Sorry I didn't ship it at the crack of dawn ...
I know, i know, it all just comes with the territory... but I'm still going to vent
If you buy something from me, don't start messaging me at noon the next day harassing me about shipping. ESPECIALLY when you have no reason 🙄 if you need it by a certain date, you should tell me before you purchase, and if you forget to, ok, I'll still work with you... but don't just be impatient for the sake of being impatient...
If you message me at noon the day after purchase asking when I'm gunna ship it, I'm gunna ask you why you're asking. I'm expecting an answer like "I need it by Friday as a birthday gift".
This ex-repeat customer (blocked) used to buy from me at 11p or midnight, and message me 12 hours later at noon. The conversation went like this ... every...single...time:
Buyer (12 hrs after purchase): Hey! We live like an hour apart, the item I bought should get here super quick!
Me: Yes sir.
Buyer: ... So when are you shipping it?
Me: *eye roll*
Please stop harassing me 🤣
P.S. if it hasn't shipped by next day noon, it's usually because I'm in the process of packing it and it'll be out the door by end of business day.
turtles-trading-post
·2 years agoFunny... I was thinking about this thread last night when I was laying awake in bed around 2am. My phone pings. I take a look and it's someone asking an eBay question. I quickly answer it. They ping back "Thanks!" My wife groans, "Does this ever stop?" I tell her that this is a 24-7 around the globe business and the guy was probably starting his morning in Europe. Then I got curious and looked... the guy was in New Jersey!
I had this mental vision of jumping out of bed at 2am, running down two flights of stairs, quickly packing and hitting the "SENT" button before I turned into a pumpkin!
turtles-trading-post
·2 years agoA lot of buyers aren't too smart, and don't understand that they are buying from individuals and not some big faceless 24/7 corporation named eBay.
I was at a pharmacy that had a small postal counter. This hoodie type dude with two subordinates comes in and takes off a baseball cap and tosses it at the older lady at the counter. "RETURN THIS TO eBAY" No packaging, no further information! The lady asks for the invoice, packaging etc. and the guy gets impatient, he bellows, "eBAY, eBAY send it to eBAY! The two dudes with him start mouthing off too.
The lady is alone and shoots me a look. I nod back, and have my phone set up 9-1 ready to hit the last 1 if needed. She tells them this is just a mail counter at the pharmacy, they need to go to the big post office downtown for that. They all groan, mouthing off how lame she is etc. and storm out, then peel out of the parking lot.
I approach the counter and I said to her, "The big post office can't help them either." and she said she knew, she just needed them out of there!
That's right! Full grown semi-adults had no idea how eBay works.
rockyroadtradingpost
·2 years agoYou handled it well. I've actually done that on my phone in certain situations, also.
P.S. Nice writing.
chariot_badges
·2 years ago911 does NO good where I live.
I would have unsnapped the weapon on my belt and left.
My neighbors and fellow voters here in California voted to allow and even encourage that kind of behavior.
I do NOT take ANY action to defend someone who will not defend themselves.
I just make myself and my family safe, and retreat.
And I will defend my retreat with appropriate response.
She would have been on her own if it was me.
"Sorry honey, you voted for it."
deltilogical
·2 years agoCan you imagine what the kids of these kids will be like in another generation with their neuralinks?
snoopwiz
·2 years agoI have a simple template at my ready which I send to each buyer. Takes me mere seconds and pretty much eliminates those "shipped yet?" questions.
It also instills a human tone to the transaction.
Hi
Nice to hear from you again (if repeat buyer) Thanks very much for your purchase of the xxxx xxxxx. We will safely pack and ship your xxxxxxx this Tuesday April 16.
Thanks again, we truly do appreciate your (repeat) business. Enjoy the day.
Our first names
chariot_badges
·2 years agoMine is a little different. I don't believe in taking on risk for pennies.
This is actually the last one I did, about four weeks ago.
It doesn't happen very often, but I appreciate it when a 'buyer' raises their hand early in the deal and yells "I'm gonna be a problem!"
"Dear Mr. Buyer: I am sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with our services. It is good that we hear of this problem early, it makes rectifying it easy. We received your order on our servers on Friday afternoon after our warehouse and fulfillment people went home for the weekend.
We saw your message on Monday (today, the next business day) and per our published policies it wasn't required to be shipped until Thursday. It actually would have gone out tomorrow, Tuesday.
But, per your implied request, I will cancel this sale and refund you in full so that you can find a seller that you are better able to work with. "
Cancel the sale.
