It's not just Christmas buyers anymore folks!

[iamalwaysright]

Welcome the trend of the New Year's Buyers now guys.

I had this guy purchase from me on Friday 2pm. I come in this morning (Tuesday after New years day) and at 5am the guy messages me.

"Where's my stuff the other two eBay people that I bought from just the same day as you have already sent out the stuff and I'm getting it today and you haven't even shipped s*** out what the hell's going on?!"

This guy is most likely lying about other sellers shipping out a friday order to him to arrive today after a holiday unless the sellers are his neighbor. Even so, what would you do with this guy? We were about to ship his item out now until I saw the message. IS this a warning sign?

[golfingaddict]

I shipped out 8 orders on Saturday morning because I didn't want to hold them over to the new year.  I also expected a heavy shipping day today and wanted to make it  a tad easier today.  I usually ship on Saturdays to ease the monday morning rush.

Two have been delivered and four are out for delivery.  

It is possible that the other sellers shipped on Saturday.

As for your cranky buyer.  Just send them the tracking number when you ship today and perhaps send him a polite note that you are shipping today as expected by your handling time or just remind them that this is the first business day after purchase and you will be shipping today.

I always grumble by those nasty notes from buyers but give them a response by email that is neutral and ignores their complaint by giving them the info they need.

[wastingtime101]

Yep ... dealt with multiple buyers this morning with the "where's my stuff" messages. The last dude that messaged me purchased on Sunday night (new years eve). Post office didn't even open until today.

I send them a screenshot of the order details page and circle the ship by date on the order, let them know tracking will be provided.

If someone is really ornery (like your buyer) I politely explain PO closure for holiday then offer to cancel if the scheduled ship date is not quick enough for them.

[iamalwaysright]

---

@wastingtime101 wrote:

If someone is really ornery (like your buyer) I politely explain PO closure for holiday then offer to cancel if the scheduled ship date is not quick enough for them.

---

Do you give them a deadline to reply to you by or you'll ship/cancel? I've seen times when I've done this in the past and the buyer ends up still wanting the item (their bark was worse than their bite) since the item actually wasn't urgent but they reply 1-2 days later thus delaying the shipment even more. I can totally see this guy flipping his lid again if his delayed reply extended his ETA.

[714ricki]

Some ebay sellers have later shipping deadlines depending on their schedule & the USPS office (6PM PST/USPS distribution center (7PM PST) operating hours. Plus, some sellers ship on Saturdays (5PM USPS Office & 7PM Distribution center). My area also has Sunday drop off possibilities at the big USPS Distribution Center. Some of my customers received their parcels on Saturday & many today Tuesday 2/January. Your buyer probably has a combination of sellers who have a later shipping deadline than you & possible Saturday & Sunday drop off possibilities. Just respond back to your buyer stating your shipping schedule & they normally will be OK.

Hang in there!!

[wastingtime101]

Yes, absolutely give them a deadline. If I need to ship by tomorrow I give them a deadline of 6 pm tonight in their time zone.

If supposed to ship today then I give them a deadline based on when package will get to carrier's hands. If carrier picks up at 2:00 I give them a deadline of 12:00 or 1:00 latest.

I generally tell them if I don't hear by the deadline I'll ship as scheduled. Only if the buyer is truly nasty will I tell them a non-response will indicate they no longer want the item and I'll cancel (as buyer requested since buyer is trying to change shipping terms of sale). Very rare for me to get a buyer that bad on the ship date subject, but it's happened maybe 2-3 times over the years.

[tinsoldierunderground]

I'm strictly a buyer here, but if I were a seller, I'd happily offer to cancel the sale if this clown is agreeable to that.  I see this guy as problem, in any event, I'd BBL his A$$ as soon as possible, whatever you decide.

Life's too short for that crap. 

[farmalljr]

Yes, the buyer seems impatient. Don't forget, there are millions of sellers here. And many do not take selling here serious. I have bought from people who ship AFTER the required ship date. And not just once or twice. Because there are bad sellers here, buyers probably get gun shy and get upset when a seller is not shipping quickly, because others don't and make them open cases. 

So while some of you take great offense to buyers being impatient, you need to remember you are NOT the only sellers here and there are plenty of BAD sellers here. I think it would help eBay immensely if they made everyone ship in one business day, because not all listings have a "ships within X days" and instead have a arrival window. Buyers see that window and are expecting the item at the beginning of it, not the last day of it.

