She Thrifts

Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

Avoiding Negative Feedback

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Overall I think I do a really great job providing good customer service to my eBay buyers.  With very few exceptions I only sell items that are new or in nearly new condition, I package items neatly (usually wrapped in tissue, with a packing slip that I write Thanks! 🙂 across), I always ship within one business day, I send a friendly e-mail to the buyer after the item has been dropped off at the PO to let them know the item is on its way.  I know I add in extra steps that aren’t necessary, and they take time, but I like providing that level of service.  And in return my buyers are generally very kind, friendly, gracious, and appreciative.

But every once in awhile, I do make a mistake.  It happens, it sucks.  Usually this takes the form of pulling out a clothing item I have just sold, only to find that it has a flaw.  Like at the end of last week.  I sold a beautiful cashmere sweater, and when I was packaging it up I noticed it had a small hole on the back.  How I could have missed it I have no idea, because I always try to be sooo careful with cashmere sweaters, looking for flaws.  And yet, there it was.

So, what would you do?  Cancel the sale?  E-mail the buyer to let them know, and ask if they still want it?  Send it anyway, and hope they don’t notice?  Or?

Here’s what I did.  I packaged up the sweater, and mailed it.  Then when I went to send the “your package has shipped” e-mail, I sent this instead:

Good morning,

I wanted to let you know that I dropped your package off at the Post Office yesterday (Thurs) morning. When I was packaging up the sweater I noticed a really small hole on the back. It’s not very noticeable, but it is there. The sweater is beautiful, and I hope that you are still able to wear it and get enjoyment out of it. But, I am SUPER picky about what I list on eBay, and I would never have listed this if I saw the hole earlier. I am going to refund your money in just a couple minutes. But I’m not canceling the order, the sweater is already on its way. I hope you still love it!

If you have any questions or concerns about this transaction please let me know.

Best,

Kari

Is it overkill?  Maybe?  Does it save me from getting the occasional negative feedback because I’ve owned up to an honest mistake, and tried to make it right?  It’s certainly possible.

And in addition to saving myself from negative feedback, I also simply want to give the buyer a positive eBay buying experience.  While the buyer probably won’t come back and buy from me again, I have hopefully spun my negative into enough of a positive that the buyer won’t be turned off from buying on eBay in the future.  We’re all in this eBay thing together, and hopefully the good, responsible sellers outnumber the crummy ones.

This particular situation where I’ve missed a flaw on an item that has sold probably only comes up a couple times a year, and this is how I have generally chosen to deal with it.  About a year ago I sold a NWT dress, only to realize that it somehow had a stain on the front.  I had purchased several of the same dress at the same time, and obviously hadn’t looked over every single one closely enough, and of course the one with the stain was the only one I had left.  I shipped the dress, refunded, and sent an e-mail of apology/explanation.  I had looked up the buyer’s feedback history, and she left negative feedback a LOT.  But that time?  Not only did she leave me positive feedback, but she sent my money back to me(!), with a note saying she washed the dress and the stain “mostly” came out.  So that scenario turned out much better than I could have hoped.

And the cashmere sweater I sent out last week?  Here’s the feedback I got today:

Positive feedback rating Best seller on eBay, fast shipping, great communication with seller.

Of course there are no guaranties, but when buyers know we are trying to do our best, they appreciate it and often respond accordingly.

 

3.1 miles. It’s a small world after all!

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I think I feel the need to report it every time this happens, which is silly.  I live in a town of 150K+ people, so two or three times a year I sell something on eBay to someone who lives in the same town as me.  Last night I was shipping items and up popped an address in my town.  Out of curiosity I looked it up, and it is 3.1 miles from where I live.  A tad further away than the Post Office it will be dropped off at, but not by much.  Still curious (and at the risk of sounding like a stalker) I put the buyer’s name in FB and, whaddya know, we have a couple FB friends in common.  It’s a small, small world.

New Quarter, New eBay Coupon!

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Should I confess that I only used last quarter’s coupon yesterday?  And that I ridiculously missed out on the first one altogether due to procrastination?  Well, it’s not happening this time!  I am looking forward to using my new coupon.

Yesterday I ordered (with Q3’s coupon) 100 8.5×10.75 air mailers and 25 12x10x8 boxes for a grand total of $49.97 (aka, free!).

What have you ordered in the past?  What are you planning to order this time?  I’d love to hear what works well, and what not so great.  I’ve heard, for example, that the tape isn’t the best.  True?

“Free” shipping supplies, hooray!  And Q4, hooray hooray! Bring on the busy season!

