Reader 244

Hi FT,

I just wanted to share an experience I had with an online 2nd hand designer goods shop. First of all, do you think it is reasonable to ask for many pictures of the item especially when the item is branded? Secondly, do you think that the shop owners would have the decency to inform you that the item is damaged in some way the first time you ask? I'm not angry but I am annoyed that this particular shop didn't seem very forthcoming in telling me about the product the first time I asked. I was interested in one of their handbags which was selling at a really low price. From the two pictures on the website, it looked like it was in really good condition even though the description did say its condition is 70%. Due to this detail, I know for sure that there are some problems with it. Naturally, I emailed to ask about this bag and to ask for some more pictures. I got a reply telling me that - it is in very good condition and for me not to worry about it - that was it...no pictures attached. I thought ok...they probably just overlooked that part of the email...fine...i'll email again. This time I asked how they knew it was genuine and again to ask for more pictures. They replied and gave me a list of their policy which didn't tell me at all how they know it's genuine, one line read "We have the way to prove it is that genuine befor collect from clients or..." What "way" is that? It still doesn't reassure me at all. So I thought I would do my own research but I need more pictures of the bag which they still haven't sent or let alone acknowledge! They have a habit of ignoring my questions but when I show interest of buying by asking about CODs and postage, they answer that straight away.

Anyways, to cut it short, I did get some pictures in the next reply from them. One was a new picture while the other two were the same ones they had on their website! A whole lot of good that is! I called them in the end to talk to them and this is when the truth comes out after all that emailing! They finally told me that the bag is damaged in the inside pocket, she said she couldn't explain it so I asked for pictures again and she said ok. I also asked her on the phone how she knows it's genuine, she sounded offended that I would ask such a question but this is a natural question, I thought, to ask a blogshop that has no guarantees on the product's authenticity. So, I got the picture of the damaged pocket and it looks bad. I couldn't figure out what went on in there! It looked green like mould or something and the coating of the fabric was torn. You would think that they would have told me that right at the beginning when I asked about the condition of the bag, don't you think so? What if I had bought it and only realised this after I got it? They have a no refund and no comment policy which means I would have been cheated!

I just think that these 2nd hand designer shop owners need to tell the truth from the beginning about their items and I think they need to provide more than 2-3 pictures of their items. These are designer items, the amount they are asking for is still quite high. I know some people will say "then don't buy 2nd hand items" but that is just being ignorant. Sometimes we do find good bargains but we still need to know that it is authentic otherwise we will have been cheated. We should get as much information as possible about the items just like people do on ebay where they give pictures of all angles of the item. They don't have to post it on the site but at least they have it ready to be sent off when customers ask for them. I also don't want to go back and forth about the item through email or SMS because I know it's a nuisance. If they provide all the information in the first place, it would be a lot easier AND a decision could be made a lot quicker!

Reader 243

Dear FT,

I would like to share with you my online purchase experience with Summeracres. First of all, her clothes are highly affordable and good quality. At first I thought that her clothes are not good quality since her price are unbelievably cheap. But I was so wrong. I spent RM30 for a RM50 quality. She was nice enough to travel all the way from Kajang to The Curve to meet up with me for COD (I bought in bulk) with no extra charges plus she gave me some discount and free gift! Since I bought in bulk from her, she insisted that I try on the clothes first cause I told her that my concern is the chest area.

Secondly, I'm very impressed with how fast she replies my email queries. This is what so great about buying from a full-timer owner. On my second and third purchases from her and she was busy for COD, she gave me free postage plus some slight discount and my parcel is sent out on the same day! Sometimes she has new stocks coming in, she is also able to send out my parcel the next morning. It doesn't really matter if she gave discount or not but what matters to me is that she try to give discount although she doesn't profit much. I love her way of doing the business as she puts customer first.

To Summeracres, thank you for making my e-shopping such an enjoyable experience. I love all your clothes. Hope you will continue to list more and more pretty clothes with such a good price! I will continue to shop from your store. Congratulations on the new domain!

Thanks FT for reading and hope this will get published cause I think this girl really needs a pat on the shoulder to let her know that she has done a great job and keep up the good work.

Reader 242

Hi FT.

I'm gonna make this short and sweet. I'm very laid-back and I don't mind if the sellers reply late nor do I bargain with sellers because I totally understand that some sellers have already offered the best price for us buyers. If I see something that I like but I find it too expensive, I'll just move onto the next blog shop. However, I've came across 2 pre-loved blog shops with (in my opinion) disappointing behaviors.

Pre-Loved Blogshop #1

I inquired about a dress on May 23rd, she replied back on May 25th. (I understand that she may not be in front of the computer all the time to promptly respond). I asked another question on the 25th and she replied on the 26th and I confirmed on the 26th itself that I wanted the dress like below;

"Alrighty. I'll take it. Send me the price quotation and account details. Postage is via Pos Express. (:

{My details; name, address and so on}

Btw, do you have a Maybank account? If so, I can make payment faster through Maybank2u. (:"

I asked her because it was stated on her blog that she has a Public Bank account.

