eBay messages from customers are ALWAYS rude/illiterate/curt.

sharpy2010

I don't know if its just me, but has all notion of spelling, manners and grammar gone out of the window?

Whenever I receive a message from a customer on eBay, be it someone querying something that they might like to buy, or a customer who actually has bought something, the messages almost never make much sense.

When I send someone a message, I like to start with something which makes sense, like "Hello there, I've got a query on one of your items, I hope you don't mind me asking, but I'd like to know if..."

I'll give you some examples of the nonsense that I received on a daily basis...

"the item that I ordered more than one month ago did not arrive is something be done about this?" - eh? I sen't another item to resolve the issue.

"I NEED MORE INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO USE IT, I CAN'T FIND IT OR THEM ON THE DISK ." - So, shouting, and very impolite. Surely "Hello, I have a problem with the item, and I wonder if you'd be able to help with..." isn't so difficult to say?

"er uk and dont know when in town if you sale if anyone interested let them buy it hen but as soon as in town nxt i send u a message" - Well, I understand it, but...

Theres plenty more examples, I didn't have to dig far into my Inbox to find these.

I weep for the future, if this is what people are being taught in school these days :-(

Crowqueen

You can't control people's level of education. Some posts on the boards, either here or on the Seller/Buyer Central boards, are poorly written.

Also when money is involved some people are anxious and that tends to come across more in communication than "politeness".

I would just get on and respond helpfully; if you let it get to you then maybe customer service is not a good job or hobby to have.

Oliver14

People get frustrated when things aren't working out. I never new you needed a Grammar or spelling test before you were allowed to send sellers messages.

steveo3002

same as in public now , hardly anyone has any manners at all

duchy

It's their loss as they don't realise that asking nicely and clearly will often get a quicker and more helpful response than an unclear demand.

As for spelling -there's a world of difference between a post like Oliver's above with a spelling mistake in it and a message with so many bad spellings and text speak it takes a while to decipher what is been asked .

I don't think it has anything to do with "education today" I've come across fifty year olds who think bad spelling and text speak is how you should communicate online. I suspect some of the samples the OP quoted however aren't so much "poor education" as people writing in English when it isn't their first language.

soolin

I think that ebay don't actually help at all. For instance if I buy an item that is late arriving and I want to contact the seller officially to query it the heading of that automatic email is 'where is my item?', which seems terribly curt to me.

I would prefer something like ' query re missing item' .

RFW

soolin wrote: »

I think that ebay don't actually help at all. For instance if I buy an item that is late arriving and I want to contact the seller officially to query it the heading of that automatic email is 'where is my item?', which seems terribly curt to me.

I would prefer something like ' query re missing item' .

I actually had a customer apologise that she had to send me a message with that in the title.

I'm better at dealing with rude messages now, I used to start replies by saying that their message seemed a little rude, it usually worked and I received an apology. Unfortunately with more and more communication by mobile phone the shorter (and often ruder goes alongside it) the messages are becoming. Also anyone wronged with either a missing/late parcel or an incorrect item immediately assumes the seller is a conman.

The rudest I had recently was a customer telephoning that I had sent either the wrong or not as described item, she ranted on for several minutes without me knowing who she was or what she was talking about and not even allowing me to speak. She was letting me know she would report me to Ebay and anyone else she could think of. The transaction value was £2 and she had mixed up the item details and I was the wrong seller.