You never know when you'll need your own advice again!

[ricarmic]

Got a negative this morning, it's been so long, more than a couple years I think, somehow since the last time I needed one, I cleaned up (aka deleted) my "neutrals/negatives responses" form letters out of my email, couldn't find them anywhere!

Then I remembered I put some of them up here, and I keep the links for my posterity.

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Neutral-Negative-ratings-or-threats-thereof-the-form-lett... 

Whew, good thing  I put them up here too! So I've put them back in my email, hopefully I won't need them again for a couple years, although once there's one it increases the risk of more, other folks who are thinking about it but see the 100% will sometimes refrain. When there's already one, they are more likely to follow through. The item in question is one of my "dangerous" ones for this, I suspect there is probably a language barrier too, the issues listed were described in the listing, however the actual material may be worse, that is always a risk with that stuff too.

Unfortunately I look after my customers if they'd just message me I'd look after everything for them... I also realized after I sent the form letter I probably should have sent it in the home language, I don't want to send a second one, will wait and see if I hear anything back....

[momcqueen]

Bummer.

"many broken stamps many small size very many times the same stamps"

From a lot of 1000 stamps and a cost of $24.99 USD. That's an unit cost of 0.025 cents each or four stamps for one penny. Is my math correct? Maybe not. Still, your description was clear in that the lot would be a random mixture. I'm not a stamp collector but I can't say I'd expect this to be a collection of one thousand perfect and individually large stamps coming my way. For $25 American dollars. 

Unfortunately, I do agree that one red dots begs for company. I hope you are able to convince your buyer to alter their feedback left. What do you think he/she wants in return?

[ricarmic]

Hiya!

They're actually paying 2.4c per stamp, Japan stamps are harder to get, more "valuable" than many countries.

In a normal situation, for situations like this, it is resolved through a partial refund, I let the buyer set the refund amount, that allows them to have control over the resolution and surprisingly normally they are very fair about what they ask for.

Sometimes I send more stamps, generally not internationally though because it is expensive to send a second shipment (I don't mention replacement stamps in the form letter for international folks as an option for this reason).

Generally I have a very poor resolution rate with international "issues" like this. Normally I think it is language barrier problems. I should have waited to send my stuff till after my morning coffee, I'd likely have had the sense to send it in their language and/or two notes one in each (the text is too long for one message only).

I've actually had a pretty good run, I've probably only had a couple "frustration" messages in the last 6 months (easily resolved!). A lot of what I sell is dangerous in terms of expectations vs reality. Over the years I've been able to adjust the wording/style to reduce the risk.

These particular packs are the highest of the risk categories because unless the person reads the description they have no idea what they are getting. I've had some interesting things come from buyers over the years. The problem is that the style of listing is exactly what ebay wants, something with a high count, people buy, which has a decent buy vs view rate.... there's a lot of this style stuff in stampland, often though much cheaper (smaller sized lots) and generally the sellers have the same (or worse) experience as me over time...

[momcqueen]

It's a good thing I don't use math for a living, eh? 

In December, I had a buyer with issues, I talked them through it without offering any partial refund and got a soft positive for feedback. It has rankled since then, I could/should have handled it better; instead I got my back up and didn't behave in a way that was magnanimous, but short-sighted and skinflint-y. Perhaps it's not too late to make amends....

[zee-chan]

Was that the one about the tape you used?

[momcqueen]

It was. It hasn’t sat right with me since it happened, I could have handled it better.

[momcqueen]

Oh, and not tape, per se. it was eBay stickers leaving residue to which they objected.

[ricarmic]

Progress being made!

I did hear back from the buyer, in their language, but they seem to have understood my message.

They proposed a reasonable partial refund, doesn't sound like I'm going to get much of a break on the feedback but we will see what happens once they read my response and verify they received the refund.

I have gotten much better over the years at partitioning this stuff and treating it like a customer service issue as opposed to a personal attack on me.

This one hasn't riled me at all which makes me happy because it helps make sure I respond in a purely professional manner instead of the manner one often would prefer to respond! (Having the pre-written form letters and feedback replies was a very smart thing I did for myself years ago because instead of reacting as I feel, I simply take the preformatted (calm) response and customize it to the current situation).

We'll see what happens next!

