Lessons Learned - Dealing With Inconsiderate Buyers

1. I've learnt that if I'll ever encounter similar situation in future, I would post a message on thread to my customer (to be transparent), advise them to wrap the package as how i wrap it to return to me.A replacement will be sent provided goods received is in good condition. - imiv

2. Be more strict in your exchange policy......That is all we can do to protect ourselves. - rosemary

3. Ignore any buyers that tried to mess up your thread and just hit the REPORT button and request for removal/Mod advice. - Emily Yee



Worth Keeping Advices/Information For Sellers

1. Please do not let this(bad experience with customers) demotivate you and stop you from giving your best services again... - imiv

2. Just keep it up with your good work and services, it's never worth it to get yourself unhappy over someone else ill-mannered. - L.A.C

3. Some think that 'customer is always right', well.. I would say, customers are having their buyer power, is true. But to me, sellers have their selling power too. - rayanne

4. If you send thru poslaju they won't ask to wrap nice as poslaju can accept the item without the wrappings. But usually they will put item in courier bag if it fits. - svage98

5. Actually depend on which postlaju you go. Only main poslaju centre will have the courier bag and they only gave to you if you have an account with them. I was lucky enough to get 2 pieces after begging for it a few times at brickfield poslaju centre. - nordingh










No idea if I posted on the right forum.

I have no problem to resolve any issue or accept any complains with all my buyers. I have the patient and willing to do anything to fulfill your satisfaction. All I ever hope is for your co-operation to give me the same treatment. I have no intention to make this post to pick a fight. This is for future buyers reference to deal with me.

I sent with all the care I could provide to buyer. I wrap all my items carefully even though POSLAJU only will take one day to be received. Other buyers can approve my words. Just go ahead and contact them.

My case,

I have sent three times to this buyer so far.

First time, the actual transaction. I admit that it's my fault to send an item that is not of good quality(the hook broken when she tried to adjust it) and offered replacement with another model without asking for the previous one back.

Sent second time also with care. And then she said the size was too big for her, and I offered another exchange with her sending back the wrong size one and a delivery fee.

However I did not expect that she doesn't even bothered to wrap them nicely or to wrap them at all. Only sent with the shoe box cover attached with brown cello tape. The shoes is new, and I given an exchange in the hope she'll get the right size and be happy while other buyer could have her wrong sized exchanged shoes happily too.

However, this is so disappointing to receive the other item with this condition. It is new and resell able. It might be only RM18 to her, but it is not a rubbish dump that she gonna dump back to me. I have no problem being at the losing side as long as my buyer feel happy with my item and service. Hence, this is just so rude that I would never deal with this buyer again.

Affected Sales Thread: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1089235

Lesson learned: Be strict with your customers about exchange policy or being bullied.

How about yours?

This post has been edited by Emily Yee: Jul 26 2009, 06:53 PM


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whoa... like that also can a.... Leave one behind.. .
thats why buy thin through net very danger er...

Well, maybe this buyer still bears a thought of 'customers are always right'.

Nothing's absolute in this world, so TS just keep it up with your good work and services, it's never worth it to get yourself unhappy over someone else's ill-mannered.

So, cheer up and keep it on with what you believe is right

Wooo.... what a lousy buyer.....

what to do. you want business have to suffer the wrath of moronic customers lor.

best case is to be clear next time and of course wrap your stuff carefully always.

1. good if you can review her id so that we can beware of!
2. would it be possible that the postman actually made the box wrinkle?

as a seller, i custom made a chop that put on word FRAGILE-HANDLE WITH CARE which i actually did 3yrs ago. so whenever i send a parcel now, i chop every on it.
but in your case, irresponsible buyer is not going to do so. and post 2 is correct, some think that 'customer is always right',well.. i would say customer having buyer power is true. but to me, seller has selling power too.

read yr thread and below is my opinion and 2 cents :

when i saw the box - my immediate reaction was -

. it might be the postman who didn't handle it with care.
. the buyer doesn't have the obligation to wrap it nicely and send it back to you as they are not seller, they do not know how being a seller would feel when saw their stock damaged.

but after i checked twice, i've found out yr buyer is actually a seller herself. and she ALSO sell shoes!!!
so i can only summarized as : u've met a buyer who is not so thoughful and kind..just treat it as unfortunate..what to do


Thanks for sharing yr experience with us, as a seller, i've learnt that if i'll ever encounter similar situation in future, i would post a message on thread to my customer (to be transparent), advise them to wrap the package as how i wrap it to return to me. (as my item requires bubble wrap). A replacement will be sent provided goods rec'd is in good condition.

