Archive for April, 2012

Dear eBay Queen:

I am so mad and frustrated right now that I could spit nails.  I sell new makeup that I either purchase on sale, or buy from a wholesaler. I’ve done pretty well with selling makeup until recently.  I’ve had a slew of buyers that think my makeup is for them to just “try out” and then send back!  My current problem is a buyer that after buying foundation from me, sent an email 20 days later saying she did not like it and it was broken.  I emailed her immediately after that email and said the following:

Thank you so much for letting me know there was a problem.  I am so sorry your foundation does not match your skin tone. When you say it was broken, do you mean the bottle is broken or maybe the brush applicator? As per my listing I do have a 14 day return policy, but I would like for you to be happy, so if you would like to send it back, I will be happy to refund your money, and not apply my return policy to this listing.

Here’s the letter I received in response to that, I left all the spelling errors in there for your reading pleasure.

Dear idioit;

Congradulation in successfully making me angry. What the hell has happened to customer service these days?  I have thrown away your make up as it was BROKEN.  Don’t you understand that? Some sellers will do anything to take advantage of a buyer! If it was B R O K E N why would I send it back to you? Can’t you just make an insurance claim or SOM THING? What is wrong with you? You need to refund my money immedatly or I will be leaving the feedback and it won’t be positive!

I contacted eBay and asked them what to do.  eBay’s customer service told me that since it was makeup and she used it, I did not have to refund her money.  I contacted the buyer back, and told her what eBay told me.  She then gave me a negative feedback.

Her feedback complaint read: “MakeUp tOo LiGhT Seller sTooPiD I tHrew AwAy Not a ReFunD GiVen” (yes, it looks just like this)

I called eBay back, and they told me it was not eligible for removal.  I don’t understand, how I followed what eBay told me to do, and they will not remove the negative! Why am I being punished?

Harriet, Gardner

Dear Harriet:

If your email wasn’t so true it would be funny. The buyer didn’t spell “idiot” or “stupid” right, which seems like irony to me, plus her statement “Congradulation in successfully making me angry.” Sounds like something The Hulk would say, “You don’t want to make the Hulk angry.”

Based upon her statement; “You need to refund my money immedatly or I will be leaving the feedback and it won’t be positive!” I believe that would be considered feedback extortion.  I would contact eBay again by phone, and point that out in her email to you.  They should remove the negative right away.

I am sorry that not only were you abused by your buyer, but in a way you were mislead by eBay’s Seller Support.  The CS representative should have told you that even by following their instructions you could still receive negative feedback, but you would not be in violation of any of eBay’s policies. This is one of the ridiculous things about eBay.  You can be COMPLETELY in the right and still receive a negative feedback.  I’m pretty sure your negative will be removed, but if for some reason it’s not, rest in the knowledge that this negative feedback only makes you look good, and the buyer look ridiculous.

Dear eBay Queen:

I am hoping to bid on a trailer today but I have become concerned because the seller has not responded to multiple emails I have sent him over the past few days. He has a zero rating, so maybe is new to eBay- but also maybe something’s wrong? What should I do?

Antonia

Dear Antonia:

If the seller isn’t responding to you, I would not purchase from them, especially on something as expensive as a trailer.  There is always the possibility that there was an emergency in the sellers family etc, but when it comes to large purchases if I can’t get a hold of the seller, I will not make the purchase.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 300690552662 Summer is coming and those herbs aren’t going to dry themselves! Check out this Antique 18^th Century Iron Utensil or Herb Rack great Curled Heart Design. SOLD $710.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item46028db756&item=300690552662

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul, Kansas.

Dear eBay Queen:

If a buyer wants to change their feedback from negative to positive, does the buyer also have the opportunity to change the DSR rating too?

I have a buyer who left negative feedback. It was a case of the buyer not checking her email to review the proof I had sent to her for a personalized item. After I called her on the phone (voicemail), she finally replied by email and seems happy. She hasn’t indicated she wants to change her negative feedback and I doubt she even knows she can change it. She didn’t even know how to check eBay messages through the eBay site.

I had another instance where I messed up and order, and I usually send a nice note apologizing for the item or the shipping time or whatnot and then say something like, if you had let me know before leaving your feedback, I could have done something about making your transaction a positive one like sending another item, giving you a refund, explaining how the shipping time was affected, (or whatever I think would have fixed the problem,) but please be assured I have given you a refund since I want to still make the transaction good for you. Then I give the refund or whatever is appropriate, and then send the feedback revision form without even mentioning it in the note. 9 times out of 10 they revise the feedback to positive.

I was listening to eBay Radio and I believe Griff said that it’s against eBay rules for a seller to ask a buyer to change their feedback. However, if a buyer initiates it, the seller can assist the buyer who may need guidance in figuring out how to change it.  Is this true?

Thanks,
Norman

Dear Norman:

I have asked 3 buyers to remove negative feedback and only one followed through with it.  I did do a little checking, and a seller can ask for a buyer to remove feedback. It also mentions the ability to request a change in the DSRs.  http://pages.ebay.com/help/feedback/revision-request.html

You are right! I have found that when you apologize, and are up front with people they are usually pretty forgiving.  I hope your latest buyer follows through and removes the negative.

