topic Re: Rude buyers get blocked. in Selling

Rude buyers get blocked.

chameleon54 — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 22:51:41 GMT

I have a large 1.5 kg. antique book for sale. The book is reasonably worn with a few loose pages, but rare subject matter that is highly sought after by specialist collectors. The following is a message I recieved.

How many pages ?

Are they legible ?

My wife recently worked at our local Post Office for years and was wondering why the postage charge is so high ? If it was more reasonable I would seriously condsider buying this book. ( with taking into account your answers to my first two questions ).

regards .....

At 1.5 kg. the cheapest option for mailing this book is a 3 kg. satchel. I use express post and charge $14.60 at which cost I actually lose money when ebays commission on postage is taken into account. ...........If the potential buyers wife really did work in a post office she would know all of this, so I call bo!!ocks to that story.

Result, the buyer did not even get an answer to the question ( although I did feel like writing one, explaining that a bit of courtesy in questions gets a much better response ). Result .... the buyer went straight to my blocked buyer list on 3 accounts and will never purchase anything from me or even send me another message. Maybe I have just got my grumpy pants on, but I just dont want to deal with people like that. They are more trouble than they are worth.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

kopenhagen5 — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 23:09:24 GMT

You are probably right but try this.

Think of the person as being a kind old genuine gentleman, very well dressed and has a beautiful smile on his face as he writes the message.

Now re-read the message.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

chameleon54 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:05:35 GMT

I tried it .... ......didnt work...... All I see is a well dressed, smiling, old man who is lying through his teeth as he types......

If his wife really did work at the P.O. she would know how expensive postage is as she probably gets reminded 100 times per day as customers come in with parcels and say .... HOW MUCH ??????

Like I said, maybe I,ve got my grumpy pants on today. ( and everyday ).................. Its not my fault, I was a patient, kindly, trusting person until I started selling on ebay............

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:15:51 GMT

Exactly 100% spot on

I'd be blocking them based on them being an outright liar

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

domino-710 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:20:24 GMT

@kopenhagen5 wrote:
You are probably right but try this.

Think of the person as being a kind old genuine gentleman, very well dressed and has a beautiful smile on his face as he writes the message.

Now re-read the message.

I re-read it.

He has soup on his tie & tells fibs.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

lyndal1838 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:31:58 GMT

I read that message as he was not going to consider buyingthe book because the postage was not to his liking.........so why bother asking the questions.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

egglesdtp — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:38:34 GMT

My initial response was I wonder how long ago his wife worked in a PO? Prices have risen markedly in the last year or so.

On another point, if the potential buyer is in the same metro area, then postage would be cheaper.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

springyzone — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:44:03 GMT

chameleon54 wrote:
I have a large 1.5 kg. antique book for sale. The book is reasonably worn with a few loose pages, but rare subject matter that is highly sought after by specialist collectors. The following is a message I recieved.

How many pages ?
Are they legible ?
My wife recently worked at our local Post Office for years and was wondering why the postage charge is so high ? If it was more reasonable I would seriously condsider buying this book. ( with taking into account your answers to my first two questions ).
regards .....

At 1.5 kg. the cheapest option for mailing this book is a 3 kg. satchel. I use express post and charge $14.60 at which cost I actually lose money when ebays commission on postage is taken into account. ...........If the potential buyers wife really did work in a post office she would know all of this, so I call bo!!ocks to that story.

Result, the buyer did not even get an answer to the question ( although I did feel like writing one, explaining that a bit of courtesy in questions gets a much better response ). Result .... the buyer went straight to my blocked buyer list on 3 accounts and will never purchase anything from me or even send me another message. Maybe I have just got my grumpy pants on, but I just dont want to deal with people like that. They are more trouble than they are worth.

I think you were quite restrained. Have to say, I hate the brief, abrupt way some people ask questions.

I've had people (on gumtree) send through messages that just say $20? when I have had an item on sale for $60.

I felt like writing back 'deposit?' but I just wrote no.

In your case, I don't think I could have resisted the temptation to write back and say thankyou for bringing it to your attention, his question had led you to further investigate the postage. Did he realise ebay charges commission not only on items but on postage costs & and that you had found that with the weight of the book and express postage, plus the commission costs, you were actually underquoting and would have been losing money on that quoted price so you had had to adjust it upwards.

