topic Re: I have no customer service skills, please help. in Selling

I have no customer service skills, please help.

aussie.grazing.boards — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 18:45:18 GMT

Hi guys

Can someone help me out? I have very poor customer service skills, and I need nicely worded text that I can "cut and paste" and email to customers who ask "where's my item I bought from you, it's 2 days past the ETA".

I am am getting tonnes of emails like this over the course of the last few days, and I'm not coping.

Here are the points I need to cover:

* I live in Cairns, Far North Queensland, so delivery takes longer than it would from sellers in southern states (and even Brisbane).

* Australia Post new changes to their delivery schedule. (Maybe a brief explanation of the new changes).

* I ship out on the same business day when purchased before 3.00pm

* I do everything to get the items to the customers as soon as humanly possible, I dMon't dilly-dally

That just about covers it, unless you can see something I missed.

If you want to PM me the draft, that is totally fine, and thanks in advance

Sincerely, David

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

harley_babes_hoard — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:33:45 GMT

Wow just read some of your negs, you have not only no customer service skills it seems you have a lot of stock quality issues as well.

i noticed you also boast in your listing don't Wait weeks from China get it in days, if you can't delivery on that get rid of it out of your listings.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

aussie.grazing.boards — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:52:28 GMT

Well, that might be the case, but I'm turning over a little under $3000 a week

Thanks for keeping on topic, and helping me out with my request, kudos👍

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

harley_babes_hoard — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:05:29 GMT

"That just about covers it, unless you can see something I missed."

well I believe I was on topic. you said the above, I answered the above.

You maybe turning over that amount at the moment but it won't be long and you may not be with your feedback. Especially when you start coping a heap of defects.

Good luck!!

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

dotm2004 — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:36:15 GMT

I think harley is trying to be helpful .... maybe you need to listen and not be defensive of her comments.

My advice is to read your feedback and take heed of what your customers are telling you. If you need to reply, try to be polite and understanding (remember "the customer is always right" whether they are or not 🙂

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

pennyforum14 — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:52:56 GMT

You're asolutely right, you have no customer service skills, based on your response to those who try to help you.

I would definitely remove the promise of "delivery in days", you are setting yourself up for a mound of defects otherwise.

Whether or not you address the quality issues is up to you, but your sales volume is irrelevant to your unhappy customers, they just want their item to be good quality and on time.

It probably won't help to add anything in your listings as many buyers don't bother to read everything you write, or can;t easily see it if they are using their mobile devices. But if you really want to add an explanation, how about something like this:

Orders are posted same day (if placed before 3pm) or next day (if placed after 3pm). Please bear in mind my location is Far North Queensland and postal services to some parts of Australia from here are slower than others. Please allow a few extra days above eBay's delivery estimates for your item to arrive.

BTW, parcel delivery times have not changed, the two tier delivery system only applies to letter post.

You might also push your handling time out to 3 or 5 days (if it isn't already). This will extend eBays estimates and minimise unhappy customers. It really isn't worth hanging on to 1 day handling to keep Premium Service ranking any more, it really makes little to no difference anyway.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

cathyjoyjoy — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 22:04:52 GMT

I just wanted to reiterate what pennyforum said about the layout of your listing on a mobile device and the handling time.

The right hand side of your lengthy description is cut off, so please check on this (for those who actually do read the description - I do, but most don't).

So many sellers have now extended their handling time to at least 3 days, whilst continuing to post same day or next day (this might be causing the most problems for you at the moment - during the recent Christmas period there were only 2 delivery days out of 10 total days).

Also, always, always communicate in eBay messages and in "response to feedback" in a professional manner, no matter how rude and abusive a member might be. If after doing all you can for a particular member and you wish to respond to neutral/negative feedback, includin the member ID in the response can be beneficial for your future buyers and other sellers.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

jensmanchester-australia — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 22:52:01 GMT

David - I would be notifying all buyers of the longer delivery times due to your location when you post the parcel and not be waiting for the where is my item emails.

If buyers are aware it stops them panicking when their parcel takes a little longer to arrive than they anticipate.

My suggestion would be to sign up for Selling Manager on the ebay Singapore site where you can send emails in bulk to the buyers (you used to be able to do it on the Australian Site but that was stopped a few years ago). In there you can set up email templates which can be sent out in bulk to the buyers so it doesn't take long at all.

