posted on February 25, 2001 06:29:02 AM new
I won an item on the 6th of February. He sends me a congradulatory email three days after I requested a Billpoint Invoice. When I explain that this was my first Billpoint auction was this what this email was? He said no that will come today. Well about 6 hours later it shows up. His first email has this little tidbit of info in it:
ATTENTION - Misc Notes
> All of our activities are directed toward one PRIMARY OBJECTIVE - giving you the RIGHT Item, delivered in a timely manner, resulting in your complete SATISFACTION.
> Email - We are not glued to a computer screen 24-7. Have some patience, we answer all & give priority to "problem situations". We sometimes take 2-3 day breaks from the computer.
> Feedback - Please be patient. We leave it once monthly for all who leave feedback for us.
> We are HUMAN and we sometimes make a mistake. Please be Patient - we will never leave you "hanging". We will ALWAYS make it right!!
> S/H amounts are for U.S. only - contact us for International Rates.
I KNEW after I read this it was going to be a LOOOONNNNNGGGGGG time before I saw my item! I emailed just this past week to ask if it had been mailed and he said yes on Monday. I said that's interesting the post office was closed Monday. He emails back my mistake it was Tuesday. Guess what? It shows up and it was mailed on Wednesday, the very day I was emailing him!
Sounds to me like these people don't care. This was a gift to be given this past Friday, obviously didn't make it, got here the day after. I really thought that two weeks would be plenty of time to mail an item, but he never mentioned any of the "please be patient" crap in his auction.
Sorry this is so long - what kind, if any, feedback should I leave? How's this? "When these people ask you to be patient, they mean it!" LOL
Angela
edited 'cuz my fingers are too fast!
[ edited by flynn on Feb 25, 2001 06:32 AM ]
posted on February 25, 2001 06:36:44 AM new
Did you bother to check and see this seller's feedback ?
This would have given you an indication of the type of service you were going to be provided.
As far as feedback, did your item arrive as described ? Was it what you expected ?
If it was, then why bother leaving feedback at all ?
I would leave a positive feedback like, "Item exactly as described, but slow delivery"
Most likely, if this seller leaves feedback all at once for those who leave him feedback, he will not even notice and leave you a nice positive feedback in return.
posted on February 25, 2001 07:00:32 AM new
He leaves feedback when he gets a negative. Out of 1205 total 1111 positive, 17 neutral and 9 negatives, I wasn't all that worried. I figured if he was a horrible seller there'd be a lot more than 9 bad feedbacks and if there was a recent problem they'd be within the last month or so, all of his negatives were in the last 6 months.
Oh well - guess you can't always tell from feedback. 90% of my transactions on ebay are as a seller and ALL of my items are shipped within 36 hours of secure payment received, so I know it's not THAT hard to ship in a reasonable amount of time. Over two weeks is not reasonable, IMHO.
posted on February 25, 2001 07:31:07 AM new
I agree that two weeks is a long time. That has happened with me when I was waiting for a gift to arrive. I wound up going to the baby shower without it and gave another gift instead. I think you should leave a neutral because the item did arrive (I assume it arrived in satisfactory shape) and other than the waiting you seemed happy with that. I would try for something like:
posted on February 25, 2001 07:50:10 AM new
justbijou:
I like your suggestion, I think I'll run with it. I had no intention of leaving a negative, at least I don't think I did, but I didn't think they deserved a positive either!
posted on February 25, 2001 08:33:51 AM new
I believe you should give him positive feedback (neutral or negative will only get you the same) with a comment like, "nice item, but very slow service & poor communication"
posted on February 25, 2001 08:59:31 AM new
I doubt I'll give him a positive one just because I'd be scared of getting one in return. Nope - I'm not playing that game anymore. Others need to be warned ahead of time that if you're in a hurry don't bid on this guys stuff, you'll be disappointed for sure!
posted on February 25, 2001 09:27:40 AM new
Well I am A seller on ebay and other auction sites, But I am not a mind reader.
If someone bid on one of the items I have listed and bought it as a gift for someone to be give on a set date I dont know this inless the buyer send this information in there reply to my EOA.
What seems simple and easy for one is not always simple and easy for another you dont know what another persons life and schedule are like, so to say when you sell all your Items are shipped within 36 hour so you know its simple Dont mean its simple for Every seller to do.