As a seller, we has no control when this kinda thing happen. i understand that you are trying very best to gives the best service to yr customer's satisfaction. So please do not let this demotivate you and stop you from giving yr best service again...

So.. what else can we expect from her huh?

Yet, my point was not about bad packaging. Instead, there was no packaging at all, I was so shock when the postman took out the box without any wrapper. Angered and I opened this thread over here.

If she wished to exchange, please return the item nicely to me, at least I can resell them. Because only the size was wrong, she agreed the pair was in good quality. But she choose not to wrap them and send it like that and expect postman will handle them with care. I just check the shoes condition, I just can say, can throw already.

And I did receive her PM afterward,
hi emily.. i received the shoe already.. this time is suit me thanks~

I replied,
Received your package as well, in bad condition, thanks for not even bother to wrap them at all. TQ. Nice dealing with you.

She then replied,
O.o omg... is all my husband fault >.< im so sry.. i tot he wrap it already...

I did not reply her, because no point, she said sorry after all and it was her husband's fault anyway and customers are always right.

The other girl took 3 pairs but the size too small for her, I offered an exchange too, and I received them well packaged and in good condition. I don't know, maybe it's easier to wrap 3 boxes than 1 . I was happy, she was happy to get to exchange since I still have the sizes. Thanks to electronicfly. Nice buyer to deal with.

This post has been edited by Emily Yee: Jul 24 2009, 09:11 PM

There you go, a nice customers. Glad to hear about that.

So TS just let your frustration out in this thread and go on with the good services.

totally agree on the underline!! after being a seller for a while, i think it helps us to become more realistic..not sure its +ve or -ve.
and imiv is right, dont let this demotivate ,i am overcoming this too.. issue about one hijacking my sales,so unethical.

From my experience, post office officer will ask to wrap properly before they can accept. They even give a salotape to use. Why this one can get through?

Buyer 'pijak kepala' you for your kindness. Be-careful next time.

oh, u've got yr point.
why this kinda "packaging" is accepted?

I'm sorry to hear this from you, emily.
I'm also just started my online blog shop, thanks for sharing.

In actual fact, in any business, any customer will have different attitudes. Sometimes, you will be totally at the losing side.
If you met difficult customer, do not sell them anything in future. And as your business doing better, be more stright in your exchange policy.

That is all we can do to protect ourself. I know you are kind because you did not to reveal your buyer's name here to save her reputation. If she is also a seller, means that she is not considerate. Don't worry, it's a lesson learnt. And I hope your lost is still bearable.

All the best to you.

It is really nothing about the loss. I would be satisfy if buyers are satisfied. Except for this unexpected experience.

If anyone noticed, I saw a complain thread in Dispute Center filed by a buyer about the seller refused to refund for the pre-order item which was not of good quality. Generally, we will blame the seller for that, because we will think that if item is not as good as described in her thread, then it should be a refund.

But then the complain was filed without any proofs of PM screenshots/SMS screenshots as a trial to settle the problem. Hmm...

However, it looks unfair to me when I refer to the sales thread, the buyer had already messed up the thread 5-6 days with not necessary posts before she filed a complain. It did attracts others to have a look at it.

It did sounds to me that she is trying to get attentions and to flame while they could have do it in PM. The seller was so depressed and down. Seller might have did wrongly, but IMHO, since there is a dispute forum, attacking sales thread is not appropriate at all.

I so far I never really face a buyer that will mess with my sales thread, except for a pervert that posted few hamsap posts that were not related on my lingerie product at all. After sometime, I find that having those posts in my thread will look so repelling and uncomfortable for the girls to purchase, so I hit the report button and request Mod to delete them since I can delete his posts on my own. And they are gone finally.

Another lesson: Ignored any buyers that tried to mess up your thread and just hit a report button and request for removal/Mod advice.

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Added on July 26, 2009, 9:11 amI have just compiled some worth(in my opinion) advices & lesson from the thread in the first post.