Most buyers are understanding as long as there is good communication from the seller.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

lane-ends — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 23:10:50 GMT

Ebay push trackability of items. Buyers are starting to expect tracking from start to finish, hence they get impatient. Ebay are aware of thses requests. The latest late shipping defects are a way Ebay are using to push sellers into using start to finsih tracking, regardless of the impracticalities and costs involved for many sellers.

At the end of the day it is a consequence of Ebay and AP overselling tracking and delivery times. Ebay want to eliminate the uncertainy of of the pay and hope it turns up preconception the public has of Ebay.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

*tippy*toes* — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 23:20:09 GMT

If delivery times are a problem I would extend your handling time more, up to 5 days. It does make a difference to the unrealistic estimates. If there are certain areas that have there are problems with slower delivery, maybe send those buyers a message when you post the item, even more so low feedback buyers who seem to prefer to hit the red button rather than contact you first.

I don't send a message to all buyers, but do depending on location if I think the estimate is too unrealistic, especially if they have low feedback. It usually goes something like:

Dear <buyers first name>,

Thank you for your very prompt payment. I posted your item this afternoon. The tracking number can be found in your purchase history under the item name (if it was sent with tracking). Aust Post has been a bit slow lately getting items to <buyers state>, so your item may take longer to arrive than the estimate that eBay puts in the listing. It may well arrive quickly, but just letting you know that it could take longer than the estimate.

If you have are any issues whatsoever, please don't hesitate to contact me by replying to this message, or selecting the "ask about using my item or as seller a question" option, before leaving feedback. Thank you for buying from me!

Regards,

<my first name>

I have never had a dispute opened. The few issues that I have had the buyer has either replied to the message if I'd sent one, or used the ask about using my item option. I usually include a similar spiel in the invoice when I send it too.

As for a message after the event where buyers are contacting to say the item hasn't arrived, you could say something like:

Dear <buyers first name>,

I am so sorry your item hasn't arrived yet. Your item was posted X hours after payment. The tracking number can be found in your purchase history (if it was sent with tracking).

Due to my remote location, quite often items can take a lot longer than the estimate that eBay puts in the listing. Unfortunately, I have no control over those dates, eBay puts them there and they don't take into consideration weekends and public holidays.

If it's OK with you, I would ask that you wait another week to see if it arrives. If it still hasn't arrived by then, please don't hesitate to contact me by replying to this message.

Thank you so much for contacting me. Once again, I am so sorry this delay has occurred.

Regards,

<your first name>

I have asked a few buyers to wait another week and all but one replied a few days later saying it had arrived. The other didn't reply, or open a dispute, or leave bad feedback, so I can only assume that it also arrived. Most buyers are more than happy to wait another week and are grateful that you took the time to reply to their message.

I'm sure someone else will come along with a better worded message than I came up with! Similar messages that I have sent seemed to have calmed the buyers down as they know that I have taken their issue seriously.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

springyzone — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:06:40 GMT

I don't think you're as bad as you think you are.

I had a look at your feedback.

You answered some of the negs very professionally.

* eg to one who called you a bad seller simply for not getting the item there on time, you answered.

Item sent promptly, delayed by Australia Post due to Christmas rush

* one complained they never got their item. You said

Goods posted to address supplied. Returned unclaimed by Australia Post. Refunded

* Another neg'ed you over a watch not being waterproof. You said:

You're correct, it isn't Waterproof, it is WATER RESISTANT, its not a Dive watch

* Another neg'ed you for sending the wrong size watch. You said

c00ly, I sent you the size you ordered, YOU ordered the wrong size

All informative, factual answers. As a buyer, I would be reassured to read them & I can clearly see it's the buyers there who are the numpties.

-------------------------

I also had a quick look through some of your listings.

Let's be honest here, a lot of it is cheap & I imagine is imported from Asia. People just aren't going to get a watch with all the bells and whistles and fantastic features for about $6-$9. Some of your feedback reflects that fact. You're not going to be able to avoid the fact the quality of some things isn't great, so you'll have to accept a certain level of neg.

What I would do is what some of the others here have said.

