Following on from my (whiny) post about rude customers, how would YOU deal with customers who are rude or who make unreasonable demands?

They only come from Ebay, of course (I seem to think they expect the universe), and:

1. One customer threatened to give me negative feedback because I hadn't replied to her emails (that came through as Ebay questions which I thought I'd answered. She gave me a bunch of abuse about it. I can't win now, either I deal with her on her terms (she wants a bulk discount on items) or she gives me negative feedback.

2. Another guy demanded his money back 2 days after the item was posted, stating it hadn't arrived. I asked him to wait 10 working days, and every day, he posts on PayPal / Ebay moaning about my 'bad' attitude and poor customer service. Of course, that item will never 'arrive' and despite PayPal cancelling his refund request, he is already talking about legal proceedings...

There's a whole bunch of them lately.

Basically, can I just tell them all to <bleep> off? Ebay's a huge pain in the bottom and the customers are simply too rude and demanding.

In all seriousness, do I HAVE to be professional all of the time. Is there every a time when I can just defend myself without having to bend over and take it?

Opinions needed!

Slap them then take their pension books off them after you have turned the cctv off :hihi::hihi:

Sorry.. but the customer is allways right.. cough cough...

EDIT: snigger...... Ebay
ha ha ha ha ha ha (Electronic Buyers are Yoosless) ok ? poetic licence ;)

You can be as rude as you like and call them all the names under the sun - while you compose extremely polite e-mails to them ;)

I have seen some other sellers who had recieved negative feedback, comment on the feedback given explaining what it was about.
eg - customer : bad seller - no comms.
seller : all comms responded to, unable to comply to buyers unreasonable demands.

It's always up to you how you act, but seeing as your ebay account is a business account rather than a personal one you'd be best off holding your tongue. It's unlikely for sellers nowadays to have 100% postive feedback because there are so many morons on ebay now who don't understand how it works/ don't know how to read auctions properly.

With number 1, I would not accept threats/ blackmail and I would forward that persons messages to ebay. I'm not sure if you still can, but you used to be able to challenge negative feedback and have it removed if the person is shown to have left it unreasonably.

With number 2 I would just ignore him as he sounds like a complete tool who won't listen to anything you say anyway.

You can also leave them positive feedback with a negative comment if you wish; don't know how much help that'd be though.

Ebay is hell for sellers these days. Good luck. :thumbsup:

Dunno how much the 12 dwarves charge?

BanjoDeano might know how to get hold of tghem.

Ebay for some reason brings out the some of the thickest and most ignorant customers known.A typical question I get is If it's a tenner for one,how much for two? At that point I want to recite the 10 times table! Why do they think thet deserve a discount for buying a full two items, I do not know. As for the rude ones,use big long words, they hate beacuse most of them can only text speak.Now that my rant is over, my advice to the OP is keep smiling,it can only get better(or worse) depending on your outlook.

With Ebay now, it's all about keeping the buyers happy and keeping their dosh rolling in! Sellers can't leave negative feedback anymore so the buyers are bulletproof! I say sod 'em, don't let them mess you around and if they wanna leave negative feedback....let 'em, I don't think people really give a damn whether or not a seller's 100% positive anyway as long as the price is right!

I had a negative feedback left by a customer, because I refused to send a replacement item, for one which was perfectly fine. It was a personalised item, and all that I had done was omit the dot on a I. She tried to blackmail me by saying she would leave neg feedback. I reported this to ebay, but did they do anything? Did they b***s!

Jayne

Thanks for all the replies. I feel a lot better (sort of) knowing how many other people have been screwed by Ebay and its buyers.