Did I do the right thing?

Carer

Had a really rude buyer today.

All my items state very clearly 10 working day dispatch but may be longer in busy periods (everything is made to order). Buyer bought an item on 1st April and estimated delivery was 13th-15th April,

On 11th he emailed to ask (rudely) where his item was. First he said he'd been waiting over 2 weeks (wrong) and was unhappy with the delay.

I apologised (even though I've done nothing wrong) and explained that his item was due to be posted today.

I then get another message saying it's a huge inconvenience and he's had to buy replacements as he needs them in 2 days.

So I offer to cancel the order and refund him in full.

He then replies that he doesn't want to cancel but "the courteous thing might be to offer some recompense."

I tell him I'm sorry he's so unhappy but we are still within the Ebay timescale, the delivery dates are on his order and the listing etc and I've done nothing wrong and I offer him a full refund again.

He then says no, he wants the item, not a refund. And then says "I recommend that you at least acknowledge your customer's payments in future."

I have no idea what that even means. All of this is accompanied by a vast amount of exclamation marks.
Anyway, at this point I lost my cool and blocked and refunded him as I knew I'd get a negative whatever happened and was really annoyed at him trying to extort money from me and blaming me for his failure to read.

So I then get another ranty message full of exclamation marks asking why I cancelled it, he doesn't want a refund, he needs the item, please reinstate...

At all times I was unfailingly polite.

So should I have sent the items or did I do the right thing, I'm wavering a bit now?

ballisticbrian

You probably didn't do the right thing by a professional standard, however, there is a fair chance that by that stage you would have had to deal with not just bad feedback but a return request, item not as described request and a load more abuse. Think about making your lead time even more clearer.

Carer

Lead time is in huge red letters at the start of the description. Not really sure how I can make it clearer than that but I take your point.

Might just stop selling on Ebay altogether to be honest and stick with Etsy and my website.

Flyonthewall

As ballisticbrian says, you should make the time scale clearer on listings. People don't always read properly and many people expect items almost instantly after ordering which you obviously can't do. Technically it wasn't the right thing as they claim they wanted the item, but in the end the buyer probably would have caused you more hassle.

"I recommend that you at least acknowledge your customer's payments in future."

I think what he means is he paid ages ago and expected dispatch within a day or so or maybe a message. He thinks you haven't acknowledged the the payment because you've yet to send it.

It may have been an idea to remind him that the item is made to order, therefore it has to be made after the purchase and therefore is not dispatched until a later date.

Seems a bit odd that he still needs it if he ordered replacements and as he asked for recompense then it's possible he knew how long it would take but wanted a reason to complain in hopes of a discount. He'd probably have brought that up again after getting the item. It's one of them situations where neither option would have been right for the buyer so if you didn't want to deal with them, thought they'd cause more hassle and didn't want the stress and possible financial loss then you did the right thing for you.

mrcol1000

Carer wrote: »

Lead time is in huge red letters at the start of the description. Not really sure how I can make it clearer than that but I take your point.

Might just stop selling on Ebay altogether to be honest and stick with Etsy and my website.

I think if you can not dispatch items for 10 days then you really need to consider if selling online is for you. People want their items as quick as possible when they buy online. While you may state lead time is 10 days in big red letters, few people will take any notice and those that do most likely will buy elsewhere.

Whatever you do, I really think Ebay is the wrong place for your product. Unless it is possible to make products so you have stock in hand to send out quicker. Have you considered craft fairs where you can show examples and then take commissions to send out when they are ready?

Flyonthewall

Carer wrote: »

Lead time is in huge red letters at the start of the description. Not really sure how I can make it clearer than that but I take your point.

Write it more than once. Add it to the top and bottom of your description.

If you're description is pretty long add it in the middle too.

forgotmyname

10 working day dispatch? I can get stuff from China faster.

Ignoring what could/should have happened with that buyer i think you can expect more with a 10 day dispatch time. Unless the items are specifically made to order once you have agreed all the fine details with the buyer.

alykatz

forgotmyname wrote: »

10 working day dispatch? I can get stuff from China faster.

Ignoring what could/should have happened with that buyer i think you can expect more with a 10 day dispatch time. Unless the items are specifically made to order once you have agreed all the fine details with the buyer.

Op did say in their initial post that everything is made to order.

pinkshoes

I think you made the right decision.

They clearly lied by saying they had bought others when they obviously hadn't.

If they leave a neg, the just respond with "items made to order. Customer refused to wait. Refund given."

rach_k

He sounds like a whiner who was just out for a discount. Even if you didn't say anything about the dispatch time in your listing, how could he miss the estimate provided by eBay right under where you click to buy? As long as that's set up correctly, which it sounds like yours is, I would say he knew and was just after whatever he could get. When sellers complain about dispatch time issues, it's usually because eBay has been too optimistic about delivery times and estimated too early and the buyer ALWAYS sees that, or so it seems!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Those saying make the delivery times clearer, the ETA is right under the Buy It Now button, on the P&P tab (twice as it states the ETA and the dispatch time), like the OP we mention it in the description (ours are extremely short descriptions, just a few lines of black text in the same font and size), the ETA then appears on the Order Details page, we also put the dispatch time on the order confirmation email and we have an FAQ (which appears when the buyer asks a question) advising on dispatch times as well as asking buyers not to ask when their order will be posted as it takes time away from packing orders plus eBay also structure the question topics to show the structured part of the listings before offering the option to send a message but guaranteed we will get many messages each week asking when we are going to post, most are after only 36 hours of ordering.

eBay is one of the few sites where dispatch, postal/courier service and ETA is all extremely clear before purchasing.