This post has been edited by Emily Yee: Jul 26 2009, 09:11 AM

If you send thru poslaju they won't ask to wrap nice as poslaju can accept the item without the wrappings. But usually they will put item in courier bag if it fits.

Are you sure?

Actually depend on which postlaju you go. Only main poslaju centre will have the courier bag and they only gave to you if you have an account with them.

I was lucky enough to get 2 pieces after begging for it a few times at brickfield poslaju centre.

Yes...not all post office have courier bags...mostly can get courier bags at poslaju centres or big post office branch only. About not needing wrappings to send your stuff thru poslaju...this was told to me by an acquaintance I know who work as a manager for poslaju. Package is enough if sent in any box...no wrapping needed but if you don't put your item in box poslaju can also accept if they have courier bags to put your item in.

whoa very unlucky..
this is why i always deal with COD(cash on delivery) only...

really too many buyers with bad attitude, even deal with COD.. really need to be very careful on a deal..

Agreed that if some stuffs, we should do COD instead of post. But that's not online shopping anymore.

Having a thought that COD is safer and won't get cheated might be wrong. People still get cheated after COD. We hardly can check what's wrong if we are not pro about the item. And COD not really safe for girls as many working one will only have time to COD at night after work. Some COD will face ffk cases, which will leave the seller/buyer alone waiting in the dark. It did happened in LYN before. It is so not safe especially for girls to go out and meeting up with strangers in the dark.

However it is a good choice when dealing with expensive items. In case any girls should go for COD, try ask for close friends/family members to go along.

From the start, I have stated to all my buyers that I won't be providing any COD even if in the same state.

ya, and also got the problem of ffk.. anyway, just becareful, haha, there are stil many nice sellers and buyers i met before, (1 is ejslayer, a very very nice seller to me, another like 599ferrari and maxi CPF also a very very nice buyer) and also a few bad attitude seller and buyer la

That's too bad..

I asked for plastic wrap from the pos laju and she gave me a lot. around 10 pcs. but for box they'll charge for that. Btw, I hate seller that simply wrap the parcel as i always received my parcel with the wrapping paper torn!

My way of wrapping is more probably like this
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1114630&hl= as shown in thread if it's something fragile but some not, maybe 2 layers of wrapping paper and i use good paper.

Not so earth friendly packaging.
I use used carton box cut into the shape that give enough protection then put it or wrap it with PosLaju flyers. Some product I don't put any other layer but the PosLaju flyer only because the box is tough enough to withstand normal handling pressure. I try to cut down less wasteful packing material for my business. Hopefully is green enough to earth.

i met some of them b4 with those attitudes..what we should do? Treat them the same with the way they deserve...no point to be nice to them...

I feel that the buyer should wrap the way how u delivered it to her.
If u used a parcel box, meaning she could use it back during delivery to u.

Not like this way of wrapping, it looks like an irresponsible buyer.
She should put herself in ur shoe, let her be the one who receive the packaging like the photo u've taken. I bet she wont feel happy too.

This post has been edited by ~Snowie~: Nov 29 2009, 04:27 PM

good points here .. thanks for sharing ..

btw, we can get the PosLaju wrappings for free at Telco outlets ..

This post has been edited by zaurus: Feb 5 2010, 12:21 AM

Are you sure about that cause i've been recently charged for the wrappings for few items that i've sent out to my customers. This is unacceptable if what you're saying its true.

Can you justify your source of free wrappers?

U shud not be trusting this kind of buyers.. very lousy one.... did u check ur item condition before sending to her? the 2nd shipment i guess shud be the same size rgt... i think she lieing to u

Sometimes I am very disheartened and disgusted about buyer attitude.
- they want things cheap
- Not happy when you are earning too much from them
- They want it priced so you don't make money
- they want it priced so you LOSE money.
- Fuss on the thread about price too expensive and discouraging other buyers...

Some will even fuss and CALCULATE how much I am supposed to earn from each sale... wtf?! Just need to vent.

Buyers, give and take .. we all need to cari makan. Let ppl earn some pocket money don't be so calculative. You give extra Rm10-20 also will not kill you... but will help others.

Any similiar experience?

