eBay

jt-libra · ‎12-04-2017

I thought I had seen, or heard, it all in my 11 years of selling. But I have just had an exchange of messages with the most obnoxious woman I have ever met .... on or outside of eBay.

She bought a DVD (Dear Frankie) on my other selling account and I sent a note saying it would arrive in approximately 6 to 8 business days, which is far less than the time allowed by eBay for small packets to the U.S and has proven to be sufficient time for packages to arrive. On the 9th day, I get the nastiest e-mail from her. "What the he--'s going on. I've never waited this long before, and so on. I maintained my composure and told her that the extra day or two delay was likely due to the busy shipping season, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases. I didn't ask her to wait ... I sent her a refund. I just wanted to be done with her. I did, however, add a final paragraph stating that I was shocked at her rudeness since Canadians (generally) do not speak to each other that way. I thought it was over. But, oh no!

This afternoon I received two messages from her, back to back, all in CAPS. The DVD did arrive on the 10th business day but it was left out on her half-mile driveway and it looks like a vehicle ran over it. And of course it's my fault for using a cheap packaging material and slow postal service and she had to go to a stationery store and buy a new case, but "you're lucky" she said, that the disc was okay. She was not going to return it and would leave me terrible feedback. This message was followed by "NOW E-BAY IS telling me that the item is unpaid .... take your money back because now I look like an a-hole and you're the one with the lousy service. CLEAN UP YOUR ACT!!

The negative is fine ... I was bound to get one sooner or later. I was hard-pressed to remain civil and professional. I repeated what she said -- she got a refund, it arrived within eBay's and my time frame and a vehicle ran over it and it's my fault. I told her if she had not been so nasty, I would have pursued the unpaid item issue with eBay on her behalf. I told her she should be ashamed of herself for the way she has spoken to me and the way she has handled this transaction ... and, at the end, I made sure I told her she was the most obnoxious person I had ever dealt with. Like in the movie Network -- "I'm mad as he-- and I'm not going to take it anymore" lol

It's hard for me to tell by the title of the movie she bought whether she's a young person or an older person. It doesn't matter though .... rude is rude. I've reached a point where I no longer fret about whether someone will leave negative feedback since there is no pleasing some people. I don't even check my seller dashboard anymore because any defect I have ever received (not that there have been many) has been unwarranted .... just difficult buyers like the one I've just spoken about, although she has been the worst.

rose-dee · ‎12-06-2017

@reallynicestamps wrote:

I find the American habit of putting the mailbox at the end of the driveway weird.
I guess they can't help being foreign.

Er, umm, I know many Canadians think we're almost foreigners out here in the Maritimes, but start at Annapolis Royal and take a Google road trip along the Evangeline Trail (NS Trunk #1) where I live and I think you'll see all the mailboxes at the ends of driveways. Ours is a good 100 metres from the house, at the road. Our postie doesn't even get out of her vehicle, just pulls over, shoves whatever it is in, then drives away. Maybe this is what happened to the OP's buyer's parcel, it dropped on the ground during placement. I actually can't remember rural mailboxes being anywhere else (and I'm from Ontario, lived in Ottawa many years, and in BC as well, maybe they've changed since I left??).

Mind you, Americans do tend to have the habit of treating their rural mailboxes like display posts, for flags, political statements, dioramas, and all sorts of wild miscellany. I've seen this in New England a lot. Maybe 'jt's' buyer's mailbox was so hard to actually find that the postie gave up and left it on the ground. Did the buyer expect a kryptonite shipping case? It was somehow the seller's fault that the item got run over? Crikey, she she even admitted the DVD itself survived. Go buy a 10 cent jewel case. I'm thinking maybe this is perhaps a case of lack of HRT, makes some go really crazy.

kawartha-ephemera · ‎12-06-2017

We have always had end of driveway mailboxes here in rural Ontario. Typically, the rural route mail delivery is contracted out to private operators who use their own private vehicle to deliver mail, they just lean out the window to deliver. Back in the day I used to enjoy walking down the lane to collect the mail each day as most farm income arrived via the mailbox.

momcqueen · ‎12-06-2017

@kawartha_decor wrote:
We have always had end of driveway mailboxes here in rural Ontario. Typically, the rural route mail delivery is contracted out to private operators who use their own private vehicle to deliver mail, they just lean out the window to deliver. Back in the day I used to enjoy walking down the lane to collect the mail each day as most farm income arrived via the mailbox.

My cousins and I used to race to the end of the driveway to see who might win the honour of carrying Gramma's mail. As children, that is. Not today. Hahah.

jt-libra · ‎12-06-2017

@kawartha_decor wrote:
We have always had end of driveway mailboxes here in rural Ontario. Typically, the rural route mail delivery is contracted out to private operators who use their own private vehicle to deliver mail, they just lean out the window to deliver. Back in the day I used to enjoy walking down the lane to collect the mail each day as most farm income arrived via the mailbox.

