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Author Topic: Selling and buying pet peeves.  (Read 8163 times)

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Offline kingluke

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Selling and buying pet peeves.
« on: March 14, 2020, 03:15:41 AM »
Hello everyone,

Currently I am waiting for 2 members to respond because of a sale and a buy. Not to call out anyone but it's so annoying to me that they don't respond to my messages. I don't need a respones right away and I get that people are busy but at least check your account daily if something is going on there right? Same with selling my terrarium. I just keep getting ghosted.

How do you keep from getting ghosted? And what are your pet peeves?

Please let me know.

Cheers,

Luke

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« Last Edit: March 14, 2020, 03:29:07 PM by dragonfly »
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Offline tailrustedtealeaf

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2020, 06:20:25 AM »
There is no way to keep from getting ghosted and I do try to make allowances for life getting in the way, particularly as panic is spreading and people are being impacted on various different facets. I wouldn't call it "ghosting" so much as I would just call it "a bit delayed". I would give it a few days at least, people can be busy usually and daily isn't always feasible.
I sell on Depop and my pet peeve is when people message me asking if something is still avaliable...and then don't buy it. Like, yes? I gave no indication that you had to message first. Thankfully most of my transactions have been easy otherwise.
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Offline kingluke

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2020, 07:52:20 AM »
There is no way to keep from getting ghosted and I do try to make allowances for life getting in the way, particularly as panic is spreading and people are being impacted on various different facets. I wouldn't call it "ghosting" so much as I would just call it "a bit delayed". I would give it a few days at least, people can be busy usually and daily isn't always feasible.
I sell on Depop and my pet peeve is when people message me asking if something is still avaliable...and then don't buy it. Like, yes? I gave no indication that you had to message first. Thankfully most of my transactions have been easy otherwise.

I get that. Its just frustrating. More then anything I want people to be safe. And that question is way too familiar. Same with lowballers. Good luck selling :)
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Offline dragonfly

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2020, 03:30:31 PM »
That's one of my big frustrations, too. I've taken to putting a time limit on response (will hold pony for X days) and then releasing it to the next person. That way, the buyer has a little leeway to decide or to figure out their paycheck, but I'm also not left hanging. I'm happy to wait for a set period of time for a paycheck to come in if I know in advance.

It keeps me from getting ghosted because if I don't hear back within a certain amount of time, I'm free to pursue more active buyers who are ready to go.

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2020, 01:00:50 AM »
People asking about items and never getting back to you again are frustrating but I feel like if there's no follow up the item is not on hold. I didn't used to but now I take that approach. Though we are living in unusual times and that's bound to impact transit.

People who string out transactions by promising to pay x day then y day then z day...

I also don't like when you ask a seller a question and they don't answer before the auction ends. When it's a week away. If you can't respond in that time, you probably shouldn't list. There's customer service involved in selling, but people sometimes forget this.

Shipping items inappropriately. Randomly shoved in a box, bag, no packing. No. Maybe it's cheaper, but you have a duty to get your item to its destination as safely as you can. Be transparent with your buyer about shipping costs/implications and don't charge one rate and send via another.

People who expect their item to arrive within a day of it being posted - unless you paid for that service and are (in my case) in the UK, it's not going to happen. Even if you are in the UK, let's be fair, postage can be rocky, especially if, like here, your postal service tends to hoard packages to deliver them all together every couple of days rather than every individual day.

And again, current exceptional context aside, people who pretend that not shipping overseas is for your own benefit as a buyer - "Oh, it's too expensive" (yes, but I'm paying it!) or because you're somehow dishonest by geography (because nobody is ever scammed by someone living in their own country... :rolleyes:).

