eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎01-02-2025

So I have an away message that says messages are answered between 5pm and 9pm during the week. This is so that when a buyer messages me during the night or day, they see that they will not get a reply until after 5pm. They should not feel ignored, I've immediately acknowledged their message with a response that their message will be read after 5pm.

Buyer messages me at 9am to ask about shipping on his item (which is still within handling time, we just had a big long discussion in here about how no excuses are needed if it's shipped within handling time), and then at 1pm he gets mad that I ignored him (I didn't, the auto reply told him when he'd get a response), and tells me to cancel his order.

Well I can't cancel his order, I already shipped it. I replied to him tonight to tell him it's already been shipped (it was with Stallion Express and UPS hadn't an updated scan, I understand why he's asking because I uploaded tracking a couple of days ago, and I'm not upset that he asked, I'm upset he didn't give me a chance to reply before flying off the handle).

I need to wait until 5pm to answer messages because I have to be on my computer, access Stallion Express' portal to find out where a package is and what it's doing if there's no updated UPS/USPS scan when the buyer checks. It's a legitimate question, but when I've responded that I reply between 5pm and 9pm during the week, it means you don't get upset with me until 9:01pm when you haven't gotten a reply to your message.

The whole point of the away message is to not ignore buyers so they know I'm not running a 24 hour answering service to reply immediately to questions. I'm the only one who replies, and I can't reply while I'm sleeping or at work, therefore an away message is suitable to let buyers know this.

C.

fbusoni · ‎01-02-2025

@sin-n-dex

I wonder if you might be able to append your away message to add, for example, something along the lines of "If you ordered from me in the last 48 hours, your parcel has been shipped in accordance with eBay requirements. Please leave a message and I will reply more fully after 5 pm."

eBay seller since 1999. This is a posting ID.

buyselljack2016 · ‎01-02-2025

Although it should be sufficient as it is, can more be added to that message so that the numpty buyers can (maybe can) get a better grasp of what the message means? Some need to be led by the hand.

I had a buyer leave feedback within 20 minutes or requesting to cancel. I like you, was not sitting at my computer waiting for his cancellation.

sin-n-dex · ‎01-02-2025

@fbusoni wrote:
@sin-n-dex

I wonder if you might be able to append your away message to add, for example, something along the lines of "If you ordered from me in the last 48 hours, your parcel has been shipped in accordance with eBay requirements. Please leave a message and I will reply more fully after 5 pm."

Good idea, but no need. My away message says packages are shipped twice a week. That would imply in a perfect world that packages go out every 3 days. Yesterday was New Years, however I shipped his package before New Years and it's already been handed to UPS (according to Stallion), but UPS Mail Innovations hasn't updated their website with tracking yet which is why the buyer is concerned.

Like I said, not at all mad, not even a little bit, that he's asking about shipping when I'm still within my handling time. I took his original message to be just wondering what's going on. To get upset that I "ignored" him when I've clearly stated I can't answer until 5pm is the part that infuriates me.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎01-02-2025

@buyselljack2016 wrote:
Although it should be sufficient as it is, can more be added to that message so that the numpty buyers can (maybe can) get a better grasp of what the message means? Some need to be led by the hand.

I had a buyer leave feedback within 20 minutes or requesting to cancel. I like you, was not sitting at my computer waiting for his cancellation.

I'll review it with my Posse tonight to see if they think anything can be added to the message (without coming across as condescending). I thought it was pretty clear and self explanatory.

Anyway hopefully when he sees that it went Monday (I provided Stallion Express tracking to prove that, I always do that if there's questions about shipping and the buyer has concerns, but generally I don't bother since it's an extra step and most people aren't obsessively checking their tracking), then I hope everything is OK. I did tell him if he's decided he no longer wants it to return for refund.

C.

fbusoni · ‎01-02-2025

Understood.

These problems all originate in childhood. I'd wager the buyer in question has not tried to divine the source of his feelings of (perceived) rejection.

eBay seller since 1999. This is a posting ID.

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎01-02-2025

How often are you receiving these messages?

Is this frequent enough to be a real problem? A problem with the thickness of your skin? A function of selling to annoying buyers?

If it is frequent and real, it raises the question as to whether it can be remedied by changing your handling time or requires you find an alternative to Stallion as your shipping method.

I know that being based in Canada there are issues, both structural and competitive that you have to deal with which are tougher for you than for American sellers, but you get to access a big market when you solve them properly.

wastingtime101 · ‎01-02-2025

@fbusoni wrote:
These problems all originate in childhood. I'd wager the buyer in question has not tried to divine the source of his feelings of (perceived) rejection.

😂

GLORIOUS!

sin-n-dex · ‎01-02-2025

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:
How often are you receiving these messages?

Is this frequent enough to be a real problem? A problem with the thickness of your skin? A function of selling to annoying buyers?

If it is frequent and real, it raises the question as to whether it can be remedied by changing your handling time or requires you find an alternative to Stallion as your shipping method.

