posted on September 18, 2002 10:58:21 AM new
Just got an email stating that starting soon, they will allow buyers to leave feedback on canceled or unconfirmed transactions.
My response? Guess it does not matter. I've always confirmed, but I do sometimes cancel a transaction if I discover a problem with the item when packing the order. If someone wants to leave me a negative because of that, then so be it. I am glad that I have different half and ebay accounts, though since they went to a ebay type system, I have noticed that my feedback is MUCH better than before, when the buyer could leave what they wanted without retaliation (I have received something like 180 positives, 1 neutral, 0 negatives) though very few people actually leave feedback.
posted on September 18, 2002 12:35:41 PM new
It's the big sellers like abesbooks that constantly cancel orders because the books are also located on a dozen other sites and often are gone when a buyer selects them at Half. Also many sellers are very sloppy with the managemment of their goods. Half may of been getting a bunch of complaints from buyers to trigger the new policy.
posted on September 18, 2002 01:38:46 PM new
I agree about the feedback getting better since the eBay system took over. I had positively awful feedback on my Half.com account before. People could say anything they wanted with no fear at all. I'd guess I had nearly 10% bad feedback out of around 500 total feedbacks.
I've got nothing but positivies since the new system went into effect. Not a single neg.
And the day I was finally able to respond (and retaliate) to my old bad feedbacks on Half was one of the happiest days I've had in a LOOONG time.
However, I don't think sellers should take ALL the blame for selling items not in stock. Comared to other sites, Half's inventory is MUCH harder to manage.
posted on September 18, 2002 06:05:34 PM new
I had to cancel three orders because they were three of the first books I put on half.com, and at the time I did not notice that though the ISBN matched perfectly, my edition was soft cover and not hard cover - that half.com said the ISBNs in question were hard cover. When I saw the discrepancy I contacted the customers, explained the problem, and they requested I cancel the order. I learned to say in my Remarks for each book listing to state hard cover or paperback, but the earliest listings don't have my comments as to type.
My situation seems like an honest mistake to me, not like I listed the books on half.com then sold them elsewhere. And part of the problem is due to half.com, failing to recognize that publishers put the same ISBN on hard covers and paperbacks when published simultaneously.
I can see other scenarios, perhaps when I take the book down from the shelf I tear the dust jacket or I drop the book and dent the edge. Things happen, and it doesn't seem right to get penalized for making contact with the customer about the new information as to the condition of the book, have the customer request to cancel the order, and potentially invite a negative.
As to the ISBN discrepancies that infuriate me, I can tell you that I have emailed customer service about the discrepancies and their response is I am wrong because other data bases list the ISBN the same as they do. Here I am, holding a hard cover book by Terry Pratchett in my hands, the ISBN clearly printed on an inside page, but half.com says the book is paperback, then tell me I am wrong when I send them an inquiry. Either the data bases are incorrect or the publishers put the same ISBN on hard cover and paperback. The least customer service could do is ask for photos from me so that I could show them all the books I have that are the opposite of what they have listed.
[ edited by hotcupoftea on Sep 18, 2002 06:09 PM ]
posted on September 18, 2002 08:04:23 PM new
I may pull my stuff from Half soon. I got my first ever "Buyer is not happy with purchase" letter from Half a week ago. The book was a hardback but the description was for a softback. I used the 'let the buyer keep the book and bill me for the book' option. Afterwards, I got curious about the buyer and checked her feedback and saw a ( 3 ) rating a NARU notation. I bet the NARU was scaming sellers. It isn't worth it to have unethical buyers getting their items for free, and there are more and more of them everyday.
posted on September 18, 2002 08:37:12 PM new
tooltimes,
Regarding your transaction that went sour, did you indicate in the Remarks field that the book was a hard cover?
I ask because it would be useful information for all of us to know if a buyer can rescind a purchase even if the seller identified it correctly, though the half.com listing shows the opposite type of book.
Is there anything you would do on that transaction differently with the knowledge you possess now?
That is why I canceled my three sales, I had not noted the discrepancy in the Remarks area, but saw the difference before confirming the purchases from the buyers. However, I will be quite concerned if you made note of the difference and the sale was still rescinded, means that listing a book that way is not a viable solution for any of us.
[ edited by hotcupoftea on Sep 18, 2002 08:39 PM ]
posted on September 18, 2002 10:07:21 PM new
I just rechecked and I didn't state which cover. The buyers feedback was 2 positives from Half and no negatives. The feedbacks were from Half orders. You wanna bet the Half sellers left a good feedback and then she requested her money back from half ( I didn't leave her feedback ) She registered 8/26 and got the 2 feedbacks within the next two weeks. My order was on the first day she registered. Maybe she thought it was Free.com? She's still NARUed and I can't leave her a feedback but I put her on my blocked user list in case she gets reinstated.
posted on September 18, 2002 11:01:52 PM new
Hotcupoftea--How do you contact your customers on Half.com - by e-mail? Where do you link to that? I've never known how to do it. ~Adele
posted on September 18, 2002 11:34:29 PM new
Hi roadsmith,
I write to half.com customer service to gripe about this and that quite often, but in a nice way. Customer service told me how to contact the buyer before confirming or canceling a sales order; indeed customer service advised me that this is the best approach to use when there is a discrepancy with the order.
1. On the sales order email from half.com, click on the link to confirm the sale, which brings up the web page with the sales status.
2. On that page, do not click to confirm or cancel at this time. Towards the top of the page is the buyer's ebay/half.com id.
3. Copy and paste the buyer's id, click over into ebay, plug the id in somewhere, like to get feedback or bidding history
4. Up pops a page with the buyer's ebay id, click on the id and
5. Up pops send an eBay message to that id. Fill out the form, change the title to something like Half.com Sale "Name of Book Title" and send the buyer a message explaining the details of what is wrong with the order.
So far this method is working for me, and all of the buyers communicated back to me promptly and politely.
posted on September 19, 2002 10:44:54 PM new
Yes, thanks, hotcupoftea! I appreciate this very much. ~Adele
Edited to add: I sold another book this morning and followed your instructions, and it worked. Only thing I'd add is when I "click on the link to confirm the sale" I'm actually clicking on the link to confirm "only selected items", which then takes me to the rest of the information as you stated. I appreciate your help on this. A.
[ edited by Roadsmith on Sep 23, 2002 10:23 AM ]
