posted on October 21, 2002 06:02:45 PM new
I have been browsing Ebay for several items I would like to purchase. As normal when I find the item, I check the sellers feedback as I'm sure we all do.
I have noticed that the majority of the negative feedback to the powerseller comes from cherrys with a feedback under 10. Apparently they expect delivery of their item within "hours".
What does worry me is the negative feedback about slow or non response to emails.
As a test I have located 2 items I would like to bid on from 2 different power sellers. Both have negatives for non response to emails. I used the "ask seller a question" to ask a question concerning their item. It wasn't a DA or silly question but a valid question about their method of shipping
Today is the 3rd day since I asked the question. As yet no response & the auctions close tomorrow. Will I bid on their items, not likely.
posted on October 21, 2002 06:25:21 PM new
I recently decided to upgrade my digital camera. I found two different sellers selling the same camera.
I emailed to ask each of them a question, both questions were honest inquiries, one about shipping costs, one about the power adapter cord.
One seller responded within hours, and was very nice. The other seller responded 3 days later, and was not very polite. Can you guess whose $800 camera I bought?
I wonder if the second seller would have bought the camera from someone who replied to their question as they replied to mine.
posted on October 21, 2002 06:38:10 PM new
Why specifically check Powersellers? All that means is they sell more stuff than some other people. Courteous responses in a relatively timely manner should be expected from anyone you would purchase from. For me, I respond as soon as I am able, but it sometimes seems people forget that I am simply not chained to my computer keyboard 24/7, and there may be other things going on in my life that they have no idea about, so a question today may get answered in 3 hours, or 2 days -- for me, either is almost always the soonest I could answer. People really seem awfully intolerant, though, about not getting instantaneous responses to their questions.
posted on October 21, 2002 06:50:36 PM new
upriver,
You are right about the response time up to a point. I'm a seller too. My point was that the second seller answered less than politely after a three day wait for an answer.
When I answer a bidders question I am pleasant and polite even if the question is already answered in the auction posting.
You can bet if I were selling $800 cameras, I would be so sweet in my replies they would need insulin when I got through.
posted on October 21, 2002 06:53:29 PM new
Some eBay sellers (myself included) will not answer email questions that could have been answered by the prospective bidder actually reading all the way through the auction. Or, we prioritize such questions dead last.
The way I figure it is, if you can't be bothered to read, you're probably not a customer I want. (I'm using the generic "you" here.)
posted on October 21, 2002 07:14:05 PM new
I sell on Ebay also. I have my share of idotic questions from bidders. (Like a bullet mold I have listed. I state it is a .440 round ball mold. A bidder wanted to know what size ball it cast? A .451, .452 or what? I bit my tounge & responded with .440)
For any item I am considering bidding on, I WILL read all of their TOS. If I still have a question, I send a email.
I didn't mean to infer that it was ONLY a power seller issue. I only mentioned it in reference to negative feedback they had for non responsive emails and the items I was looking at were offered for sale by power sellers.
When I sent the request for more information I did not expect an instant response. But I would expect a timely response especially if the auction is to close soon.
posted on October 21, 2002 07:17:19 PM new
I understand what you are saying, and if I were selling as much as you are, I might do things differently when the question was answered in the auction.
I don't believe though that when you do answer a question you are less than polite.
The seller in question was asked about the power adapter cord. It came with the camera from the distributor but since the camera was listed as a display model and the cord was not mentioned in the auction, I asked if there was one.
The reply was "If there was a cord I would have said in the auction".
Not only rude, illiterate as well. It was enough for me, I don't want to deal with that kind of seller.
Please understand I mostly sell, and I just can not understand a seller who will go out of their way to run off good buyers.
posted on October 21, 2002 07:26:39 PM new
usually: Absolutely agree, I always try to be polite except when I'm not.
fluffy: Absolutely agree, and there have been a few questions I didn't answer because they were so obviously inane, or obviously person wasn't interested in reading the first 2 sentences of my desription, or something like that.
Also, when I get these questions, I always check what the persons feedback is, and I guarantee I respond both politely and quickly as possible when they have great feedback & are obviously sincerely interested in my item.
Still, my feeling is about 10% of people who ever ask questions actually place a bid.
posted on October 21, 2002 07:38:37 PM new
I email sellers all the time asking about the shipping charges as it seems alot of sellers do not list it in their auctions, stating only "buying pays shipping" which could mean $4 or $40. Most of them never bother to reply. I never bid on those auctions.
