What's your thought?

[marvelcollector]

Just wondering how others see this…

 

I win an auction for a pretty big book (1k) and pay and checkout within two hours of the end of the auction.

 

There’s some problem at the seller’s end and the payment doesn’t go through. I send the seller a polite email.

Two days go by, no response. I send a second email (also polite), he replies quickly this time. He’s aware of the problem, says he’s working on it. Tells me to try again the next day.

 

I try to pay again (now three days after the initial attempt), and it still won’t go through.

I’m a bit irritated now, and start to wonder why I am paying for 2 day shipping (the cheapest option offered) when the seller can’t even fix his problem in what will be a minimum of

four days. So I send this email:

____________________________________________________________________

I tried again to pay, and it still would not go through.

 

I must bring up the point that I think it is a bit unfair to charge for 2 day shipping (I would have gladly chosen a lower option) when I have been unable to pay for the item for 3 days

already due to no fault of my own.

 

Please advise as to our next step.

 

Thanks.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that I did not demand anything, just stated that I felt it was unfair to pay for “2 day shipping” when it is taking longer than that to get the payment accepted.

 

So I get this back:

 

 

Ok, if you'd like to take responsibility for the book if it gets damaged,

then email me a statement to that effect and it can ship usps priority

mail for $11.00 or fedex ground for $10.00. It will have NO insurance on

the package then.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

So, after he finally gets the problem on his end fixed, I can roll the dice and have the book ship uninsured to save a few bucks.

 

Am I that far off in thinking this is a bit shoddy customer service?

 

I’ve had one other run in with this dealer (who is a pretty big name) regarding high shipping charges and limited choices ($13 to mail five raw books), so it was a bit

touchy of a subject before this transaction.

 

The lack of a real apology just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Despite other positive attributes, I might be done with this dealer...

[whisp]

I would think for a 1k book that you would take the higher shipping amount and make sure its insured regardless with tracking.

[PokerKid]

I think you nailed it with your last sentence. The dealer will get his full price without cutting you a break for all the hassles, but you don't need to deal with him. If you haven't purchased yet, I would wait a week or two before trying to pay again. Give him time to sort it out and let him sweat it out instead of you.

 

[comicwiz]

I'm sorry, but I don't get the part where you're complaining about 2-day shipping. When you say you would have chosen a lower option, are you saying you wanted it quicker (1-day) or that you wanted to pay a lower price (longer delivery time)?

 

I know I would have been confused, and probably would have resorted to laying out the shipping terms. One example I run across is folks not wanting to pay for traceable/insured service because they claim it's too expensive. These services include $100 coverage, but they'd rather me send it ground or air mail. But the problem is the alternatives (ground or air mail) offers no tracing or insurance, so it's an automatic that you'd need the buyer to sign-off on liability.

 

Although from a PayPal standpoint, I have to wonder whether any waiver would be even acknowledged. I know from my experience (in Canada), PayPal doesn't recognize CanadaPost's tracking system and the only way to get seller protection when accepting payments via PayPal is to use FedEx or UPS.

[marvelcollector]

Yes, by lower I meant longer time, lower price.

 

Again, there is a backdrop of a bit of history (and a bit of attitude) from this seller regarding shipping, so it could be I'm a bit touchy.

 

It's the idea that I'm paying (without really having much of a choice) for quick shipping, and he can't even get the thing out the door in four days due to a problem on his end.

 

That coupled with his uncaring attitude just rubs me the wrong way.

 

A quality seller would just cover the shipping cost at this point IMO, or at least pay half, especially considering the value of the sale.

[comicwiz]

Yes, by lower I meant longer time, lower price.

 

Fair enough. And like you say, there is a backdrop to the situation which makes it difficult to offer an opinion. But the part I'm having trouble with is the person did offer to send it to you at a lower shipping rate. Is it possible that by doing that, the service tier he's using doesn't offer the option of insuring the parcel? I have to tell you that I've run into many dealers that would not, under any circumstance, ever ship an item without insurance on a high-dollar book. You either pay the insurance, or the deal's off.

 

And besides, from the sounds of your post, the insurance would just get you going about added costs anyway.

 

Again, sorry, but reading this leaves a bad taste because what you consider an appropriate level of customer service is contingent on him shipping the book to you on his nickel. Perhaps the backdrop justifies it on its own, but I don't think it's fair to call the seller shoddy, especially because it appears they are making a concession to ship the item after you requested a lower price. Again, could just be that the delivery product he's going with to meet you on your request doesn't offer insurance, and quite frankly, I'd at least ask you to sign-off on liability if it was that important to you to risk loss or damage to save a few bucks.