Place on BBL.
And, I don't care if 'buyer' leaves red feedback, or Ebay dings my account, or any of that ...
I end it, quickly and with finality.
I don't work on weekends. Sometimes if I'm bored, I'll check in on the account(s). But usually I shut down Friday afternoon and go back to work Monday morning.
My family time is MY time, and I don't care what it costs.
gloryglorygifts
·2 years agoFeel better now that you vented? Breathe and enjoy your weekend.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years ago✌ï¸
luckythewinner
·2 years agoYou knew what the buyer was looking for, so why not just tell him in the first reply instead of being passive-aggressive and allowing the conversation to go like that "every single time"?
ten_o_nine
·2 years agoSome people are like that, but it doesn't mean they are bad, you will grow to be more tolerant as you sell online.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoI know they aren't bad people, but they are bad buyers in my book. You want them? You can have them, no problem. 😊
simba6
·2 years agoSome buyers do start getting yippy for their package as soon as the click. That is where delivery by flying drones would be handy.
sin-n-dex
·2 years agoI'm totally with you here... I presume from your ID that you and I sell the same type of coins and collectibles stuff (that no one really needs, unless of course it's a gift).
I got one that was purchased at 4am and by 11pm he's pestering me about "why hasn't it shipped yet". I was like, "dude, it's Sunday, USPS is closed". Then I pointed out tomorrow is a holiday, so he's going to be waiting until Tuesday before I ship. He backed down after I pointed that out.
I sometimes get "I see you uploading tracking but it hasn't shipped yet, is there a problem?" Um, no, if there were a PROBLEM, I would let you know what said problem is and what I propose as a solution. (Like this weekend letting people know there would be no shipping today, even though Mondays are usually a ship day in my store).
And I've gotten rants about how uploading a tracking number isn't the same as shipping, and I've even got "if you're not going to ship it, give me my money back!" Even though I did ship it, it just hadn't been scanned by USPS yet because my shipper in Canada is transporting items across the border. The shipper even gives me their tracking number for said impatient customers that wish to throw fits about how their non-essential item didn't ship 1 hour after they purchased it. (Or perhaps I did ship it one hour after... at 10pm, and it's going to take until the following afternoon to be in USPS hands).
C.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoOf course you're dealing with a slightly different scenario as you have an interim carrier before it get's to USPS, but I am pretty religious about getting a scan the moment it leaves my hand whether it be an employee scanning individual package(s), a shipment SCAN form or going to a kiosk and scanning them myself. I do this (besides for insurance reasons) to avoid the dreaded delay before USPS scans the package and a buyer is hounding me about it.
Buyer: The tracking says "USPS awaiting item", why didn't you ship it!!
Me: I did, some genius forgot to scan it... *eye roll*
sin-n-dex
·2 years agoI communicate with my buyers if there's going to be a delay between me printing postage and getting it actually shipped... I tend not to worry about this on the weekend when many people aren't shipping anyway.
Due to my 100 mile round trip driving on Mondays, and being able to drop packages off near my work, the amount of time they are with the interim carrier is about a day. Some people do message me on the second day if no tracking has shown movement, but most people are just inquisitive and polite... I make it sounds like I get angry people all the time, but it's just a handful of people that are shouting louder than everyone else.
C.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoSooooooo true
doc-holmes
·2 years agoI've had the opposite happen to me, from a seller. I sent an offer around 8 or 9 at night, and he apparently countered my offer around 11 or so at night. I was asleep. I got up around 9 or 10 the next morning (yeah, I sleep a lot) to a bunch of messages from the seller calling me a bunch of names and telling me I was wasting his time for not responding. I was like, "dude, I was asleep." I got chewed out and blocked for my egregious behaviour.
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoIt doesn't look like what you sell a buyer needs it the next day. LOL.
However, my brothe -in-law has OCD and drives me nuts and it's not easy dealing with people who might have some type of mental disease. It goes with the territory of selling.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoTHANK YOU! Unless it's a gift, you do not need a collectible coin next day. This isn't a consumable or something. Need something next day, go to Amazon!
sin-n-dex
·2 years agoAfter reading this thread, I think I'm going to do an autoreply to messages... I only reply to messages at certain times of the day and need people to not be messaging me several times throughout the day accusing me of ignoring them. I have a job, I go to work, and I don't want to get fired for answering eBay messages on the company clock (which they will do if they can prove that's what you're doing).
