Negative feedback for package still on the way...

[packratville]

I received an order at 4:37 pm on December 4 and took it to the post office on December 5. It took two days for USPS to get it to the regional center, then it apparently got hung up in Memphis. It's still enroute to the buyer.

I just got home a short time ago and had a message from the buyer, simply "Still has not arrived," and apparently he immediately left me a negative feedback, "Has not arrived."

I don't know if he's checked tracking or just assumes a seller has some kind of magic they can wave to move a package along. I understand his disappointment, I'm not happy about the status either, but it would be nice if people would at least have the courtesy to contact me first and give me time to respond before leaving a negative.

Anyway, sorry for the little bit of a rant. I'll respond to the negative feedback politely and professionally. But what should I do about the feedback? Can I contact eBay yet to have it removed or does it need to be delivered first? What's the best course of action? 

Thanks!

[mam98031]

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@brightlightbookseller wrote:

@mam98031, hate to say it, but you did mess up this time.  Returns are automatically approved in nearly every case even with RMAs enabled, it simply gives you time to choose how to do the shipping label.  You do not, at that point, have the option to decline the return, only provide a shipping label or a refund instead.  While it's mostly semantics, you're incorrect about the actual wording you were using.

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You are correct.  And it is what I explained in my closing paragraph of post 117.  

I've never mentioned anything about declining anything.  

[wastingtime101]

Hey @packratville - wanted to check in with you as your thread has been completely hijacked.

Did your package eventually make it to your buyer or is it still showing active tracking movement?

If you need more help, don't hesitate to holler amidst all the hijinks and heated hash.

[mam98031]

I agree.  That wasn't my intent of the post.  I posted the actual policy to help explain what I was trying to say.   I never intended for this to be about whether issuing our own RMAs would stop an auto approval, but my wording was certainly off.  I screwed up with my wording and said something I did not intend.  But that is my fault and no one else's.  What you have described is exactly what I was trying to say.  But clearly I messed things up.  My Bad!

[robbie31415]

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@brightlightbookseller wrote:

@mam98031, hate to say it, but you did mess up this time.  Returns are automatically approved in nearly every case even with RMAs enabled, it simply gives you time to choose how to do the shipping label.  You do not, at that point, have the option to decline the return, only provide a shipping label or a refund instead.  While it's mostly semantics, you're incorrect about the actual wording you were using.

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But see here why it's important that semantics is wrong, is because the reason why we are talking about it...

Being able to communicate with a buyer who is on the BBL where eBay blocks all communication.

Mam mentioned earlier that she recommends people communicate within the return.

The entire point is that it is impossible to do that 99% of the time because eBay automatically approves the return...

And once it's approved, eBay removes the ability to communicate within the return.

So Kyle's claim that you can communicate via Return is not actually possible 99.99% of the time (few exceptions) due to eBay automatically approving it regardless of the sellers' settings.

And that's the issue... Because we are trying to find ways to communicate with a buyer on the BBL, and being told you can do it directly in the return is only possible for 0.01% of returns so really it shouldn't be even mentioned as an option.

Ultimately, eBay needs to either leave communication open with BBL when there is an open transaction,

Or separate blocking communication from blocking buying/bidding.

[iamalwaysright]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Yes, I could have worded it a bit better, but I also posted the Ebay policy.  When using an RMA number, that the seller assigns, it gives us the opportunity to review the Return Request and even communicate with the buyer before assigning the RMA number and issuing the return label.  I find that a helpful period of time.  It doesn't stop the auto approval, but it slows things down so the seller has the opportunity to review the issues with the transaction before a return label is issued.

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Yes, I agree that this time period is an "unofficial" time to review and do what you can before allowing the return to move forward. One can look at this as a time to decide to approve or fight (I didn't say decline because SNAD returns and many remorse ones filed within MBG period do not offer the decline option). Ebay policy does not recognize this, so it's more of an informal thing.

And yes that time is very valuable if you want to investigate or do some digging. Messages would obviously have to be sent thru ebay messages since communication is closed in that "approved return". During that RMA period there's been countless times I've worked things out with the buyer, had the buyer close out the return proactively, sent replacements, just had a buyer agree to ignore the return and let it time out after I issued return postage, or contact ebay to give me more time during the RMA process because I'm still investigating or a replacement was already sent out and hasn't arrived yet. Mostly all of that stuff would be difficult to do or be moot if the buyer received the return postage label instantaneously and already sent it back to me.

[iamalwaysright]

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@robbie31415 wrote:

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And that's the issue... Because we are trying to find ways to communicate with a buyer on the BBL, and being told you can do it directly in the return is only possible for 0.01% of returns so really it shouldn't be even mentioned as an option.

Maybe this is ebay's intention so they can confidently say "Yes we are allowing you to communicate with BBL buyers... only on returns that haven't been approved yet if the buyer even files it which hardly ever happens." Note the fine print.

Ultimately, eBay needs to either leave communication open with BBL when there is an open transaction,

Or separate blocking communication from blocking buying/bidding.

I think this seems to be a simplest, most doable, and most agreeable solution with no losers. Are you listening ebay???

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[mam98031]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

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@robbie31415 wrote:

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And that's the issue... Because we are trying to find ways to communicate with a buyer on the BBL, and being told you can do it directly in the return is only possible for 0.01% of returns so really it shouldn't be even mentioned as an option.