*Remove that banner about same day postage. The one about being an aussie seller is fine though.

* Your ads look fine, I would just add that bit pennyforum said. Something in a bigger font, like Please bear in mind my location is Far North Queensland and postal services to some parts of Australia from here are slower than others. Please allow a few extra days above eBay's delivery estimates for your item to arrive.

* Track your negs and neutrals. If you find that it's one or two items that are over-represented in the trouble category, consider deleting them from your range.

* And Tippy toes had it right with her email response template. If someone writes to you about a problem, don't start off your reply with a defence (eg I have never had complaints about...). Always start by acknowledging the problem, acting concerned. Depending on what the problem is, you may like to replace the item if it was broken etc but really, all you need to do is keep it polite on your part, just in case ebay have to read through any of it in a dispute.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

ausbargainbasement — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:38:32 GMT

Seems to me the cheaper the item the **bleep**ier the customer.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

aussie.grazing.boards — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:54:06 GMT

Hey guys, thanks for your advice, there's some reall gold there.

ive changed my turn around time to 3 days as you suggested, and I didn't know that you can send bulk emails through the Singapore site so I will give that a go too.

The major problem is that I'm selling a product that has 100's of moving parts, (watches) and is manufactured in a country (China) that doesn't set quality controls to the standard that we accept as normal here in the west. There's always one or two in a hundred that will be problematic.

What annoys me the most is that you bust my guts to get to the Post Office everyday before they close. If I waited 2 days before I bothered to send them, I would take all these negs on the chin.

anyway, I'll try your suggestions and update you as I go

Thanks again.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

aussie.grazing.boards — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:56:09 GMT

Tippy, those responses are great, thanks so much

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

digital*ghost — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 01:36:38 GMT

Just for some general communication tips, the main things people want to see in replies from sellers is an acknowledgement of the problem, and what can and/or will be done about it, without using an accusatory tone - a couple of little pleasantries can make the same information etc come across completely differently.

For example, the difference between:

It's only been 4 days since I posted it, mail always takes a bit longer from where I am, please wait until at least Friday.

Thank you for contacting me, I certainly understand the frustration when an item doesn't arrive in the expected time frame. I can confirm your order was posted on XX and is currently still in transit with Australia Post so will most likely be delivered soon. If you would like to follow the progress of the package, you can use this tracking number XXX on the Australia Post website where you can also sign up for updates via email (if applicable - not all services allow that). Unfortunately, due to my location, deliveries can often take a little longer than eBay's estimated dates, so I'd like to give it until XX for it to be delivered, but if you have not received it by then please let me know and I'll be happy to provide further options and assistance. Kind regards, XXXX

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

dazzledayz — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 04:01:17 GMT

Lots of really good advice above and Tippy's replies are very good (and similar to mine).

Communication is key to keeping customers happy.

Some observations on your listings for mobile viewing:

1. Try centering your template contents (images and text) as mobie devices will display them better

2. Try and keep your text to around 60 characters per line (inc spaces)

(that's around the length of the text line above)

3. Do the same with emails as they will often be read on a mobile too.

(probably around 50% of the time)

An edit of Digi's reply suited to mobile:

Thank you for contacting me,

I know it can be frustrating when an item doesn't arrive as expected.

I can confirm your order was posted on XX and is currently still in transit.

eBay tend to underestimate but Aus Post should deliver it soon.

If you would like to follow the progress of the package:

Use this tracking number <insert here>on the Australia Post website.

You can also sign up for updates via email on their tracking page.

Due to my location, deliveries can take a little longer than eBay's estimate.

If you could give it until DD/MM I'm sure it will have arrived by then.

If not,please let me know and I'll be happy to provide further assistance.

Kind regards, XXXX

You would need 2 versions of this as I imagine some parcels are letters.

Omit paragraph 2 and replace with:

I do my best to keep postage costs as low as absolutely possible.

For this standard service there is, unfortunately, no tracking available.

Re: I have no customer service skills, please help.

lane-ends — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 07:34:18 GMT

@ausbargainbasement wrote:
Seems to me the cheaper the item the **bleep**ier the customer.

It is because there is less investment to try to reach a resloution, far easier to throw in a bad fb and cut losses.