I mean, if you want to ship to your own country only, fine. Do it. Say it. Own it. Don't make silly excuses about how the costs are prohibitive when the buyer pays them, and don't be insulting and claim it's because of 'too many problems' with international buyers. I've been shipping worldwide since I was 16 (so 22 years) and yeah, I've had my fair share of annoying international transactions, but the thing is that judging person x on the behaviour of person y because they live in the same continent is just rude. If you don't want to ship overseas because you can't be bothered, or because you have logistical or health reasons that make it difficult, say so. Be honest. Don't make out like it's our fault for not being in your country borders. (And yes, this rant applies to UK people too, even though it doesn't affect me directly, as I'm well aware that they can be just as obnoxious to international buyers as anywhere else).

Yeah, you knew that rant was going to come up here somewhere.

In the interests of fairness and on the same note - people who DO ship overseas without bothering to find out what it entails. Apparently my money is good enough, but I don't need a zillion messages telling me how much work it is to go to a post office and actually send an item, or fill out a custom form, or whatever else it is. I've been doing that for 22 years, every parcel I send goes to the post office and I have navigational issues so bad I'm entirely reliant on public transport, which sucks, and yet I don't spend time sending emails to my buyers implying I'm doing them some major service deserving an award because I physically stepped into a PO to send my parcel. (And I don't need passive aggressive comments about having to pay for my own import charges, Ebay sellers. I've been doing that for years as well and probably know my border rules better than you do.)

On that last note - let's add enforced use of GSP to that list, since it is basically designed to make sellers get more money for less work at the expense of buyers' time and money, with a nice little fee for ebay in there too. But for all they say you're protected against loss...they don't package your items safely and they don't expect you to sign for it, so it really isn't very secure. (And again, this applies to UK sellers as well).
« Last Edit: March 15, 2020, 01:23:20 AM by Taffeta »
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Offline Ponybookworm

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2020, 01:57:02 AM »
I have one gripe above all others: when a seller has multiple items you want, you buy several & get charged as if you were asking for each single item to be packaged separately when the seller says they combine postage, unless the seller refunds the difference (many have but some don't & yet it all goes into the same box or package. GSP never combines postage either, when it should.

The one thing I like about GSP is being able to pay my Customs at the same time as everything else, rather than a week or two later when I get the card from Royal Mail.

I also hate sellers who use couriers who think Grampian & Aberdeenshire are the Highlands. No they are NOT!!! The Highlands is north &/or west of Inverness, plus Inverness-shire itself. Wick is the Highlands, Kyle Of Lochalsh is the Highlands; North Aberdeenshire is not. Please pick a decent courier who can travel all over the destination country, or for in-country sales, one who knows your whole country. I've had Hermes & Yodel as well as Royal Mail come up here without any problems or extra postage.

Please use recyclable packaging wherever possible!!! I hate being swamped wi polyethylene air pockets & bubble wrap which only end up in the bin. Think re-usable, like Zippy bags, then think recyclable for the rest. I don't care if the packaging is shredded newspapers (if there's a Zippy bag protecting the item itself from stains), so long as it can go in recycling & not the bin. Cheers.
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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2020, 02:05:24 AM »
...You don't recycle the bubblewrap into the next package going out? I do. Why buy new packaging when you have it already? If it's not recyclable then reusing it makes more sense. I've never thrown bubblewrap out and the pockets can be burst and used to slide ponies/accessories in for transit as well - saving you from adding to the planet's problem by buying new zippy bags.

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Offline Shaz

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2020, 02:36:46 AM »
Some charity shops take bubble wrap as well, they like to use it to wrap ornaments and things. That's what we do with ours.

I like to think I'm a fairly laid-back buyer but I do get twitchy when sellers on eBay mark things as sent but don't actually send them. E.g. item is marked as dispatched on eBay on Tuesday, I think 'yay, it'll be here by Friday!'. On Friday I get a message saying my parcel was just dropped off at a Hermes parcel shop and has begun its journey. So where was it for the last three days?!

