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Why are some people so daft? - Buy now ask questions later!

by Beatrice
12 replies
Hello!

During the holiday season I also sell on Ebay. I have received the following message from a buyer after she purchased the item and paid for it in Paypal.

"Hi, i would like this in Yellow please. Could you please confirm that this is in the GRADUATED two-tones Yellow colour - i do NOT want it unless it is the graduated yellow to orange colour, many thanks"

The obvious thing would be to "shoot" the questions first, wait for a reply and then according to the reply decide or not to buy the item (will save time spent issuing refunds)

... I guess that would be far too simple
#buy #daft #people #questions
  • Profile picture of the author Dave Rodman
    Banned
    I own e-commerce sites and this is very common. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. They order it, it sets it in motion, and it gets shipped if it meets the requirements...otherwise it gets cancelled. If it's busy during the holidays, a lot of times the emails don't get answered right away and you lose a day.
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  • Profile picture of the author FrankBowman
    Originally Posted by Beatrice View Post

    Hello!

    During the holiday season I also sell on Ebay. I have received the following message from a buyer after she purchased the item and paid for it in Paypal.

    "Hi, i would like this in Yellow please. Could you please confirm that this is in the GRADUATED two-tones Yellow colour - i do NOT want it unless it is the graduated yellow to orange colour, many thanks"

    The obvious thing would be to "shoot" the questions first, wait for a reply and then according to the reply decide or not to buy the item (will save time spent issuing refunds)

    ... I guess that would be far too simple
    Take a deep breathe............

    Now remember that customer service in any online business is very important. Thats how you get repeat customers.

    I know some people are a bit nutty, I once had some one ask me for a refund on a FREE REPORT!!!!

    Just answer politely, be helpful and you may even get another sale out of this person

    Happy New Year
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    • Profile picture of the author Beatrice
      ... I guess it would be OK if I was not subsequently issued with a negative feedback.

      ... I know "the client is always right" and so on... but Ebay does not seem to care about small-time sellers.


      Just answer politely, be helpful and you may even get another sale out of this person
      ... Thanks for pointing this out, but I find this extremely patronizing. (I was previously a powerseller for the last 7 years by the way, so I KNOW how to address customers!)
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
        I've seen worse. I've had products where I've had something like "Yellow no longer available in this size." Clear as day. Can't miss it.

        Yet, I'll still get people that order that size and want it in yellow.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by Beatrice View Post

        ... I guess it would be OK if I was not subsequently issued with a negative feedback.

        ... I know "the client is always right" and so on... but Ebay does not seem to care about small-time sellers.
        The problem is, the client is not always right. But they are always the client. And as such, they have the finger on the feedback button.

        I'm a casual seller, at best, and I haven't had a problem yet (knock wood).

        Originally Posted by Beatrice View Post

        ... Thanks for pointing this out, but I find this extremely patronizing. (I was previously a powerseller for the last 7 years by the way, so I KNOW how to address customers!)
        Please don't take this personally. First, we don't know your background or experience, so it's hard to patronize you. Second, we get a lot of wing nuts ranting and raving about idiot customers and the silly over-the-top responses they claim to make. You may know how to address customers, but some of the people reading this thread won't, so this may be instructional for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave Rodman
    Banned
    As a larger issue, if you aren't already, then you should remove yourself from Ebay as soon as possible. I knew people that sold a ton on there and almost all of the old sellers now are completely through with it. For reasons like you mentioned.

    If you could sell on ebay, then you pricing would probably work on amazon. And I think Amazon is MUCH better overall.
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    • Profile picture of the author Beatrice
      As a larger issue, if you aren't already, then you should remove yourself from Ebay as soon as possible. I knew people that sold a ton on there and almost all of the old sellers now are completely through with it. For reasons like you mentioned.

      If you could sell on ebay, then you pricing would probably work on amazon. And I think Amazon is MUCH better overall.
      I wont' put all my eggs in one basket just yet. Although Ebay is not doing great, it still brings in some money. Amazon is another kettle of fish. A few years ago, Amazon was great. In the last couple of years, they have decided (in my line of work) to get a much larger share of the niche I'm in. So for example each time I was introducing a new product, a few weeks later they would also be selling it (at a much cheaper price of course).

      Unfortunately the issue of the feedback is an important one in Ebay. Being top rated allows sellers to have their products displayed on first page of the listings.

      ...but....

      That's the reason why I am now trying to branch into Internet Marketing (also no more packing, late deliveries because of the snow, returns etc.)

      Another thing, any comments, good, bad or ugly are not taken personally. This is a great forum and I wish you all a happy new year.
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      • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
        Originally Posted by Beatrice View Post

        I wont' put all my eggs in one basket just yet. Although Ebay is not doing great, it still brings in some money. Amazon is another kettle of fish. A few years ago, Amazon was great. In the last couple of years, they have decided (in my line of work) to get a much larger share of the niche I'm in. So for example each time I was introducing a new product, a few weeks later they would also be selling it (at a much cheaper price of course).

        Unfortunately the issue of the feedback is an important one in Ebay. Being top rated allows sellers to have their products displayed on first page of the listings.
        eBay has been working for a number of years to get rid of the small sellers. I saw the writing on the wall a couple of years ago, and quit selling there ... I sleep much better at nights now .

        When I was selling, I never had a problem being on the first page of the listings because I sold uncommon collector items. The other thing I did was to use HammerTap (a great tool!) to research the title keywords that buyers were looking for and actually sold.

        When I quit selling on "obey", I dropped HammerTap and have kept Terapeak. That allowed me to go back 90 days, and currently allows me to check sales for the past year in 90 day chunks (excellent for items that only come up a couple of times/year.)

        One strategy used by some sellers that found their items hijacked by Amazon was to watch when Amazon was out of stock, and step up to the plate then. I've no idea how that worked, but some people said it was a good strategy.

        Marvin
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        • Profile picture of the author Beatrice
          One strategy used by some sellers that found their items hijacked by Amazon was to watch when Amazon was out of stock, and step up to the plate then. I've no idea how that worked, but some people said it was a good strategy.

          ... I wont' be trying this one out though. Having stock sitting, waiting for Amazon to run out is an expensive and dangerous game....
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  • Profile picture of the author GreenMachine
    I don't think ebay cares about anyone... they clearly have a system in place that doesn't support their sellers... but it also really doesn't support their buyers most times either... The negative feedback thing sucks.. maybe you can get it removed... I know in the past I have had sellers that discounted items I purchased to avoid negative feedback after their was some confusion about the product... I'm not saying its good to loose money on stuff but with ebay it seems anything to maintain positive feedback is important...
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  • Profile picture of the author JoMo
    I know some people are a bit nutty, I once had some one ask me for a refund on a FREE REPORT!!!!
    That is funny.



    joel
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  • Profile picture of the author John Atkins
    Yeah, as a product seller myself I get some of that
    stuff.

    I wonder what's the deal with these people?

    It seems people like these can't wait to hit the
    buy button and pay for a product without reading
    about it first, and asking questions if need be.

    Strange.
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