The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

Hello fellow ebayer's

 

I'm pretty new to ebay as both a buyer and recently a seller too and wanted to share my experiences with a gap of mis-trust between buyer and seller when dealing with return issues / diffcute buyers. I have been on ebay for over a year now, originally wanting to sell a few things around the house and with just over 100 transactions i started to get a string of return requests and abusive buyers. With selling pre-owned items you can usually pick the fake buyer pretty quickly to prevent returns/scams, i now contact each buyer for my pre-owned items to ensure they read the listing and also not sell to buyers who seem fake. 

 

However since starting to sell new items which i dont expect any issues with ive come across some really aggressive buyer which caused a bit of emotional stress as well as wasted my time. when i first started on ebay i imagined it would be a pleasant experience just to make bit of extra income as a hobby. 

 

So my first run in with an unpleasant buyer was when i sold a wall decor piece, on arrive they claim it was damaged. Ok i agreed to replace the item as it was covered by the supplier, they sent photos but they were not clear and wanted a full refund instead. The supplier review the images and they looked like the buyer may have caused them and just changed their mind, i was told it happens a lot. By now the buyer was abusive, refused to provide more clear photo and their story was not consistent, as i proceeded to rule out / source other cause of the damages. After a while, they agreed to return the item for inspection before a decision was made, The supplier was willing to refund and the buyer remained suspected. After physical inspection it was found the issue was caused partly by the supplier leaving out a small piece of packaging and the courier likely placing a heavy item  ontop creating the damage. So the buyer was happy i refunded them and my supplier and i took a lost. During this long ordeal i liked to think i was objective and was reasonable in my investigation, but the lack of cooperation and aggressive nature of the buyer really add suspicion to their case/claim.

 

So after that drama i started thinking about my customer service as i have been working under the principle "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" Why would a buyer have such an attitude or be abusive. You normally would not do that to a chef at a cafe or when returning an item to a retailer.

 

Later the same item was sold and delays where caused by the post, i informed the buyer ASAP as i hope to deliver to them within 2 or 3 days but they became abusive and threatened to report me, even tho the item would arrive within the ebay allowed time frame and it did in the end.

 

Was that too much customer service?

 

Finally, i recently sold wooden furniture piece. The buyer claimed there was a crack in the grain but in photos it was hard to see and just the nature of the product. The buyer was likely too pedantic. I spent sometime with my supplier to get them to agree to replace the items but in the end the buyer did not return it and stopped communication's tho they were not very responsive in the first place while i made updates regularly. So i just canceled the return.

 

I had a few other minor return issues such as buyer not liking the colour of the item, which they did not read the listing correctly. Or other very imperfections were buyer are fishing for a discount. however these buyer were more respectful and fix the issues by reasoning with them. In genuine cases like other seller i go out of my way to make buyers happy as iam starting out still.

 

After my experiences i realised a few things,

 

  • Buyers do not often realise that most ebay seller are ebay buyers themselves and individuals, but they reaction in the mind set of returns to a big retailers, 
  • Seller get blamed for delayed postage although its out of our control once it leave us.
  • Anger and abusive behaviour from buyer slows the resolution process, first communication is lost in the emails and a reluctant of seller to deal with the claim promptly.
  • Buyer are unlikely to understand the seller and continue to behaviour as such until they become sellers themselves.

 

So i hoped my shared experience's will help reduce the issues between buyer & seller and i hope to hear more about experiences from other seller as well as buyers. 

 

 

Message 1 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

You know Dave, I didn't even think to check the date.

 

I went to this forum and right in front of me was this topic and thread, thereby thinking it was current. It was on the first page??

 

Many Thanks, I'll be more careful in future. My observations stand though.

 

Melina.

Message 11 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

Hi Melina,

 

Its been a while since i was active on ebay in the forums and interestingly it has been and related to your comments about ebay taking its members for granted as you said. So thank you for your comments and i agree with you on most of the points mentioned. i do hope my posts helps others but also that someone from ebay actually reads these and takes notes.

 

Next i wanted to quickly reply to the comments made by Davewil1964, First what does he/she have against Queenslanders? and that the comments / advice in this thread are some what timeless if they even bothered to read the posts.

 

Finally, iam back because iam debating if i should share my latest experience with ebay customers service and if its worth doing. One case relates to loyalty towards ebay and another the handling of a return from a problem buyer. The case has not closed yet and so iam back here looking for answers / solution. But the only sure thing i can say is that iam now no longer an evangelist / champion for ebay and switched to being a disgruntled member, which i know seems to be a lot reading other threads. 

 

I started selling on ebay originally between jobs and to keep afloat which it has and iam greatful for it and spent numerous occasions introducing the idea of selling on ebay to friends who mainly are buyers. But i think it takes a certain type of person to sell and from my experinces above i need to treat it more as a business now. Saying that i had wonderful buyers here who sent lovely comments and even photos of how the used/placed items i sold them. However one or two bad apples does spoil the bunch, you would think that the grey areas and unquie cases is where ebay customer service can / should excel but sadly its policies does let down its honest members. 😞

 

 

Message 12 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

It’s always good and valuable to share information cutekittycat. It has saved us from at least a couple of unsavoury outcomes. And, we’re forever grateful to some very special people in here. They know who they are 🙂

 

Some new sellers, who don’t attend here, must find themselves in awful circumstances at times. eBay is a minefield. I’m still seeking the odd piece of advice.

 

So please, go ahead and share. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

Oh, and with Dave’s post, are you perhaps seeing QLD instead of OLD? 

 

Thanks for your comments. I wish you well 🙂

 

Melina.

Message 13 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

First what does he/she have against Queenslanders?

 

Daves are generally hes.

 

I don't notice any geographical information in your ID, so I have no idea where you live.

 

Both my sisters and their children live in Queensland. At least a proportionate number of my sales go to Queensland.

 

You might think my comments were out of line, but yours are further away than mine.

Message 14 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

Should have gone to SpecSavers Woman Wink

Message 15 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

".........it is soooo readily apparent to us that the climate of  mistrust and angst e.g. Buyer Vs Seller has been directly created by eBay itself....."

That right there 👍

Message 16 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

I realise you've recently found the member boards, and it's really excitijng to see all these noteworthy threads, but is it really necessary to drag up old threads to add nothing of relevance?

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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?


@11dustyattic wrote:

".........it is soooo readily apparent to us that the climate of  mistrust and angst e.g. Buyer Vs Seller has been directly created by eBay itself....."

That right there 👍


I was saying the same thing at least 12+ years ago....as far back as when ebay was trying to create fear among sellers that they would be ripped off by rogue buyers if they did not use paypal as the only payment method.

 

That little fear campaign fell flat on it's face but the mistrust still remains unfortunately.

Message 18 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

I may be new to these boards but not others, well familiar with xxxx's like you

Message 19 of 28
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Re: The mistrust gap between Buyer & Seller and what is good customer service?

Kisses? Really? We don't know each other that well.

 

You seem to be the one with the attitude.

 

Especially the one that drags up old threads just to be seen, not to add anything of relevance, much less value.

Message 20 of 28
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