Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

There's no real solution to this one, just need to vent...

 

So, our business has been deemed non-essential, and we're in lock-down until late September. My employer instructed me to put our store in "holiday mode" and extend handling times to six weeks, rather then end all our active listings. I'd rather have just ended them, but was over-ruled.

And thus does our tale of woe begin...

People are still buying. But, many are clearly not paying any attention to the "Seller is away until.." notice that appears on every item. I'm being beset by "Why hasn't my item been sent?" messages, along with cancellation requests from those who have bought and paid for an item, then read the "Seller is away..." notice.

And there's even been a couple of rugged individualists who have said that they need the item straight away, and are willing to come and pick it up - these ones are actually in Victoria. Y'know, the state where most places are shut, and people aren't allowed to travel more than 5km from their home, etc.

 

It's horrifying. People just aren't taking any notice at all. I can't believe that people are a) genuinely unaware that Victorian businesses are in a state of lock-down, and b) that people in Victoria itself are so willing to violate the regualtions in order to get (as in the most recent case) a man-cave item that's anything but essential - and that they actually expect me to co-operate with them!

My employer (who, surprise, lives in Sydney) won't end the listings as she doesn't want to miss six weeks worth of sales, but the grief we're getting far outweighs any monetary gain...

Rant over - until the next time I check our messages...

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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

Not a real solution because as someone else said, you can't fix stupid & like you, I would think the best answer would be to shut up the ebay shop for a few weeks.

But since you can't, is it possible to tweak the ads a bit more?

I realise they probably come up with a banner at the top that says-seller away till such and such a date. BUT perhaps you need to make the message more 'in their face'. Perhaps put in the title DELIVERY NOT TILL LATE SEPTEMBER, or whatever.

Then start your ad with a section in bright red-to the effect that your warehouse is shut due to Covid restrictions in Melbourne and while people can still pre order, there will be no one in the warehouse to pack & post till late September.

 

 

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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

Exactly, make the first line of your description your WARNING CAUTION message.

We have been sending automated emails to every buyer when the eBay/PayPal email arrive advising of the postal delays since March and not one complaint or INR case.

We have even added a FREE GIFT during COVID to the sale proposition and that has worked wonders as well.
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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

If it were me, I'd be putting a banner on the main gallery images - something like "Currently subject to Vic lockdowns, first shipping date X".

 

Thing is, these things are subject to change, and unfortunately there's no actual guarantee things can be shipped after the currently expected date, so ensuring sales still flow in for now doesn't mean they won't be faced with a situation where they have to refund it all in a few weeks time ๐Ÿ˜ž  

 

Pretty tough situation, I hope you can work something out with the higher-ups. 

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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

imastawka
Honored Contributor

I'm wondering why these idiot buyers can't see the delivery dates are not until October.

 

Can't get any clearer than that.

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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

But the virus is just a scam sellers made up so they can take a long time to post anything Woman LOL

 

So some of these halfwits would want people to believe 

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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

You only had to look at the outrage in the buyers forum where someone was extremely outraged that express was not delivering overnight from the other side of the country. I would have thought that pretty much everyone would know that there are postage delays. It's not like it hasn't been broadcast on every platform possible. Still, it's all about them. Everything should be up and running as normal, just for them.

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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

Buyes bought online unfortunately would assume you will ship the items immediately. This is the expected norm. This if you ship after 6 weeks the better way is to just have store on holiday until maybe a week before opening again.
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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...


@djavusydney wrote:
Buyes bought online unfortunately would assume you will ship the items immediately. This is the expected norm. This if you ship after 6 weeks the better way is to just have store on holiday until maybe a week before opening again.

Didn't bother reading the OP then?

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Re: Covid-19 shut-down in Victoria - buyers just don't get it...

I am quite sure most of them DO know all about it

 

They just like to pretend otherwise 

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