This is my journey as an E-commerce Consultant
Archive for February, 2012
Unpaid item case update…
0Well regardless of communication, the seller closed the unpaid cases and left two strikes against my account and this made me mad.
1. I could not leave feedback for my terrible transaction.
2. I had paid THEN been refunded and the seller was still able to leave a strike
eBay was almost letting this seller extort money out of me for a postal service that took me out of eBay’s buyer protection.
However, these were promptly removed on appeal by eBay so at least that process works like a charm.
Very upset with the seller naturally so I decided to report them for the policy breaches of trying to get people to pay outside the eBay platform and adding your email address to a mailing list to advertise their website. Things that they have been doing for about 2 years now and reported countless times by other members of the community.
I STILL can’t leave feedback which stops knee jerk vicious reactions but also means I can not mark down a seller who has just tried to extort money out of me outside the eBay platform and has been sending unsolicited email to me for the past 2 years.
So eBay is pissing off buyers with their ‘debt collection’ style emails, and bad resolution experience but also letting bad sellers who are repeat offenders trade happily on the marketplace.
WTF indeed.
It will always haunt you on the web…”I only worked there and left like a lifetime ago!”
088 days
The dark side of the interweb always creates an ever lasting record of your e-footprint.
Sometimes you work for companies that actually would harm your career to have been associated with them in the past. Regardless that you left way before they went catatonic.
I control my work history exclusively through linkedin so my association is clear (as it is always part of your CV whether you like it or not) but clear dates are shown so clients know how far removed I am from said company. Fortunately, unless you are specifically searching for my name and said company will any results show 
*phew*
However, disgruntled clients always like to name and shame on the web, something I don’t allow on this blog or in comments unless it is glowing and positive. This is hard to control, you would be surprised.
The reason I am talking about this is I have been doing competitor research as we have a new eBay design service. It’s been a while since I have personally taken a look at what our competitors are doing, normally the MD keeps up on this.
One company gets bad reviews and in one particular piece on a prominent review site a disgruntled client specifically named an employee of the company in full. Normally you get ‘bob from ABC foods is the best/worst guy ever’ but a full name is not fun.
The review consisted of claims that $1300 was lost, the customer service was bad (even though this named person works in an administrative role) and a whole host of other complaints. You would think that said person was solely responsible for the bad experience and not due to the failings of the company as a whole.
When you google said person with said company you get the correct facebook page and cyber stalking begins 
These kind of websites mostly have a naming and shaming policy so hopefully if the company notices, they can request the removal of the name.
I also love how WRONG hypernet information can be. I keep getting spam mail about getting a pension as 192.com lists my age guide as over 50! The electoral role got it wrong the once and obviously our council sells on its constituents information to mailing lists etc including age data so we can get junk through the post.
I am err…still 21 right?
eBays Unpaid Item Process and a Seller Dispute
I buy a lot from Japan on eBay. A lot.
However, one of my favourite eBay sellers ‘sold’ his eBay account to another and things have gone bad to worse.
The situation:
I bought two obi from said seller, each with a shipping of $24. As this seller inflates its shipping weights dramatically (previously I bought an item that cost them $4 in shipping but they charged me $17….that’s ANOTHER issue I won’t go into!) I went ahead and paid for both items adding on $24 for SAL shipping each item which takes around 2 weeks.
They refund me.
Huh?
Now they are asking for $49 ($1 more) for combined shipping via sea mail which takes 3 months. 3 months is WAY outside feedback or seller protection on eBay and with Paypal. If I want to pay $89 they will use a quicker shipping service….(er..so not worth it mate)
So, basically I am not paying. So they have opened and unpaid item case.
This is actually the first time I have been on the receiving end on an unpaid item case in about 14 year of eBaying…so when did eBay start speaking customers like this?
We have opened an unpaid item case for 6602# Japanese KIMONO SILK / VINTAGE WEDDING MARU OBI / WOVEN SEIGAIHA.
