Feedback Received: Leave As it Stands or Draw Attention to it with a Follow-up?

[momcqueen]

Opinions, please.

I know a hustle when I hear one, and this buyer's idea of a 'major packaging problem' was that she improperly peeled her foil minifigure packages from the ebay-branded shipping supply sticker that held them to her packing slip; there was some paper from the ebay sticker left on her foil package which is, I can assure you, easily removed. I remove sticker residue from items all the time, it damages neither the package nor its contents and it takes a few minutes. I'm not even sure the reason she had this problem with these two materials because I've not ever encountered it myself before.

First of all, I politely apologized for her difficulty and then I gave her advice on how to remove sticker resident from items, any item. Not good enough. It became evident to me that she was angling for something more and I can't say I was surprised because I was getting demands from this buyer before it even shipped with which I complied as quickly and possible.

Then, I advised her to open a Return Request and I would pay return shipping in order to solve the problem for her (or at least keep a formal record of it with ebay) but she declined and told me she expected to keep her order and gain a partial refund which I declined to provide since nothing was, in fact, damaged or incorrect with her order. I encouraged her again by sending her a link to the ebay MoneyBack Guarantee so she could see it would solve her problem and still she declined to open a case. She wanted to keep it and get her money back, or some portion thereof. And I didn't feel like I should hand over money to her simply because she hasn't figured out to how peel a sticker from a package without making a hot mess of it. Again, it's not like these were a hot mess. Small amount of paper residue left behind which could have been easily avoided with any effort. It's almost as if she was just looking for an excuse to be angry about something from the moment she paid for it.

Hence, this is the feedback she left. It could be worse, yes, and two other buyers have left feedback after it so it's making its way slowly down the page. 

Do I follow up with an explanation of what is, in reality, not "a major issue" by anyone's stretch of the imagination? Or leave it as it is and let it disappear amongst the others?

If I use the option to follow-up, it may invite a worse reply which I will be powerless to address. 

Or I could leave follow-up feedback on her page. 

Or I could do nothing and simmer quietly until the mood passes.

I'm thinking the latter.

[dutchman48]

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@mjwl2006momcqueen wrote:

Opinions, please.

I know a hustle when I hear one, and this buyer's idea of a 'major packaging problem' was that she improperly peeled her foil minifigure packages from the ebay-branded shipping supply sticker that held them to her packing slip; there was some paper from the ebay sticker left on her foil package which is, I can assure you, easily removed. I remove sticker residue from items all the time, it damages neither the package nor its contents and it takes a few minutes. I'm not even sure the reason she had this problem with these two materials because I've not ever encountered it myself before.

First of all, I politely apologized for her difficulty and then I gave her advice on how to remove sticker resident from items, any item. Not good enough. It became evident to me that she was angling for something more and I can't say I was surprised because I was getting demands from this buyer before it even shipped with which I complied as quickly and possible.

Then, I advised her to open a Return Request and I would pay return shipping in order to solve the problem for her (or at least keep a formal record of it with ebay) but she declined and told me she expected to keep her order and gain a partial refund which I declined to provide since nothing was, in fact, damaged or incorrect with her order. I encouraged her again by sending her a link to the ebay MoneyBack Guarantee so she could see it would solve her problem and still she declined to open a case. She wanted to keep it and get her money back, or some portion thereof. And I didn't feel like I should hand over money to her simply because she hasn't figured out to how peel a sticker from a package without making a hot mess of it. Again, it's not like these were a hot mess. Small amount of paper residue left behind which could have been easily avoided with any effort. It's almost as if she was just looking for an excuse to be angry about something from the moment she paid for it.

Hence, this is the feedback she left. It could be worse, yes, and two other buyers have left feedback after it so it's making its way slowly down the page. 

Do I follow up with an explanation of what is, in reality, not "a major issue" by anyone's stretch of the imagination? Or leave it as it is and let it disappear amongst the others?

If I use the option to follow-up, it may invite a worse reply which I will be powerless to address. 

Or I could leave follow-up feedback on her page. 

Or I could do nothing and simmer quietly until the mood passes.

I'm thinking the latter.

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Its a positive so leave it alone and go on your merry way.,

[pjcdn2005]

I agree....Do nothing until the mood passes.

It would only make the positive feedback stand out and wouldn't accomplish anything other than to perhaps make you feel like you had your say too.

[momcqueen]

Is a buyer allowed to outright request a partial refund and to keep their order, or is that a no-no? I thought for some reason it was something a seller is supposed to first offer into the conversation, not the other way around.

[dutchman48]

A buyer can ask for whatever they want and it would be up to the seller to say yay or nay or just ignore.

Partial refund requests from buyers are becoming a real issue on Ebay

[dutchman48]

You may want to block this buyer if you have not done so, unless you want to deal with them again.

[pjcdn2005]

They can request one, ebay can not force a seller to offer one.

It does seem that some buyers are requesting partial refunds just to see if they will get one. I don't know how prevalent it is since we tend to see just the negative things that happen here but it does happen.