[marvelcollector]

I believe insurance can be purchased on USPS Priority, which is what I think he offered.

 

This does sort of touch on another issue in general that is a general pet peeve of mine: I just have no patience when people/providers make me jump through hoops when I am trying to pay them; i.e. give them money .

 

My point here is how can you say you are providing "2 day shipping" when you can't even get the thing out the door in 4 days? (and his latest email makes it sound like his payment acceptance problem won't be resolved any time soon, and frankly has a tone that he doesn't really care. In fact, he suggested I could cancel the order, something I never said.)

[comicwiz]

Yeah, I don't like the tone of them suggesting to cancel the order in an unsolicited way either. Did you get the book at a good price?

[marvelcollector]

Not especially. Not terrible either, but it is a nice book.

 

(The cost was $18 for the one slab, btw.)

 

If the payment had just went through, of course, I would have just paid for the "fast" shipping and be happily waiting for the book.

[thehumantorch]

Yes, by lower I meant longer time, lower price.

 

Again, there is a backdrop of a bit of history (and a bit of attitude) from this seller regarding shipping, so it could be I'm a bit touchy.

 

It's the idea that I'm paying (without really having much of a choice) for quick shipping, and he can't even get the thing out the door in four days due to a problem on his end.

 

That coupled with his uncaring attitude just rubs me the wrong way.

 

A quality seller would just cover the shipping cost at this point IMO, or at least pay half, especially considering the value of the sale.

 

I can understand your frustration. You pulled the trigger on an expensive book and you are eager to get it. I think the seller should ship it best possible method and eat the shipping to make up for the delay. I wouldn't go to war over it but I think it is what a quality seller would do.

 

You should ask him to ship the book now and you will pay later.....

[kdoginohio]

[mrmitchgro]

If it was me, I'd pay the full shipping cost to get the insurance, then ding him on the DSRs for shipping time, shipping cost, and communication.

 

When I've sold books on ebay, I always bend over backwards to stay nice (at minimum neutral) and professional in buyer correspondence, which makes it especially irritating when you can't get the same as a buyer. So I know where you're coming from!

[asteroid-comix]

 

I can understand your frustration. You pulled the trigger on an expensive book and you are eager to get it. I think the seller should ship it best possible method and eat the shipping to make up for the delay. I wouldn't go to war over it but I think it is what a quality seller would do.

 

You should ask him to ship the book now and you will pay later.....

(thumbs u

 

At this point you've bought the book. I'd pay the higher shipping, knowing I was going to get the book safely delivered to me. The next time I went to buy a high dollar book, I'd remember this transaction. As said above, this is not a quality seller. I think I would pass on anything they offered and look to another supplier.

 

I'd also pm frankbearss with the sellers id so that he didn't end up in the same frustrating situation if he happened to buy from the seller

 

[the blob]

So, what's the deal, on books over a certain amount he forces you to use the "faster" more expensive shipping method? Otherwise, I don't get it, as I generally don't expect anything to get shipped within 24 or 48 hours by anyone in the normal course of things (though it is nice when it happens...).

 

Though I don't know why he'd be such a PITA about sending it insured priority. Dunno what the big deal would be.

 

Oh wait, yes I do, he has to go to the post office physcially to ship a $1000 insured book (anything over $500 I think, it might be less) whereas maybe UPS or Fedex lets you just fill out a form and have the book picked up? Depending on his situation/location, this might be a huge PITA (or, then again, it might not be).

 

The same reason I don't like shipping international except by flat rate global priority and don't like shipping 1st class for a cheap item. Flat rate I can plop in the mailbox, 1st class I might need to spend 30-40 minutes going to, and waiting on line at, the post office to save someone else a couple of bucks on an iten I might only be getting $6 for.

 

With that said, it's a $1K book and the problem is at his end, he shouldn't be taking this stance. Sure, I'd prefer not to get this sort of e-mail after 3 or 4 days from a buyer if I'm having a problem, I'd prefer not to hear anything at all and make up for the inconvenience by including a nice freebie in the shipment. A dealer selling $1K books ought to have plenty of $15-$20 books sitting around

[marvelcollector]

Something I didn't mention was that this was not an Ebay auction.