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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

General discussion, open topic: how far do you go to provide good customer service?

 

What are your limits when it comes to shipping requests, finding the item in another size/color that you may not carry but could obtain with a little extra work, answering buyer questions, dealing with excessive buyer questions, explaining to a buyer how to use something that should be obvious, giving your opinion the same way an in-store sales clerk would, and the list goes on....

 

Do you have a cut off point where your answer to everything is no? Does it make a difference if it's before or after the sale is made?

 

Where do you draw the line between good customer service, retaining customers and a big drain on resources?

Message 1 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

Depends on how the customer acts with me.

 

 

They might get all or none.

Message 2 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?



shipping requests

I offer one shipping method in my listings, so that is what they get - period. I politely deline any request to change. If the request is something else - like waiting a day, pack a certain way, write something on the outside, etc. - I almost always accomodate. 

 

finding the item in another size/color that you may not carry

I do not sell items I do not stock. History indicates that buyers who ask me to list other items rarely come back to purchase.

 

answering buyer questions

I answer buyer questions politely.

 

dealing with excessive buyer questions

I answer buyer questions politely.

 

explaining to a buyer how to use something that should be obvious

Never happens to me.

 

giving your opinion the same way an in-store sales clerk would

Never happens to me.

 

Where do you draw the line between good customer service, retaining customers and a big drain on resources?

Not an issue for me. 99% of the time, I list - they buy - I ship - the end.

Message 3 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

There is a big difference between customer service and customer servitude.  Many online sellers think that servitude is the way to go.

 

Good online customer service to me is describing the item properly, giving the best shipping rate before the listing is bought.  If that means answering questions that are not covered in the listing....I'll do that, too.

 

It is also seeing to it that the item is presented to buyers who understand what they are getting - I do not get my item in front of as many impulse buying eyes as possible, I get them in front of buyers interested in my listed item.   I am  not going to let them 'assume' that they are getting something else.  Example, I deal in vintage clothing and in a lot of my listings I state that there is no spandex or stretch in the garment so comparing measurements is much more important with this garment that a pair of jeans that are new at the mall today.

 

I am not going to do work after the sale that the buyer should do/know before the sale.  I am not going to find them cheaper shiping, I am not going to explain anything, I am not going to haggle - they bought it, I ship it, that is good customer service. 

 

If they have a problem - they can hit the return button and return it.....I will not haggle and I will not explain anything.  An honest buyer doesn't want to hear it, and a scammer will laugh at it.  I give them a solution and go from there.

 

Yesterday I canceled a transaction as the buyer haggled, then confirmed their address before the transaction and then asked to ship to a different address that was on the payment after they bought and paid.  They were just a scammer who saw that I was willing to bend over backwards for them and decided to attempt to get a freebie out of it.  Transaction is over - good customer servitude will mean that I will lose the item and money and that is not going to happen.

(*Bleep*)
Message 4 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

There is a big difference between customer service and customer servitude.  Many online sellers think that servitude is the way to go.

 

**************************************************************************************************

 

Sadly, many online buyers think this as well.  I recently saw a buyer's post that said sellers should cater to their buyers.  This poster was lamenting the fact that he messaged about a Best Offer and did not receive a response within a few hrs, and this poster also knew that the time frame is 24-48 hrs and that the seller is not required to respond.  Yet he felt that this was "discourteous" of the seller and that he should be allowed to retract the offer and move on.

 

If the attitude that he was to be catered to came through in his "polite" message, that could account for no response being received.

 

The seller is responsible for an accurate listing, timely shipping, and a well packed item.  They aren't responsible for the whims of the buyer beyond what the listing promises.

Message 5 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

It's not uncommon for me to replace unplayable or lost items by buying them from another seller and taking a loss. I give the customer a choice between refund or replacement. In 99% of the cases, they want a replacement, which tells me they aren't scammers (because I ship without tracking).
Message 6 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?


@robot-hands wrote:

Depends on how the customer acts with me.

 

 

They might get all or none.


I think this hits on an important point.  

 

Rudeness and attitude don't play well with anyone.

Message 7 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

I go as far as I need to go without letting myself get taken advantage of.

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.


We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell
Message 8 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

It doesn't even have to be rudeness.

 

Even a customer with multiple questions indicating they don't know what it is they are looking at or poor communication skills will get none from me.