I hate the way some customers have unrealistic expectations about postage. I can recall about 13 years back, my sister & I sold a snow suit. Now you know how bulky those things are? She was seriously annoyed with the postage costs and wrote to us to ask why we weren't sending it in a $4.30 satchel-which at that time was the price of a 500g satchel. Even if it had only weighed that little (which it didn't), how did she ever imagine it could fit in one of those bags? It was even too bulky for a 3kg satchel.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

chameleon54 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 02:37:31 GMT

I wanted to respond so badly ........ I typed a reply asking if it was 1964 when his wife worked in the post office, but my wife ( my voice of reason ) told me I better not send it.

For the first few years I sold on ebay I only had around 5 names on my BBL. Basically I would sell anything to anyone if they paid the price. But recently I have found many buyers have become much more abrasive and rude. This coupled with ebay policy changes on returns etc. means the moment I sniff any possible trouble, I just block the buyer, no questions asked.

The platform has become difficult enough to trade on recently without the added preasure of unrealistic and impolite buyers who think every seller is desperate for sale and can be pushed around as we are sooooo grateful for their $20 worth of business.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

samjess54 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 04:16:57 GMT

@chameleon54 wrote:
I tried it .... ......didnt work...... All I see is a well dressed, smiling, old man who is lying through his teeth as he types......

If his wife really did work at the P.O. she would know how expensive postage is as she probably gets reminded 100 times per day as customers come in with parcels and say .... HOW MUCH ??????

Like I said, maybe I,ve got my grumpy pants on today. ( and everyday ).................. Its not my fault, I was a patient, kindly, trusting person until I started selling on ebay............

Kopenhagen might have a point and there could also sometimes be a legit reason to query postage.......as in seller has made a mistake.

I was rather grateful for the email below that I received last month along the same lines:

"Hi there. I just wondered why your postage is so high for this item? I understand you allow for wrapping and printing etc but I post things all the time and use the 3kg bag which is $13.80. So $15 is quite reasonable for a bit of wrap and paper with invoice. But $23 is a bit steep. If i was to win this auction would you consider dropping your postage fees to the fair price of $15? If not I understand. You never know unless you ask. Thanks for your time."

Luckily I had a second look at my listing and found I'd incorrectly entered the weight as over 1kg rather than 500-1000gm; I had wondered why there was no interest in it And it sold quick smart after I amended the listing.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

chameleon54 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 05:05:11 GMT

Your customer was a little more polite than the message I recieved. I would have no problems recieving the message, shared in your post and have in the past happily answered similar enquiries even when the postage cost was correct. What got me off side was the abbrasive and rude way my " buyer" posed his question.

A little more basic courtesy and he could now be the proud owner of a rare book he wont find anywhere else and I would have another sale.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

digital*ghost — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 05:27:00 GMT

Some people are just outright rude, and for those I will certainly block them, but I've also found that some people just don't know how to frame written communication in a way that's interepreted as polite and respectful. This is particularly true of people who grew up texting, so maybe not applicable in this buyer's case, and it really does grate on my nerves because I use a fairly formal style in all of my written communications with buyers and sellers online (with the recent exception of a message I sent to the Good Guys, who ticked me off after I bought a large appliance - one that was of particular importance - and a week later still wasn't ready for collection, but then when I finally got the email saying it was ready, organised someone to borrow a ute from their workplace to go pick it up, was told it's not there yet because they couldn't contact me to confirm when I wanted to pick it up, but I digress... ).

Sometimes just a simple 'Hi' at the start of a message can make a huge difference to how it comes across.

I personally don't have it in me to not reply to messages like this, the main reason being that ignoring people who send stuff like this just lets them think the seller is the one who is rude and the one with a problem, which encurages more rudeness and messages like this to other sellers. I maintain polite professionalism, and make every effort to take the high road, but if I see an opportunity to highlight to someone that their line of questioning is inappropriate, I will definitely take it.

Sometimes they just don't get it and reply back with more rudeness, so at that point I will stop replying, sometimes they don't reply at all, so I can only hope my words had some kind of positive effect, and sometimes they respond in a dramatically different, and much more polite and respectful way, and I get a good customer. 🙂

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

*tippy*toes* — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 09:55:33 GMT

I had a listing once that was $18 with $7 postage. A got a message from a "buyer" that went so that something like "you will sell this to me for $9 and free postage". I responded with "sure, but you have to send me your firstborn or no deal". I got an abusive reply that involved a few F words and those starting with C. I had already put them on my list when I replied with "such romantic words, will you marry me?". Which riled them up even more.

I thought initially it may have just been an unintentional abrupt message from someone who English wasn't their first language, but their name was something like James Lawson. They were just nasty and not used to being told no. I got threats about heavies coming to my home and my kids would be abducted from school. Good luck with that one, I don't have any!

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

sydney-diecast-kingdom — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 10:00:25 GMT

I'm with you on this one.