I think that anyone that sells regularly on eBay should answer questions about their running auctions within 24 hours at least, if they want to sell their item. I also sell on eBay and I answer bidders questions as soon as possible, even if they are idiotic...an idiots money is just as good as anyone elses.
posted on October 21, 2002 09:05:41 PM new
This is the typical powerseller response or should I say, lack of response. Not saying it is every single powerseller, but it is most definetly the majority of them. You will find non-powersellers much more personable and willing to answer your questions, even if they are stupid. It is all part of being in business.
posted on October 22, 2002 12:50:45 AM new
I am a PowerSeller and answer all emails within 8 hours even the ones that are answered in the description. I know some other sellers on eBay that never answer emails. They think it is a waste of time and say people that ask questions don't bid. When I am looking to bid on something and do not get an answer to my emails I do not bid. Why bid on someones stuff that you know does not care about customer service?
posted on October 22, 2002 03:44:16 AM new
I'm a Power Seller -- and I try to treat each e-mail as potential $, so I try to answer them as quickly as I can, especially if it's about an auction ending that day.
Typically, my response time is to 2-5 hours, depending on when you asked the question --- ask it at 3 AM and you might not get a response until noon that day, ask it around 6 and you'll get a response within minutes --just depends.
I get a lot of inane questions too, people ask me the shipping cost for the item even though it's expressly listed, ask me to ship to a country I won't ship to, ask me if the item's new, even when the Title says "New" description says: "New" and my hook is that I sell new stuff.
What I've done, is to save text files of commonly asked questions for each item I sell -- if someone asks the question, I just use the "Insert Text" function of Outlook Express to insert the text into a message and send it off. I get to be polite and efficient at the same time.
In my experience, if you're helpful some of the people who ask stupid questions will buy -- but in general, the people whose questions I really focus on, are the people who ask me serious questions about features, warranties, etc. 70-80% of those people will buy something.
Anyway, I think e-mail is a great tool to communicate and drum up business -- I save serious inquiries in an e-mail folder and follow up with them later, especially if things slow down -- very nice way to drum up business off eBay and perhaps even get some repeat business.
posted on October 22, 2002 03:49:54 AM new
I respond to most e-mails within 24 hours, but, in light of e-mail harvesting, I no longer answer stupid questions.
I try not to answer morons as I would prefer not to do business with them.
What size is it?
well, it is in the title as well as the body of the description twice, measurements are in there too.
Why not just say
I'm an imbecile, wanna play with me?
or
I want your PowerSeller addy and I want it NOW!
Got one yesterday.
How do you ship?
even though it is stated in the auction, I respond that I ship USPS priority mail within 24 hours of receipt of payment.
He replies.
No, I meant in a box or a bag.
and I was supposed to know this?
should've read his mind I guess.
looks like mebbe we is both morons!
it matters how a baseball hat is packaged?
posted on October 22, 2002 04:00:27 AM new
I just asked a seller who was selling 24" tv's-I asked if they had s-vhs inputs to hook up a dvd to-the reply was-"you have to look it up on the manufacturers website"-s-vhs hookups are essential for a good picture now-a-days and all dvd players have them-he was selling 4 of these all at the same time, you would think he would either have said so in the auction or not be so damn lazy and looked-well he just lost a sale.
posted on October 22, 2002 09:17:15 AM newStill, my feeling is about 10% of people who ever ask questions actually place a bid.
I think 10% may be too high. Maybe it's just the segment of the eBay buyer population that I sell to, but some of these questions seem to have no purpose other than to get a chatty dialogue going.
It got to the point during last year's Christmas shopping season where my partner and I tried to figure out how to start an email-pen-pal company. It is quite clear there are people out there with computers and Internet connections who are reaching out for some kind of contact.
Ask people in any phone support organization; they'll tell you there are "customers" who call just so they can talk to a live person.
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Oct 22, 2002 09:18 AM ]
posted on October 22, 2002 09:27:07 AM new
This'll probably scandalize a few folks, but here's part of the TOS of a friend of mine (no, this is not mine):
I make every effort to accurately describe the condition, accessories supplied and features of the items I sell. I get lots of email each day and have to be selective about which I will respond to. In general, you will NOT get a response from me if your question relates to any of the following: asking me to modify my terms of sale or shipping, questions which would require me to open the pre packed shipping boxes to inspect an item or questions which can be answered by careful reading of the item description or auction terms. I also have little time to educate bidders on what an item is or how to properly use it. If you are unfamiliar with an item and are unwilling to do the resarch yourself, it might be better if you do not bid on it. Support is not included in the auction price.