These Online Auctions Are mail order businesses and even though Under perfect conditions we know that a Item bought and shipped Priority if paid by credit card the whole transaction can be completed in less then 4 days But nothing is perfect with mail order always the buyer should alway plan on and allow for up to 2 to 4 weeks for delivery
I have even seen tie ups take longer for item from huge corporation type mail order companies.
If a buyer tells me they bought the item as a gift I do everything I can to get the Item shipped within 24 hours of being paid but even then the delivery is at the mercy of the postal system.
MY Genral Rules for shipping is my Item are shipped On saturdays so If you bid on my item on monday and I receive your payment before noon Saturday your Item will be shipped inless the bidder lets me know this is for a gift they need it sooner, in that case once I have payment I will FInd a way to Get it out sooner.
Also as a seller I reserve the right to Hold shipping if you pay with a personal check I dont normally hold personal checks for buyers with a good amount of positive feed back but for a new buyer this could delay shipping up to 30 days.
these Rules that I set dont mean that I dont care about the buyers needs they are set the way they are to allow me time to continue listing sorting payments and packing items it garentees I have time to package all the Items I have sold in a carefull manner so they all arrive with out damage and that each Item gets addressed to the right buyer.
Even though I may have 10 to 30 winners per day dont mean my business stops I must still send out eoas to the next group of winners I must send notices to buyer I have just recived payments from send out notice to people I just shipped to leave feed back on sales answer current question from interested bidders I must still get photos and make listing for my next batch of sales and still package and address the last 10 to 50 Item won and paid for.
All this daily to receive a neg neutral from one buyer who might have bought there item as a gift but failed to tell me they need the Item ASAP because its a gift they plan to give to some one in four days.
Sellers are people most do all there sales and packing and every thing else them selves they dont have time to read a buyers mind.
I can spend up to 12 hours in a day just packageing items and answering email for get the pictures for new listing and writeing ads and launching new items Pluss this is still just part time I Have a full time job that pays my bills.
Most do this because they find it fun its a hobby the buying selling and tradeing
All The Items I sell take up to two weeks to get to the buyers but my packing is great Items get where they are going in the same condition I sent them.
When I get a problem buyer who threatens me which is rare hardly ever get one I tell them if they feel they need to neg me or give a neutral go for it I never started selling my items for feed back I sell them cause it what make me feel good.
Details in the reply from buyers is as important as detail in listings and EOAs from sellers and as inportant as a good pictures for items.
Buyers should give the seller all the details to make the transaction go as smooth posible if your need your item in four or five days as a gift for a party let the seller know, This is one thing that makes these personel auction sales different from large companies we can deal on a one on one bases with each other.
posted on February 25, 2001 11:10:20 AM new"Guess what? It shows up and it was mailed on Wednesday, the very day I was emailing him!" - flynn
LAME! OVERWHELMINGLY this has been my experience when I've inquired about late shipments. My email seems to be the tickle that gets the seller to actually make the trip to the post office and put my item in the mail. Then for some reason, rather than saying, "Sorry for the delay, your item went out today," they feel the need to LIE and say it was mailed a week earlier. I can understand sometimes life takes over and a shipment can be delayed, and would still be inclined to leave a positive feedback if the seller just 'fessed up. But I don't like being LIED to. Doesn't the seller realize that the postmark dates when the package was sent?
Maybe it doesn't deserve a negative, coz you did get the item, but I sure wouldn't leave a positive. Perhaps just a neutral, "Slow shipping, but item did arrive in condition described."
[ edited by triplesnack on Feb 25, 2001 11:11 AM ]
posted on February 25, 2001 11:43:15 AM new
Actually it is very posible the seller wasnt lieing about the day they shipped it as you pointed out monday was a hoilday.
that means tuesday the mail load would be two days worth for the Po and many things brought to the PO on tueday may not have got post marke till wenesday some maybe not even till Thursday.
Since the pick up from smaller smaller post offices for shipping might have required two truck pick ups tuesday.
I know I live in a small town in newyork I ship from our local PO but my packages get post marked albany NY they have to be sent to albany where they get post marked and shipped from the local post office only has two mail pick up and drop off times one 5 AM one at 5PM every thing picked up in the pm will be post marked the next day.
