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[texaslex]

I am posting it under “Selling on Amazon” so I am talking about Amazon marketplaces 🙂

[texaslex]

Hi,

I really enjoyed this “summary” podcast! good stuff!

I like the whole list apart from the “silent method” which I don’t agree with. You have explained it multiple times and I understand why you do it but I think customer service simply is part of running a store. If you have a brick and mortar store you also can have difficult clients and you also have to talk to them. The fact that Ebay based on facts will support your method does not make it a good customer friendly method in my opinion. I also think that you run a higher risk on getting bad or neutral feedback which you could prevent by giving customer service. Don’t get me wrong I get my fair share of crazy customers and there is a line after which I don’t communicate but I think that not answering a customer which sends a long message or is really annoying is a good practice. I truly believe in the phrase “customer is king”.

Wondering what other listeners think about the “silent method” and if the use.

Best regards,
Alex
Netherlands

[texaslex]

Hi Jay,

My apologies for the delayed response. I got temporarily blocked from the forum two for some reason and I forgot to get back to you earlier.

I can imagine you can not become a top rated seller but I don’t know how you can run a store when you get defects very time you ship something without tracking.

Here are my answers to your questions:
–are you selling on eBay.com? Yes I am
–Are you shipping through
–Global Shipping Program? No I don’t use it since I am not US based
–If no tracking, I assume you just take the risk if the buyer says they didnt receive the item? The shipping and item costs are so low I indeed take the risk.
–Are you getting actual defects, meaning eBay will kick you off the site if you get too many of them? Yes I am getting defects. I have now completely stopped shipping items without tracking. I contacted ebay multiple times but for these defects I can not get them to remove them. I have the handicap being based in the Netherlands and they don’t give telephone support and everything goes through e-mail.

Best regards,
Alex

[texaslex]

Thank you for your replies.

But Jay a lot of US sellers sell small cheap items suchs a stamps. How do people who specialize in coins, stamps, etc. keep there metrics in good condition?

[texaslex]

I if read it correctly I still have to pay for the label when I receive the return but I am glad the “wizard” supports this option. I am still amazed about how some things on the Ebay site are not clearly documented in the help & support section and you just have to hope for the best when clicking through everything haha.

Once again thank you for the help!

[texaslex]

Yeah I see that option Ryanne. Thanks.

[texaslex]

That was quick 🙂

Since they filed the return as item is defective the return “wizard” says I have to supply the prepaid label as a seller. If it was customer remorse or something like that they should have supplied there own shipping.

[texaslex]

Thanks for the response.

In only list on ebay.com because of the broader audience. GPS is only available for UK and US sellers unfortunately. That would have been a nice solution.

I am currently contacting DHL and Ebay about my issue. Hope they can help me with the tracking issues.

[texaslex]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

I am aware of the additional shipment Ebay offers for US users. Unfortunately I can not use them. There are not many Dutch Ebay forums and the Dutch Ebay forum itself I never have gotten any respons on different posts (it’s like a ghost town 🙂 ).

I am sure the packages are being scanned because I see them do it. It is more like sometimes the tracking info does not go through the different systems properly after scanning. What I am currently not doing myself but will do from now on is scan the tracking numbers myself on the Ebay app. Maybe this also helps.

About 50 percent of my shipments go to the US. I will double check but the problems seem quite random apart from example Australia and Israel who most always have issues with the tracking but that is a result of there local sub par postal carriers.

So you US based users hardly never have problems with the tracking not updating properly?

Can you guys shed some light on the relationship between shipping services selected under domestic and international shipping in a listing and “late shipment rate” and “tracking uploaded on time and validated” metrics?

I will contact Ebay directly and maybe contact my postal carriers in the hopes they know what I am doing wrong.

Thanks.

[texaslex]

Thanks Jay! I like the positive attitude on this forum has a lot.

My feedback removal request just now got denied by Ebay. Since I live in the Netherlands and there is not a Dutch phone number for it calling the US in hopes to get a different customer support person is not really a feasible option for me.

Since this is my first time asking for feedback removal I was wondering if I could have a shot at still convincing Ebay by using some of your reasoning as seasoned sellers? Any input for this case or future reference is appreciated. I hope I am not overreaching for advice 🙂

My original message to Ebay:
”
Dear sir/madam,

Through this message I would like to ask you to remove the recent negative feedback from buyer “geomacwh-01”. The given feedback is as for as I can tell in violation of the Ebay feedback policy.