[snoopwiz]

Hope you are able to work it out with the blindsider.

There are only two things I can't stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch.     

(Tongue planted firmly in cheek)

[ricarmic]

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@ricarmicwrote:

Progress being made!

I did hear back from the buyer, in their language, but they seem to have understood my message.

They proposed a reasonable partial refund, doesn't sound like I'm going to get much of a break on the feedback but we will see what happens once they read my response and verify they received the refund.

I have gotten much better over the years at partitioning this stuff and treating it like a customer service issue as opposed to a personal attack on me.

This one hasn't riled me at all which makes me happy because it helps make sure I respond in a purely professional manner instead of the manner one often would prefer to respond! (Having the pre-written form letters and feedback replies was a very smart thing I did for myself years ago because instead of reacting as I feel, I simply take the preformatted (calm) response and customize it to the current situation).

We'll see what happens next!

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I figure it is time for the post script as it looks like the story is done.

The buyer suggested a somewhat fair partial refund amount but said even with that they wouldn't be happy (that is the first time in 20 years on eBay that scenario has ever happened).

So I boosted the refund amount a bit above their request.

Sadly, no acknowledgement of receipt of the refund nor any adjustment to the feedback. (They only said they'd consider something like a slight adjustment anyway so I wasn't expecting a lot).

It is interesting, I've been fortunate to have received far fewer negs/neutrals over the last 5 years (people these days are much more often sending a message explaining the issue), but once a neg/neu is received, something like this result has tended to be what happens, so the extra effort/cost of trying to rectify is not recognized or rewarded. Aside from my customer service conscience, there really isn't a lot of incentive to try to make it right once a Neg/Neu is received. I of course will still try to fix things, but it is certainly a frustration if there is no result from it.

As a side note, the folks who've been contacting me via messages with issue(s) with the material are generally awesome to work with, and almost without fail the issue(s) they're raising are valid and easily resolved. I don't really know how many I get a year, my guess would be about 1/2 of 1% of sales (one out of each 200 shipments), which is pretty good given the "danger" level of the stuff I usually sell.... 

If anything further happens of interest, I'll post it but it looks like this story is done... 😞

[femmefan1946]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvXoin9NcA

[momcqueen]

I’m sorry to hear this hasn’t had a happier ending. Did you send the actual Revise Feedback Request? (Maybe I missed that part.)

[ricarmic]

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@momcqueenwrote:
I’m sorry to hear this hasn’t had a happier ending. Did you send the actual Revise Feedback Request? (Maybe I missed that part.)

---

Time for another OMG!!!!

I guess it is a positive side effect of the fact that I have these so rarely, I forgot that I have to send them a feedback revision request!

This also solves the mystery as to why when I do all this nobody in the last few years has changed it, I've probably not sent any feedback revisions in the past either! (I had a heck of a time finding it today).

Life can be humbling at times.

Thank you so much MOMC for mentioning that.......

Stay tuned again now, there might be another chapter to this story now!!

(PS this also serves as an example of valuable these boards can be no matter how long you've been around!!!)

[momcqueen]

Then, I'm glad I asked. I agree, the Feedback Revision Request link is hard-to-find, especially when you're in a pinch. No harm in a delay of sending it after settling the matter with a refund, the refund looks more altruistic that way, and the buyer has had a chance to cool their temper. I do think you got the short end of the stick with this person, I should think their expectations were unrealistic given the nature of the lot description.

For posterity, I will post a screencap to the Feedback Revision link so that we can all find it when we need it. My Account next to a generally pointless section about Feedback because who checks their Feedback from here when you can get to it a million other ways, like why not add it to the bottom of the Feedback page where you can Reply to Feedback and Follow-up to a Feedback Reply?

[momcqueen]

I do hope to read another chapter to the story. I would like it to have a happy ending with a return to 100 per cent for you. 

[ricarmic]

Thanks to MOMC, there is another chapter to the story!

The buyer revised their negative down to a neutral last night! The updated wording must have slang or something in it, it is unintelligible using google translate...to me at least.

So thx again to Momc, I'm back to 100%

[momcqueen]

Good news! An unintelligible neutral looks much less intimidating to most other buyers than a negative. I’m very pleased this worked out for you in the end.