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2020, 04:51:53 AM »
...You don't recycle the bubblewrap into the next package going out? I do. Why buy new packaging when you have it already? If it's not recyclable then reusing it makes more sense. I've never thrown bubblewrap out and the pockets can be burst and used to slide ponies/accessories in for transit as well - saving you from adding to the planet's problem by buying new zippy bags.
Never sold online, only bought. I used to take bubblewrap to the charity shops but I hardly leave the house now so that doesn't help. Zippy bags I can keep & use for storing things in.
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Offline IceCrystal02

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2020, 05:24:43 AM »
And again, current exceptional context aside, people who pretend that not shipping overseas is for your own benefit as a buyer - "Oh, it's too expensive" (yes, but I'm paying it!) or because you're somehow dishonest by geography (because nobody is ever scammed by someone living in their own country... :rolleyes:).

Absolutely this. I've been sending board games all over the world and I've never had a problem. I have customs stickers at home and I don't have a drivers licence, so I'm dependent on public transport when going to the post office, but that has never been a problem. As I can fill in the customs sticker at home, I can simply drop off the parcel at the post office closest to my office (which is directly opposite to the railway station), which isn't more time and effort than posting a domestic consignment.

It's always so annoying if you can find just one buyer who sells the item you've been looking for on amazon or ebay and then they tell you they only ship within their country. In an international market like board games or MLP it's especially infuriating, as I can't buy these items locally.

Offline LadyAmalthea

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2020, 08:36:17 AM »
My pet peeve is also when people don't respond to questions, but specifically when the question is when I'm asking whether the seller would be willing to split up or sell one single piece out of a lot. I understand that people are busy, but if you can't respond in several days, maybe you shouldn't be selling on Ebay.

I ended up just buying the whole lot once, when the seller hadn't responded in days and the auction was about to end. Within 30 minutes, the seller had marked the item as 'sent'. I was so mad...so they were online! Why didn't they answer me? Seriously, how hard is it to just reply with a 'no, I can't do that'? Honestly, they could have relisted the lot without that piece for the same price and no one would be any the wiser, and gotten the extra money I would have paid for the one piece. I left positive feedback because nothing  was wrong with the actual transaction, but left 0 stars in the 'communication' box and said 'quick transaction and fast shipping, but seller doesn't respond to questions' in the comment line. Maybe that makes me a jerk, I dunno.  :huh:

Same situation happened again last week, but I waited 2 weeks for a response, and someone bought the lot before the auction ended. I'm kicking myself for not just buying it and trying to resell the other pieces, because I can't find that top clip to Cuddles' buggy anywhere, but I guess it's a principal thing for me. I caved the first time but not the second...but I'm still annoyed.  :mad:

Post Merge: March 15, 2020, 09:05:22 AM

Oh, and this only happened to me once, so maybe it was a glitch in Ebay's system, but the seller had a 'make offer' option listed on an Ebay auction, so I did (the asking price was $15, and I offered $12). Instantly, I got a notification from Ebay saying that the seller would be more likely to respond to offers $25 or higher. Why on earth would I offer more than the original asking price?! I thought maybe it was a glitch, so I tried another offer of $14, and my offer was just ignored. Not denied even. Well what the heck did they want? I couldn't go any higher without it being the original $15. Don't put a 'make offer' option up if you aren't going to accept offers!

I kept it in my watch list until it ended, just to see if she'd sell it and what it would sell for; it didn't and she relisted it, but I unwatched it at that point (my offer expired at the end of the auction, unanswered). I would have been willing to pay the $15, but I didn't want to deal with her.  :blink:
« Last Edit: March 15, 2020, 09:05:22 AM by LadyAmalthea »

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2020, 10:42:25 AM »
Grrr, don't get me started, but I'm going to have to say ghosting is #1.
Close second? Gouging on the shipping costs.
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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2020, 12:53:10 PM »
oh, ghosting drives me up the wall. Look, if you don't want to sell to me, for whatever reason - JUST TELL ME. I swear I won't get offended! (Okay, I will, but I'm not going to take it out on the seller :P) But if I've asked you a question, please do me the courtesy of answering? Even if it's just to say "nope, not gonna sell to you"?

