Marketplace Etiquette

You should see how I pack some of my things. For a pair of hands I recently sent out they were wrapped in a blue cloth, zip locked, wrapped in bubble wrap, then wrapped in packing foam then put into a bubble mailed also linned with foam.

As for shipping, usually if someone pays me, I will try to get the shipment out the same day (if they payed early enough) otherwise it's usually the next day. And if I can't ship when I tell them I would, I let them know.

It takes less then 30 seconds to update someone with the status of their package. No one is too busy for that, heck go to bed 1 minute late if you have -absolutely- no time. (There are of course exceptions, but generally "being buzy" is a poor, lazy excuse.)

 

I know this has been mentioned before, but as a seller it would be nice to NOT pay full price for something that's DAMAGED.

I won't be too specific but I recived a wig, and it was giving me a hard time. I was new and didn't realize that it was indeed damaged. I was able to repair it (flat irons rock), but it would've been nice to have been informed of the damage. Anyway, I had paid full price and /that's/ what bugs me. It doesn't matter that I was able to repair it.

I'm not gonna buy a shirt for $50, get a stain on it and then try to sell it for what I paid. It's not fair to the buyer. Even if the stain could come out, I should take it out first if I expect someone to pay me that $50.

 

I've seen a seller post a price, saying they bought it for that price, then I enquired about buying it, and said it was a really good deal since they normally go for suchandsuch. They never answered me and raised the price $300, and still stated in the selling thread that they had bought it for that price. ^_~

What people do is their own business as its not on us to complain about prices that people set, but even if I would have paid the new price, I wasn't going to buy it from that seller anymore.

 

LOL, you sound like me! I ALWAYS try to ship the same day or the next. Saturdays generally aren't good days for me to ship, due to me sleeping in, I wake at 4:30am Weekdays, so I do like to sleep!, but I do ship as soon as possible.

 

In the marketplace when you inquire about a doll or doll clothes and the person doesn email mail or pm you ( or reads your pm but ignores it) or post new info, but you have seen they have been on and its been over a week, do you just forget that you want to buy that item from them and look for another seller or..?

I am just curious about that. I usually forget it after a week because I think that seller might just be flakey and that reflects on how they will be with the shipping of any items but it seems like this is something fairly common ( at least this seems to happen to me alot , not just here

 

If i really want an item, I usually pm them again and ask if it's been sold or post in their thread.

 

I'd go looking for another seller with the same thing, or similar.

 

Personally, I'd also look for another seller. :/

 

well, sometimes the pm may have gotten eaten, or they just simply forgot. it's always good to post on their thread that you pm'ed them regarding an item and pm them. ^^

 

I PM them and post in the thread. If I want it, I want it, and I'll do something to get it if it's right in my face. I forget about my own sale threads if someone doesn't bump it or something ^^;;

 

Absolutely. I had a similar experience where I, frankly, was bitten for being too nice. I was the only bid on a doll, but because I came in late and it was around a holiday time, and I couldn't pay what I felt the buyer should get, I told the buyer that if they wanted to extend the auction for "a few days", that'd be OK. A week later, I was still the only bid, and without so much as a PM warning me, they announced that my bid wasn't high enough, so they were taking it to eBay. Um, if they had to make a certain amount to be worth selling the doll, they should have set that as the opening bid. They also weren't happy when I told them good luck, but I couldn't leave my bid hanging out as "backup" for another 10 days waiting to see if someone else bid or not.
In the end, they came out behind. Someone else bought it for the price I was going to pay, only then they were out eBay fees and I won't do business with them anymore.

I think a lot of it comes down to integrity. Be honest, be upfront, be communicative, and it'll take you pretty darn far in the marketplace.

 

I've only had a couple of transactions here, but have had many good (and some bad) on other doll boards ...

Seller in sales post spell out:
- payment methods accepted, if funds are needed in a timely manner and potential buyer asks for extra time, tell them up front whether that will work for you and how much time you can wait
- if price is firm or whether you will accept OBOs (not mandatory, but nice when selling higher priced items especially)
- smoking or non-smoking home (not just room, I can still smell it if an item is from a non-smoking room in a smoking home!) & presence of pets, doesn't matter if they get near the dolls or not, that hair goes everywhere, I know, I have German Shedders!
- disclose any and all flaws ... just because you bought from someone else and never put it on your doll is not an excuse for not seeing a gaping hole in armpit of shirt
- check sales threads for posts & check PMs for messages regularly and answer promptly
- ship PROMPTLY! If you can only go to the post office one day a week say it in your sales post. Shipping within 48 hours of receiving funds is best, if you're going to be telling buyers "I'll get to it sometimes next week" or something equally ridiculous be prepared to give full refunds and not be disgruntled about it.

Buyer should:
- check messages regularly for reply from seller, not expect item to be on hold for you still 24 hrs+ after your first missive, especially if you asked for a discount
- pay promptly. If you've agreed to a certain time period to pay for an item and have to go over that do not be disgruntled if seller says "sorry, need $ for ____ and someone else is willing to pay now if our deal fell through." Fact of the matter is that the buyer asking for more time is already breaking the agreed upon "contract." This happens, move on.

Both:
- COMMUNICATE, especially when there are delays in payment/shipping, most people ARE willing to work nicely with each other.
- leave honest feedback; if there was a delay of just a day or two with shipping/paying AND the seller/buyer communicated that quickly that is part of GOOD feedback.

 

For example: Say you are auctioning an outfit and you have your doll modeling it. But people kept asking about the doll instead and not the clothes you are trying to tell. Do you keep answering questions about the doll (which has nothing to do with what you are trying to sell and does not help your sale), Or do you tell them you only answer questions related to the item at sale and nothing else? I think the latter is pretty reasonable. But people might find a respone like that rude. What do you think?

I've always wondered this.

*or should this go in the debate section O_O?

 

I think you can answer questions about your doll, but get right to the main topic again. This without be thought of as rude.
Leading the conversation right on track I think, like focusing on the clothes, kinda sneaking it into the conversation again! ^__^
Oki now the seller in me is talking...damn minutes before going to work

 

Well, I would be flattered and only too happy to talk about my doll. ;-) But that's me!

I guess it can be annoying if you're a seller and you don't have time to always be answering unrelated questions. Maybe you can put some information about your doll in the auction for people to read instead of contacting you to ask?

 

Hmm for me...

If I was selling something, I can understand if someone wants to know the model. I would probably be flattered, but also bothered that it's not really about my sale. However, there's nothing I can really do to change the mind of the seller if they don't really want to buy my outfit, so why not just answer the question nicely? Being nice may not help the auction, being rude will probably not help it either... so in the end I just choose to be nice. I won't gain either way, so might as well share the love.

Personally, if a seller gave me any sort of rude answer, I would not ever buy from that seller again. I am not saying whether your answer is rude or not, cuz I think that depends on the person who reads your answer - how they take it is on an individual basis. Some people will feel offended, some people wont.

 

what the heck =3= doa lag? I only hit submit once...