He doesn't sell anything new; just recycled specialized electronics like lasers, satellite receivers, that sort of thing.
So, keep in mind that what works for sellers of Donna Karan suits or "Banned from eBay" CDs doesn't necessarily work for everyone.
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Oct 22, 2002 09:28 AM ]
posted on October 22, 2002 09:37:14 AM new
I have a couple comments to make from my perspective as a buyer.
1. I am guilty of asking one of those "stupid" questions - i.e. requesting shipping to a country not on the seller's list. I try to shop on eBay.ca and browse only sellers that will ship to Canada, but sometimes the field is too narrow, and I go to eBay.com for increased selection. When it says "Ships to US only" I have no way of knowing why the seller has chosen that option, (aside from the few who reiterate NO Canadian buyers ), so I ask. Most of the time, they are more than willing to ship to me, which brings me to comment #2.
2. I like to snipe. Often I am not at my computer when an auction ends, so sniping is a marvelous tool for me. But I feel a little guilty about it, because if my max bid is too low, my snipe program won't bid at the end (obviously) and so it looks as though I asked my question and then never bid, which is technically true, though I did try to follow through. But I can see sellers being put out at me for wasting their time with questions and then never receiving my bid.
I have also had my best transactions for small time sellers, though I do not actively seek them out. I'll bid on a Powersellers auction as readily as I would on a smaller seller's auction. The few large volume sellers I have dealt with do seem to have less time for buyers, and take longer to answer questions or resolve issues, and it's a lot less personal. But that does make sense, in B&M stores you get more personal service from "Mom n Pop grocery" than you would from big chain stores, and we accept that.
[ edited by hiddenheaven on Oct 22, 2002 09:39 AM ]
posted on October 22, 2002 11:04:27 AM new
"I just asked a seller who was selling 24" tv's-I asked if they had s-vhs inputs to hook up a dvd to-the reply was-"you have to look it up on the manufacturers website"-"
As a seller of electronics, incidents like the above tick me off, it indicates that the seller knows nothing about the product and/or is too lazy to write up a good description and/or research his product. -- Which hurts not only his business but the businesses of other electronic sellers.
Now for the funny part -- I have competitors whose descriptions consist of: "The auction for a Brand New "X" visit this web site for more info" I write complete descriptions and sell significantly more items for a much higher price --- yet the seller sticks with the same format.....some people never learn.
posted on October 22, 2002 12:41:09 PM new C'mon, fess up: You email these sellers even though they specify U.S.-only because you're hoping they'll make an exception for l'il ol' special you.
And exceptions are made! I have never had a seller respond that they will not ship to me. I actually wouldn't have even considered asking a seller to ship to me in Canada (when US only is specified) if I hadn't seen others (not you, obviously) on this board mention that they were willing to ship to Canada if the bidder would only ask prior to bidding.
Additionally, I only contact these sellers if there is no seller available who does specify "ship to Canada".
Fluffy, please continue to refuse to ship to Canada - I never want to have the option to bid on any of your auctions!
posted on October 22, 2002 01:11:11 PM new
In my listings, I normally state "No International Sales". If someone outside the U.S. emails me wanting to bid & depending upon what it is I'm selling, normally I will allow them to bid on it.
If it's an item that requires an export license (firearms components, non FFL), no way will I accept a bid.
If the bidder does not live in the U.S. and bids without asking permission, their bids get zapped. (Thanks to JACKSWEBB zip code petition).
posted on October 22, 2002 07:49:03 PM new
I am a seller and I respond to emails within hours ( I work at home ) unless I am online and it is within minutes and yes I get all the stupid questions, but I answer them anyhow. I buy a few items once in a blue moon and as always when I do buy response is great from the Powersellers. Right now I won a bid on an item 5 days ago, I have sent the Powerseller 2 emails asking how they would want me to pay for this, they did not have any payment terms on the auction site I know shipping is going to be $2.00 That much they stated.
I give a rats arse weather you are a powerseller or not you are in the buisness of selling and with that comes customer service
posted on October 23, 2002 09:12:59 AM newI give a rats arse weather you are a powerseller or not you are in the buisness of selling and with that comes customer service
Unfortunately, your definition of customer service and mine may be universes apart.
posted on October 23, 2002 08:44:55 PM new
If I get an e-mail from a potential customer, I always answer it. I would say about 50% of those bid, many of them are the only bid on the item. I hate to think how many sales that would not have been completed if I had not responded. This is the most simple form of customer service that is way too often overlooked and is turning off bidders.
