topic Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS in Selling

SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

nalahblue — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 03:44:30 GMT

Whether it be via CONTACT SELLER or via PAYPAL (yes, there is an option for us buyers to contact you) READ YOUR MESSAGES.

8 out of 10 of you do not read messages and I am really annoyed.

Sometimes, I need to request express post or ask items to be sent to a different address or I am requesting a combined postage invoice but my questions go unanswered.

Really frustrating.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

sueken4812 — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 03:53:59 GMT

Sometimes it could be the email hasn't gone through. That is happening more and more. Buyers insisting they have sent an email which I've never received. And emails that I have sent to buyers not getting through ... no spam filters at all. It seems to be a bit of hit and miss with emails through the eBay system lately. And you are right, it is annoying !!!!

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

*kazumi* — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 06:05:46 GMT

Whether it be via CONTACT SELLER or via PAYPAL (yes, there is an option for us buyers to contact you) READ YOUR MESSAGES.

8 out of 10 of you do not read messages and I am really annoyed.

Sometimes, I need to request express post or ask items to be sent to a different address or I am requesting a combined postage invoice but my questions go unanswered.

Really frustrating.

many sellers also have a "real"job, and are not at their computer all day, some go away for weekends.

Recently I have received a question from buyer; it was sent about 3 hours before the auction, I received it 2 hours after the auction ended - I was at the computer when it went "ping". I did respond immediately, apologising and explaining I only just received the message.

However looking at your reasons to contact sellers, they are not really legitimate questions:

1- the seller makes a choice of postage options; if they do not offer express, they probably do not wish to send express

2- if you wish to send to different address, you need to enter this address when you are processing PP payment. If you do not, then the seller would lose PP protection if they posted to address other then the one you selected.

I also receive so many totally stupid irrelevant questions, and questions about something that is clearly stated in the listing. I always answer as politely as I can muster, but lately, on several occasions, I felt like deleting and blocking the would be buyer 🙂

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

sexy*harley*chick — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:13:09 GMT

Some messages only go to MY EBAY messages, i must admit i dont check there very often, i rely on things coming to my private email so if they dont reach me there then i dont see them for a week or so.

I dont offer express on my listings but i would surely send it that way if the buyer wanted and asked me to send it that way, they normally always ask before they buy then i can add the postage price for express, but if they ask after i just revise the invoice and add it in.

I do agree some sellers are slack.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

tonalidesigns — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:32:13 GMT

The same comment can also be made the other way .... buyers please check your eBay inbox.

Also get into the habit of checking your junk email folders - its surprising what ends up there.

We rely very heavily on eBay messages (best offer, customisation etc), but it is surprising how many times we have a message in our eBay inbox but no email copy.

I also suspect that many of the email addresses on eBay are no longer in use, up to date or checked regularly (eg do you still use that hotmail account you registered on eBay with 10 years ago?)

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

phorum_junkie* — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:50:28 GMT

If a seller doesn't offer express they probably won't agree to it, I wouldn't unless you were prepared to pay for platinum Express.

No seller in their right mind would take any notice of a request to post to a different address, you have the option to choose any address you want in checkout and that is the only address a seller should post to.

If I requested a combined invoice and the seller did not respond within 48 hours I would just pay for the items seperastely so the seller had to either refund and re invoice or pay two Paypal flat rate charges and send two parcels.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

tonalidesigns — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:50:16 GMT

"No seller in their right mind would take any notice of a request to post to a different address ...."

Hmmm - time to head off to the shrink I think ... I HAVE done it a few times without a problem, but only when I have felt comfortable with the transaction and feel that the risk is relatively low and/ or the consequences relatively low (ie I won't lose much if it does go wrong).

Then again - if I WAS completely sane I probably wouldn't be selling on eBay anyway!

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

nalahblue — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 23:20:39 GMT

Why not - I hardly see a problem with it. I pay ON TIME, I have 100% + f/b. If item gets lost in post, it makes no difference which address it was sent to and the same rules would apply.

Some sellers have real jobs....

so? most of us do. Hence the reason we buy online. Not saying buyers are perfect. I've seen and heard about buyers from hell.

Sellers will often add in their listings that they combine postage. I usually wait a day to give sellers time. I notify them that I rquire an invoice - on several occasions, I have sent up to SIX emails to sellers.... meanwhile, those requests are ignored and the twit will keep sending me "unpaid notices"

Ebay is not what it used to be - a place to buy at great prices. Retail outlets sell online and have become very competetive.

Just saying that sellers, doing it part time or fulltime, should keep this in mind and pay a little more attention to customer service.

Posting items out up to ten days AFTER you have received a buyers money is NOT Acceptable.

Making claims that are not in your listings is also not acceptable.

I've been on here over 10 years. In the last couple of years, the standards have dropped - unanswered e-mails, profiting on postage costs, sending of wrong items.

At the end of the day, its the sellers that will loose. Very sad because personally, I have dealt with brilliant sellers but lately, the knuckleheads are coming out in force.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

syrupsmummy — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 23:32:53 GMT

I check buyers messages often whether it's in eBay message or PayPal notification.

I don't offer Express Post in my listings. But I do send my items via Express Post when buyers ask me and pay extra cost for Express Post. I'm sure there are other sellers like me. So it's worth asking.

