Help me figure out some verbiage in my message

[iamalwaysright]

Just brainstorming for ideas so I don't accidentally offend some of these buyers I get sometimes.

Buyer bought something on Saturday. Sunday morning he types in caps "I paid, but it hasn't shipped. What's wrong?" I mainly told him that we (and USPS) doesn't open on Sundays and the item was sent on Monday.

Come Wednesday he comes back with another all capped message "This package has not moved to me. Totally ridiculous." I checked tracking and he's wrong, the package has moved sorting facilities since then. Not sure what he's looking for in the tracking to satisfy him. ebay ETA shows July 1, and USPS tracking ETA shows July 1. So there's no problem.

Message verbiage suggestions please. Go!

[chevymontecarlo88]

---

@sin-n-dex wrote:

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

---

---

The only thing i would suggest is to add the buyers name to the message. Form responses are great and i use them all of the time but if you don't personalize them, they can come off a little mechanical or even AI like.

I would agree that you at this point you want to keep it short and sweet, to the point. Keep an eye on it and i would follow up once it is scheduled for delivery (another personalized form response) and soon after it is delivered.

---

I don't use the buyer's name unless they sign their name when they write to me (then that's the name I use when I respond). Too many people throw a fit for being called the wrong name nowadays, I'd rather not use a name and offend if I have one of those types of buyers.

C.

---

Luckily i have not had one of those buyers yet. (Knock on wood) Its not like i am making up a name since i am referencing the name they put on there invoice but i get it, these days some people look for reasons to be upset. Its works for me and i am a believer of personalizing the experience. YMMV

---

[chevymontecarlo88]

---

@chapeau-noir wrote:

---

@iamalwaysright wrote:

---

@sin-n-dex wrote:

---

I don't use the buyer's name unless they sign their name when they write to me (then that's the name I use when I respond). Too many people throw a fit for being called the wrong name nowadays, I'd rather not use a name and offend if I have one of those types of buyers.

C.

---

You make a good point there C.

😉

---

This here - if they sign their name, I use their name. I always, without fail, sign my own first name.  (And it's not just "nowadays" - people have always reacted poorly to being called the wrong name - I know, because I was called the wrong name until I just changed my first name to stop it).

The key is not to use too many words, load any emotions or be sappy-sweet. Just be plain and honest.

---

Most rational buyers understand if you address them by the name they provided. There are to many things i am doing to worry about someone getting offended (if they provide it to me first). IMHO Intent is everything and if they respond to me to respond to them a certain way, i don't have any issue with that either. Its pretty easy for me and i am confident that if they were upset, i could smooth them over quickly. Its business and not personal so if you handle yourself professionally, most if not all generally appreciate the customer service.

[jg.mason]

I see a lot of great advice, just be nice and polite.

I had one of these this last Christmas. It wasn't all caps just some choice words were capitalized. Buyer ordered item Sat. Christmas eve I printed the label got the package ready to go for Mon. morning, something came up so I didn't drop it off at post office till first thing Tue. morning. I have three day handling time.

Tue. I get back from the post office and there's a message. Buyer is ranting and raving about it not being dropped of and what kind of service is this blah, blah. As I always do I just let it sit while I cooled down and though about how to respond or if I should even respond at all. The problem was the more I thought about it the more irritated I became. I just couldn't let it go so I resigned my self to the fact that my response was going to get me a neg. feedback. I stayed polite but forceful and explained my 3 day handling time and that I got it out in 2 days.

Next message with caps was about how terrible 3 day handling was and if I was going to do something as CRAZY as that I should mention it in my listing, and he looked and it wasn't in there.   I started looking into the buyer and found a massive amount of buys but only a couple sales and guess what he has a 2 day handling time. My response was to copy and paste my handling time and his own handling time and explained where it was located. Then I let him know that I actually met his handling time. 😀

Wow that was TMI but yes the crazys are out there. I put up with a lot of stuff on here but sometimes I just can't let it go.

End result the buyer didn't leave me any feedback at all.

[gurlcat]

---

@vintagecraze50 wrote:

I only use USPS PRIORITY mail flat rate. It is the fastest way to get items to customers using USPS. I avoid any problems associated with long, delayed packages and the angry customers as a result of their sloooower services.

---

I've never observed Priority moving any faster on average than Ground Advantage, not even during holiday season.  Before GA I only used Priority for packages over a pound and sometimes for a lightweight but higher-value item, just because of the free insurance (and how that also motivated them to try harder to find a missing package than they would a First Class one).  But with GA being like the FC/Priority hybrid (best of both worlds), I only use Priority for heaviness that fits in a flat rate box and would cost more by weight with GA (which is almost never the case).  

If that makes me sound cheap, it's not for me; it's to offer my buyers the best deal for their total cost.  

[iamalwaysright]

Or he knew what you were doing and tried to keep you on your toes.

[iamalwaysright]

So the end of your story is kinda what’s happening with this buyer in my OP. At first I thought he was just the usual impatient rude buyer like many others. But upon our last back/forth I’ve realized this guy is either trolling or high off something. I just BBLed him.

I replied to him with the direct USPS tracking page and pointed out it shows activity (contrary to what he claimed) and mentioned the ebay ETA and USPS ETA matches the same date so his item will arrive soon. Within a few hours he replies to me with “Updates needed. This is ridiculous.” This guy has a screw loose because I know he didn’t overlook my reply with those updates since his reply includes the message I previously wrote him. He didn’t start a new message to me, he clicked to reply to my message.

His dumb reply prompted me to look up his ID. He’s strictly a buyer with over 1k feedback. He buys quite often and see that he often leaves neutrals or negatives. Three recent negs he left to sellers because he felt he was “forced by them to leave feedback.” One of them he says he’ll never buy from them again because he got a feedback reminder for it. I just checked back further pages and see that he’s left a ton of bad feedbacks accusing the sellers for forcing him to leave feedback, and he doesn’t like it. Do that many sellers send feedback follow ups?

So yea. Should I even reply to the buyer anymore? It’s like talking to a brick wall that repeatedly asks for updates despite having provided them already. I wonder if he’ll like the item now.

[chapeau-noir]

I sound like a broken record, I know, but I wish eBay would stop pestering our customers to leave feedback.

[wastingtime101]

---

@iamalwaysright wrote:

 I just BBLed him.

he’s left a ton of bad feedbacks accusing the sellers for forcing him to leave feedback, and he doesn’t like it. Do that many sellers send feedback follow ups?

So yea. Should I even reply to the buyer anymore?

---

Adding him to your BBL means his messages are now blocked so you may get neg FB for ignoring his messages. kyle@ebay - another use case to pass on about the problems this causes  - see above for more context than my snipped quote.

As for FB, it's eBay that sends a lot of FB reminders. You can't get his messages since he's on your BBL but you can still send messages to him. Doubt you want to go there, but if you do you can always send him a link to the communication preferences page and let him know he can turn off FB reminders.

[rugerskick]

"If you check the usps tracking details, it will show that your package is on route and moving closer towards you.  It also has an estimated delivery day as to when you should expect it, although usps says this is an estimate of delivery, not a guarantee of delivery."

[iamalwaysright]

---

@rugerskick wrote:

"If you check the usps tracking details, it will show that your package is on route and moving closer towards you.  It also has an estimated delivery day as to when you should expect it, although usps says this is an estimate of delivery, not a guarantee of delivery."

---

“Updates needed. This is ridiculous.” 🙂