I know that being based in Canada there are issues, both structural and competitive that you have to deal with which are tougher for you than for American sellers, but you get to access a big market when you solve them properly.

It's actually very infrequent that I get complaints about "why hasn't it shipped yet" and most buyers will wait for me to respond. So the waiting for a response is the issue, not the why hasn't it shipped part.

I'd say I get someone who is a little anxiously awaiting shipping and checking tracking a lot about once a month, and I ship 200+ things a month. I get someone who is unreasonable (ie not waiting for me to reply when I've told them when they will get a reply) probably once a year.

It's enough of a problem to make me vent about it here and look for some moral support, but I'm not sure it warrants any big changes in what I do. His item shipped within 1 business day, so whether I had 2 days, 3 days or 5 days, it still shipped within 1 day. If he'd given me a chance to reply he would have found that out and there wouldn't be any need to ask to cancel.

C.

wastingtime101 · ‎01-02-2025

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:
How often are you receiving these messages?

Is this frequent enough to be a real problem?

Definitely not going to speak for the OP, just relaying some observations from her past posts. She used to get messages like that somewhat regularly - messages from buyers upset she did not answer them during the day.

To deal with that, she started using an out of office response letting buyers know exactly when they'd receive a reply. Since she set that up, this is the first time I've seen her come here with this problem.

That tells me the out of office basically solved her problem, with the exception of the occasional impatient buyer.

GLORIOUS!

sin-n-dex · ‎01-02-2025

@wastingtime101 wrote:
@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:
How often are you receiving these messages?

Is this frequent enough to be a real problem?
Definitely not going to speak for the OP, just relaying some observations from her past posts. She used to get messages like that somewhat regularly - messages from buyers upset she did not answer them during the day.

To deal with that, she started using an out of office response letting buyers know exactly when they'd receive a reply. Since she set that up, this is the first time I've seen her come here with this problem.

That tells me the out of office basically solved her problem, with the exception of the occasional impatient buyer.

I'd say you're spot on. Yes, I think it was a frequent problem at some point in the past people not giving me enough time to reply (but perhaps the time they gave me is reasonable, perhaps I'm the busy person who doesn't have time to reply quickly), so I did the away message to let everyone know. I'm not sure the away message needs any rewriting, but I'm going to run it by my offline contact (who worked in customer service for decades) and see if he thinks i can improve.

I think this might have been the first time in a long time someone has not given me a chance to reply within my "answering messages time".

C.

12345jamesstamps · ‎01-02-2025

If it was after December 23rd and not before January 2nd...a buyer should not be upset.

It's the holiday season and we sellers do have a life.

Heck, Christmas and Hanukkah fell on the same day this year...extremely rare.

I currently got a potential buyer asking 3 questions yesterday about an item which I answered...didn't buy it and now asking for a better "best offer' on a different item...and I did not respond to his best offer which I don't offer...I thought of blocking him...but will just ignore him...and yes, he has my item in his 'in box' of watching which is kind of cool because clicking on your item you can tell if a buyer has your item in their 'in box'...I got 5 watchers watching this item...❤️ the heart shows up where buyers are watching your item. Amazing how I keep learning new things...LOL

sin-n-dex · ‎01-02-2025

@12345jamesstamps wrote:
If it was after December 23rd and not before January 2nd...a buyer should not be upset.
It's the holiday season and we sellers do have a life.
Heck, Christmas and Hanukkah fell on the same day this year...extremely rare.
I currently got a potential buyer asking 3 questions yesterday about an item which I answered...didn't buy it and now asking for a better "best offer' on a different item...and I did not respond to his best offer which I don't offer...I thought of blocking him...but will just ignore him...and yes, he has my item in his 'in box' of watching which is kind of cool because clicking on your item you can tell if a buyer has your item in their 'in box'...I got 5 watchers watching this item...❤️ the heart shows up where buyers are watching your item. Amazing how I keep learning new things...LOL

I had family visiting right before New Years so I was occupied. I made a point to get all weekend orders shipped Monday, Stallion Express was closed Dec 31 and Jan 1, so that coincided with me "having a life" during the holidays. Telling customers I have a life seems like a better answer than saying my shipper isn't open on Dec 31. (That's not something I would have expected to hear as a buyer).

Anyway I'm back to regular shipping, I still try to ship within 1-2 days, part of the extended handling is to account for Stallion Express handling the package before it goes to USPS/UPS. Most people aren't checking the tracking all the time to see if their package is moving.

C.

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎01-02-2025

We all have a right to vent.

I do not see a real problem.

Your customer service skills may get tested but it sounds like you have some.

When I moved by business from Ebay to Amazon, I would get totally hostile messages from buyers about small problems. My response always started with, we will deal with your issue, this is not Ebay. And I would then provide them with the information about how we would or when we would, or why we did not need to.

The next message from the buyer was calm and even friendly.

Your pesky buyer might just have been dealing with a seller who is a lower life form, and taken it out on you.