About sending different address I've done that many times without changing PayPal address. If sellers send items via regular post there is no PayPal seller protection anyway. My items are low price and most of them goes via regular post. So no point asking buyer to change PayPal address for those items. And also it's bigger hassle if I send items to old address rather than new address buyers currently live in. So it really depends on situations.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

*kazumi* — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 23:35:26 GMT

No seller in their right mind would take any notice of a request to post to a different address, you have the option to choose any address you want in checkout and that is the only address a seller should post to.

Why not - I hardly see a problem with it. I pay ON TIME, I have 100% + f/b. If item gets lost in post, it makes no difference which address it was sent to and the same rules would apply.

Unless seller sends to the address on the PP payment notice, they have no PP seller protection.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

*kazumi* — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 00:03:07 GMT

Unless seller sends to the address on the PP payment notice, they have no PP seller protection.

...and it makes extra work, instead of just printing out the labels through click&send, seller would have to be writing the address. There is then more oportunity for error.

As far as being asked for express, when I do not offer it, that would mean I have to go and specially buy the satchel and again would have to be handwriting address instead having it printed out, and I would be forgoing my PP protection (unless the buyer is willing to pay for the platinum).

Sellers who are running business, processing number of sold items each day, have system set up, asking for anything special is inconvenient. Just like asking B&M store keeper for service they do not offer.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

koalablue12 — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 00:10:17 GMT

I think claiming 80% of sellers are bad communicators is a little ambiguous, not to mention down right unfair to those of us who do all the right things! As everyone else has pretty much mentioned not all sellers are chained to the computer, you do know you can get contact details from ebay don't you, for any of those important and urgent questions?:|

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

digital*ghost — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 02:14:12 GMT

No seller in their right mind would take any notice of a request to post to a different address, you have the option to choose any address you want in checkout and that is the only address a seller should post to.

Why not - I hardly see a problem with it. I pay ON TIME, I have 100% + f/b. If item gets lost in post, it makes no difference which address it was sent to and the same rules would apply.

Just in addition to Kazumi's point - The same rules most certainly do not apply. When you ask a seller to send to an address that is different to what is shown on the PayPal invoice, you are asking them to compromise their seller protection for your convenience - a lot of sellers will be immediately suspect of such requests purely because it's a common enough scam tactic. There are other circumstances besides items lost in the post that means a seller may wish to be eligible for seller protection. I don't think it's fair to do that when the problem can be so easily solved by providing the correct address in the first place. Paying on time and having 100% positive feedback is irrelevant.

If you can take the time to write the message, I don't see why you can't take the time to provide the address you want the item sent to via checkout in the first place. Then you don't have to worry about sellers checking their messages and further complicating what could be a simple process.

In other words, instead of complaining about something you can't seem to change (a futile pursuit in the long run), change what you do so that you don't have anything to complain about. 😛

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

2106greencat — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 02:29:53 GMT

Well said dg;\

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

digital*ghost — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 02:54:36 GMT

Thanks - I hope the OP feels the same way :^O :8}

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

*kazumi* — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 03:20:08 GMT

In the past week or so I have received about dozen of questions; every single one, but one did not need to be asked. All the info was there in the listing, in the right spot. Like; would I accept DD - yes that is one of the options in my listing. The one question that was not in the listing, was asking if I have it in another colour!!!? Sorry, "clearing out the cupboards of unwanted things" second hand item that nobody would own more than one of?

Lets say I spent only 4 minutes per question and answer, that means I wasted 3/4 of an hour of my precious time. 🙂

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

silversterio2 — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:30:17 GMT

"In the past week or so I have received about dozen of questions; every single one, but one did not need to be asked. All the info was there in the listing, in the right spot. Like; would I accept DD - yes that is one of the options in my listing"

Just generalising as it may not be relevant to the questions you've received *kazumi*, but ever since eBay changed the look of the listing page, putting the item location under the postage section, the Payments section at the top of the page only shows 2 payment options.

Any / all other payment options aren't shown until a buyer clicks on See payment information or Postage and payments.

IMO, buyers shouldn't need to do this.

For instance in one of your current listings and several of your recently completed listings, your Payments section only shows :

Paypal , Cash on pickup

It isn't 'until' or even 'if' a buyer clicks on See payment information or Postage and payments that a buyer could see that you also offer Bank Deposit as a payment option.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

*kazumi* — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:54:46 GMT

Any / all other payment options aren't shown until a buyer clicks on See payment information or Postage and payments.

IMO, buyers shouldn't need to do this.

yes, you are right instead of saying "see all payment options" it now says "See payment information",

, which is not very useful.
OK i can see where this one person was coming from 🙂

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

bsal6160 — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:29:15 GMT

Mental note: Never buy off that rude, arrogant seller Kazumi. If your not happy to answer questions from a potential buyer then stop selling on ebay.

Re: SELLERS. CHECK YOUR MESSAGES FROM YOUR BUYERS

patchoo78 — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:38:09 GMT

(eg do you still use that hotmail account you registered on eBay with 10 years ago?)

Yes, but mine is with gmail.. I always make sure e-mail addresses are current