posted on December 11, 2000 02:23:06 PM new
CAUTION....RANT IN PROGRESS
What do the buyers expect from me???
Auction ended 11/28/00. EOA sent within minutes of auction end.
12/5/00 buyer emails and says he sent his MO several days ago, he hopes I will get his item to him before Christmas..had I mailed it yet? I respond that payment hasn't arrived yet but it is the busiest time of the year for the post office so it could have been delayed. Advise customer I will email when payment is recieved and again when item sent.
12/7/00 4:30 PM customer's payment is deposited by my nice postman in my mailbox. Customer is emailed a few hours later advising payment has been recieved and I repeat the fact that when item is mailed I will email him.
12/9/00...package is delivered to counter clerk at local post office at 11AM. Package sent priority insured. Customer was emailed BEFORE I went to post office that his package was on it's way.
12/11/00..customer emails wanting to know where his item is...he says "It should not take this long to ship from **. Everybody wants thier money in a hurry but it takes forever for the merchandise to arrive at my door".
ARGH!!!
Rant over..thanks for listening!
[ edited by amy on Dec 11, 2000 02:23 PM ]
posted on December 11, 2000 02:34:06 PM new
Amy, Amy, Amy....
You should have sprinted to the PO right after the check came. At the very least, you should have been waiting outside the Post Office on the morning of the 8th for them to open.
posted on December 11, 2000 02:44:18 PM new
Mea Culpa, mea culpa!
I hang head in shame!
In my defense..on the 8th I was up at 5AM and out of the house at 6:30 for a 2 1/2 hour drive to preview an auction that was to be held the 10th...from there I travelled back 2 hours to preview another auction that was going to happen on the 9th. then I drove another 45 minutes back to town and previewed an auction to be held that night. Went to dinner after previewing third auction ..the first bite of food I had all day...gobbled dinner to get back to auction before it started. Got home at 10pm...I was pooped. Don't these customers know I'm doing this so I can find great merchandise for them?!
The buyer's motto...I want it yesterday!
ROFLMAO!!
posted on December 11, 2000 03:53:11 PM new
Well, ya have to remember the buyer had no control over how quickly his/her payment was delivered by the USPS.
If the situation were reversed, would you consider waiting 13 days for a package being mailed to you quick turnaround or fast delivery?
I know, I know - I'm gonna be stomped cause this is a sellers' forum, but I been "stomped" before.
[ edited by jada on Dec 11, 2000 03:54 PM ]
posted on December 11, 2000 04:09:29 PM new
Hi, Jada. That's very true. I think the seller mainly had a problem with what was perceived as rudeness on the buyer's part. The seller felt she was knocking herself out for the sake of the customer, who showed a lack of appreciation.
Many buyers feel that since they are considerate enough to mail payment the day after the auction, the seller should reciprocate by sending the package within 24 hours of receipt. That is not always possible.
Thank goodness the buyer was smart enough to leave plenty of time before Christmas. I know that a good many customers win items on December 20th and then immediately email the seller with, "Hurry up, I need this by Christmas!"
posted on December 11, 2000 04:26:16 PM new
amy did you tell your customer that someone stole your costume and left it in Robert Downey's hotel room, and that caused the unforeseen lack of Wonder Woman-like performance in the execution of your seller duties?
exceptional performance is just not enough for some people... vent and feel better.
posted on December 11, 2000 05:13:17 PM new
Jada, Jada, Jada....what 13 days?
On 12/5, 7 days after the auction ended I advised the customer, in response to his question, that the payment had not been recieved yet...but I was sure it would be arriving soon. I even told him I frequently had visions of tardy payments and packages picking up their sunglasses and suntan lotion on the way out the door to the post office just so they could take a little side trip to Tahiti. I often thought they were lounging on the white sand, a tropical drink next to them, soaking up the sun before they continued on their way to their final destination.
Two days later I recieved his payment and sent him notice of it.
37 hours later his package was in the mail.
48 hours later he wants to know WHERE HIS PACKAGE IS!
No thirteen days between payment and shipment...37 hours!
I wouldn't be venting if he had not already been informed of when his payment arrived and when his item shipped. But expecting a package, even a priority one, to get from shipper to buyer in 48 hours (especially during the holiday mail rush) is just a tad unreasonable!
PS..If the situation had been reversed I would have realized a payment, once dropped in the mailbox, does not instantaneously arrive in the recipents mailbox. I would have expected several days for it to get to it's destination..possibly even a little longer at this time of the year. When I was notified by the seller the payment hadn't gotten there yet I would have readjusted my expectations of when the item would get to me.
When I was notified the payment had been recieved I would have started counting the time at that point...not from when I mailed the payment. And I cetainly wouldn't think the seller was a slacker when the item was mailed 37 hours after payment was recieved...And I dang well would never expect a package to get to me in 2 days flat.
