Has Anyone else been getting a bunch of crazy customers? Or just me 😮
Summary: ocean-state-mint expressed frustration over a recent influx of difficult customers and wondered if others had similar experiences. dhbookds shared a recent issue with a broken delivery but received understanding communication from the buyer. linenandlaceltd and others described various challenging interactions with customers, including lowball offers and return hassles. Some participants discussed the need to educate customers on return processes and shared tips on handling unreasonable demands. Several participants agreed that dealing with difficult customers seems more frequent lately, while others attributed this to seasonal fluctuations in buyer behavior.
Don't know if it's the heat, but the people are getting crazier and crazier by the day. Had to block 3 this week alone! Wondering if anyone else is experiencing the crazy crowd too?
gurlcat
·1 month agoToday I got one doing the buyer equivalent of trying to groom me! My goodness, do I need pepper spray? 🤪
spreadlovelikefire
·1 month agoYesterday I was asked if I was a female seller. Now, typically I would ignore such a request but part of me wanted to see where the conversation was going to go.
lostbot
·1 month agoSomeone threatened to send me to jail for false advertising and demanded I send them money on venmo
bonanza125
·1 month agoNot really on Ebay but on other platforms yes. I got several people who messaged me about stuff then became rude or questioning why I am selling a particular item which they claim is junk. Majority of people are nice and polite. If someone is rude I just block them.
authentic*vintage
·1 month agoI had that wave about 2 weeks ago - I was literally keeping a tab open for my block list. It was unreal - seems to have passed now.
greytrade
·1 month agoYes, I believe there is a social-psychology thing in play. I have a theory that I import from my experience at in-person antique shows. Some shows are just bad shows. You can sense it pretty early in the event. And I think the customers sense it even faster. Real money dries up real fast. And a sort of vicious mentality takes over where customers sense or assume that sellers can be pushed to desperate reductions. It brings out a certain craze in people and as sane buyers just go home, the crazier ones dig in. I think eBay in Summer can get that way as well.
inhawaii
·1 month agoThere are 18 million sellers on ebay.
I doubt you are the only one currently dealing with some crazy customers.
chapeau-noir
·1 month agoNot here, but I'm fighting with a seller on Etsy to try to initiate a routine return on the Temu rubbish he sent. He's being very cagey, dragging it out for days with stupid messages, and I finally lost my cool and told him how it works (I sold on Etsy for years).
stuff*and*nonsense
·1 month agoI had one the other day that said that the DVD that I sent to him didn't work and that he wanted a partial refund. I told him to send it back for a refund. He never hit the, "return this item" button and then a couple of days later contacted me again demanding that I send him a return label. I explained about the return button, which he then used, so I offered him a $5.00 partial refund (about what the return shipping would cost me). He contacted me again, all irate, threatening to leave negative feedback and demanding that I give him a full refund. I explained that since he had originally asked for a partial refund, I was giving him the option to receive one, but that if he was no longer interested in that I would be happy to give him a full refund. After not hearing back or having my partial refund offer declined, I messaged him again and said, "In case my last message wasn't clear enough, you must formally decline my partial refund offer by hitting the "decline" button. Just sending me a message won't suffice". A few minutes later my offer was declined and he was able to get his label.
I hate having to educate people on how to go about returning an item. I also hate it when people send you a message asking if you'll accept this or that amount instead of just using the, "make offer" button.
Are they crazy, or just ignorant?
linenandlaceltd
·1 month agoWith some buyers across platforms, I hate how I have to educate people on what things mean or what to do too.
I sell some of a popular pair of womens jeans. It says the size number on it in big font, but almost always the measurements are way different. Like it'll say 25 (waist) but measure 28 in the waist. So I put the tag number but also the Waist x Inseam measurements in the title, in the listing description, condition box on eBay, section you select the measurements and sizing, point out the difference in tag vs measurements in the description and condition boxes, and have photos of the measurements for them to have visual proof of what it measures. It's all over the place.
I occasionally get someone who messages me asking, "You say it's a 25 but the measurements you gave are a 28. What is the real size of this?"
I end up sitting there thinking, do I really have to explain to an adult what this means?
fm2000
·1 month agoNext time tell them to open a return through eBay and then block and ignore them, don't get into a back and forth about partial refunds. If you get it back, do the refund. Don't get into a back and forth about a return, worst thing you can do with a psycho.
stuff*and*nonsense
·1 month agoWhile I mostly agree with you and do wish that they would simply hit the return button instead of messaging me, I'm afraid that blocking them before they have been educated on exactly what they need to do when they want to make a return could lead to my receipt of a negative. I block them after the return process is complete and they've been refunded. I don't believe that the guy that I was dealing with was a "psycho"... he just didn't know how the return process works.
linenandlaceltd
·1 month agoYeah, had a lady the other day want a shirt from me. It's rare, nobody's selling one just like it. I'm fine keeping it if it doesn't sell.
4 AM she messages me offering me over $10 less than the offer I sent out the day before, asking to send the offer if I'm interested. A minute later she repeats herself in another message, reworded, and sounds impatient and annoyed with ?? at the end. Tells me her offer to me with shipping and tax would be over $30 as if that is too much for her to spend as it is, and says how it's a pre-owned item and it's kind of short (it is actually not short at all). Then declined my offer and sent me the offer she messaged me about. This all took place in a 4 minute span in the middle of the night.
I woke up and replied, letting her know what time it was when she sent them, that the shirt is rare so priced accordingly so no thank you. And it sounds like it's too short for her anyway so it's probably for the best and to have a good day. Then blocked. She literally talked herself out of maybe getting a shirt she seemed to really want.
It's been slow on eBay, but it does seem whenever there's some kind of activity, someone's being weird or cancel/returning claiming ordered by mistake. I've had a buyer request an ordered by mistake return 28 days after receiving it. That was about 2 weeks ago and he hasn't sent it back yet and has another week to do so. It's ridiculous.
keziak
·1 month agoI think I am the crazy one due to a spate of mistakes I have repeat buyers and have made a couple of mistakes juggling their orders. It's a good problem to have, things are selling, but I am annoyed with myself anyway.
annadryl
·1 month agoI'm definitely the crazy one in the room usually!
thelongball
·1 month agoYes its a daily thing.
soh.maryl
·1 month agoExample, please?
gurlcat
·1 month agoOH YES. Lots of crazy lately. Like several normal years' worth of crazy, all in just the past few months.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoYour buyers are unlikely to be my buyers.
My buyers are mostly absent at the moment with more to their lives than online shopping.
Could your buyers who are active this time of year be crazies, you are better qualified to say than anyone else.
I'd be willing to believe they are.
dhbookds
·1 month agonope........no problems.......actually sent 4 bowls, one delivered broken..... Customer wrote a snail mail letter and told me because he thought I would want to know....but said not to bother with a refund.......it wouldn't bankrupt him.... I sent a cash refund.....
lol....now everyone can tell me it was a scam.......
44012
·1 month agoIt was a SCAM! 😁