Trying to pack and ship & answer questions from customers while under the weather

[sin-n-dex]

You know, whenever I feel sick, is when I really notice the impatience in some people. Someone bought two items and requested a combined shipping invoice. I was sleeping, it was 6am. I wasn't feeling well, I didn't get up for several hours. When I did attend to it, they already purchased and paid the price of shipping in full for both items. C'mon now, is 5 hours really too long to wait for an invoice?

I spent time today trying to pack orders, but it was very difficult. Pack one thing, sleep for 30 minutes, then pack another thing. It was difficult to sit up, I felt dizzy, I had a migraine. I did not want to pack orders. However, I printed postage and packing slips for 9 orders last night (with the intention of packing before work this morning), and I didn't want to wait until Monday to ship them because that's several days delay if they are checking their tracking.

We already know that when you tell a buyer you don't feel well, they see it as some bleep excuse to get out of our responsibilities as a seller. I ship within 1-2 days, and no one has the patience to wait an extra day for their item, so I try to ship whether I feel good or not. (For the record I'm feeling better, I can actually sit up for about 20 minutes at a time before needing to rest again.)

C.

[nuclearomen]

i pack when i pack, ship when i ship, answer mails when i answer mail...point here is: i'm one person, I am busy, I have a life, i work another job etc... but I fill my orders and ship within 1 day. I'll get to stuff when i get to it, someone can't wait a few hours to bad they are waiting anyways. 

[lakefor94]

Sorry to hear of the sickness.  Hope you get over that quickly.

Last time I came down with something was June 18th. Covid. Had to go with Time Away. Down hard two days. Sitting up and moving around on day 3.  Shipping was not an option for 3 days, lol.

I dont work a regular job, just ecommerce. I hit the off button when I need to. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

I ‘d enable Time Away and hide my listings. Illness happens. Caring for one’s health is important. Get well soon!

[sin-n-dex]

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@lakefor94 wrote:

Sorry to hear of the sickness.  Hope you get over that quickly.

Last time I came down with something was June 18th. Covid. Had to go with Time Away. Down hard two days. Sitting up and moving around on day 3.  Shipping was not an option for 3 days, lol.

I dont work a regular job, just ecommerce. I hit the off button when I need to. 

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I had COVID in January, didn't hit me too hard though (I escaped the cough symptom). But I couldn't go out of the house for 10 days (quarantine in Canada because my housemate was not vaccinated). My solution was to get FedEx to pick up boxes of packages in my safe spot (like they used to before the cross border courier opened an office where I live), and have stuff go out that way.

C.

[buyselljack2016]

Sorry your buyer was impatient.

5 hours. Your buyer was a peach 🙂

I had a purchase, request to cancel, and feedback demanding cancellation/basically chastising me for not having cancelled in less than 20 minutes while I was out getting firewood 🙂

Feel better soon.

I've been in your spot. Do a little. Wait. Do a little more. Had to pack, and get items out to the roadside mail box in the middle of the night before I became totally unable to do it.

[katzrul15]

@sin-n-dex 

This is why I packed and shipped from a hospital bed recently.

Not one Buyer cared or BELIEVED I was ill, let alone in the hospital. 

Telling them made it worse!

Feel better soon!  Life is too short to not prioritize your health.

[downunder-61]

@sin-n-dex What do you mean you were sick? under the weather?

You are a seller, you must.......

1. Be available 24/7 (I find a chain attached to my wrist and laptop helps with this)

2. You are super human and have no need for sleep (I find coffee helps with this)

3. You are so wealthy from selling on eBay you do not have to have another job (I find not eating helps with this)

4. You can never have children, partners or animals, as this takes you away from your PC (I have found no remedy for this)

5. You are immortal, never ill and NEVER injure yourself - even though lack of sleep, hunger , loneliness and stress can be debilitating.

Glad you on your way to recovery sin 😊

[inhawaii]

I hope you're feeling better.

[duncanvr]

Wait a minute we ebay sellers are allowed to sleep? Nobody told me that lol. Hope your feeling better but yeh some buyers are impatient. In general I do ebay at my own pace. I don't do same day shipping for anything could happen like post office closed, you don't feel well etc. Like you I ship within two days handling. That will also catch any buyers trying to cancel the same day they order. I just don't like to rush with ebay. That's when mistakes can happen.

[gamersbaystore]

I've been suffering from migraines for over a decade, I know exactly how you feel. Its debilitating at times. One bad migraine will often leave me crippled for days on end, even once its over. I just went thru it this past week and it wasn't fun.

As for the impatient buyers, its ridiculous some people just expect us to be on ebay 24/7, thats obviously not possible. I've had buyers flip out because I didn't ship their order 1 hour after they made their purchase.

[tdrake]

On the other hand, if these are items that are not multiples, perhaps the buyer was worried that 1 or both would be sold before s/he got the answer. I did that a week or so on an offer I made on a vintage book, after 5 or 6 hours of no reply I just bought it. As a seller I know that other sellers are not on tap 24/7. 

Thinking about it now, I had a buyer a few months ago send me the same request for combining orders for shipping and then they bought both an hour later when I didn't reply (I was on the road). No big deal, I refunded some of the shipping $'s along with a thank you.  

[collectintime]

You stated the following confusing statement in your post.  “With the intention of packing before work this morning”

This is the only thing that I do not understand about your post. Your migraines seem to be extremely severe. I have no idea how you could go to work or even drive. I could follow everything you were saying until this part, it seems strange that you could go to work for eight hours, but you must pack one item and then sleep for 30 minutes. I believe that you can put in your listing that you will ship within so many days or a week’s time. I have read auctions that say, I only ship on Tuesdays and Fridays then people know what the expectations are for you as a seller. Why not try that?

[ckimodog]

@sin-n-dex 

 I'm sure the bad weather you've been experiencing in your corner of the world isn't helping.  Hope you get to feeling better soon. 😊

[stuff4divas]

@sin-n-dex   did you put your listing on time away and it didn't work?