If the buyer asked for a partial refund, you suggested they return for shipping and then the buyer left a negative, it might be possible to have the feedback removed because the buyer was asking for something not in the listing but there are never any guarantees for feedback removal.

[femmefan1946]

Partial refund requests from buyers are becoming a real issue on Ebay

No becoming. They'v been around for decades.

Maureen-- Your future buyers are not going to read the positives. Only the negs and neuts. And you have none of those.

Block and ignore.

You gave her a solution to the immediate problem of stickers and a solution to the non-existant problem of whatever she is imagining.

Block and ignore.

Happy Yule! Merry Winter Solstice! 

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I agree with others. Block the buyer and ignore the feedback. Bottom line is it's a positive feedback and most people won't read a seller's positive feedback in detail. Even when I *do* read a seller's positive feedback (because I'm buying something expensive), one feedback out of 50 that mentions a packaging problem means nothing to me.

[momcqueen]

That's encouraging. I did block the buyer once it became apparent they were being difficult with me although I since noticed the buyer has added themselves to my list of Followers. This definitely happened after the 'major issue' feedback was left and not before. If they were so displeased with the experience (as they told me they were) I cannot imagine any reason they'd want to see more of what I sell on an ongoing basis. 

[ricarmic]

If it were me, I would:

-not respond to the feedback

-probably not block the buyer

-no longer use the ebay branded stickers* to attach the packing slip to the item (I probably wouldn't attach anything to the item)

*Based on my experience with branded supplies quality, one cannot expect them to all be consistent in "stickiness" or "removability"

[momcqueen]

Good advice. I do, however, have to apply some adhesive material to the minifigure packages to hold them to the packing slip or they will slide about in the envelope and potentially bunch-up and block lettermail dimension restrictions. Plus, I've had buyers leave things in their envelopes or boxes and think they were not sent at all, simply because they didn't look hard enough. I try to make it foolproof.

Maybe I will unblock her then.

Or not.

I was really taken aback by her complaints about the sticker residue. I am very particular with packaging items as a seller, and also very particular myself as a buyer, yet this is one thing I don't think even I would ever think to complain about. It's like calling Dollarama to yell their price tags are too effective for being too sticky and hard to peel away, and take me too long to peel off while I'm trying to wrap stocking stuffers for my kids. Dollarama makes the price tags that way for a reason, so that cheap buyers don't try switching tags in store to get cheap stuff even cheaper. 

And I exchanged several messages with her about various tactics she could try to remove the residue with the pros and cons of them all. Had she said she needed to go buy the product I recommended using, I'd probably have refunded her enough to buy it, but she made it very clear she would handle it herself, the horror of it all. 

[momcqueen]

And I'll definitely be more conscious of the amount of surface area the ebay-brnaded stickers cover as I do use the ebay stickers to attach the items to the packing slip.

[ricarmic]

Because of my distrust of consistent quality on the branded stuff, I might suggest using reliable scotch tape for the adhesion and use the ebay branded stuff elsewhere where it isn't contacting the actual items, if that makes any sense in your situation.

I have had some very surprising to me complaints about things I have done with or to my packaging, even getting a similar ding in a positive. I've taken the buyers issue into account and adjusted my process when it made sense. One can't cover every imaginable possible situation, but sometimes the buyer sees the scenario a different way than I do and sometimes they do raise a good point....

[momcqueen]

I am definitely taking her feedback under advisement. 

[ricarmic]

Yep, especially with respect to "quality" complaints I get, normally for any of my standard product lines, I don't take any quality corrective actions until I have more than one complaint of the same nature about that product line.

The only reason I am harping on the branded stuff is I've noticed in my tape it is not consistent from roll to roll and I wouldn't trust the stickers either. If the buyer was complaining about something scotch taped I probably would make no changes at all to the process.

[mcrlmn]

I'd leave it alone also.

I agree with you. I don't think it's that bad... And a positive.

Given your sales, it will soon be out of sight anyway.

Hopefully a little venting helped. Just move on.

...After you add her to your blocklist.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

[rose-dee]

I agree with the others, take a deep breath and move on to the next.  As a longtime buyer on eBay, I don't think I've ever read through the details of a seller's positive FB -- it's the neutrals and negatives that matter. 

Whether you block her or not is up to you, but if she subsequently added herself to your "following" list, I'd be inclined to not block.  This may not in fact have been a deliberate hustle as you said, but perhaps an over-reacting customer who nevertheless was happy to get the item.  It is just possible she wanted it in pristine condition to give as a gift (or for someone else to give as a gift), however narrowly she defined pristine. 

[femmefan1946]

have to apply some adhesive material to the minifigure packages to hold them to the packing slip

How about wrapping the minifigs in saranwrap before taping them? Then the original packaging is still protected.

Gee- I'm glad I sell elderly paperbacks.

[pierrelebel]

A positive feedback is a positive.  Move on.  Merry Christmas.

God grant me the serenity to accept

the things I cannot change

courage to change the things I can

and wisdom to know the difference.