Question on Response to a Feedback Comment

[clarry100]

I have been contacted by a seller who is a little bit afraid to post for help on these boards.
They are a small time seller trying to supplement family income.

They sold an item that would have been a bit fragile to mail so thought the safest way would be to hand deliver as the address was in their local area.

So far as I can gather the sale did have a separate postage cost listed.

So they drove about 1.5 hours to hand deliver the item. Not really local.

Now the buyer has left a big red dot with the comment
"Payed for postage and they delivered it themselves feeling a bit ripped off...."

So they thought they were doing the right thing by hand delivering and got slammed.

I think there is very little that could be done about the NEG but what they want to know is some good words to respond to that NEG with.

I'm not that great with these kinda words.

Anyone have any good ideas?

[davidc4430]

dear buyer, return the item so i can post it please.

[sarahs_preloved_booksnbits]

Due to the fragile nature of the item you purchased, I decided not to leave anything to chance and to deliver it to you personally. This cost me my own time (1.5 hours) and fuel for the car. I regret that you feel hard done by, but I genuinely believed it was the best way to get this article to you quickly and in one piece.

[clarry100]

That's exactly the sentiment. Perfect!

But somehow we have to make all that fit into the 80 characters we have room for in the reply to the negative feedback received.

[go-tazz]

First try and get them to change it by asking for a feedback revision and state to them the postage cost was

x amount and the cost to deliver it was x amount for a nett loss of x amount.

Explain they had to travel for 1.5 hours to get it to them as they thought it may get broken in the mail and it cost

them a lot more than the postage cost to deliver it,(so they were in no way ripped off).

If they wont do that then just state: Hand delivery cost was x amount,x amount more than postage cost,(then add

their user ID so that everyone that sees that comment can block them).

[erg-auto-electrical-wholesalers]

Did they not inform the buyer they were going to deliver it personally?

[collect247]

Obviously the buyer is a goose.

It would have costed more for the seller to deliver it themselves.

This is how buyers are allowed to get away with anything and ebay gives them a pat on the back for it.

[imastawka]

I dunno......I've posted about this before.........

A seller decided to hand deliver my item cos they lived close.

Scared the living daylights out of me.   They gave me 30c refund on the postage.

 I don't like people I don't know, turning up at my door.     And I told him so.

 I don't encourage visitors.

[phorum_junkie*]

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@erg-auto-electrical-wholesalers wrote:

Did they not inform the buyer they were going to deliver it personally?

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My thought exactly, did they contact the buyer and offer to hand deliver at no extra charge to make sure it arrived safely.  To just do it without contacting the buyer and getting the OK was asking for trouble.

[saarzi]

Contact the buyer, APOLOGISE (because it WAS pretty rude to do that before calling them to confirm and ask if its ok FIRST), REFUND the postage cost (because it was NOT posted), and let them know youre sending through a link, and ask if they would reconsider changing their neg.

Thats really all they can do.

I guard my house and life like nothing else - Id be P***ED if a seller turned up at my doorstep, without asking first, even if postage was free. Id also be asking Ebay to intervene to get my postage cost refunded, and theyd get a neg regardless.

Whether they drove 1.5 hours, or 20, is not the point. That was the sellers choice, and no one but them will ever know if they had something they needed to do in that town anyway, so didnt *really* go out of their way at all.

And I hope the seller doesnt even begin to think that the postage cost should be kept to cover their petrol, or to use the "but I went out of my way" **bleep**. That would be really poor form and a demonstration of them not understanding the issues at hand, or how the buyer feels.

If there was an issue with fragility, dont list the item as "post". If some issue arises AFTER the sale, contact the buyer and act appropriately - give them the option of having it delivered, or not (as a buyer, I would have cancelled the sale, its just dodgy).

Good intentions or not, it was out of line.