Scared of bad feedback as sent recorded

emerald_starcat

Hi

I recently sold something on ebay and sent recorded delivery however on the listing I put Standard delivery rather than Recorded as I forgot to change it over.

The buyer is not happy as they have been left a card as they weren't in and their sorting office is miles away.

I replied saying they would have been left one anyway as the item is bulky and wouldn't have fitted through the letterbox and if they go on the Royal Mail website they can have the item redelivered.

I am scared I will get negative feedback as the buyer does not seem happy at all.

Is there anything else I can do?

soolin

Nothing really, sometimes you just can't please a buyer and recorded is such an emotive subject that people do react badly to it sometimes, most just hit the stars though.

Just tsay polite and helpful and buyer might well decide they were just being picky

Rhymsta

I had two packages delivered this week while I was out.

The first was by MyHermes and was left under our caravan. A card was left but it did suffer some water damage to the box though.

The second was Royal Mal Standard Parcels. Thrown or slid? about six feet through locked iron work gate. No card left.

I didn't have to go to the sorting office though...

buckster

If the item was too bulky to fit in the letterbox and this person wasn't in to receive it then why are being a bit pathetic. You are only protecting yourself by sending it recorded delivery. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if they left a neg. You can post your fb with left neg because I sent via recorded delivery. Any future buyer will look at that a realise that your last customer is being an idiot.

Mindless_Clone

buckster wrote: »

If the item was too bulky to fit in the letterbox and this person wasn't in to receive it then why are being a bit pathetic.

Because, as somebody said, some people are hard of thinking.

To be fair, my postie always leaves stuff in a safe place if it won't go through the letter box, unless it's signed for, so I would prefer things unsigned for myself. I do get the buyer's frustration but it's still not your fault.

You can't avoid the neg. Don't bother getting into a discussion with the buyer. Just politely say that you are sorry they were not in to recieve the item and sometimes this happens when ordering on line and you hope they are able to retreive it from the sorting office. Then cease all further discussion (I won't mind betting the next email will be demand for the petrol money to go pick it up. )
They will do what they will do and you might only inflame the situation if you try and defend yourself. Negging you because they were out when their item arrived is ridiculously petty and any potential buyer will see it for what it is. You can respond - as buckster says - by replying to it to say that the "buyer was unhappy with free upgrade to premium postal service" and leave it at that.

soolin

If OP is unlucky enough to receive poor feedback I would be very careful about drawing attention to it. Statements like 'buyer was unhappy with free upgrade to premium postal service"' may make future buyers wonder what is going on- and if buyer has mentioned 'recorded' then seller would just look foolish in believing that to be a premium service.

If one reads boards like this one on MSE it seems a recurrent theme that recorded is necessary to protect against a scammer- so again drawing a future buyers attention to the fact that the believed buyer to be a scammer is not going to look good.

I doubt very much if OP will get a neg, or even a neutral, but if they do, just leave it and remain quiet.

QuackQuackOops

It is absolutely your responsibility to make sure an item is delivered.

The fact that you have used a postal method that wasnt listed is a big no no. Buyers often choose which sellers to buy from because of the delivery methods used.

Quite often the re-arrange delivery does not work online so the item needs to be picked up. Your buyer can now refuse to pick up the item from the sorting office and ask for a refund from you and you will have to give it to them.

Not everyone lives near a sorting office.

Using the argument of 'it would have been taken back to the sorting office anyway as it was a bulky item' is not relevent.

As it stands at the moment the buyer may well not pick the item up and leave it to be automatically returned to you (lets hope you put your return address on there) and in the meantime he may open a case for the return of his money. He might also leave negative feedback and low stars.

In future never use a postal method that was not listed. You could end up very badly off with policy violations and out of pocket.

QuackQuackOops

Mindless_Clone wrote: »

Because, as somebody said, some people are hard of thinking.

To be fair, my postie always leaves stuff in a safe place if it won't go through the letter box, unless it's signed for, so I would prefer things unsigned for myself. I do get the buyer's frustration but it's still not your fault.

You can't avoid the neg. Don't bother getting into a discussion with the buyer. Just politely say that you are sorry they were not in to recieve the item and sometimes this happens when ordering on line and you hope they are able to retreive it from the sorting office. Then cease all further discussion (I won't mind betting the next email will be demand for the petrol money to go pick it up. )
They will do what they will do and you might only inflame the situation if you try and defend yourself. Negging you because they were out when their item arrived is ridiculously petty and any potential buyer will see it for what it is. You can respond - as buckster says - by replying to it to say that the "buyer was unhappy with free upgrade to premium postal service" and leave it at that.

This is extremely bad advice.

Telling the seller to "cease all further discussion" is only going to anger the buyer further. The seller should not be looking to "defend" themself as they were in the wrong to begin with by changing the listing details.

To also advise the seller to leave "buyer was unhappy with free upgrade to premium postal service" is only going to get the seller an additional policy strike as it is a negative comment, and they can be removed plus the fact that it is totally untrue.

Recorded delivery is not a "premium postal service" and is never needed or wanted by buyers.

Working with the buyer and trying to see things from a buyers point of view is always the best course of action.

techspec

There are quite a few pathetic Ebayers on here, who moan when sellers use recorded.

If i start an auction at 99p - and it goes over £10 - i send recorded. I don't care what the pathetic buyers says - i have a right to protect myself. Buyers are covered by paypal.

If i put recorded to start with - and the item only sold for 99p - the same pathetic buyers would protest i didn't send by the right method.

You can't win - so just protect yourself. Online stores don't offer a none signed for service, do they? No, they would be targeted by scammers - like Ebay is. The buyer is probably just upset he/she can't claim it didn't arrive?

soolin

techspec wrote: »

There are quite a few pathetic Ebayers on here, who moan when sellers use recorded.

If i start an auction at 99p - and it goes over £10 - i send recorded. I don't care what the pathetic buyers says - i have a right to protect myself. Buyers are covered by paypal.

If i put recorded to start with - and the item only sold for 99p - the same pathetic buyers would protest i didn't send by the right method.

You can't win - so just protect yourself. Online stores don't offer a none signed for service - they would be targeted by scammers - like Ebay is. The buyer is probably just upset he/she can't claim it didn't arrive?

I don't sign for my Amazon or 'Play' so yes online retailers do use non signed for services.

custardy

techspec wrote: »

There are quite a few pathetic Ebayers on here, who moan when sellers use recorded.

If i start an auction at 99p - and it goes over £10 - i send recorded. I don't care what the pathetic buyers says - i have a right to protect myself. Buyers are covered by paypal.

If i put recorded to start with - and the item only sold for 99p - the same pathetic buyers would protest i didn't send by the right method.

You can't win - so just protect yourself. Online stores don't offer a none signed for service, do they? No, they would be targeted by scammers - like Ebay is. The buyer is probably just upset he/she can't claim it didn't arrive?

many many retailers do just that