Communication between seller and buyer

[vintagetreasures97]

     I am new to the "seller" side of eBay and have had two experiences with buyer issues. One opened a case before contacting me-I would've (and did) refund all of his money & paid for return shipping, (so why even open a case?)  and one lady contacted me 5 months after purchase and said a necklace was damaged and she was contacting eBay, this morning, and turning me in for fraudulent sales practices! Oh, and I was a horrible person and she hoped eBay kicked us out! I messaged her back and said we would've refunded part of her money.

    Does this happen to sellers a lot on eBay? I'm ready to cancel all my current auctions and go home. 🙂

    Any thoughts, advice or experiences would be appreciated!   

[plumtree.ltd]

I have been selling for ten years on eBay, Amazon, and other sites that have come and gone. As for the first case, any time a buyer sends you a message and chooses either "Item not as described" or "Item not received" a case is automatically opened. It has been this way for about two years and the reasoning behind this is that it saves eBay time in reviewing cases that are escalated if all communications are kept in one place.

As for the second case these are few and far between and, unfortunately, inevitable wherever you sell. I had a buyer on Amazon who bought a used digital camera from me and contacted me two and a half years later because it had "suddenly" stopped working. I explained that the manufacturer warrenties these cameras for one year when they are brand new so I would not back up a used one for over two years. They accused me of being a crook and left bad feedback which was later removed by Amazon. In your case the deadline for leaving feedback, or opening a case, has passed so don't worry about retaliation when dealing with this person. If you feel a refund is deserved then give it but if you think they just mis-handeled the goods and are trying to make you pay for their mistakes don't let them. Add this buyer to your blocked-bidder list so they can't retaliate with another purchase and move on.

[hyperrush]

Buyer Remorse. To block a buyer go to your account settings and preferences.

[katzcats]

To block someone, see and click on SITE MAP at the bottom of any page. Middle column has BBL (Blocked Bidders List).

Put anyone on that list, that makes you feel uneasy, gives you negs and neutrals, doesn't pay, you don't like their 'Feedbacks Left for Others' and anyone who you have that 'gut feeling' about.

Yes. All sellers get buyers who are troubling. Best to know how ebays' MBG works so you'll know what you will be up against.

Forget about that 5 month old buyer. I wouldn't have even replied to her email.

As far as your current open case, you should only communicate within the case. No outside emailing. It surely would be nice if buyers would learn how to contact a seller before opening a case but ebay doesn't teach them about that or how.

I have a lil blurb in my listings: "If You Need to Contact Me, Please Use Ask a Question and Select the Option OTHER".

If they select OTHER, it is the only possible way NOT to have a case opened if they just want to ask a question.

Also, a No Return policy might make some buyers think that opening a case is their only recourse to get their money back. It's worded, oddly, because it makes buyers think they automatically get a full refund, just by opening a case...

[katzcats]

Forgot something....You need to respond to the case within 3 days with 'Return for Refund'....Stick to that response as best as you can.

Oh, there's so much to learn and no about the Dos and Don't about selling.

"Just when you think you know all the answers, ebay comes along and changes all the questions and policies info.."

[vintagetreasures97]

Dear plumtree.ltd-

    Thanks for the insight, and for sharing your knowledge. I wasn't aware of how cases get started at all.

    I will veerrryyy carefully describe items from now on and develop a thicker skin!  

Denise

[vintagetreasures97]

   I want to thank you for sharing the info on how to block certain buyers. Hearing from experienced sellers makes me, and probably other sellers, feel better about the negative aspects of how this whole eBay thing works. It does get discouraging when we're getting started! We were just thrilled to get to a feedback of 100 and start learning our way around shipping. Ha! Little did we know!

Thanks again

Denise

[katzcats]

YW Denise....Wish you all the best!

Yep, selling is tougher than it 'appears'....lol.

[vintagetreasures97]

Just a quick update on my buyer issue.

She messaged back (after I had sent a message offering a partial refund-that was before I posted on here) and she "didn't want a refund, she just wanted to report me" and she said "I should pay more attention to your site name *buyrjunk*....the necklace looked beautiful (It really is!)  so I didn't expect it to be damaged (?)....the little girl (her words) at eBay didn't really do anything because it had been too long" and at the bottom she said "Happy eBaying".

Wow!

Thanks again to the group members who responded. Hope that doesn't happen again!

Denise

[mrobind42]

block her

[mrobind42]

@reallynicestamps I asked a question somewhere in these discussions I wanted you to answer lol...I think it's in offers on auctions. But I do have another question. How much trouble will I get in for the message on my profile page and the description area of my store?

[slocode111]

---

@katzcats wrote:

I have a lil blurb in my listings: "If You Need to Contact Me, Please Use Ask a Question and Select the Option OTHER".

If they select OTHER, it is the only possible way NOT to have a case opened if they just want to ask a question.

---

My strategy for directing contact with buyers has been to place a "Click here" link inviting buyers to ask me a question about my auction. The link is within my description and it opens the same eBay message screen as the "Contact" link on my profile page would open. 

This is the first link that the buyer or potential buyer will see when viewing my items and it is the only link in my description. This prevents (so far) people from accidentally opening a case when they only wanted to ask me a question. It is not confusing or difficult to understand and the only option available when this link is engaged is a blank message screen addressed to "slocode111".

[vintagetreasures97]

And how exactly were you able to create that link-do you mind showing us how it is done?

[slocode111]

step 1. Add the following line to your listing description.

step 2. Replace the word "username" with your own eBay username. (2 places)

---------------------add everything under this line to your listing-----------------------------------------------

<P>
If you have any questions about this item or any of my other auctions:
<A target="_blank" href="http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactUserNextGen&amp;recipient=username" rel="nofollow">Please Click Here</A> to ask username a question.

</P>