I have the same memories ... when I used to spend time with relatives in the country.

kawartha-ephemera · ‎12-06-2017

Quote: My cousins and I used to race to the end of the driveway to see who might win the honour of carrying Gramma's mail. As children, that is. Not today. Hahah. End Quote.

Bet your Gramma rewarded you kids with cookies and glasses of fresh whole milk or some other equally delicious treats.

cooltoycars · ‎12-08-2017

Don't forget to add her to your Blocked Bidders List!

jt-libra · ‎12-08-2017

I have!!

jt-libra · ‎12-09-2017

Many years ago, Merle Haggard released a song called "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys". I would like to change the words to "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Abnoxious Young Girls".

This evening: "Hey, where's my movie. It's been 6 days."

She was referring to calendar days. I sent my usual polite note referring her to the message I sent telling her approximately how many business days it would take to the U.S.

I received: 'NO MORE BUYING FROM CANADA."

I wanted to respond -- best news I've had all day, but kept my mouth shut.

Seriously!!

momcqueen · ‎12-10-2017

I realize this will elicit a hue and cry of 'my buyers won't pay for it' but shipping with tracking has eliminated all these Overly Entitled Types for me. Not only do they see for themselves 'where their item is' but the additional cost frightens away the bottom-feeders. Win-win as far as I am concerned. I'd rather have one problem-free $30 sale than four problem-laden $10 sales with one being refunded after a nasty exchange anyway.

dutchman48 · ‎12-10-2017

Unfortunately, that does not work for many of us who sell cheaper items.

Our sales would be a total of 0 if we had tracking on everything.

Every one has to look at their own situation and use what works best for them and weigh the pros and cons.

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-10-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I realize this will elicit a hue and cry of 'my buyers won't pay for it' but shipping with tracking has eliminated all these Overly Entitled Types for me. Not only do they see for themselves 'where their item is' but the additional cost frightens away the bottom-feeders. Win-win as far as I am concerned. I'd rather have one problem-free $30 sale than four problem-laden $10 sales with one being refunded after a nasty exchange anyway.

Yes but that could also eliminate the 90% of people who are not 'overly entitled types' but who do not want to pay 3 or 4 times more than what other sellers may be charging. I guess we all have our own reasons for doing things the way that we do.

tobyshitzu · ‎12-10-2017

Id rather sell for the same gross amount, but keep the money for myself that would go to canadapost for more expensive shipping

jt-libra · ‎12-10-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I realize this will elicit a hue and cry of 'my buyers won't pay for it' but shipping with tracking has eliminated all these Overly Entitled Types for me. Not only do they see for themselves 'where their item is' but the additional cost frightens away the bottom-feeders. Win-win as far as I am concerned. I'd rather have one problem-free $30 sale than four problem-laden $10 sales with one being refunded after a nasty exchange anyway.

Unfortunately DVD's and CD's can't be shipped with tracking. I'm just happy that Shippo and PayPal have reduced (I don't know for how much longer) U.S. Small Packet Air to $7.05 for light weight items. I can send these by lettermail within Canada and I don't get a lot of grief from Canadians. I have sent boxset DVD's with tracking to the U.S. but to send a single $10 or $12 DVD to the U.S. for $15.00 simply can't be done. And the much-heralded cookie jar insurance doesn't work for me. There's more leeway with higher priced items. I cover some of the U.S. shipping cost in order to remain competitive and there is nothing left to put in the virtual cookie jar.

I wish I had never opened a store for my media account. As soon as my year is up (and maybe even sooner) I'm going to close it and list only on .ca in CAD. At one time I had a lot of U.S. buyers and it was beginning to get expensive to list about half my inventory on .com at 30 cents each. But, each year, hard-copy media is getting harder and harder to sell, so I have not been buying any inventory and have concentrated on my health and beauty items.

With this selling I.D. (my H&B one), I rarely have a problem. Both my Canadian and U.S. buyers are very nice ... thank goodness.

tobyshitzu · ‎12-10-2017

Media items way better on .ca. Buyers haevily titled toward canada because of the big shipping difference, plus don't pay the extra fees on the shipping when an intl buyer does buy. And still only a .05 listing fee without a store. I bought a lot of movies from HMV closing, got my money back easy enough but slow going getting rid of the rest. Good thing they were cheap

jt-libra · ‎12-10-2017

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
Media items way better on .ca. Buyers haevily titled toward canada because of the big shipping difference, plus don't pay the extra fees on the shipping when an intl buyer does buy. And still only a .05 listing fee without a store. I bought a lot of movies from HMV closing, got my money back easy enough but slow going getting rid of the rest. Good thing they were cheap

I bought a lot of items from HMV as well.

Another example of my being "a day late and dollar short" I opened my store at the worst possible time .... when sales of media were tanking all over the place. You probably do well with games, but that's something I have no knowledge of.

I remember all the hours I spent relisting my items on .com. I have to get mentally prepared to go through all of that again to re-list those items on .ca when I close my store. A lot of work for little gain.

In the meantime, I'm better off spending time on my H&B items.