DSR blackmail?

[jiggity-jig]

Sold an item yesterday and the buyer included the following message with the PayPal payment.

"Do not leave at front door, do not safe drop, if this is dropped at my door you will get NO stars. Sorry but this has happened to many times."

I contacted Australia Post and they say I can attach instructions to the package but this does not guarantee it will not be left anyway. I also contacted eBay and their advice is that the buyer would be within his rights to leave a low DSR to reflect an unsatisfactory buying experience but that the circumstances could be "reviewed" later.

My items are listed as free postage with reference to Australia Post regular parcel post and a notation under conditions to contact me prior to purchase for any specific shipping requirements. I've sent a message to the buyer including all this and indicating that once the item has been lodged with AP it is beyond my control requesting that he contact me with instructions for a different delivery method or cancel the transaction as I cannot meet those conditions.

No reply as yet though it's still early but I would be interested in thoughts on how I should proceed if he doesn't respond.

[cathyjoyjoy]

A difficult customer.  Someone who states they may leave you NO STARS may actually mean LOW STARS for all you know.  You have NO control over how Australia Post deals with the article UNLESS the buyer pays extra for registered post.  I'm astounded that you have no recourse on this and you received the response you did from ebay.  Try contacting them again and ask for a callback and ask to speak to a supervisor if you get a similar answer.

Otherwise, buyers could place all sorts of requests AFTER they have paid for a particular delivery service ........ "If the article is not placed on the third chair on my verandah, I'll trash your stars".

Make sure you block this buyer once all has been sorted.

[cathyjoyjoy]

That is a very professional response Sarrzi, but if someone wants to neg you in the end, they will.

And not everything we see as feedback extortion is interpreted by ebay in the same way unfortunately.

[*tippy*toes*]

---

@cathyjoyjoy wrote:

A difficult customer.  Someone who states they may leave you NO STARS may actually mean LOW STARS for all you know.  You have NO control over how Australia Post deals with the article UNLESS the buyer pays extra for registered post.  I'm astounded that you have no recourse on this and you received the response you did from ebay.  Try contacting them again and ask for a callback and ask to speak to a supervisor if you get a similar answer.

Otherwise, buyers could place all sorts of requests AFTER they have paid for a particular delivery service ........ "If the article is not placed on the third chair on my verandah, I'll trash your stars".

Make sure you block this buyer once all has been sorted.

---

I'd be blocking them now so they can't buy anything else. It won't affect the current transaction.

[jiggity-jig]

Thanks again to everyone for the comments.

The basic issue is that the buyer didn't read the listing properly before purchase particularly relating to the shipping, which surpries nobody of course, and then goes on to compound the problem by not communicating.

I'll try eBay again as cathyjoyjoy has suggested and unless they can give me a definitive course of action I will give the buyer until tonight to respond before doing anything as it was after hours when the purchase was made yesterday. I also have a phone number but I'm reluctant at this point to move outside the eBay message system.

Whatever happens I suspect I'll be wearing some sort of negative.

[everard6920]

I'd post with a signature (it's only a few dollars more) so that there is no chance of a safe drop. And then I'd block her so you never have to deal with her again.

[digital*ghost]

Australia Post pretty much made it so getting signature on delivery is the only way a parcel won't be safe-dropped. They first withdrew it as a delivery instruction on C&S, and then stopped issuing the stickers, while deliverers were instructed to outright ignore the instruction on any package (excepting where SOD is required, I suppose).

I would have personally informed the buyer of the above, because they need to understand their expectations are impossible and they are not purchasing the right postage service in order to ensure their needs are met. 

I'm probably going to get a bit of criticism for this (and I actually completely understand why), but I adjusted my site settings to prevent buyers from leaving me messages during checkout. I didn't really want to do that, but the fact was that I got notes on maybe 2% of orders, and 95% of those notes were nothing more than demands that didn't do anything except annoy me (postage instructions not relevant to the service I use, post ASAP!!!!! leave me feedback, only send me A-grade ones [when they bought the b-grade] etc etc etc). So... enough was enough. 😞

Now, people have to actually write to me properly and ask, not just leave a quick note and then expect their wish is my command, and I've found virtually no one will message unless it's actually genuinely important. 

[jiggity-jig]

Thank you very much everyone for taking the time to post your comments and suggestions.

My buyer finally made contact and we managed to work it out. He agreed to have this one sent with Signature on Delivery, though he claims to have had them left in the past with nobody home (me too), and for future purchases he is going to set up Parcel Collect with his local PO, a service that he wasn't aware existed. A very frustrated man who works long hours and has had several parcels disappear when left on his front porch in plain view of the street.

I also managed to get more sense from an eBay call back this afternoon with the rep agreeing that it was an unrealistic expectation on the part of the buyer and that he could see from the messages that I was making every effort possible.

[falconsportspack]

---

@joethenuts wrote:

but there are other reasons that nobody has stated why he does not want it dropped off at the front door. as  i have seen with my eyes a few times a parcel gets dropped off at your front door and they dont ring the bell, because they would have to wait for the person to answere it,

---

This happened to me about 8 1/2 years ago the day I received some very important documents. The parcel contractor must have been very quiet for me not to hear them & I only found the documents late in the afternoon sitting at the front door. I was not very happy about that. This was at the house I used to live in & the front door was only about 6 metres from the road.

The photo below shows where I was sitting in relation to the front door when the contractor would have stealthily delivered the documents. As I said, the contractor must have been very quiet.

And what were those documents? Only the contracts for the house that I now own & live in!

[rocket2retro]

Australia Post have their own red DO NOT DROP SHIP stickers If you ask your post office person they will be able to put them on for you (I'd get him/her to 'plaster' the parcel with them for this buyer!)