 

There's almost 8 billion people out there...and I sure don't want them all as customers. Here I can can somewhat mitigate the wierd ones.

 

 

Message 9 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?


@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

I go as far as I need to go without letting myself get taken advantage of.


You may remember a thread by a seller who sold a leather jacket; I think that was what it was.  It seems the buyer was extremely sensitive and particular and sent the seller detailed instructions on how to prepare the jacket to be sent to her.

 

Something like soak it in vinegar and then rinse in something else.  Seller went out and bought these materials to comply with these demands.

 

Buyer seemed to feel that this was appropriate and not out of the ordinary.

 

I felt so sorry for that poor seller, to do all that, when it wasn't necessary or specified in the listing, causing added expense and trouble for the seller, and the buyer just seemed to think it was due her.

 

Very sad.

Message 10 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?


@laylajames9 wrote:

General discussion, open topic: how far do you go to provide good customer service?

 

What are your limits when it comes to shipping requests, finding the item in another size/color that you may not carry but could obtain with a little extra work, answering buyer questions, dealing with excessive buyer questions, explaining to a buyer how to use something that should be obvious, giving your opinion the same way an in-store sales clerk would, and the list goes on....

 

Do you have a cut off point where your answer to everything is no? Does it make a difference if it's before or after the sale is made?

 

Where do you draw the line between good customer service, retaining customers and a big drain on resources?


It varies... depends how I feel about the customer (when it comes to making exceptions and doing things that are beyond my normal protocol).

 

When it comes to my artwork and designs, I do custom work, not on eBay or any other online venue. But I work with my customers to design something personal for them. As I get known in my city (now that my work is at a gallery), I might get requests from strangers. This sort of thing is no issue.

 

Online, generally "what I have is what I sell". If they want something special, I'll check at the store, but don't hold your breath because there's lots of unorganized items there for me to look through. I don't ship things with any special faster service on account of being in Canada.

 

But all that said, I do my best to provide friendly customer service and answer queries quickly.

 

Cheers, C.

Message 11 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

If the customer is talking to ME, and is not attempting some sort of scam or being totally unreasonable, I'll go really far.

 

If the customer is talking to eBay, or using eBay provided resolution tools (the automated Returns process, has filed a MBG case, has called eBay CS), not very far.  In that event, they're stuck with the eBay system, and I will only "go" with whatever is the least damaging to me.  And that probably isn't going to result in very good customer service. 

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.
Message 12 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

What are your limits when it comes to shipping requests,

 

Depends on the request.  I have enough faith in my packing methods that I generally ignore specific instructions.  If it's a request for a different service, I will accomodate if possible with the buyer paying the postage.

 

finding the item in another size/color that you may not carry but could obtain with a little extra work,

 

NOPE.  I do some personal shopping for friends and relatives.  For a small fee sometimes.  Will not do that for a random eBay member.

 

answering buyer questions, dealing with excessive buyer questions,

 

When questions become excessive and/or overly chatty, generally I back out.  When there is no more useful information to exchange the conversation is done.

 

explaining to a buyer how to use something that should be obvious, giving your opinion the same way an in-store sales clerk would,

 

Can't remember many of these over the years.  Probably category-specific and I'm not in those categories. 

 

Also find that a detailed description with good, clear, detailed pictures results in very few questions.

Message 13 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

I have been asked to wrap an item, include a birthday card, and sign it using their words.  I draw the line at singing Happy Birthday.

 

Never heard a word after obliging.  I even put a ribbon/bow on it--was pretty proud of it actually.

Message 14 of 24
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How far do you go to provide good customer service?

What are your limits when it comes to shipping requests (before the sale, whatever they're willing to pay for, unless it exposes me to troubles with eBay), finding the item in another size/color that you may not carry but could obtain with a little extra work (fine with me, but that's probably going to get someone a nastygram about off eBay transactions), answering buyer questions , dealing with excessive buyer questions (until it says "scam", pretty much infinite), explaining to a buyer how to use something that should be obvious (if I'm answering a Message / ASQ pretty much infinite... if they've neg.d me or opened a MBG case pretty much zero and they're blocked), giving your opinion the same way an in-store sales clerk would (no problem), and the list goes on....

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.
Message 15 of 24
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