Sending message to buyers.

[mdaneke]

Here’s what I’m telling my buyers before I make the shipping label. Let me know what you think.

Hello and thank you for your purchase. I would like you to know and understand that there are some major delays with USPS right now. I am having some major problems with delays in Philadelphia and California. I have spent countless hours on the phone and in person with the post office. The whole EBay sellers forum is exploding about this issue. I upgrade shipping to priority shipping which is 2-3 business days but that doesn’t  matter. There is no rhyme or reason on how the post office operates. I have orders delivered to Washington state in 3 days and have orders to Philadelphia that have taken 3-4 weeks (45 minutes from my house in Jersey) Tomorrow is a holiday and will ship orders out Tuesday morning. If you need these buckets in a hurry or can’t wait for the USPS backlog please let me know tonight or tomorrow and will refund your money no problem. Once again thank you for your purchase and email me anytime. Mark

[pburn]

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@no_zero369 wrote:

The number of posts on public, volunteer community discussion boards on one side or the other is hardly "real data."

Then where do you suggest we get 'real data?" 

. . . where is the 'real data' to be found that demonstrates communications is a bad plan?

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You're the only one mentioning "real data." Everyone else understands that "real data" cannot be gleaned from discussion board posts.

If you and the OP or any other sellers want to send notes to buyers like that before an item is even shipped (which could be considered "spam" by some buyers' standards), have at it. Just don't try to convince other sellers it's a good idea by trying to concoct "real data" where there isn't any.

[soh.maryl]

If I am the "one" you're referring to, I'm pretty sure I did not imply that good customer service is a waste of time, nor did I say it leads to bad outcomes.  

[mdaneke]

I too have been selling for 20 years but have you had a pandemic and work shortage at the post office? Apples to Oranges.

[mam98031]

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@mdaneke wrote:

I too have been selling for 20 years but have you had a pandemic and work shortage at the post office? Apples to Oranges.

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We have had a bunch of vandalism happening at our local PO recently.  A week or so ago they took out our drive up and drop blue boxes due to significant damage.  And then Saturday the PO itself was close due to vandalism of the lobby.  Things are just CRAZY right now.  Who knows what to expect over the next few months.

[mdaneke]

Good! That’s what the message is intended for. To weed out people like you who don’t receive their item on the correct date and file a claim for your money back and keep the package once it’s delivered. I’m sure your one of the few that would return your refund after receiving your package.

[mdaneke]

Don’t understand your point are buyers not welcome on this site?

[mdaneke]

Not really. I am responsible for that package until it reaches the buyers hands.

[Anonymous]

What I did was after the description of the item I stated- NOTICE:  USPS shipping is extremely slow, BUYER BEWARE. Don't know if it helped because soon after, I  pulled all my items, playing it save. Still have an awol package from Dec 14.

[1tuna]

my point was that there was too much unrelated stuff in your message.the average buyer  probaly does not even know about these forums so why mention them in a message 

as far as messaging buyers I do not think its a waste of time but its pretty easy being a TRS and I think the results woud be the same if I was holding the buyers hand with updates.

I prefer not to contact buyers after the sale.ebay views contact after the sale as a sign of a problem and dings your stars for it.I find its easy to keep my customers happy with no contact

[stephenmorgan]

 wrote:

So you got 4 replies from buyers and ALL of them thanked you for the heads up?  So far that is 100% success rate from the note.  0% canceled the transaction as others predicted?  Any communication from the rest?

Keep us updated, perhaps we'll get some real data to counter the supposition, inference and speculation.

I try to always send a short Thank You Note telling buyer I will try to mail on a certain day ask them to please advise when they receive item and offer that after they receive Item we could exchange feedback if they like.

About half will respond back with their own Thank You for letting them know.  About 20% will actually let me know they received the item and about 60% will leave Feedback.  

If after item arrives if they did not tell me or leave a Feedback I will message them in a week to make sure everything is ok.  That is it, that is as far as my Spamming goes.

I have never had a compliant about the Item, Shipping Delay or Spamming.  But since I actually have a business arrangement with them why would it even be considered Spam?

Spam definition, a canned food product consisting especially of pork formed into a solid block.

Spam definition is - unsolicited usually commercial messages (such as e-mails, text messages, or Internet postings) sent to a large number of recipients or posted in a large number of places.

[a_c_green]

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@stephenmorgan wrote:

 wrote:

Spam definition, a canned food product consisting especially of pork formed into a solid block.

Spam definition is - unsolicited usually commercial messages (such as e-mails, text messages, or Internet postings) sent to a large number of recipients or posted in a large number of places.

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Actually it's "SPAM" vs. "spam." Hormel is on record as requesting that folks refer to their product in all-capitals. Unsolicited email is plain old lower-case "spam." 

Ref: https://www.wired.com/2001/05/a-brief-history-of-spam-and-spam/ 

[stephenmorgan]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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Actually it's "SPAM" vs. "spam." Hormel is on record as requesting that folks refer to their product in all-capitals. Unsolicited email is plain old lower-case "spam." 

Ref: https://www.wired.com/2001/05/a-brief-history-of-spam-and-spam/ 

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That is an interesting history,  I just cut and pasted the definition from a Dictionary.

But now that you mentioned it I do recall the tasty treat SPAM, being in all caps on their products.

[iart]

I think it's waaaaaay too long. Heck, it takes longer to read than for Christmas season deliveries!

But I think it's a great idea. I like that you confront this head on: "If you need these buckets in a hurry or can’t wait for the USPS backlog please let me know tonight or tomorrow and will refund your money no problem."

For some reason, some sellers are horrified by this. But I think it's a LOT better than risking a bad transaction, a return, an item not received and/or a negative.

[calntom]

Just don't send that to any customers. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@mdaneke 

     The communication note is good, just shorten it a little, no need to tell them about this forum and the gripes.

     Communication is King as far as I'm concerned. The last sale I did in March when things were just slowing down and Priority mail was taking a week ( unheard of before) I was notifying my buyer every day with a quick message of where his pkg was and which post office was taking a hit with backups, I told him that "I had his back" Finally his "out for delivery "notice came and I let him know...you know what kind of feedback I got? " Excellent communication". 

    Always give good communication with buyers at least they can't come back an say you didn't with a clear conscience!