Amazon CD Seller Woes

February 28, 2008 2:23 PM

I've had some problems selling CDs on Amazon. Will what I consider to be unfair buyer feedback end my ability to sell CDs there?

I've been selling my used CDs on Amazon for a couple of months and doing pretty well, but I've ran into a couple of snags recently.

First, four of the CDs I shipped this month seem to have disappeared into thin air even though I shipped them to the addresses I got from Amazon and they all had my return address. I print my address and the buyer's address (from Amazon's packing slip), and tape the addresses securely to the envelope.

I've only sold 114 CDs, so having four go missing seems a little sketchy to me, especially since one of the CDs was rare and sold for $50. I've issued full refunds for the CDs and started tracking all of my shipments. I've always sent shipping notifications and I recently started including the tracking number with a link to the tracking page on the USPS web site.

Second, one of the people left negative feedback on my seller account, which I think is unfair because (1) Amazon's expected delivery times are "4 to 14 business days after shipping (may take up to 21 business days)" and it was less than 21 business days and (2) the buyer didn't contact me first to resolve the issue even though that's what Amazon recommends. If they had contacted me I would've done what I did with the others: remind them of Amazon's expected delivery times, and give them a full refund after 21 business days. I emailed the buyer and said I thought the feedback was unfair, but didn't explicitly ask them to remove it.

I suppose I'm partially to blame because I send CDs first class mail (because it's the cheapest option), which is supposed to take 2-3 business days, and I used to say that in my shipping notification, which created an expectation for delivery sooner than Amazon's guidelines. Still, I don't think it's fair for them to have left feedback before the time that Amazon allows for delivery had passed.

No one's bought any of my CDs in the three days since the buyer left the feedback, after I'd sold 43 CDs this month.

So, I have some questions:

Do you think people aren't buying my CDs because of the negative feedback? I've only had one person leave negative feedback--most of my ratings are five out of five--but it makes a 5% negative rating because 20 buyers in all have left feedback.

Does having 4 out of 114 CDs go missing sound sketchy to you, or is it about what you'd expect?

Should I be doing something different, or do my business practices sound OK?

Should I email the buyer and ask them to remove the feedback?

I'm posting here instead of dealing with Amazon because they basically say the feedback's there unless the buyer removes it.

posted by anonymous to society & culture (12 comments total)

I'm confused how long it takes you to send out a cd...are you waiting 7 days to ship stuff? I have a hard time getting ebay stuff packaged sometimes and haven't had any problems but I definitely feel like sending a note along if something doesn't go out within 3 days or so. I think if you are doing a lot of this, you should be prepared to get stuff out within 1 or 2 days, max.
posted by sully75 at 2:33 PM on February 28

I think your business practices now sound OK, since you're no longer citing a 2-3 day delivery and are now tracking shipments.

If Amazon cites one shipping timeframe, but the actual seller cites a shorter time, I don't think it's unfair to hold the seller to that shorter time.

Although I don't buy from Amazon marketplace sellers or eBay that often, my personal rule of thumb is that I'll only buy from sellers with at least 99% positive feedback (unless it's an item that's exceedingly difficult to find) so it's certainly possible that a 95% positive rating is negatively impacting your sales.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:39 PM on February 28

I seem to recall Amazon allows its sellers to rebut negative feedback, such as with this vendor (do a page search for "Seller Response").

FWIW, I've had absolutely awful luck using USPS to ship or receive things which can be felt through the packaging, especially shape-recognizable items such as CDs/DVDs/game carts. If a box is used, my stuff arrives. If a padded or tyvek envelope is used instead, the odds are even that my package never arrives. I haven't shipped/received as many things as you have in as short of a period of time, however, so I could just be spectacularly unlucky or have a bad apple somewhere in my local PO.

