I recently received an order for 2 comics, both at cover price. I have a few shipping options, but I do give FREE Shipping at $25.00. If you want Insurance on the FREE Shipping, I have a $2.95 option. I insure ALL orders over $50.00 at no charge.

That being said, he chose the 'FREE Shipping with insurance', $ 2.95 the option he did not qualify for, but I sent it anyway, but I did ship it Media Mail, 1 lb. rate. It was well packed and left within 1 day.

Much to my surprise, I was left a Villain rating, for being 'very very very....late'.

He NEVER contacted me first, nor did he ask any questions or inquire about this 'lateness'.

I have a history of shipping FAST, and except for one Mortal rating, which never got removed even after the customer asked for it to be done, I carry a flawless record.

I'm contacting the buyer after I post this.

I would have contacted him before I shipped to explain to him he did not qualify for the free shipping and ask him to read the shipping options again. Who knows, he may have bought more to get to the $25.00 threshold.

True I could have, but in the past I have even cancelled orders, and I never hear from the buyer again. People can be fickle.

I also just searched for him in the 'member locator', and he is not there... Seems weird.

He is there just looked. He is a very new member just joined this month

Yeah, strange. Must be a 'cut n' paste' issue... hope this is not a 'hit and run' thang...

--Justin

I see you haven't left feedback yet. When you do make sure you mention communication. It works both ways.

Thx Pat I will but I sent him an email first since I discovered he is new.

His feedback is wrong as well, since he has 9 days listed as 2.5 weeks.

I guess this goes to the argument that buyers should be compelled to contact the seller, if they have a dispute before they are allowed to leave feedback.

I would hate to have to get rid of Media Mail shipping because of 1 bad buyer, since my postmaster has given me the 'ok' to ship comics, as long as the ads inside are not the current released issue. Historically, I have just shipped orders for newer comics the cheapest way and had no problems, but use First Class and Priority where needed.

-J

welcome to the club
dont let it get you down

Thanks, Don!

I saw this kind of stuff a lot on eBay and I hope this doesn't start catching on here. This just reinforces my belief that we need an approval/arbitration system when a buyer or seller want to leave a villain rating. It's like being found guilty of a crime without knowing what you did and without a trial....just not fair.

I had a similar incident happen to me and he left me a villain, but I was lucky enough that he felt remorseful for leaving me a villain and asked to have to changed.

Good posts guys. My rule of thumb is better safe than sorry. If the customer didn't qualify for free shipping, let them know that they need to repurchase and have the communication established firmly with the customer when he buys again. The problem is you set up an expectation to a new customer without realizing it, even though you were being the nice guy.

You totally did a good deed, but you kinda left yourself open to the backstab. If he didn't qualify, he didn't qualify. Refund the money, and if he wants the items bad enough, he'll either purchase again, or send you the difference post haste for the shipping of the books.

This experience won't change the way I do business. I'm a 'nice-guy' seller, and I won't be deterred from that because of some irresponsible 'hit & run' buyer, who will never be seen from again on CCL.

It would be nice if CCL would require the communication from the buyer before leaving such a rating, but fear that it will drive buyers from the site drives the truck here.

If CCL wants it's sellers to be powerless in this way, so be it. It sure will look nice for someone new to come to the site and see 'undeserved villain ratings' on so many sellers. I'm sure that builds consumer confidence!

I put this post out in the buyer forum for all to see.

I hope cooler head will prevail, but I don't hold much hope after the in-fighting and other dealing I've seen on this site from so-called 'professionals'

In closing, I see that IMO CCL needs to step out of it's 'walled garden' and look at how they are viewed by the rest of the comics community. Just as we all complained about how eBay did not pony up and care about it's sellers, they are finally doing it because so many of them left.

Let us hope that CCL does not wait as long as they did, as some comic buyers and sellers will NEVER go back to eBay because of their bad experience there, so too could it happen here.

There's the rub. Define what's deserved and what isn't? It's really hard to do. I have a single Mortal rating for my store and it was because the buyer "didn't like" how I taped his books together. I supposed he would have been happier with the bouncing around in the box getting corner dents...

I certainly don't feel I deserved it but he was already set on what feedback he wanted to leave and I doubt anything I could have said would have changed his mind (short of giving them to him for free which I won't do).

The black and white cases are easy but things like what you just went through and my case are a little harder to arbitrate because it's a gray area. And blocking buyers won't help here either because the feedback has already been left.

What are your suggestions?

I don't think there's anything you can do. I mean, those ratings aren't supposed to be objective. In customer service, perception is reality, and whether it's a consumer survey or a feedback rating, as long as it's not fraudulent or defamatory, it's fair. That's not always fair to the seller, but overall, it's fair. On the other side of that, you can pretty much always buy good rating from a customer. It's not objective.

I pretty much agree with what Jim said on this. What rating a seller deserves is just a matter of each individual's point of view. As an experienced and reasonable buyer, I would look at your rating and see that your combined 'Mortal' and 'Villain' equal less than 1% of your total score and determine that they were probably unjust. Unfortunately, a few buyers out there are irrational and jump the gun on passing judgement before the seller has a chance to resolve whatever issues the buyer feels are causing them problems.



Personally, I think a short list of questions/criteria should pop up if somebody tries to leave a 'Villain' rating, asking the customer if they tried to resolve the issue with the seller first. If they say they tried to resolve them, but the seller was unresponsive or uncooperative, the allow them to leave a bad rating.

I'm not looking to change it... not at this point anyway.

Currently if a buyer is allowed to leave ANY feedback he likes, because he had a hard day at work, or is constipated, or broke up with his girlfriend that day... is THAT what CCL is attempting to reflect?

Please say no!

Maybe when online shopping was the 'wild west' of retailing, but I thought we were shooting much higher than that.

It would not be hard for a competing site do damage or at least tarnish the rep of top sellers here, with just a handful of 'buyers'. Not only would buyers not want to purchase from them, but the site overall would begin to look like it is chock full of bad retailing.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but a neutral arbitration/approval process for any and all Villain ratings could be a solution. While people will leave a rating in the heat of the moment, having to explain to an admin (or an arbitrator) why they're leaving a villain and then letting the seller defend his side could keep them from being so rash. There's an electronic "paper" trail here and CCL can track the messages sent by anyone and that can be used to prove or defend a rating.

As for filling out a quick form during a rating, people can be very impatient when they're unhappy. If a buyer leaves a message for a seller at 2p and doesn't hear back by 4p, does the seller deserve a Villain? Not letting the sellers defend themselves is what eBay did and we see what happened there.

Both sides need protection, but not at the cost of either one. Without buyers or sellers, this site becomes an inventory program...nothing else.

+1.1