If payment isn’t received by 21-Feb-12, the seller may withdraw from the contract and you would no longer be entitled to receive this item. Additionally, an unpaid item may be recorded on your account, which could lead to your account being suspended.
It’s like a credit agency threatening to take you to court. They use the same language. Looking at http://www.cccs.co.uk/ a debt collection agency would typically say ‘We may take action if you fail to PAY THE FULL AMOUNT YOU OWE WITHIN SEVEN DAYS.’
I know sellers want to be tough on unpaid buyers but most would agree that this threatening language is a bit much if out of the sellers control (and the buyer will just neg you out of spite most of the time, I kinda felt like doing it too when I read it but I know the language is from eBay)
Most sellers I know would like to forget unpaid buyers and not get into nasty disputes as the negative feedback and bad DSR’s is crippling to an eBay business and eBay don’t ever do anything to control THAT part of the transaction.
I won’t pay of course, as I already did. The seller has lost a valuable buyer (used to spend up too $200 per month with said seller) and many other buyers in my circle who do the same.
My Time in Ishinomaki-Shi – Entering the MAD house
91 days
On the Saturday I arrived too late to go out with the volunteers so I familiarised myself with the Its not just mud ‘bubble wrap chic’ house that I would be staying in for 5 days.
I had my first experience of an onsen (a temporary onsen which equated to a large paddling pool in a shed). It was free, spine tinglingly hot and well you had to get neekid in front of people! (same sex of course)
As it was the weekend there were lots of volunteers and remembering names was difficult, or in most cases just not done! A fantastic spread was put on my the INJM chefs as always. As a general rule a donation of 500y per night is appreciated in the INJM house to pay for food and heating. Also helping with the chores. I find it strange being not of domesticated blood, what to actually volunteer to do round the INJM house. However, washing up after dinner is a good staple, and you will be asked if further help is needed.
Sunday we traveled out to Ayukawa. The March 11 tsunami that slammed into Japan’s northeast coast took most of Ayukawa with it, destroying 80 percent of houses and leaving 400 of its 1,400 residents unaccounted for. Above where we where working on debris clearance there was a combini (like a co-op) with help in English and kanji still on the carpark. You just can’t imagine.
We worked with around 200 volunteers that day
Looking out towards the sea
This used to be homes.
and of course we all need to eat
The other team that went out from the house cleaned around a huge effigy of a can of whale meat that was displaced during the tsunami. It is being left in place as a reminder for the people of Ishinomaki.
I help the guys from Its not just mud maintain their website but they are also looking for sponsorship if any company wants to add to their corporate social responsibly, especially if you have a client base in Japan. They also help regenerate business in the area.
Get in touch!
Shameless self promotion – Widshop eBay Design Examples!
91 days
Mathias and I were on the promotion trail on Wednesday speaking to our key partners about Widshops. So I thought I would share two new examples of the Widshop product from two different design perspectives.
Even though widshop is designed and developed around a set frame designs can still look very different.
My first example is:
Click image to see the large version
This is a clean professional design within our standard frame and my current favourite:
Click image to see the large version
…which is the other end of the spectrum design wise but still around the same framework.
You don’t need to have ‘just three’ banners on the homepage, it can be one large image or a series of smaller banners (we don’t recommend more than 6 as they will get a bit too small)
The side navigation is driven in real time by the attributes you use to list to ebay so you never have empty results.
These are the live stores:
http://stores.ebay.de/ZENDAGO
http://stores.ebay.at/toyworld24
Included in the standard package is:
- Adaptable homepage
- Dynamic search
- Adaptable product view
- Integration of custom pages
- Category filter navigation
- Cross-selling galleries
- Full text search
- Social Bookmarks
- eBay integration
and this is a eBay certified application which is very important
More info and examples are on the website http://www.widshop.com
People always ask me the difference and eBay design makes, and a good one at that and I always say that you can make up loads of reasons why an eBay design such as this is good. But our clients see a significant uplift in sales. That is what it is all about in the end, return on investment.
Widshops with a bit of tweaking can also be used on your facebook page….but this is a secret at the moment
