Question
In musing about how to deal with a sorehead, I realized that the whole issue of customer service email has changed over the last three or four years.
I distinctly recall at least four years ago in this forum and elsewhere sellers were vociferously stating that their standard response time to email from buyers was 30 minutes or less.
But it's been a long time since I've read anything like that.
The issue came up because the sorehead referenced in the first paragraph complained that she had 9 bids in on my stuff but if I wasn't going to respond to her very important email RIGHT AWAY (within an hour, apparently), well, she was just going to let herself be outbid. She didn't have time to deal with a seller with POOR COMMUNICATION.
All of which is code for "I want what I want when I want it, and I want it right now."
I mention this because on reflection, it seems to be that more people (with the exception noted above) have come to the understanding that email is not the be-all and end-all of our lives. Another factor may be the declining number of full-time eBay sellers. I no longer sell full-time.
I had access to email decades ago, long before 99% of the population, because I worked for a defense contractor. (If you've heard of ARPAnet, you get extra points and a place at the head of the class). As I watched the rest of the consumer world acquire Internet access and the inevitable email load, I saw a level of excitement and urgency in emailing that puzzled me deeply. After all, email ain't no big deal. It's not even a very good way to communicate.
I think this is starting to sink in.
So it seems that in year 2005, more people are coming to the realization that there are more important things to do than check mail 24 times a day. With the exception noted above, I no longer get very many SECOND EMAIL, RESPOND IMMEDIATELY! subject lines in my mail box. Used to get them all the time.
If people are learning to relax and enjoy their offline lives, putting this whole Al Gore-invented Internet thing in perspective, that can't be anything other than a GOOD thing.
That does sort of put my sorehead with her high expectations out in the cold, though. Poor sorehead.
Answer
I put in my terms: "email early. I travel to buy the nice items I sell. I don't have access to a PC until I get home. That means it might be a day or so." Anyone yelling about not getting a 10 minute reply would find themselves on the Blocked Bidder List very fast and no reply. I am super fast, detailed, and nice to customers, but there are limits to the tolerance.
Answer
Can you imagine the hell you'd have if she won all 9 items?
I'd send her back a very polite email stating that "your priorities in life don't allow you to instantly answer emails. If she needs that kind of communication, she would be much happier with a different seller." Then sit back and see what happens.
Answer
Originally Posted by jayne
Can you imagine the hell you'd have if she won all 9 items?
Yes, I could and did. Vividly. :-)
I wasn't quite as nice as you might have been. She'd won one item; I cancelled her 8 remaining bids, blocked her and told her what I had done. Informed her that despite what she had learned in "the real world" about the customer always being right, and the Customer is King, and blah blah blah, eBay works a bit differently from traditional retail. If you don't get help in 10 minutes at Barnes and Noble, you find a manager and complain. If you don't get help in 10 minutes (or one hour or one day) from an eBay seller and that induces apoplexy, you're probably not cut out to buy on eBay.
I also told her we didn't need her money, her bids or her attitude.
Apparently she's either 1) passing my email around or 2) has registered under multiple IDs because I'm now getting Questions from eBay Member from total strangers who just want to yell at me because I was so awful to the sorehead. Since rude responses to such email do not go back through eBay's system, I take great delight in crafting them. I hope to get more today.
fLufF
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Answer
I do my best to not tangle with soreheads. I get the "PLEASE RESPOND!!!" email on occasion. I always apologize. Because I'm a tiny company, it's impossible for me to constantly monitor email or hire an "operator." There's really nothing to apologize for, but it's easier.
"Sorry, but I was at the Post Office," is short, truthful, and somewhat effective.
I used to sell cars, so when customers say things like, "I would have spent millions, but you didn't respond!" I'm not impressed. I've heard it all before. Show me the money, if you have it. In car sales & eBay, the impatient customers can jerk you around with their demands and kill your profits.
Answer
Instant emails only happen with auto-responders.
Some people do not take into account differences in time zone.
Some people do not know that auctions can be scheduled to end at certain times, and the seller might not be available at the auction end.
And there is the basic notion of wanting the work day to end at some point in time.
The shop is open 24/7, but the seller is not.
Answer
Just as I suspect other eBay sellers have done, I have taken on projects outside eBay work, so 3 or 4 days of the week I am out working elsewhere. In working these projects I deal with about 30 different companies, and they all love to communicate (with few exceptions) by email, so a non-essential email from a bidder often doesn't get answered until the next day, if then.
I'm just amused to imagine how the average eBay newbie bidder thinks we sellers operate. I guess we're supposed to be parked at the post office in our Class C motorhomes with our generators running and cellular modem connections up 24/7 so we can ship instantaneously and answer email almost as quickly.
Hey! I haven't gotten my allotted motorhome yet. I'm sure it must just be a shipping delay.
fLufF
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