Post Office Drama (entirely of my own making)

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So, last Saturday I had a bit of Post Office drama.  And I did it entirely to myself.  Uggggghh.

It was a busy day (youngest had basketball, oldest had a cub scout service project), so it was afternoon by the time we were back home and I got around to packaging my sales up for the day.  (I like to ship every day – including Saturdays and Sundays!  Shipping is my least favorite part, and I get cranky about it if I get too far behind.)  I had quite a few sales to package up, and the last pick-up time at my Post Office on Saturdays is 3:45 p.m.   I got everything packaged up, the last sale being from Amazon (merchant fulfilled, something I had listed long ago), and headed to the PO, getting there right at 3:45.   So far, so good.

When we got back home I went back to my computer to respond to a couple Best Offers that I had received but hadn’t had time to look over.  My Amazon seller’s account was still up on my screen, and I noticed it said that I had one item that still needed to be shipped.  That made me pause.  How strange.  Was it possible I had sold something else on Amazon?  Ha, if only.

I looked at the screen some more (I rarely ship from Amazon, and am not very familiar with the layout), and could tell that it was saying that I had not yet shipped the package that I had JUST dropped off at the PO!  How could that be?  And then I realized . . . uh oh . . . dang.it.anyway!  There are two buttons that I could select when getting ready to print a shipping label.  The one on the bottom of the screen that says something like “confirm and purchase shipping” and one on the top that says something like “print test label”.   Wanna guess which one I chose?  Yeah, not the right one.

So of course I was immediately worried.  What will happen? My package doesn’t have actual shipping on it!  What should I do?  The package has already been dropped off at the PO!  Argh.

I pulled up local PO phone numbers on my computer, and every PO in my town listed a local phone number EXCEPT the one I use, which only listed a 1-800 #.  Why???

Feeling a bit desperate I printed out the correct shipping label, loaded my boys back into our car, and head back to the PO.  I could see employees moving around in the back, even though our PO isn’t open to the public on Saturdays.  I banged on the door to their work area several times.  No response.  I tried looking up the local phone number for the PO again.  For some reason on my phone it came right up, so I called!  I was in in the lobby of the Post Office, and could hear the phone ringing on their end in the back somewhere.  Someone answered!  Hooray!  I explained that I had mailed a package and it had the wrong label on it, and the employee said he would be right out.  Double hooray!

The worker came out and opened up the drop bin.  There was only one package in it, and he just handed it to me.  This was a bit disturbing, because it wasn’t my package.  His willingness to assume that it was mine and just hand it over was disconcerting.  But not my focus right now, so I didn’t really dwell on it.  I explained that I dropped off my package earlier right at the final pick-up time, about printing the test label, blah blah blah, he knew just the package I was talking about because he had already set it aside to return to sender.  He got it for me, I took off the test label, put on the real label, and handed it back to the postal worker.  An hour wasted, but other than that all I felt was success!  Problem solved, and I didn’t have to dwell on it the next few days, wondering where oh where the package might be.

Anybody else have any eBay or PO drama that’s come about totally of their own accord?  I could use a chuckle.  (Insert face/palm here!)

‘Tis the season . . . to avoid the Post Office!

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‘Tis the season . . . that I want to avoid the Post Office at all costs.  It’s not too far out of my way, so on a normal day I stop by the Post Office once to drop off packages, usually around 3:15 after picking my oldest up from school.  This gives me an hour of leeway (weekday last call for packages is 4:15 p.m.), and also allows me to get anything purchased in the morning ready and shipped out the same day, which buyers love. 

BUT.

Ugh.  

The Post Office in December is no joke, and it’s already started.  On many December days I *try* to pull into the PO parking lot, but traffic is backed up out of the parking lot and into the road because cars are lined up waiting for a parking space in the too-small lot.  And I not only have to contend with finding parking, all the other customers, and the potentially bulky packages I am transporting, but also have both of my boys in tow. 

So, the obvious answer is ——-> have the PO pick up my packages!

Right?

But.  In the summer it’s stinkin’ hot, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving packages out in the heat.  And right now it’s either (literally) freezing cold, or raining buckets.  So leaving packages outside for pick-up doesn’t seem like an option.

Do you use carrier pick-up?  What do you do?  Keep your packages inside and have the postal person ring your bell?  (I’ve done that a few times and it’s worked okay, but I feel that I hover by the front door afraid I will miss them, and am not as productive with my day as I normally would be.)

Or?  If you have a system you use that works well for you I’d love to hear about it!

