Buyers wanting stuff immediately

vacheron

I hadn't had any pushy buyers since the last guys i posted about, however in Friday I had a buyer purchase an item and then add this in his payment instructions after purchasing:

Buyer's note: Hi there, Ive accepted your offer, please send item as signature required (a must do). also please ensure item is dispatched tomorrow using a 1 or 2 day service. 

Sorry Mate, but the time to make demands regarding the postal method was in the offer, not after payment.

(My default postage is an unspecified 3 day courier, unsigned, plus a 3 day dispatch time.)

I explained this to him but advised that I could do signed + 24 hour for an extra £4.40. His response was "it's ok, it doesn't matter." !

tightauldgit

GabbaGabbaHey said:

Amazon Prime has set an expectation that a buyer can order anything online and receive the goods next day.

I'm sure that a lot of buyers on eBay believe that they are actually buying directly from a large entity called eBay, and don't realise that it's actually from a (much) smaller seller who is just using eBay as a marketplace.

Amazon has pretty much ruined people but I sometimes think it's the opposite - nobody would ever email a big retailer saying 'send this today and make it signed for' but people seem to think that if it's a private seller they can suddenly just make demands.

I tend to just ignore people who send anything I consider out of line or at best just send a curt reply. Of course the problem is if the thing arrives after they want it to then you're open to a spurious return.  

forgotmyname

soolin said:

subjecttocontract said:

I have the perfect solution......change your business model, never agree to post, mark everything as collect only or like me, just use eBay to buy stuff.

But then how would I afford all my holidays 😀

Sell some of your Rolls, Bentley's and Maybach's, you can probably sell some of your servants also.  

TOP_CAT

Soolin isnt the situation partly because your listing states 2 days ?
I put please allow 5 days in my listings .

I then write a note in the listing that most items are posted next day but buyers must allow 5 days to post via royal mail to allow for weekends bank holidays strikes etc .

soolin

TOP_CAT said:

Soolin isnt the situation partly because your listing states 2 days ?
I put please allow 5 days in my listings .

I then write a note in the listing that most items are posted next day but buyers must allow 5 days to post via royal mail to allow for weekends bank holidays strikes etc .

The 2 day is despatch time, so if I sell today then I would need to post by Thursday night. On top of that you get the delivery estimates. If I increase my despatch time to longer, and ebay consider 3+ days 'excessive' it drops me down in best view and means less sales, but more importantly people still expect it all posted same or next day 'like Amazon'. 

TOP_CAT

As said I put 5 days dispatch but state "will often post next day ."
No sales in ages  ...its been a long time .

Just changed my listings via Soolins advice so now sitting on 2 day dispatch times.....cant hurt any more than selling nothing 

vacheron

It frustrates me when buyers feel it is OK to question my motives... "So why can't you post next day?",  "Why do you have a 3 day dispatch time", this is usually after they have bought, not before (which I'd consider to be more courteous). 

My standard response now is "I'm really sorry, but it is a 35 minute drive to the Village and we only visit there on Tuesdays and Fridays so my 3 day working day dispatch time allows this." Which usually appeases them!

Truth is I live in the suburbs about 400 yards from an InPost locker which I drive right past on my way to work each weekday. I also drive past 3 post offices.
If the parcel is >1kg or worth much over £20 I use the Royal Mail Tracked 48 Collection service and Royal Mail will collect from my office the next day.

This makes my dispatch time usually < 24 Hours, but I'm not prepared to commit myself to this as all eBay will do is punish me if the slightest thing goes wrong! 

vacheron

soolin said:

TOP_CAT said:

Soolin isnt the situation partly because your listing states 2 days ?
I put please allow 5 days in my listings .

I then write a note in the listing that most items are posted next day but buyers must allow 5 days to post via royal mail to allow for weekends bank holidays strikes etc .

The 2 day is despatch time, so if I sell today then I would need to post by Thursday night. On top of that you get the delivery estimates. If I increase my despatch time to longer, and ebay consider 3+ days 'excessive' it drops me down in best view and means less sales, but more importantly people still expect it all posted same or next day 'like Amazon'. 

Soolin, would this "Best View" apply to personal seller listings or just business sellers? I might consider dropping my listings to 2 working days if it would result in any benefit to me getting all this stuff I don't want shifted out from under my feet! 

soolin

vacheron said:

soolin said:

TOP_CAT said:

Soolin isnt the situation partly because your listing states 2 days ?
I put please allow 5 days in my listings .

I then write a note in the listing that most items are posted next day but buyers must allow 5 days to post via royal mail to allow for weekends bank holidays strikes etc .

The 2 day is despatch time, so if I sell today then I would need to post by Thursday night. On top of that you get the delivery estimates. If I increase my despatch time to longer, and ebay consider 3+ days 'excessive' it drops me down in best view and means less sales, but more importantly people still expect it all posted same or next day 'like Amazon'. 

Soolin, would this "Best View" apply to personal seller listings or just business sellers? I might consider dropping my listings to 2 working days if it would result in any benefit to me getting all this stuff I don't want shifted out from under my feet! 

All sellers business and private. If your placement gets too low then you might not even get seen at all as eBay seem to hide listings . We were for example looking at a specific item, c£70 , found several all roughly the same price. Went in a day later and looked again but found a tab that said ‘show all’ clicked that and more appeared , all from private sellers with longer despatch times . We did end up buying one as the feedback was good and it took a week to arrive which was absolutely fine . 

3+ days on eBay for despatch is considered excessive and will severely decrease your visibility.

The issue is twofold though, firstly regardless of your despatch times buyers rarely look at them and just expect their item next day or in 2 days. Secondly, ebay estimates are wildly inaccurate, assuming 2nd class gets there in 24 hours for example. 

soolin

This is getting beyond a joke, perhaps it is the hot weather that makes me crosser than the situation justifies but....just had someone buy and say it needs to be posted this afternoon!

I have responded politely and apologised it cannot go today.