Dear eBay Queen:

I bought an item about 12 days ago, and the seller hasn’t shipped it yet. He emailed me right after I paid and said he was out of town and it would be couple extra days before he could ship, was that OK? What was I going to say? I said yeah, no problem, 5 days later still no shipment information so I emailed him. He said he was sorry, he’s still out of town and would ask his wife if she had shipped it, if not he’d mail it today, Monday.

Guess what? The item remains unmarked as shipped, no shipping information, no communication, nothing. It was a great bargain, no other bidder had emerged, so I’m thinking he was not happy with the price and never had any intention of shipping it. I still want the item, it might be a couple months before that item at that price emerges again.

What would you do? If I report him, will eBay suspend him?

Moira

Dear Moira:

eBay won’t suspend him unless he is in the habit of doing this type of thing.  Did you check his feedback and his DSR or star scores? You should be able to see right away if he has negative feedback for slow shipping, or if he’s received 1’s or 2’s in shipping time you will be able to see that in his shipping and handling time score.

In a situation like this, I would email him and ask if it’s been sent.  His wife may not know how to wrap, make labels etc.  Allow a day or so for him to respond. If he doesn’t, I would then file an “item not received” claim against him.  If he responds and you don’t receive the item within 4 or 5 days after his response, I would file a claim.

I hope you receive your item, but if you don’t, you will receive your money back for sure.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 320879550192  Do you like looking at old pictures?  Check out this old Ambrotype! Fantastic California Militia Officer Full Plate Cased Ambroytype by William Shew!  SOLD $4200.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item4ab5e95ef0&item=320879550192

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul, Kansas.

Dear eBay Queen:

I need your clarification on what I did wrong here.  I bought and paid for an electric guitar on eBay.  When it arrived, I found it did not work although the eBay ad stated it did. After getting it checked out, and finding out the electronics were bad, I contacted the seller and asked to return it because it did not match the description. He agreed, refunded me for the item and initial shipping costs up front.  I went to ship it back to him, and shipping cost was $59.00 because it was an oversized, heavy item.

I contacted him the same day to let him know that shipping was going to be $59.00. He did not respond to me that day, so I did not ship the item back to him. About 3 days later he sent me an email requesting the guitar be sent back.  I told him how much shipping was, and if he didn’t pay it I would not send it back.  I decided that he was annoying me so,  I left negative feedback and complained to eBay. The seller then got my personal information from eBay and called my house at midnight cursing at me and threatening to come and kill me. He also filed a fraudulent non-paying bidder claim against me. What should I do? This is only my 3^rd transaction.  Do you think I should try again?

French

Dear French;

I am so sorry this has happened to you.  The seller should not have called you at midnight and threatened you.  I believe I can shed a little light on the reason the seller is upset and why they filed a non-paying bidder claim against you.  In normal situations the seller would ask you to send the item back before giving you a refund.  Your seller gave you the money back first, and you did not send the item back, plus you gave them a negative.

I still think this situation might be salvageable.  I would contact them and see if they would be willing to pay the return shipping, after you send the item back.  Let them know once you receive that you will remove the negative.

Dear eBay Queen:

I’ve been reading your articles for quite some time now and I’ve been selling on eBay since 2001.  With the two accounts that I still sell on, the totals show I’ve sold close to $200,000 in transactions since I started.  I have one account I sell new items on and another account I sell vintage and antiques.

I’ve seen lots of concern when it comes to buyers returning items. I also understand eBay is pushing a 14 Day return policy. I am curious how many sellers have a huge return problem.  Don’t you think returns are an unavoidable cost of having an online business?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this new 14 day return policy; I’m, not thrilled with it, but most business owners do it that way.  One thing I have thought about is how almost no vintage/antiques store allow returns. I think eBay should adopt a policy of returns for antique and vintage sellers.   I’ve read that you sell antiques and collectibles.  How do you feel about no returns in that category?  What percent of returns are your sales each year?

Heather

Dear Heather:

You are right; I don’t remember seeing an antique store that took returns.  One thing about that is when I shop in an antique store; I can personally inspect the item.  I’m not taking a risk based on a stranger’s unknown ability to take accurate pictures and make an accurate assessment of the item.  And there are things I might not even think to ask until I looking at the item up close.

I don’t think eBay should adapt such a policy.  Mostly because if an inexperienced seller is describing an item, I want to make sure as a buyer I am going to get what I paid for.  Without some kind of return policy that won’t happen.  I think a better idea would be a little online tutorial for sellers to take while they are listing their first 5 or 10 items.  Maybe a series of pop up reminders to let a new seller know they need more than one photo of that valuable antique.

I’ve been selling since 1998.  I truly believe that returns are a part of doing business.  I believe that in order to sell online we as sellers are going to have to make some concessions and accept returns.  If you think about it the buyer has put their trust in you to describe this item correctly, and they are betting on your ability to describe items correctly.  If you look at other online retail sites; they have very liberal return policies because they have to when selling online.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 230759216500 Have you ever wanted to own Marilyn Monroe’s Original Sunglasses?  Check out these that sold on eBay!  SOLD $2550.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item35ba523574&item=230759216500

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul, Kansas.