Question: What kind of packing tape do you prefer?

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I’ve almost run out of packing tape!  Not good in this line of work.  It’s been ages since I’ve even thought about it because I had my favorite Scotch packing tape (as shown above) on “Subscribe & Save” via Amazon, and I would automatically get a box of tape shipped to me each month.  Easy peasy.  I love the Scotch packing tape because it’s nice and thick, the smaller rolls are easy to use and don’t get all tangled up on themselves.  But, the price has been inching up, so I’ve skipped my last two shipments, and the small surplus I had stored up is gone.  I thought I’d take an informal survey and find out what brands other people like.  Maybe it’s time for me to switch things up.  I’ve tried a few other brands (including Duck and the generic Office Depot brands) but they seem thinner and more cheaply made, which makes them more difficult to use, and the extra aggravation isn’t worth the amount saved. 
Please share! 
What is your favorite packing tape? 
What’s your “buy” price? 
And where do you find it? 
Many thanks!
And Happy Halloween!
 

Quick Tip ~ Maximizing Padded Flat Rate Envelopes

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Hopefully everyone already has a stack of the padded flat rate envelopes amongst their shipping supplies.  (If you don’t, take a minute and order some HERE.  They’re sooo handy!)  As the name implies, anything you can get into this envelope ships for one flat rate, up to 70 pounds, as long as you have not altered the envelope.  Last year I wrote a post about Capri Sun boxes fitting perfectly into the padded flat rate envelopes (you can read that post HERE).  That was a great discovery, and I have shipped a bunch of items that way.  More recently I have been buying most of my supplies to keep up with shipping demands, and I bought several different sizes of small boxes.  (Is it just me, or is it always the small boxes you can’t get enough of?)  

 
One day I was prepping a heavy-ish item that needed to be shipped in a box and thought I should try to see if I could get it into a padded flat rate envelope.  And whaddya know?  Another perfect fit!  The box is 9x6x3.  I buy them from Amazon, and they end up costing about a quarter each. (I haven’t done any shopping around, so it’s possible they could be found cheaper elsewhere.)  I’ve gone through several orders of these boxes – they can be a lifesaver!

UPDATE:  An (affiliate) link to the boxes I have bought in the past can be found below.  As I type, the price for 25 boxes is over $12. The last time I bought some (in March) the price was under $7, so it might be worth waiting a beat to see if the price drops back down. 

Does anybody buy air pillows?

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I am looking for a recommendation as to where to buy them.  I’ve looked a few places online and they seem SO expensive!  As sales increase I can no longer really rely on my random mix of recycled packaging supplies, and I am now moving towards buying most of my supplies.  I love using the air pillows, but jeez, they aren’t cheap!

Post Office ♥♥♥LOVE♥♥♥

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THIS IS ME.

Snow makes me grumpy, which makes me feel like a scrooge, but there it is.  Our new house is at the top of a hill.  I hate driving in snow and avoid it at all costs.  And, I am a huge worrier, and have a husband with a 45-minute commute on a good day.  Bah-humbug.

We’ve had several inches accumulate since yesterday morning, which is rare for the PNW.  (We don’t have a fleet of snow plows or anything fancy like that here.)  Thankfully we all knew it was coming and school was canceled yesterday even though no snow was sticking by the time school would have started.  I pulled my kids out of bed at the normal early hour and made a quick dash to the PO and grocery store (along with the rest of our town – I’ve never seen it that busy before 8 a.m.!)  My husband made it to work yesterday morning and stayed in a hotel near where he works last night, and is doing the same tonight, which is kind of sad but at the same time a HUGE relief.  (Worry, worry, worry.)

So, last night I was packaging up my eBay sales from the day, and wondering how in the heck I was going to actually get them mailed.  I scheduled a carrier pick-up and hoped for the best because there was no way in heck I was going to take my kids and venture out on the roads.  Today, a couple hours before our normal PO delivery I planted myself in front of our big window that faces the street, determined that if our PO delivery gal did make it up our hill, that I would be sure not to miss her.  And I watched more and more and more snow fall.  But you know what?  She just came!!  I saw her coming and ran out as she pulled into our driveway.  

PO gal:  Thanks for bringing the packages out!

Me.  Thank YOU for coming!!  ♥♥♥

PO gal: I actually stopped by and honked yesterday just in case you had anything.

Me:  You did? Wow – thanks!  Since I hadn’t scheduled a pick-up I made a PO run first thing before the snow started sticking.

Our PO gal could not be nicer.  She even gave me one of their package container/crate things to make our future swaps easier.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