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I bought a NWT item on which the new seller (3 positive feedback) had $5.00 with make offer. What the heck, I offered $4.00 and she immediately accepted. Yay me! She charged me $7 for USPS priority shipping, no problem.
She actually sent the item first class and pocketed the extra $3.40 which really irritated me.
I sent her a very nice message thru ebay explaining why sellers can’t do that and please just refund me the difference in postage cost. Her response was that ebay automatically charged me priority so that was that and after all I got the item very cheap.
I replied again very nicely that sellers can’t sell something cheap and then make up the difference by bait/switch on postage. Her response to that was ‘come on! you got it cheap enough’!
After the 3rd time I nicely requested the overage, she did not respond. I wrote and re-wrote a dozen different feedbacks scenarios for her. I really did not want to damage a new person’s feedback score, but her dismissive attitude really burned me.
I posted my dilemna onto a Facebook group and I got some commiserating comments but also got quite a few haters over it. THE worse thing a fellow seller can tell me is to ‘quit wasting your time, you could’ve listed xxx number of things while worrying about it’, because my time is MY time. (I’m 61 years old, and I can waste time if I want to just like I can eat a piece of bologna without putting it into a sandwich) My final response to the haters who said why waste my time over a few dollars was that if she does this to say 200 buyers that’s quite a bit of nice switch/bait cash she’s gotten.
I finally gave her a negative, which brought her down to 75% but immediately it went up a bit because someone gave her another positive.
A week later she started messaging me that she was trying to refund me the difference but ebay wouldn’t let her, etc etc. I had nicely walked her through it all during my 3rd message during our original exchange, so I just referred her to that message.
Finally she refunded me the $3.40 and said ‘now remove the negative like you promised’ (?), which I was want to do because at that point she appeared like she just wasn’t ever going to ‘get it’. (I also had to tell her 2x that I couldn’t just go in and revise it, she had to send me a request through ebay) HOWEVER, for some reason I decided to look at my feedback first, and she’d left me a false positive saying what an uncooperative can’t please customer I was.
Ebay removed the comment immediately but left the positive. I revised my feedback for her to positive (stated that the item was as described), and then messaged her one last time saying it’s against ebay’s rules to leave false positives and ebay removed it within 3 minutes but they left me her positive. (yes, the 12 year old in me came out, but not snarky, just the rolling of the eyes)
This is a long drawn out typing session and half-way through I realized that but was already committed to finishing it, plus I am procrastinating listing which I can do as it’s MY time.
Thanks for reading, happy 2017 to all, and thanks for the podcasts.
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The seller should’ve shipped it priority if that’s what the listing said. At least the delivery time difference between priority and first class is very small.
I try to put myself in other people’s shoes and wouldn’t have been so harsh on the seller TBH. I made mistakes like that when I was a new seller.
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I think I would have questioned the switch as well. Every once in a while I have a buyer message me and I have to wonder just how bad of an experience they have had with sellers in the past because they seem almost shocked when I do what is right in the interest of my buyer with no hassle. She probably didn’t expect to be called out by someone so quickly.
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Thrifty2, The USPS says Priority is delivered within 1-3 days. First Class is delivered within 2-3 days. So really? You gave someone a Neg FB over that? Did you really expect to receive the item in one day??? You couldn’t give her a break, even after she gave you one? Whatever happened to being kind? What kind of principle is that? Ever hear of “Do unto others…?” What goes around comes around. Sorry, but that was totally uncalled for IMO.
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Linda, it’s a business transaction. If I pay more for a certain level of shipping, then the seller is required to ship that way.
If the buyer chooses to ship cheaper, then a refund is required.
If you choose to pay more for a cheaper shipping option, then it’s simply charity. A personal choice.
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if you paid for Priority, you should get Priority or a refund. i think that’s more than fair to ask for as a buyer. if my buyers pay for Priority, obviously they are wanting is faster than SmartPost or First Class, so I send it that way.
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How many old listings do you have that you put Priority Mail because at the time First Class did not go up to 16 oz? Do you still mail those Priority? Really? If so, why? As I pointed out, they both arrive within 3 days, according to the USPS. So do you pay the PO extra for no reason? The customer paid to recive the item within a certain amount of time, and they are still getting it within that time. To insist on a refund, (and who knows in what tone?) without considering the shipping materials or the fact that the item was reduced to $4 as a courtesy, seems stingy at best. Then to give a neg FB makes it even worse. If any of us were honest we would have to confess to being delighted when our shipping costs were less than what we charged. But how many times have you sent a refund to each customer? I consider other sellers to he part of the big Scavenger family, and always err on the side of treating the accordingly.
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Linda, I wouldn’t say that the item was reduced to $4 as a “courtesy”. It was listed for $5 or best offer. The seller accepted the offer.
In answer to your question “who knows what tone?”, Thrifty2 mentioned the word nicely when describing all three of the communications she sent to the seller.
If the buyer paid for Priority, I ship Priority, even if it turns out that it could’ve gone First Class. Although it’s stated as an estimate, people sometimes count on the delivery time frame Ebay shows them. If it turns out it was something the buyer needed in a timely manner, I wouldn’t want to defend using First Class instead of Priority because it saved ME money and I figured another day wouldn’t make a difference to the buyer.
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Interesting post. I have to agree that if you pay for Priority mail, you should get Priority Mail. I agree that it is unethical to pull a bait and switch regarding the postage. If you want to get more money for the item you should increase the sales price.
That being said, when these situations come up, If there was no harm done, or significant delays, I try to be forgiving and to educate the seller. I would have sent him a message indicating the error of his ways with no specific demands. If he offered a refund fine, otherwise move on and leave no feedback whatsoever.
In the past I’ve received items that were packed horribly. On one the vintage packaging was damaged and luckily nothing happened to the other one. I sent both of them friendly notes. The one who apologized and appreciated my advice got positive feedback.
Life is too short to get into battles with people who don’t have the integrity to take responsibility for their actions.
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If it was advertised as Priority Mail in the listing, it sure as heck better be shipped via Priority Mail. Priority Mail takes 1 to 2 days on average. First Class is 1 to 3 days. Thrifty, I don’t see any problem with how you handled the situation. You even sent a nice message and requested a refund for the shipping difference. The seller deserved a negative feedback for brushing you off.
As a seller, I have never downgraded a customer to First Class who paid for Priority Mail. Occasionally, if I have some margin on the item, I’ll upgrade a customer to Priority Mail from either First Class or Parcel Select.
You should always strive to exceed customer expectations. You are risking a neutral or negative feedback (and future sales) over an extra profit of $4. That is not a mindset that results in long-term business success.
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If a seller could chose to do just ONE thing that will drive your buyer crazy it is to skim off money on postage by downgrading service, if I offer priority only, the item ships the way the customer pays for, to do otherwise is to make many of your customers very angry indeed–it doesn’t matter what the item costs.
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