Over-reaction? (eBay related)

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Soldato
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10 May 2004
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Sunny Stafford
I was after a Disney item (being a big Disney fan), weighing 900 grammes. The only person selling it was Australian and had 4 of them on buy-it-now with $50AUS shipping. It's on Amazon Market Place too but no shipping to the UK. I queried their $50AUS shipping rate, using the eBay tool, ask the seller a question > question about shipping for this item. Perfectly reasonable question I thought, and I said "please" etc. But no, the seller thought I was offensive.

Me: I would like to query your shipping rate please, as you seemed to have stuck $50AUS to anywhere outside Australia. The shipping weight of this item is 900g (according the Amazon). I have checked your Australian postal services http://auspost.com.au/apps/international-parcel.html and it should cost only $35AUS to send parcels 750-1000g by airmail to the United Kingdom. Can you please revise your shipping rates accordingly? Many thanks.

Seller: What a rude individual you are. How dare you write and tell me what to do with my own listings. You are just being an interfering busy body. I am not in the habit of overcharging for postage and I am not going to bother to justify myself to you as quite frankly I don't see why I should have to. It is none of your business, and you are not welcome to buy from me. In all my years of being a member of ebay i have never had such a rude email. What an absolute pain you are. Oh and by the way, why don't you buy it from Amazon if you are so sure that they are correct and that I am wrong. Rude, rude, rude!!!!!!

Whoa, did someone spit in their pea soup today m'dear? There is no need for that, but unprofessionalism has lost the eBay seller a customer. She was one of those power-sellers with high feedback (not 100% though), so she's probably running a business from eBay. Hell, if I wrote what she wrote to one of my customers at my work, I would have been sacked. Most places would have sacked me.

In the end, I found the same item in the Disney Store with $20 USA dollars shipping, so I ordered it from there in the end. I saved myself £20 and she lost a customer.

It bugs me, so was my question reasonable (the way I phrased it etc) or did she over-react? I don't over-react when people ask me about shipping, or can I add a buy-it-now price. I might tell them a straight "no" and explain why, but it's not good customer relations to get stroppy with them is it?
 
Overreation but perhaps it was a little formal for ebay.

"Can you please revise your shipping rates accordingly?" sounds like a demand rather than "I'm interested in purchasing 4 of your items, would you consider lowering your shipping charge by any chance?".
 
Seems a pretty reasonable query, and her reaction sounds pretty over the top. May have been fine for P&P charges though - I don't know of that air mail service offers insurance, which she may tack on, or how she's packing the item, which would also factor in to the cost. However, the sheer ****iness of the reply seems to indicate that she was making a bit of cash from the excess postage and didn't like being caught out.

Fly over there and smash her pasty.
 
Maybe you could have been a bit more diplomatic, but the seller completely over reacted! I would send her one back calling her names. And make sure to add something to do with convicts, daylight robbery etc. That should REALLY come cross as rude . . . . :D
 
Its £8. I don't know how much the item cost but an extra $15 AUD doesn't seem an amount worth writing an email basically saying 'Oh by the way you postage is wrong, I've gone and checked with the teacher' about.

As for customer service, well its ebay isn't it. :rolleyes: I've currently got an iPhone 4 on there and its proving to be a bloody nightmare!

EDIT: To answer the original question, whilst I don't think the email was worth sending in the first place her reply was a bit OTT
 
To be honest your email did seem a bit stuffy, maybe you could have been friendlier like Gambitt posted. I'm guessing this was why she told you that you weren't welcome to buy from her ebay store (technically you lost a buyer, she didn't lose a customer as she didn't welcome your custom).

Just try to be friendly when asking for lower rates, it goes a long way. I wouldn't have over reacted as she did but it would have narked me and I'd have said no to you.
 
Thanks guys :-) I could have phrased the last bit better. Still didn't warrant her response though, and good luck in her future eBay career if she carries on in that fashion.

I've been on eBay for 9½ years, and even though I've had to resolve a few disputes, it has always been good mannered. Nowhere near as confrontational as that lady.
 
While it was a touch over reaction, you are forgetting that people add a little on for cost to them to post it.
 
yes it was an over reaction but maybe you could have phrased your question in a little less of a confrontaional manner
 
What would the weight have been when it was packaged?
How much did the packaging cost?
Were there costs involved getting to the post-office?

I don't really care either way. I do find it odd you think the postage and packaging rate is equivalent to what a website says the postage alone costs.
 
I'm sorry but I am absolutely with the seller here.

It's postage and packing costs - he's included a bit of cost in there for the packing and who knows where the post office is? He's got to drive there as well.

To ask him to 'revise his shipping rates accordingly' becuase its less than 10 quid over the quoted price on the Australia Post website is beyond pathetic, frankly.

Good on him for telling you to get stuffed, he doesn't need the hassle of selling to people with your mindset.
 
Over reaction for sure but IMO you could have worded your question better.

Also not forgetting that P&P doesn't just mean postage, it's packaging aswell.
 
Thanks again guys, very constructive answers. The main thing is that I live and learn. Still though, I think anyone from a firm caught writing the seller's response to a potential customer would have prompted dismissal.
 
The sellers of heavy and bulky items I have been interested in have usually overcharged a fair bit or just use the most expensive postage possible!

I've had one where they had planned to send by standard Royal Fail for £20. A courier through Parcel Monkey or Parcel2Go was £6.99 so I politely asked them if this was ok with them and it was no problem. It's about how you word the request and if they are an ass or not!
 
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