In most cases I find rude buyers to be not worth the hassle. I block them straight away.

I ship my items in a 500g box for $8.90. ($7.60 postage + $1.30 for box and fee costs).

One guy messages me and says and I quote:

"I want buy this but $9 for shipping!!!!!! Your kiding right? it should cost now more than $6!".

They can't spell and are rude and arrogant. No response from me....... straight to banned list. 😄

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

phorum_junkie* — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 10:00:42 GMT

@*tippy*toes* wrote:
I had a listing once that was $18 with $7 postage. A got a message from a "buyer" that went so that something like "you will sell this to me for $9 and free postage". I responded with "sure, but you have to send me your firstborn or no deal". I got an abusive reply that involved a few F words and those starting with C. I had already put them on my list when I replied with "such romantic words, will you marry me?". Which riled them up even more.

I thought initially it may have just been an unintentional abrupt message from someone who English wasn't their first language, but their name was something like James Lawson. They were just nasty and not used to being told no. I got threats about heavies coming to my home and my kids would be abducted from school. Good luck with that one, I don't have any!

Love the replies, girl after my own heart. Do you have fun with nuisance tele sales callers too?

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

digital*ghost — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 12:45:39 GMT

@*tippy*toes* wrote:
I had a listing once that was $18 with $7 postage. A got a message from a "buyer" that went so that something like "you will sell this to me for $9 and free postage".

I'd probably just say something like I'm sorry [buyer], I'm afraid I can't do that. (It's fairly innocuous, I know, but personally amuses me).

The kind of messages I get aren't usually quite that bad. One was just a (potential) buyer whose entire message was along the lines of 'I don't see why I should have to pay postage when I live a couple mins away from [item location suburb]'. That just got a short but polite reply explaining all my items are posted (I don't do pick up. Ever), so that's why they would indeed have to pay postage if they purchased.

Another one that sticks out started off well enough (enquiring about pick up) but when I said no, twice, they suddenly turned rude and agressive. I responded to the first one, because they were accusatory and I had my 'listen here, punk' mode triggered, but I went silent after that.

More recently, I received a surprising message from someone who wanted to complain about my postage costs, and the items. I won't go into too much detail, but I will say they went so far as to suggest they spent years contemplating whether or not to buy a particularly cheap item, thus heightening their apparent disappointment. I was fairly happy with my reply to that one, which was more matter of fact than anything else.

One seller I know of once received a message that opened with something like 'hey, f$%# face'. Now something like that I would definitely just block and ignore.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

powersports57 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 13:15:59 GMT

I just had a buyer purchase 4 items, then question the price of postage, then after he used the BUY NOW option asked for a discount...then canceled the sale because I would not offer a discount..try that after checking items through at Coles...gotta love that.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

brerrabbit585 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 14:06:49 GMT

The problem is that most rude people don't know they're being rude, and they never will know because they just can't see themselves. If anyone treats them the same way, of course the other person is being terribly rude. Note I did not say all rude people!

I had someone send an unsolicited offer the other day and she expected free postage, which would have cost me $5. I decided after the last thread on this subject that I really don't want to sell to rude buyers at all so I asked her which two meals did she think I should go without so she can live in luxury. Wow, did she tell me I was rude?!!! I thought it was hilarious and was quite grateful that she'd decided to buy elsewhere. She told me I'd only get a couple of bowls of noodles for $3 anyway. It was actually $5 and I was soooo tempted to respond but I left well alone after that (I'd already put her on my BBL before I answered).

What always gets me is that people say "it's only $3", as though I'm being lousy, but if it's only $3, why are they quibbling over it???

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

brerrabbit585 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 14:16:57 GMT

@kopenhagen5 wrote:
You are probably right but try this.

Think of the person as being a kind old genuine gentleman, very well dressed and has a beautiful smile on his face as he writes the message.

Now re-read the message.

Sorry, a kind old genuine gentleman wouldn't have said it that way. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks..."

They've put plenty of effort into explaining about the wife working in a PO so why so abrupt with the other questions, and the last bit is definitely condescending, as in "I'd do you a big favour and take it off your hands if you were more reasonable on postage (and not so incompetent)." I'd be more worried about the first two questions than the bit about postage, actually.

If it's a well dressed old gentleman that's because he dresses on the savings from twisting sellers' arms up their backs.

Re: Rude buyers get blocked.

glenbankloel — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 22:02:01 GMT

Perhaps his wife can suggest how to post it seeing that she knows all the information about postage? What is her suggestion? You will soon be able to sort him out with her invaluable knowledge. Ha!