When I ship on saturday our local PO. closes at 12 noon anything getting pick up a 5pm may not get postmarked till monday morning.
I print my own postage each stamp I print has a date on it if you check the date on the stamp my bet is the post mark and the stamp date rarely match.
The post office I ship from only post marks local mail to the same town as it mailed from since it never ships out to the main albany post office.
If buyer and sellers of online auction would just stop trying to be detectives and stop trying to play the second guess game there would be far less confusion.
calling someone a liar is a serious charge and the charge is made usually by assuming what another has done.
posted on February 25, 2001 11:53:40 AM new
The seller sounds like an ass, although, it could have been an innocent mistake. I have had the same thing happen to me many times. One guy kept saying my item was sent and until I threatened to file fraud charges (a month and a half later) he all of a sudden "received my item back in the mail" and was mailing it out the next day. I did get the item (I got a rare CD that usually goes for $50 for like $3, including shipping from international!) Some sellers seem to do this when they don't want to sell the item for so little (isn't that was reserves are for?)
In your case, it just sounds like they are either irresponsible or just really busy. I say either no feedback is in order, or a kind neutral. Then again, 2 weeks is not that long... This is a toughy...
posted on February 25, 2001 12:26:35 PM new
My understanding of the postmark is that it's dated the day the post office gets its hands on the item, not whenever the post office gets around to it. If you drop your letter thru the slot after the post office is closed, yes it gets postmarked the next day. And yes, if you put it in the box on the corner at 8pm Saturday and it doesn't get picked up till Monday afternoon, it gets postmarked Monday.
But if you drop your letter off at your local branch and it goes to a larger office to get postmarked, it should be dated with the day your local branch received it.
Try telling the IRS, "Oh, I mailed that a week ago -- it's just dated April 18 coz the post office didn't get around to postmarking it till then."
posted on February 25, 2001 01:07:16 PM new
Heck I've waited 4 weeks for a package before, but knew ahead of time it was going to take that long.
I think the point everyone is missing is that this guy doesn't even mail the item for nearly two weeks AFTER getting a Billpoint payment! That in my opinion is excessive and lazy. If I have trouble getting to the post office in a timely fashion I ALWAYS email my bidders and let them know of the delay. They may not be happy about it, but at least they know about it.
As far as my telling this person it was for a gift, that's so stupid, why should I? Two weeks is ample time to mail something, period. I know I was taking a risk with the post office being slow, but I certainly didn't think this seller was going to be that slow in mailing!
posted on February 26, 2001 01:22:05 PM new
Whoa - to me this doesn't say so much about the postmark date or holiday or the travails of getting to the p.o. - this seller pretty much put his TOS in the EOA mail, not where a bidder could be apprised of it prior to bidding (wonder why?). I don't think the point here is the holiday or the postmark...it is that his EOA basically says "I'll get to you when I get to you". With an email that says "We want you to be happy but we take 2-3 day breaks from the computer (how often, one day on and three off??), leave feedback once a month, etc." a bidder doesn't know that they may have a 3 week delay until it's too late! I think electronic payers are used to & deserve quicker shipment than that - sure, paying electronically is a convenience, but it should alleviates the delay of snail mail. I think if you ship once a week (or once every 2!)or read your email every 3 days - it should be in the TOS - not disclosed afterwards and I think a neutral is warranted for sure!!
posted on February 26, 2001 03:03:26 PM new
Tell it to the IRS .....
Funny you should mention that .....
I filed my 941's for 2 businesses - mailed them in front of the post office the Friday they were to be postmarked. Pickup until midnight for postmark (or so they say).
They arrived postmarked Monday ... and I got a penalty for late filing! Well, I told it to the IRS --- and they removed the charge!
(I pointed it out to them that they were a government agency and so was the post office)
posted on February 26, 2001 06:18:22 PM new
Flynn - I have to agree with you...waiting 2 weeks after payment before shipping is way too long. If they had an emergency, and were upfront about it, AND didn't have to lie about it, I'd leave a pos. But this situation you're in...this is totally different. Leave a neutral. There's been plenty of good suggestions for a neutral here...mine would probably be: "Nice item, but shipped 2 wks after I paid. Prepare to wait"
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