Stated in the bullets below is a short summary of the events around this negative feedback for your convenience:
* The customer filed a return request with the reason being “changed mind”.
* Customer then messaged me stating connectors of the device are not compatible though they are all stated in the item specifics and tem description and also are visible in the photo’s. Customers shows in later messages that he does not know what he exactly bought and appears to have little to no knowledge of this type of item.
* Despite have accepting return turned of I accepted his return request and stated I will reimburse him for the item cost. Reason Ï granted the return request is cause a satisfied customer is important to me. He does not seem satisfied though I am already going beyond what I am obliged to do since I do not have to accept the return since the reason is “changed mind” which is buyers remorse.
* He states on may-04-19 15:54 “I really didn’t have any issues with your part in the transaction. Of course that was an undesired rush to judgement on my part.” He tells he was frustrated because he had to speak to multiple Ebay representatives by phone and it took him a long time.
* I was and still am communicating with the customer to get his issue resolved. Up until now I have not denied or responded negatively to any of his requests.

Based on the above I think you can agree with me the violation of the Ebay feedback policy. Hopefully you can remove this feedback for me.

I await your judgement and reply.

Best regards,
Alex van den Brand
VDBshop”

The reaction from Ebay:
”
Hello Alexvan,

Thank you for contacting eBay Customer Support regarding the feedback removal. My name is Sandip and I’m glad to assist you.

I understand that you’re unhappy with the feedback you’ve received from the buyer “geomacwh-0”. I understand how frustrating it is to get negative feedback. Hence, you wish us to remove the feedback as it is in violation with eBay policies. Further, I appreciate you for providing all the details regarding the transaction. Please allow me to assist you with this.

Alexvan, I’ve checked the details and I’m sorry to inform you that according to our feedback removal policy this feedback doesn’t qualify under removal. Users can sometimes receive feedback which, in their opinion, is dishonest or unfair.

Feedback is basically a way for one member to express their opinion about how a transaction went; based on that we don’t remove, edit or change it unless it is violating our policies. Please understand that we can only remove Feedback in limited circumstances, as Feedback is another member’s overall assessment of how it was to transact with you on eBay.

More information on the rules of feedback removal can be found here:
http://pages.ebay.nl/help/feedback/questions/feedback-removal.html

Further, in this situation, you can communicate with the buyer and ask the buyer to change the feedback and send the buyer a feedback revision request to change the feedback.

To know more about feedback revision request you can visit the below link:
https://www.ebay.pl/pages/help/feedback/revision-request.html

Further, to send a feedback revision request to buyer you can visit the below link:
https://feedback.ebay.pl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ReviseFeedbackInitiate

I appreciate for your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Please write back to us if you have any additional questions.

Kind Regards,
Sandip

eBay Customer Support

[texaslex]

The customer reacted positively to my change feedback request but mentions only after resolvement of his issues. Since I have a case and it reeks of feedback extortion parrallel to resolving it with the customer I will ask Ebay to remove the feedback.

Once gain thanks for the help.

Have a nice day.

[texaslex]

Thanks for the advice. My whole approach backfired on me a bit I guess 🙂

The customer messaged me shortly after the second message that he was trying to resolve the issue by using converters. He had te powercable issue resolved and asked me to help with the coaxial cable issue. So I asked for pictures and promised to help. It was al positive and in good spirit.

Meanwhile I noticed he gave me negative feedback while up until this point I going along with everything in a good cooperating manner. Very strange.

Anyway, I send him a message asking for a change feedback request. I have had succes before and I hope he accepts.

[texaslex]

Haven’t been there but have heard of it. I will be sure to check it out.

Have a great day!

[texaslex]

Will surely do that. It’s just great that through your forum I can get some more fact and insights to put things in a better perspective and make an informed decision.

I live in Driebergen. It’s a small town near the 4th “big” city called Utrecht. I went fulltime just a month ago. The scavenger community in the Netherlands does not seem to be very big overhere. It keeps amazing me that I regularly send items to the US and people pay 45+ dollars in shipping for a VCR.

[texaslex]

Thank you Temudgin and Jay for the input.

I have had extensive contact with the buyer. Apparently Paypal did not contact him or his son in any way. He called Paypal with his son to clarify everything and they would sort things out. I called Paypal afterwards but it sounds it might take a while for the case to be processed.

The reason I trust the buyer is because he seems genuine about being new to ebay and what happend. As crazy as it seems at first he gave me a negative feedback. After explaining the situation and he called Paypal he apologized. After requesting a feedback change he turned it from negative to positive which somehow adds to the trust. The item itself is not expensive (it’s a vcr) the main is that the shipping is quite expensive since I live in the Netherlands and he is in the US. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt although that might not seems very business savy.

The fact that the buyer can change their payment method as Jay stated sheds some new light on the case. This and the fact that you both acknowledge that one late shipment defect isn’t that bad I will not ship until the case is settled.

Once again thank you for clearing things up.

PS very cool that one of my podcast heroes (Jay) himself responds to my question 🙂

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