Hehe an Unreasonable Rant I'm sure re:texting buyers!

rebeccauk

I've just sold a whole raft of items for collection only - mainly extremely low value, non-working electricals that are massively out of date but I had been told there was a market for them and lo-and-behold every one has sold for 99p....of the 10 items sold 6 of the winning bidders have basically refused to deal with me via ebay messaging and have wanted me to text them or call them to organise collection....now I'm on pay-as-you go mobile and pay 12p a text and goodness knows how much per minute to call a mobile on another network so of my 99p profits this is setting me back a chunk in call charges...one of the buyers I have texted 6 times so far back-and-forth trying to arrange a convenient time for him to come...(I tried to call him and asked him to call me but he declined as he prefers to deal by text?!)I'm approaching paying for him to come and collect!
I'm sure this is just the rant of an unreasonable woman...and I guess I should be happy that the items are being taken off my hands but I do find it irritating that a large number of buyers will only deal with calls or texts...Would it be unreasonable to give them my phone number and ask them to contact me to arrange when to collect?

themull1

Thats would i would do - just give my landline/mobile and ask them to ring, i generally do everything via ebay on the messages though. I wouldnt ring anyone and use my money!

zerog

why are you paying 12p per text, three payg is 2p per text and ovivo is 0p

personally when I just want people to take my stuff away I list at 1p and tell people to message me instead of bidding

porto_bello

I wouldn't bother texting them - let them know via eBay messaging when you will be around to collect (presumably most evenings) and ask them to let you know by email when they want to collect.

Over the last 12 years, I've bought and collected or sold and the buyer has collected maybe 100 items - phoning the buyer/seller has only been necessary a handful of times, when something has gone wrong.

The buyer needs only the address, an agreed date and an agreed time - there's no need for messaging back and forth.:(

rebeccauk

I just seem to have been hit with a spate of text or call to collect types - I guess it's what I've been selling - one guy turned up to collect some old TV's and he had a van full of them so perhaps doesn't get to his computer much to check his messages as he'd obviously been out all day collecting! I pay 12p a text due to my remote location I only get coverage from one network and the ones mentioned don't cover where I live

mgdavid

I think in this day and age one needs to embrace all forms of communication; seems there is a fair chunk of youngsters who shy away from actual talking to people (gawd help us). Then again if you listed at 4.99 you will have had more room to manouvre on comms costs and could have given a better service, maybe. Or you could put in the ad - 'all comms via ebay message as I don't have a mobile'. You might get less sales but less timewasters too :-)

RFW

I put my mobile number on all invoices and ask to text/call if there's a problem, I rarely get texts but it does work ok.

If I'm arranging collection I try and go a bit more formal and don't give out my number until I've arranged a day and time for collection, I'll usually do all that by Ebay messages. If they ask for number, I say I prefer to do it by messages so that I have it written down and I don't forget anything.

emerald_starcat

If you go on o2 you can get free texts. Check out other areas of this website to help you save money when it comes to mobile phones