Should buyers contact sellers to say thanks?

[jamo_4195]

I always find it proper to contact sellers to say thank you and let them know when I'm happy with an item but at the same time I've recently been thinking do sellers get anxious seeing messages from buyers in their inbox or perhaps do sellers just see thank you messages as a waste of time. I'm a little conflicted, to any sellers out there, how do you feel when buyers use "contact seller" to express gratitude?

[padi*0409]

I'm not a seller, just a buyer on eBay I have only contacted my sellers a couple of times over the years, but only when they have gone far beyond what I would expect in the transaction with me. Otherwise for me the feedback I leave for them should be sufficient in rating the transaction.

[papermoon.lady]

Well, you can also express gratitude in your feedback too. You have more space than in the past (500 instead of 80 characters).

I think most sellers also appreciate private messages though. just as some of them send private messages when they send an item to let buyers know the item has been sent (apart from marking the item as sent). It ultimately depends on personality. Some like a more personal approach; some don't.

[kopenhagen5]

If you feel like saying thank you to a seller then you should.

Don't over think it.

In todays fast paced world, it is always nice to see some old fashioned courtesy.

[veiled-lady]

We always get a little twinge when a message from a buyer pops up.

Once we see that it isn't a complaint, we don't mind at all.

The only problem is that we then feel it's courteous to reply with a "you're welcome", "glad you like it", "thanks for letting us know" or something similar.

Quite often the buyer replies back to us, and we then feel a bit rude that we don't answer that message, but really don't need to get into a never-ending conversation.

So, to answer your question - if you like sending a message rather than just leaving feedback, then do so.

But feedback can do the same thing, especially with the change in the number of characters, so go with whatever suits you.

[papermoon.lady]

"The only problem is that we then feel it's courteous to reply with a "you're welcome", "glad you like it", "thanks for letting us know" or something similar. Quite often the buyer replies back to us, and we then feel a bit rude that we don't answer that message, but really don't need to get into a never-ending conversation." 100% true. I actually wanted to add the same thought to my original message, but for some reason I then left it out. Like padi, I have only thanked sellers a couple of times over the years because they had included very expensive gifts, of the same value of what I had bought or sometimes even of a higher value, so I felt I had to say something of course, or sometimes they had made an effort to find a delayed item, so when the item arrived I wanted to thank them personally.