Are E-Bay Sellers Disinterested?

SarasotaFrank

I make every effort to establish a dialogue with E-Bay sellers. I notify them that I am the winning bidder and request shipping amount. Sometimes, it takes a week to get shipping info. I respond confirming when I am sending funds and identify the funds as Money Order or Cashiers Check, giving my shipping address.

I am also quick to ask if they have similar items I am seeking to add to my order - offering them more business - no hassle business at that.

I rarely receive a response to "do you have any of these or this or that?"

I rarely receive a response to "I have sent your money on this date, please advise upon receipt."

I would do a lot of business with many of these folks just by getting a simple answer to questions regarding availability of other coins.

They truly seem to be not interested.

Do others find this to be true?

cointagious

if you're dealing with a volume seller and they're using auction software, it may not be practical to respond to all emails as their emails are software generated. disinterested? no! but responding to unnecessary emails 'by hand' only slows 'em down.

SarasotaFrank

<< <i>disinterested? no! but responding to unnecessary emails 'by hand' only slows 'em down. >>



well jeez, since they are in the business of selling coins, and I am sending email saying "I will buy X direct from you if you have it", what would you call a "necessary" email?

JLW

SarasotaFrank,
I have experienced this too, and it ticks me off. High volume does not have to equal inattention to your customer's needs and wants. Rick Tomaska of R&I and Mark of Pinnacle are testimonials to quality and attentive customer service just to name a couple. I have dealt with sellers that use "auction software" that still take the time to answer my e-mails, these are the ones that I buy from again.
Joe

DanC

Frank -

IMHO, it's the ever-spreading "mediocrity disease."

Businesses become obsessed with volume, and to heck with the quality. Consumers allow it by accepting mediocrity.
They seem to have lost touch with the very correct notion that earning a new customer costs 5 times what keeping an existing one does.

This approach also discounts the loyalty that continued business provides. I have the same gripe about my favorite dealer - L&C.
Don't get me wrong - their customer service (when you contact them) is fabulous - but they simply will not entertain the notion of selling a "pick list" of coins for a lump sum. Maybe there's some rationale to it, but curiously enough - I tracked the results, and I ended up spending about $200 less for the coins I bought on ebay from them than I would have spent buying as a single transaction. However - I also would have bought many more from them as a result, even though I'd have paid more. The personal attention would have been worth it.

Unfortunately, many folks fail to recognize that making a nickel each on many mediocre transactions is less in the long run than going the extra mile for a long-term customer - and then keeping that customer by providing precisely what he/she asks for, and doing it with a smile. It baffles me.

bennybravo

It's all part of doing ebay business.As a buyer, you can look at a sellers feedback and see a 3000+ transaction seller with 100 or so negs, and make that determination yourself whether you want to do business.I personally don't like dealing with hi-neg,high volume power sellers.The percentage of negatives may be only slightly higher overall,with thousands of transactions, but it sends a red flag up to me that the seller may not be extremely organized, and I might run a higher risk of a troubled transaction.As a MUCH smaller seller, I can say it goes both ways.Often, you send a buyer 3 or 4 emails over a week or so to confirm a transaction, and get no response, or excuses for delayed payment or "I'll get that right out" a week after the auction closes.It doesn't happen often, but it's all a part of buying and selling on eBay. I completely understand your sentiments, as I'm the same way.I also ask about other coins, try to confirm payment was received and that all is well.I also, as a seller, stay in touch with buyers and keep them up to date as paypal or M.O.'s are received, and give the date of shipment when a coin goes out.

SarasotaFrank

I guess I am not alone.

If I find someone in the business of selling coins - and they have coins I am seeking - I am a buyer! No BS, no price haggling, no hassle. You have it - tell me how much it is, if it close to reasonable - my check is on the way. I wish I had customers like me. I guess many sellers just don't have the time, or are unwilling to take the time to develop a market.

Dealers and sellers who have my want list have a ready made sale when they see a coin on my list. If one of my dealers comes across an NGC 42-S walker or a 47-P NGC Walker - he can buy it on the spot knowing I am the buyer they can move it to. Easy money in my opinion.

My want list has 50-60 coins on it - somebody finds one - they have a sale.

This seems so simple to me, why don't others get it?

DanC

<< <i>This seems so simple to me, why don't others get it? >>



Yep Frank... several of us feel the same way.

I'd submit to you that were a few folks to get together, form a cooperative venture, adhere to proven quality principles, give the customer exactly what he/she asks for, be brutally honest with what you're selling, give uncompromising attention to quality with each and every person that needs anything - be willing to admit, and correct mistakes - you'd have a winning business.

Having spent a good part of my adult life practicing, and teaching quality principles in business, there's alot of places that "talk the talk" - but darned few that "walk the walk". I think it's all about "doing unto others before they do unto you" - a 'let's see what I can get out of this idiot, and move on' type of approach.