This post has been edited by s3an_looi: Mar 17 2011, 02:28 PM

I do aggree with u the current lyn buyer attitude really had too much problem n issues.
Most of the time are petty buyers flooding ur inbox for "Best Price" when it's stated Firmed.
They want to buy everything but unwilling to pay much for what they want.
Who doesnt want cheap?
They like to bring up calculators and start calculating cost price+shipping+how much u earn.
The problem is the trouble that cost pple who are willing to fork out the time to get something that buyer want isnt that consider business and service?


I do not understand what the hell this phrase "Best Price" and where this bullshyt came from.
That's y i normally ignored comments or pm like this.

Yeah... PM can be managed but those OPEN calculations for public.. wow really blows my mind.
If they can't buy it they wanna ruin it... sometimes reporting posts like that to mods also futile effort cos nothing done.

One even posted on my thread.. something like 'I am concerned that you are making a commission'...

Next time provide your list of terms before dealing. If buyer or seller agreed to it only deal and not when got problem only start to complaint. Most ppl assume others are mind reader they should know what you are thinking.

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Added on March 18, 2011, 8:22 amFirst think from a buyer perspective. One see an item cost RM5 then u sell 4.90 + and u charge postage RM10. Logically why dont i buy from the shop? For you to counter back you can simply reply

For Retail its RM5
Purchase from you at RM 4.90 with the following benefits you dont get from retail

PROS
1) Confirm item is working
2) Reach your door step
3) Provide excellent after service
4) Provide consultation
5) Provide 3 days personal warranty
6) Item will be wrapped properly
7) Personal shopper benefit

and lots lots more


CONS
1) Price very close to retail

So isnt buyer getting better service then retail for the same price.
Then below put your terms below like if item is tempered no warranty will provided and etc

First there nothing wrong for ppl to calculate or compare how much you earn because the item you are selling is not unique? If you sell an item only you have then you can put what price you want.

Second the buyers are paying with their own money not they get it else where.

Third If your value is at your service nobody can discourage your thread why others will defend you but because yours is value at the price its fair to do comparison. Are you telling me when you buy stuff you just walk in to any shop nearest to you and buy without doing any research?

Fourth You know today's world everything increase but our salary dont goes up so from a buyer perspective let the buyer save some money la.Since you said give extra RM10- RM20 why dont u discount abit? Like you said you discount abit will help alot of people as well. Buyer help you only help 1 person but u discount it helps many buyers. Like you said give and take la.

Fifth If you go to a market place everyone also sell example APPLE so which will you buy from the 10 stalls? Somemore all same price. isnt it which provide better service? Same here.

Some seller also very ridiculous one he said offer me so ppl offer he get angry assume ppl can read his mind again?

This just my opinion i see what's happening.

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Added on March 18, 2011, 8:28 amMake more reliable friends they will help you. Example you buy a phone for you maybe its very confusing and afraid to be cheated but if the person is expert he/she can identify any problem within a fraction of a time. If you do not have such friends do your own research to prevent yourself being cheated. Not cheated then blame people. There this saying prevention better than cure. We cant stop people from cheating but we can prevent it.


It is so not safe especially for girls to go out and meeting up with strangers in the dark.
if you know meeting a stranger in the dark place is not safe then why do it? Cannot go a bright place with alot of ppl. if the buyer or seller is serious just tell them u are at where and u do not know to go to tis bla bla place. I meet you at this place settle. If seller and buyer cant agree then cancel the deal. If still scare then go buy from retail shop means online sales is not for you.

This is just my opinion no offends to anyone.

This post has been edited by aspire2oo6: Mar 18 2011, 08:46 AM

As a buyer myself even though I know how much an item retails at ... does not mean i must get it at retail or lower. I understand that the seller needs to make some money and I have no qualms paying the extra.

Sometimes I see some body trying SO HARD just to sell something to make some money. I will buy the product that I happen to like at the seller price... even though i KNOW the price is higher... after all we all need to earn a living.

Both buyer and seller must understand both point of view. Want to cekik one another what for? Item retail RM10.. seller gets item for RM10 ... how la to price at Rm8??

Business is business nobody will sell item they get at retail price one. They sure will make some money. Quantity lor word of mouth. Imagine 1 ppl intro to 10 ppl and 10 ppl intro to another 10 ppl imagine the profit u will get if u know networking and good service.