[ edited by amy on Dec 11, 2000 05:21 PM ]
posted on December 11, 2000 05:39:58 PM new
Okay, Amy. Calm down. That's not what Jada meant at all. Relax, have a glass of wine, sounds like you need a little vacation. (Mmmm, Tahiti.)
posted on December 11, 2000 07:34:13 PM new
Amy - I meant 13 days from the time the auction ended. As I said, the buyer had no control over the length of time in which his payment was delivered to you. After all, he could have mailed the payment immediately after the auction ended and he would have been the one saying "24 hours, 37 hours", etc.
As a seller, you would have counted the time differently than I would have. You count from the time you receive payment, I count from the time the auction closes and I mail payment (as your buyer obviously did).
Doesn't make either of us wrong, just makes us different. If I won an auction that wasn't completed within 13 days, (you said he still had not received the package), I would attempt to trace the payment through the post office to see why the delay occurred, and/or I would be very frustrated and would likely not deal with that particular seller again.
From 11/28 to 12/07 is 9 days, I would hardly think even the post office would take that long were I in your buyer's shoes, (yes even at this time of year), so I can understand his frustration. If a seller had not received your payment within nine days, what would you think?
To answer your question about busting your buns going to auctions to find merchandise, I'm afraid my response would be that, as a buyer, I don't think about that. I do my job well, I don't expect or receive appreciation from my customers (even though I do thank them when they are appreciative) and expect others to do the same.
When I shop at a store, I don't worry about how much trouble they went to in order to obtain the merchandise for me to buy, that is their business and their choice to be in that business.
As a seller, I can understand exactly how you feel. As a buyer, I can understand exactly how your buyer feels.
posted on December 11, 2000 08:12:18 PM new
Been to Tahiti: all it does Christmas is RAIN & RAIN & RAIN! Everything costs a fortune; say like $10.00 for a lousey beer! Rather be in Anguila!
Will say this for Tahiti: never have I ever been treated as GREAT as the Tahitians (not the French!) treated me -- nicest people I've ever met! Hope they get their freedom soon!
posted on December 11, 2000 09:33:42 PM new
Jada...I think you are bending over backwards to see this buyer as being reasonable.
I just pulled out the envelope his payment came in. The post mark is Dec 1..PM. That was a Friday afternoon..three days after the auction ended. So when he emailed me on Tuesday the 5th the payment had only been in the mail 4 days. At this time of the year it is not unreasonable to expect a letter to take at least 4 days or a little longer to get to it's destination.
I wasn't upset he emailed to find out if I got the payment..but I truthfully told him it wasn't here yet but I was sure it would arrive soon. When I recieved his payment I emailed and let him know.
From the point in time he mailed the payment to the point in time I mailed his package was 8 days...hardly an eternity that would have triggered his extremely anxious reaction.
From a buyer's point of view..which I also am...this person's reactions were completely out of proportion to the reality of the situation.
Not 13 days ...it was 10. As A seller I can't be held responsible for how long it takes a payment to get to me...nor can I be held responsible for how long it takes a package once I give it to the post office. And his email today was only 2 days after the package was mailed. It is unreasonable to expect a package to take only 48 hours from mailing to reciept.
PS..the comment about the running around I did Friday was in response to KerryAnn..not meant as expecting the customer to care about it..it was a tongue in cheek response!
Tomwii...you just destroyed my fanasty about Tahiti
[ edited by amy on Dec 11, 2000 09:40 PM ]
posted on December 11, 2000 09:59:11 PM new
OK..I have seen the problem, I have read the responses, but as a seller I have ONE question...Did NONE of those places you went to have a P.O.?
I'll bet u drove past at LEAST 5!!! I know I would have..what is the problem with posting from a "foreign" USPS?
NO excuses...
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
posted on December 11, 2000 10:35:10 PM new
Keith..absolutely nothing except that I was on a real time factor...as it was, I barely made it to the third auction house to preview before the auction began. Standing in line at the post office (which is very crowded this time of the year) would have kept me from previewing one or more auctions. I live in a very congested area and all the running around Friday was on the very crowded freeways. And I wouldn't have been shipping one package...I ship about 75 items a week. Saturday there were 25 packages that went to the post office. Friday is not my shipping day..it is my preview day
On top of the fact that there is nothing in my TOS that says I ship within 24 hours of recieving payment. I think shipping 37 hours after recieving payment is quick turn around.
posted on December 11, 2000 11:33:45 PM new
Geez, Amy .. next you'll be telling us you had to sleep at night!
Unless I PayPal, I rarely expect anything to arrive within 10 days because it rarely does! Quite often it's longer. As long as the seller emails me that my payment has arrived and item is on the way (or replies to my inquiries), I don't have a problem with it. JMHO
I have a memory like a steel trap .. unfortunately it's rusted shut!