I buy a lot from Amazon Marketplace and will pay a little more for vendors with 100% ratings. I will buy from someone with a few points lower only if they have had flawless subsequent ratings in the past 6 months.
posted by jamaro at 2:44 PM on February 28

I suppose I'm partially to blame because I send CDs first class mail (because it's the cheapest option)

And there's the rub. If you had any sort of tracking information, this wouldn't be an issue. At the very least, you could make a claim with the USPS and get the value of the item back. I've sold a decent amount of stuff through eBay and Amazon and I would never ship something without tracking.

It is poor form that the buyer left you negative feedback even you gave them a full refund though. Amazon might not be able to remove the feedback, but at least you could ask.
posted by Nelsormensch at 2:57 PM on February 28

I buy from Amazon Marketplace a lot. I tend to ignore feedback that says an item didn't arrive when they expected it because people just want their stuff NOW. The feedback I pay attention to says "item not as described" or "seller ignored my emails." (So I'd still be buying from you at 95% if you had what I wanted at the price I want to pay.)

If you refunded, you should have asked the seller to remove the feedback at that time. I don't think I'd be pleased with being contacted again, but at this point, you don't have anything to lose.
posted by sageleaf at 3:09 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]

I've had negative feedback on Amazon, and have still successfully found buyers. As a seller, I think it's better to let your customer think it will take 4-14 days and then have it arrive in two.
posted by drezdn at 3:24 PM on February 28

As a seller on Amazon or eBay, you should always use USPS delivery confirmation. It's the safest way for you as a seller to protect yourself. If you're tracking your packages, I assume delivery confirmation is included, but I'm not sure. I've been contacted by a business on amazon after I left them less than perfect feedback and they offered to refund half of my purchase price(a trivial amount, and not worth it to take back my opinion and possibly let someone else be disappointed) in exchange for removing the feedback. I'm not suggesting you necessarily offer them something like that, but if it's worth it to you, that's your journey. I don't think shipping times are something to leave negative feedback for, as long as the delay isn't counted in weeks. I hope you get this resolved. Best of luck.
posted by whiskey point at 3:26 PM on February 28

A simple rebuttal such as "Buyer was reminded of the shipping terms. Arrived within 21 days" would completely solve the problem in my (a potential buyer) mind.
posted by Sufi at 4:33 PM on February 28

Agree with whiskey_point - your reputation is at stake, use the tools USPS provides to protect it (and adjust your prices to allow for this if Amazon's standard shipping amounts don't cover this).

Delivery confirmation costs $0.75 - hardly a big deal.
posted by lowlife at 4:34 PM on February 28

People get pissed when they don't get any communication. If you as a shipper sent them a quick email letting them know either the item was shipped or the date it would be shipped the day you get their order, that might go a long way to smoothing any future problem over if there is a problem. When people buy stuff, they don't want to have to track you down to find out where their thing is. Their account was charged when they placed the order and reminding them of some 21 day policy is just going to tick them off even more if they don't have their stuff but have a bill with that item already charged.
posted by 45moore45 at 5:11 PM on February 28

I don't sell on Amazon a lot, but I do an awful lot of swapping, buying and selling of BPAL through LJ and the Bpal.org forums. Two things stand out:

- Always, always, ALWAYS use delivery tracking and confirmation. Always. No exceptions. Your ass is covered when you use package tracking. I will not ship a package without it.

- Communicate, communicate, communicate. If you're going to be late shipping something out, drop the buyer an email. Don't dodge "where is my package?" emails. Buyers can forgive the occasional lateness of someone who keeps the lines of communication open.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:43 PM on February 28

Nthing using delivery confirmation. I would love to say that all postal employees are squeaky clean and would not even consider taking your mail, but sadly my own experiences leave me suspicious of those missing CDs. You can also send CDs, by the way, media mail, which takes longer, but that says to everyone, "Hello! There is a CD in here!" so I don't recommend it.

As far as the buyers go, I would probably rebut the negative feedback with the simple: "Buyer did not attempt to contact seller for resolution before leaving negative feedback."
posted by misha at 8:43 PM on February 28