C.
iamalwaysright
·2 years agoThe sun has already been up for awhile by 12pm noon where I'm at 😀
I had a buyer once complain to me that they saw I created the postage at 5am, but it didn't get scanned in until 10am. Uh, that's when my mail carrier comes to pick it up. He doesn't come at 5am nor is the post office open yet.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoMy curtains are still happily drawn shut, and I'm pleasantly sleeping, or trying to sleep as I attempt to ignore all the "ding" notifications from buyers asking when their items will ship!! 😂
I try to do most of my eBay work late at night, it's when I can focus on power-listing and not be distracted by a barrage of eBay messages. LOL
That's just absurd, LOL
iamalwaysright
·2 years agoYea I'm with you on that too. Totally a night owl.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoHard to understand why so many buyers apparently do this.
When you're shopping, you see an estimated delivery date in the listing. If that won't work for your purposes, birthday or whatever, then just don't buy it. Do people expect their goods to be teleported? Or have they mistaken an eBay seller for Amazon with a fleet of delivery trucks?
America, the Land Of Immediate Gratification Expected And Demanded.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoIt's seriously mind-blowing.
golfingaddict
·2 years agoThere needs to be some messaging to the buyer regarding handling time, ship date expectation.
It seems that the buyer sees estimated delivery but somehow can ignore or not see expected ship date.
I have 2-3 day handling time but I am often barraged with requests to "ship fast or when will you ship"
I get just as many "when will you ship or ship fast" requests as I did when I had 1 day handling.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoThe only solution to this (assuming the requests aren't sent by buyer at time of purchase) is to print a shipping label, or just mark "shipped" literally immediately following purchase. I know some sellers who print off labels within minutes of an item selling. I just can't do that... I handle all orders at once, on my own time, and don't do it piece meal as each order comes in. Besides, I've had an uptick in cancellation requests which has been mindboggling on it's own, I don't need to be printing off labels and then voiding them due to cancellations.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoThere was an interesting post a few days ago from a buyer whose order was not yet actually late per the EDD, but he saw no tracking information and was worried. He stated he really needed this item with several exclamation points. It was a game. From the amount of agitation he exhibited, I was sure it was at least a donor kidney.
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoI can see it if you have same day handling time, but if not, that's definitely excessive. I'd have blocked them too. Edit: Nevermind, I see you mentioned he was buying late at night. That's really ridiculous then.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoI didn't even mention in my OP that I have 3 day handling set but ALMOST exclusively ship next business day. (I'll eventually drop to 1 day handling, free returns and take the TRS+ badge and discount, but am waiting for certain personal life circumstances to change before I make that move.) Anyway, I thought to myself about handling times when I wrote this and the "same day ship" thought you had crossed my mind too. Then I remembered this guy was always buying at like 11p or midnight, because he was always messaging me before purchase looking for addt'l discounts, then was harassing about shipment by the time I had barely just woken up.
tsme35
·2 years agoKnow the feeling, guy bought 4 fishing rods over night sent a invoice combined shipping request, I got 6 messages saying if I can't combine shipping please cancel, I was in bed.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
OP2 years agoHad someone buy something and then send me a cancellation request followed up with like 3 mile-long messages in a row over the span of an hour begging me to cancel the purchase and not ship it out "because I will just ship it back to you to return it if you ship it to me, even though you have no returns listed on your listing".
It was like a weekend evening when this took place, not normal business hours where you could even remotely expect a quick response to your message, but guy still found it necessary to send 3 demanding messages in a row because I hadn't responded quick enough.
tsme35
·2 years agoTo be fair, I can't set up combine shipping for fishing rods and the cart showed shipping was $90(only $25). But he was in my time zone so should have known I was probably in bed.
Also had my share of those emails too
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoI had a buyer leave feedback demanding that I cancel the purchase per their request. That was done within 30 minutes of purchase. I was outside at that time gathering firewood, not at my computer. Cancel/refund the order was the 2nd thing that I did. Well, actually the 3rd thing. 1st was some disbelief profanity whirling in my head.
sin-n-dex
·2 years agoI've gotten that! I replied "I'm sorry I was sleeping". He messaged me at 4am, 4:30am, 5am, 5:30am and 6am. By 6 am he was very angry I hadn't read and replied to any of his messages yet. (Eastern Time, but even on the west coast I imagine many people were sleeping too.)
C.
inhawaii
·2 years agoYou sleep? The nerve! Remind me not to buy anything from you. 😉