It IS truly bizarre. If you asked me "how much" for my entire inventory in one lump - I'd give you a price. The one I'm shooting for...
You'd counter with your offer (the one you have in mind), we'd negotiate - we'd strike a deal. Not rocket-science by any means.

I've also found that those who chant "Quality" the loudest, are usually the biggest offenders. Conversely, the truly exceptional businesses do so day after day, without fanfare. When's the last time you saw Nordstrom chanting about their customer service?

Right.


They don't have to.

ursabear

Frank,

You deserve an answer, whether from big seller or small hobbyist.

I hope that your experience does not continue in this way. I hope that you get the answers you need when you need them. I know that some of the big shops have lots of different folks answering mail, packing coins, setting up auctions, and the like - but they should be nice enough to respond to their mail (especially when it is a solicitation for more business).

Thank you for starting this thread.

relayer

I don't think a lot of communication is needed. After initial contact is made, do you really need to know each step of the process?

Depending on the location, I figure 2-4 days for the payment to be mailed, 2-3 days for the package to be shipped and another 2-4 days to arrive. So I only contact the sellers after about 14 days if it hasn't showed up, or if there is no feedback left then I contact them.

What is a hassel is when you win an auction and the seller doesn't send the payment information and you have to go ask - and ask again. I bought it and now I want to pay for it, if you want to get paid send me the address.

DanC

Unfortunately, it's human nature for some to just "do a job" because they "want a paycheck." Their focus in life is different than that of the business that provides them their usually dismal living.

I think it stems from the perception that customers are an interruption of business, rather than the PURPOSE of it.


<< <i>seller doesn't send the payment information and you have to go ask - and ask again. I bought it and now I want to pay for it, if you want to get paid send me the address. >>



Pretty bizarre isn't it?

CarlWohlforth

SarasotaFrank: you sound like a dream customer. Do you have any proof Jeffersons on your want list

cointagious

if any of you think you can build a better mouse trap...

DanC

I don't think it's really a matter of building a better mousetrap, I think it's the question of how to continuously improve an existing one.

Businesses and individuals make mistakes. Identifying ways to avoid them in the future is probably more to the point.

I'd jump at the opportunity to take one of these businesses and help them to take, and keep the absolute top position in the industry. Reality sets in however, in that I'd expect to be paid for doing it, and this isn't quite as high-profit an industry as I.T. is. (was) There likely isn't alot of "extra" money floating around to hire consultants.

I think Frank was simply expressing his amazement that the bigger dealers can't seem to see that his money is just as green as anyone's, and he's literally begging them to sell their goods. (something they're ostensibly in business to do) That seems indeed odd.

edit: added emphasis "was" in regard to the I.T. industry.

Dog97

SarasotaFrank you need to deal with some sellers I deal with. By the time I get eBay, PayPal & the sellers end of auction notice and checkout confirmation & PayPal emails saying that the seller has been paid and the seller accepted payment and then the sellers email saying he received payment, then the sellers email saying that he shipped it, it adds up to about 10 emails per item bought and I get confused and delete emails I need to keep for payment info, I pay the wrong amount for the wrong item, I double pay or forget to send payment altogether.
However if I send them an email I expect it to be answered ASAP.

SarasotaFrank

<< <i>SarasotaFrank: you sound like a dream customer. Do you have any proof Jeffersons on your want list >>



I checked out your site Carl. At some future time, I may be contacting you.

SarasotaFrank

<< <i>if any of you think you can build a better mouse trap... >>



this isn't a function of building a better mouse trap, but rather using the trap to its optimum advantage for you-the seller.

As a marketing-type, I see so many opportunities to advance the value of e-bay from a seller's perspective.

For example, if I were an ebay seller, I would save every email address of coin buyers who buy from me. On a weekly or monthly basis, I would send an html styled message from FrankzCoinz or some similar business name broadcasting the upcoming availability of certain coins. Takes next to no effort to put this together, and I might very well sell some of these coins, as well as establish myself as a resource for coins amongst those seeking certain items.

Over the course of time, I might start to receive emails from some of these folks asking if I have a certain desired item in my inventory. Then - waddyaknow! - I start to make sales to customers who might otherwise have been driving themselves crazy trying to find something on ebay. I have opened a whole new universe of customers with very little effort on my part.

I also believe there is a significant opportunity to do the same through forums such as this one. For example, my comment to Carl above. He has coins of interest to me - why not buy from him?

A forum member here has a website on which he presented a list of coins he was seeking. I had about 50 or so in my inventory and sent him an email with a spreadsheet with the prices. There are all common silver coins, and I never would have tried to sell them. WIth teh money he is sending me, I will buy a coin or two I am seeking. There is the opportunity for a marketplace among trusted individuals of similar interest here - yet it is unexplored.

If I were inclined to investigate buying accented hair Kennedys - I would PM Russ and ask for his opinion, and if he had any coins he wanted to part with. For Merc's, I would turn to my friend wingedliberty, Peace Dollars - PQPeace. We all spend money on ebay with sellers we do not know, when we could probably be doing business with each other.

Random ramblings from the top of my head.