Maybe this is ebay's intention so they can confidently say "Yes we are allowing you to communicate with BBL buyers... only on returns that haven't been approved yet if the buyer even files it which hardly ever happens." Note the fine print.

Ultimately, eBay needs to either leave communication open with BBL when there is an open transaction,

Or separate blocking communication from blocking buying/bidding.

I think this seems to be a simplest, most doable, and most agreeable solution with no losers. Are you listening ebay???

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They are.  There has been many sellers sharing their concerns with the programming on the current BBL.   These issues are on their radar now.  IMHO we should be able to put a buyer on our BBL but if there is a current transaction, we should still be able to communicate with each other.  The BBL = Block Bidder List.  My preference is that we go back to what that actually means.  Block the buyer from bidding or purchasing, but let us communicate with buyers with current transactions.  

[wastingtime101]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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The BBL = Block Bidder List.  My preference is that we go back to what that actually means.  Block the buyer from bidding or purchasing, but let us communicate with buyers with current transactions.  

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BBL = Blocked Buyer List

eBay dropped Bidder a while ago since fixed price dominates auctions.

I'll keep calling it my Best Buddy List. 😉

Also you know I fully agree communication choice needs to be in the seller's hands. But I disagree about it being limited to just BBLers with current transactions. I want comms from everybody on my BBL.

I've got this one BBLer that usually messages me this time of year wanting to know why they are blocked (total scammer). I like to see those messages because it reminds me to be on the lookout for BBL circumvention and tells me which item(s) they're trying to purchase. I've now lost that helpful aid as it applies to any/everybody on my BBL.

[mam98031]

OMG, I need more coffee.  Thank you for the correction.  And yes, I agree, Best Buddy List.

[brightlightbookseller]

I have also adopted the Best Buddy List naming.

I'm torn on the whole blocked user and messaging options, but I agree it needs to be an option for sellers, not entirely separate from the list maybe, but at least somewhere we can choose.  I personally don't mind not hearing from people I've blocked, but I've seen too many use cases where it would matter to think it should stay the way it is.

[robbie31415]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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The BBL = Block Bidder List.  My preference is that we go back to what that actually means.  Block the buyer from bidding or purchasing, but let us communicate with buyers with current transactions.  

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BBL = Blocked Buyer List

eBay dropped Bidder a while ago since fixed price dominates auctions.

I'll keep calling it my Best Buddy List. 😉

Also you know I fully agree communication choice needs to be in the seller's hands. But I disagree about it being limited to just BBLers with current transactions. I want comms from everybody on my BBL.

I've got this one BBLer that usually messages me this time of year wanting to know why they are blocked (total scammer). I like to see those messages because it reminds me to be on the lookout for BBL circumvention and tells me which item(s) they're trying to purchase. I've now lost that helpful aid as it applies to any/everybody on my BBL.

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I agree, however, the one you don't agree with which is less control is still better than we have now.

So I'd be happier if they at least did that for now .

Ultimately I want it completely separate.

However, a partial win of being able to block someone and still be able to communicate while there was an active transaction would solve many issues. At least in the temporary.

[wastingtime101]

It would be tough to get eBay to revisit it again, so "in the temporary" is a concern for me. I'd rather get it right now if we potentially have only one shot at this.

Yes, allowing comms from BBLers with a current TX would be better than what we have now for those of us that want the change, but it would also bring back the initial problem the whiners were whining about: for them, blocked is blocked and they don't want msgs despite a current TX.

Which means eBay should make the change, get this right, and only have to do it once:

Messages from BBLers entirely on or entirely off, in the seller's control. Full stop.

[jojofla]

I understand your frustration. I've selling / buying on eBay for 20 years. In the last few months, I've received two negative and one neutral feedback due to USPS delivering late. One case similar to yours. The package was sent to Texas, It was misrouted to Wyoming, then took several days to work its way back to Texas. This person also left negative feedback before receiving the package or contacting the seller.  

[wastingtime101]

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@jojofla wrote:

I understand your frustration. I've selling / buying on eBay for 20 years. In the last few months, I've received two negative and one neutral feedback due to USPS delivering late. One case similar to yours. The package was sent to Texas, It was misrouted to Wyoming, then took several days to work its way back to Texas. This person also left negative feedback before receiving the package or contacting the seller.  

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Hi @jojofla . 2 of those FB are too old, but 1 of them is within the past month and you can get it removed as long as you had a tracking scan within your handling time. The policy was quoted upthread and the original poster's neg FB was successfully removed.

[robbie31415]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

It would be tough to get eBay to revisit it again, so "in the temporary" is a concern for me. I'd rather get it right now if we potentially have only one shot at this.

Yes, allowing comms from BBLers with a current TX would be better than what we have now for those of us that want the change, but it would also bring back the initial problem the whiners were whining about: for them, blocked is blocked and they don't want msgs despite a current TX.

Which means eBay should make the change, get this right, and only have to do it once:

Messages from BBLers entirely on or entirely off, in the seller's control. Full stop.

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I totally get your point and I know that temporary *cough* permanent, you don't want to get stuck with.

So it's perfectly valid to push for what you actually want.

Realistically I have one issue, and that's being able to to communicate with an active transaction if I add to my BBL.

Personally I don't care about ever communicating after that with anyone so both solutions seem to work for my needs.

What i don't want eBay even to consider is adding BBL to the toggle.

Because then it's all or nothing and if you want current ones to still communicate then you have to allow old ones.