Sellers who can't or won't ship in that time frame would be gone and buyers would be less impatient.  If eBay worked at getting rid of bad sellers, it would may buyers happy and likely cause more to shop here. 

[wastingtime101]

---

@farmalljr wrote:

So while some of you take great offense to buyers being impatient

---

I'm definitely not in the 'takes offense' camp.

That said, there's really no excuse for an impatient buyer cursing out a seller as in the original post here, whether that buyer has been burned by bad sellers in the past or not.

I believe the main point of the discussion was concern with a potentially problematic buyer and how to handle communications & the transaction with them, not concern (or offense taken) with an impatient buyer.

[iamalwaysright]

---

@farmalljr wrote:

So while some of you take great offense to buyers being impatient, you need to remember you are NOT the only sellers here and there are plenty of BAD sellers here.

It's one thing to be an impatient buyer, I get those all the time. It's another level to use profanity while complaining to a seller. Many customer service depts (I think ebay CS included) are given the green light to stop providing service or hang up on the caller if they receive such treatment.

I think it would help eBay immensely if they made everyone ship in one business day, because not all listings have a "ships within X days" and instead have a arrival window. Buyers see that window and are expecting the item at the beginning of it, not the last day of it.

I agree with this as I have one business day handling. But this particular buyer is expecting 1 business day delivery/arrival which is different. And I've often said there about my issues with the ETA time window ebay displays buyers, but I often got pushback from others saying there's nothing wrong with it and is correct. I agree that buyers only pay attention to the first day of that time window and not the last day of it. I'm sure ebay knows this but refuses to change anything since this tactic attracts more buyers to purchase. For example, the buyer in my OP is being shown an ETA of Jan 3 - Jan 8, yet ebay is telling me to "ship by Jan 2" and the buyer is in South Carolina and I am in Calif. We all know there is zero chance of this Ground Advantage package arriving in 1 day on a Ground Advantage coast to coast shipment. But yet ebay is allowed to show that Jan 3 in the ETA because it's a date range that includes up to Jan 8 and also buyers need to understand what the definition of estimate is. With that logic ebay should attract even more buyers and show an ETA of Dec 29 - Jan 8 on a 12/29 purchase haha, I mean it'd still be correct right?

---

[chapeau-noir]

I'd greet the buyer pleasantly and say his item ships today per the listing, give the tracking number. Wish him a great new year. Then forget about it.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Many buyers have been burned by Ebay sellers in the past, and are acting out.

I received an order last Thursday night.

Packed it and bought postage before I went to bed.

Awoke Friday morning to a message telling me he used to buy much more often on Ebay, but sellers who took forever to ship changed that. He thanked me for prompt shipping.

By the way, I have a 5 day handling time before shipping, usually ship the same or next day. But sometimes I have problems finding an item. I prefer to exceed expectations than fail to meet them.

I advised him that USPS would be picking the shipment up that day. And I thanked him for his order. Hopefully, he will be back for similar items.

[inhawaii]

It was a little slow for me between xmas and new years but I had 6 orders on new years day.

I'm happy with that.

Maybe it's people like me buying themselves the stuff they didn't get for xmas?   😉

[toomuchstuffagain35]

---

@farmalljr wrote:

Yes, the buyer seems impatient. Don't forget, there are millions of sellers here. And many do not take selling here serious. I have bought from people who ship AFTER the required ship date. And not just once or twice. Because there are bad sellers here, buyers probably get gun shy and get upset when a seller is not shipping quickly, because others don't and make them open cases. 

So while some of you take great offense to buyers being impatient, you need to remember you are NOT the only sellers here and there are plenty of BAD sellers here. I think it would help eBay immensely if they made everyone ship in one business day, because not all listings have a "ships within X days" and instead have a arrival window. Buyers see that window and are expecting the item at the beginning of it, not the last day of it.

Sellers who can't or won't ship in that time frame would be gone and buyers would be less impatient.  If eBay worked at getting rid of bad sellers, it would may buyers happy and likely cause more to shop here. 

---

I don't think a seller who can't ship in 1 business day is a "bad seller". Perhaps ebay needs to put the seller's handling time back on the listing page front & center and STOP basing their ETAs on some made up fairyland delivery time based on the seller's "historical handling time".

[chapeau-noir]

I don't see the purpose in forcing 1-day shipping - it won't shore up eBay's falling buyer numbers because I doubt shipping is the problem. It's competition. The mobile sites which are on fire all allow more than 1-day shipping.