05-22-2025 12:04 PM - edited 05-22-2025 12:13 PM
A VERY high percentage of the stuff I mail (USPS) doesn't make it.
This last batch of 14 I sent I got two claims of "not delivered."
One of them WAS delivered, the other one the buyer gave me his old address (he admitted this in a message.)
I am currently at a Transaction Defect Rate of 1.08%, so I am already paying an 8 percent fine for my laziness and bad customer service.
Adding these two in on that will bring my TDR to about 1.2% -- at 2% I'm fired.
This trend is not good:
The post office isn't going to improve. In fact I think it will get worse.
You guys will be glad to see some competition going away.
Ebay isn't going to cut a small seller a break. (they don't want small sellers here and are doing all they can to eliminate as many as possible).
And, no matter how hard I work to please the buyer,
it is not possible 100% of the time. Ebay knows this and is using that
as a tactic to eliminate as many small sellers as they can, and convince us that
it's our fault for being 'bad'.
I've asked for advice here before and it really appears that there isn't any.
The only thing I will say is the "just do a better job" advice ... isn't really advice.
05-25-2025 10:55 PM
This may sound odd, but if you want to reduce your complaints and Claims, take your name and photo off your listings.
And the moving picture too.
Every word from "A message from... to .... support your automotive needs" sounds needy and as if you would roll over and beg for more.
Phooey.
Somebody above mentioned putting on your big girl panties.
Just don't tell them you are a girl.
Repeat the information in Item Specifics don't tell them your life story.
I've been a woman working in a "man's" field, in my case solid fuel appliances.
"Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult." Charlotte Whitton, Mayor Ottawa Canada 1951-64
05-26-2025 02:22 AM
I am genuinely sorry for the issues you've been having. Please hear me when I say this: It isn't because you suck. I was looking through your listings and I saw what @reallynicestamps did. I'm a dude, but I understand what they are saying, though that was not my take. Instead, when I read the description, I thought to myself, this is someone who loves selling and what they do. This is someone who cares about their customers, even the bad ones. It does not at all sound like the person who responded to some of the negative feedback or in some of their responses on this thread.
One thing I noticed is that in your descriptions say you take returns back no questions asked. Your settings for the listing have it set up that you don't accept returns. That right there opens you up to having problems. My opinion is that you need to accept 30-day day returns. Whatever you decide, make sure what you say in the description is consistent with how you have your return settings set up, especially if you set the listing up to not have returns. There are people who purposefully seek out these type of listings, knowing there will be issues trying to return the item, so this way they get their money back and keep the item.
I don't know your financial situation and you truly may not be able to close up for a week. I do think stepping away briefly would help you just to refocus. You've got a good business going. I looked at your sales, so I can see you are making money. Don't throw it all away. I don't think you are the problem, but I think your attitude is the problem. Ask yourself what happened to the person who wrote, "I stand behind every small auto part I sell," and "Our return policy is straightforward and customer-friendly." I may be wrong, but I doubt that seller was having these issues or, if they did, they handled them better.
Bad customers are part off reselling. I hate it. I wish it were not so and I wish eBay made public things like how many returns a buyer has, for example. I don't think something like that would drive good buyers away, but it might scare off some bad ones. I've gotten much, much better at picking out potential problem buyers and blocking them before they can buy. Making sure I have clear photos that show items from every angle helps reduce issues. Making sure the item condition is clearly written, and not just defaulting to eBay's definition of "used" and then repeating that in the description, which most people don't read anyway.
As far as lost packages, are you using a thermal printer to print your labels? If so, make sure the bar codes are clearly printing so they can be scanned.