Oh, and don't get me started on the GSP. And overseas shipping costs being outlandishly expensive. I mean, yeah, shipping to the UK *is* stupidly expensive these days, but charging $50+ to send a tiny doll (on top of the ~$50 the doll costs to begin with, mind you).... nope. Come on now, that's just silly...
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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2020, 05:59:24 PM »
And again, current exceptional context aside, people who pretend that not shipping overseas is for your own benefit as a buyer - "Oh, it's too expensive" (yes, but I'm paying it!) or because you're somehow dishonest by geography (because nobody is ever scammed by someone living in their own country... :rolleyes:).

Absolutely this. I've been sending board games all over the world and I've never had a problem. I have customs stickers at home and I don't have a drivers licence, so I'm dependent on public transport when going to the post office, but that has never been a problem. As I can fill in the customs sticker at home, I can simply drop off the parcel at the post office closest to my office (which is directly opposite to the railway station), which isn't more time and effort than posting a domestic consignment.

It's always so annoying if you can find just one buyer who sells the item you've been looking for on amazon or ebay and then they tell you they only ship within their country. In an international market like board games or MLP it's especially infuriating, as I can't buy these items locally.

Exactly. Same. I've also been sending this last year with the ongoing postponements to Brexit which has meant I've sometimes had to ask all kinds of questions about whether I will/won't need a form that normally I wouldn't need to ask, but it hasn't stopped me (and won't, even if in the short term our border becomes a bit complicated). Our PO will give you custom forms and air mail labels and they actually love you more if you do that stuff before you get there, it saves them hassle.

I mean, I'm not generalising everyone. I know some people live miles from a PO, have health conditions, work times that make it difficult, etc. There are lots of actual reasons why it's difficult. But if that's the case, say so. Don't make the excuses about it being somehow our fault. And if they genuinely just can't be bothered, they should also say so. The fact they don't suggests they understand how rude that sounds and is - but it's ruder to claim that a bad experience or a few they had in the past is somehow your fault.

For the record I've had more difficult transactions with the US than anywhere else, but I tend to assume that's because I've probably done more transactions with the US than anywhere else. The only time I have ever had pony stuff stolen from me in an actual scam was with a US scammer, but I am hugely indebted to many US collectors over the years for trades, purchases, etc, and have never thought about not sending there. I would never say to someone in, say, Maine, I'm not shipping to you because someone in Louisiana paid late last week. Plus now there are a ton of protections for buyers/sellers that never existed back in 1998. Literally a cash economy back then, with little if no protection if it went wrong.

Basically, if you're selling or buying, just be honest. Transparency is a good trait when selling or buying. Ghosting or making up excuses doesn't leave people with a good impression of your customer service.

@Ponybookworm, ah, that makes sense. I've been shipping for so long I didn't even think of that.

@Carrehz - or a backcard. A single pony backcard for $50 shipping. Nope.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2020, 06:04:41 PM by Taffeta »
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Offline goddessofpeep

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Re: Selling and buying pet peeves.
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2020, 11:45:41 PM »
Pet peeve #1 is sellers who commit to a price/have an ended auction, sometimes even taking your money, and then accepting a random offer from some buyer who approaches them secretly for more money. Sometimes they’re honest about what’s going in, but more often they “lose” it, “the dog ate it”, “my kid wants to keep it”, or some other lie.  This happens a lot on ebay, and it stinks.

Pet peeve #2 are the buyers who approach sellers of closed auctions and try to get the seller to break their contract with the legitimate buyer. 

I don’t mind high shipping *if* the money goes to actual shipping. If I’m paying for Priority insured shipping and a high “handling” fee, it better not be sent Media Mail in a reused frozen spinach box with no padding.

« Last Edit: March 22, 2020, 04:43:39 PM by goddessofpeep »

 

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