they’re paid. Sold without payment doesn’t count for prep work to me anymore.

I think contact the buyer ahead of the Unpaid Item Reminder and let her know it’s coming, politely if you can. I think there’s still a chance she’ll pay, you don’t want to antagonize her for no reason if she’s just busy with her life. If it was an order that sold with no prior communication between buyer and seller, my advice would b me different.

[momcqueen]

And best of luck to you. I hope it still concludes satisfactorily.

[zee-chan]

I usually don't take out the books until I get paid either, but since this is a combined lot, I had to take photos with the books together so that I can make a new special listing for the buyer, and to weight them together with a box, so that I could get a more accurate shipping quote from CP/CCE.

I had to check my old e-mails to see what wordings I used when I remind buyers about payment. Apparently the very last UID I had to file was in Feb 2015, exactly 3 years ago, and that particular buyer paid when the UID was filed.

I had filed 11 UID before, most of them during 2012. I can't remember if I had the proper blocks set back then... out of 11 UIDs filed, 2 buyers paid. Though one of them did got an unpaid strike because they messaged me like 3 days after the UID closed saying they do want the item but had problem linking their credit card to Paypal (this is 2012 we're talking about, when Paypal was still new-ish), so they did pay a week afterwards and that sale went smoothly, other than the fact that I can't undo the unpaid strike they got...

Will see if this Aussie buyer responds... It's 7pm there now. I don't mind waiting another week if she does respond saying she needs more time. 

[grannio204]

Why does negative feedback worry you? As far as I can tell, negative feedbacks are no longer allowed on eBay. The whole feedback system that eBay touted is now meaningless

Carry on and have fun ...

[femmefan1946]

Negative feedback can still be left for a seller.

EBay doesn't use it as a metric (sorry about the jargon, I can't think of the right word), but it still is used by buyers.

That being said, Buyers Don't Read ™

• Most think 95% is a tippy top mark.
• Those that do read don't understand ratios and why a Seller with 249 negs can have a 100% feedback rating. (Because they have 235,000 this month alone  and 234,999 of those were positive.)
• Those that do read don't know how to read the actual words and spot the difference between an important pattern of low quality or non-delivery and the ranting of a drooling anger monkey.

So. Yeah. That.

[femmefan1946]

I'm not surprised at the scarcity of problem @zee-chan

It's shocking, especially on the dotCOM Boards, how often a seller who has apparently had one problem in several years of selling rants about quitting eBay and that all buyers (all overseas buyers, natch) are crooks.

I blame the testosterone. Or possibly:

[momcqueen]

An actual photo of me. Every morning:

Shhhhhhhhhhhhht! Just shhhhhh

[zee-chan]

Hmmmmm didn't hear back from the Aussie buyer, so UID automatically opened. First one the past three years... which is such a shame. I thought those books would finally find a new home lol, but I did somewhat felt that she was having second thoughts about this impulse buy.

On the other hand, a repeat European buyer popped by and just bought 4 books literally within 30 minutes of the UID. So at least I do have some sales... which is nice 

[a52split]

Block them now.

[momcqueen]

Oh how aggravating about the buyer that ghosted. Maybe this Unpaid Item will end in Payment, that does still happen sometimes. The custom bundles that end in non-payment annoy me more than any others because they take extra time to prepare. I had only one Custom Bundle end Unpaid, it was extra annoying because they sought me out in a big panic as a Local Pickup Custom Bundle on Christmas Eve one year. Like at the worst possible time, they came pleading for help and I dropped everything and they just bailed after all the work (which had been very disruptive) was done and their Bundle was ready. Grrr.

Glad to hear you had a different sale though. They’ve been unusually sparse for me this week.

[zee-chan]

Would blocking her now prevent her from making payment via the UID? If she does end up paying, that is, lol. I did plan to block after the UID closes...

The good thing is, at least she did bid on the special lot auction as I instructed her to, instead of vanishing without bidding (which would be 10x more annoying), so she did got a strike out of this XD. To be honest, if she's gonna be a problematic one, then I'd much rather she bail now than changing her mind AFTER she got the books though, like that other Aussie necklace buyer remorse thread...

While I did waste some time over this, at least I learned something... Like how CCE works and how it'd a cheaper option for me in future if I do sell a large order. It's just a shame that CCE won't be getting my business this time around since I did bug them over the phone for about 15 minutes.

A bit off topic, I looked up the shipping price for my recent European sale, using 250g small packet air is about $10.50, while CCE untracked is about $7.50 with fees... unfortunately $3 saving doesn't warrant a drive there (30% saving is indeed very nice), but I'm curious what kind of shipping company they are utilizing for this under 2kg international untracked service (it's not USPS). Somebody mentioned about a DHL untracked service before, I wonder if that's what it is?