She didn't reply, until a week later where I got an e-mail from her saying the dress was already sold. :/ She didn't give me her account details so if she's gonna give me the "first come first serve basis" excuse, it's not fair on my half. Perhaps she was lazy to deal with me because I couldn't make fast payment to her Public Bank account?

Plus, if she took about a week to reply (she might have not come online in that duration), how could she have sold the dress? And no, there's no phone number on her blog for anyone else to contact. Unless, she sold it to a friend of hers. Then I take back what I said.

Pre-Loved Blogshop #2

I inquired about a pair of shoes, she never did reply and when I checked yesterday it was already sold.

I would have really appreciate it if she had the courtesy of letting me know that the shoes have already been sold, even if I could check myself. Replying to one e-mail is not that difficult right? A short "I'm sorry it's sold" will do.

-------------------------------------------------

I purposely did not put in their blog shop names as I do not want to give them free publicity on FT and it's nothing THAT serious, just a little complaint.

I know that pre-loved blog shops' main purpose is getting rid of their junks and it's nothing permanent. But come on, be more courteous.

Seller 68

Hey dear all shopblog's owner,
Im still new in bussiness as im still young and i'm just a normal secondary school student which im not that familiar with certain things.

So far,i have no problem by tolerate with all my customers.Somehow,there is sometimes the customer making so angry by saying something that make me feel bad or im a bad seller.I dont mind about it but i think the customer should understand us.This is because myself ,i am a buyers too.There are some cases which is very uncomfortable for me as im explaining to them and they claimed that it is my fault.

Case 1:
This few customer asked my restock and i did with their promising of no back-outs.They agreed.I've got all their details,i mailed them and tried to contact them but i have no idea why i couldn't get them.

Case 2:
Customers asked me to restock more than 4 items.Yeap, i did because due to their enquiries but when i got the stocks for them, they seems ask to give free postage.I told them that it is impossible because we dont have this special privilages.They asked again for free postage,and i repeat my words.I said then,you should inform us earlier if you are unable to pay for the heavy items postage.Then,she said "so,it was her fault not telling me earlier" .I really lost of my words.In the end ,i have to give her free postage for all the items and i got no profit at all.I feel very uncomfortable for treating me like this.

p/s: Some customers are very kind and nice but sometimes certain buyers must understand our condition.Also and what should i do when i face this problems again!Thanks :)

Seller 67

hey FT!

i know, all of us as sellers (including me) have experienced customers who are difficult.
but there are some customers that really make life so much easier for us, and they definitely make up for the difficult customers!

recently we had our second batch, and due to some problems with our suppliers, they didn't ship out the shoes until 12 days after i had placed the order!

so my customers received their shoes a whopping 23 days after batch 2 was closed!

technically, it does state under the t&c that shoes may take up to 4 weeks to arrive, so customers must be prepared.
but, in our first batch and the batches of other blogshops also selling US pre-order shoes, it only took about 2 weeks or so.
so naturally, customers should feel like 23 days is WAY longer than they'd like to wait.

and yet, instead of facing angry or impatient customers, i faced the best possible customers i could have asked for!

they all re-assured me that "shit happens" and it wasn't my fault, but the fault of the suppliers, so theres nothing i could have done about it..
not a single customer complained about the long wait, and were all chirpy upon receiving the news that the shoes had finally reached KL..

but one customer really blew me away!
firstly, she was rushing to get her shoes for her graduation ceremony (thankfully they came in the nick of time!)
so thus she was busy with preparations and rehearsals and all that...
secondly, i don't drive and my mum's driving is limited to certain places that she's familiar with...

and this customer took time out of her busy schedule and actually drove to a place that was convenient for me but totally unfamiliar for her!
and since she arrived early at the meeting place, she waited around half an hour for me.
when i arrived, she didn't even complain and she was chatty and all smiles, saying that she didnt mind the wait!

even after making her go through the long wait and all the trouble running around for her shoes, she actually told me she'd be shopping from me again!

that seriously made my day (:

i would say im blessed to have customers like them!

xoxo,
tsc.

Reader 241

Hi FT,

I am writing this with reference to Reader 240 as I am also facing the same problem. It seems that e-shop owners do not get it when we tell them that we want to unsubscribe from the "updates" email from them. Worst of all I did not even subscribe for those emails in the first place.

Therefore, to e-shop owners please take note of this matter as it is rather annoying to receive "updates" emails that we did not subscribe to.

Thank you for your cooperation & thank you FT for putting this up.

Reader 240

The straw that broke this camel's back came from an email that dlookingglass.com sent.

Since a few months ago, I've been getting spam email from them, telling me about their updates, sales, etc. The thing is, although I might have inquired about something once (can't remember), I definitely didn't buy anything from them, nor have I ever asked to be signed up for their mailing list. I understand if they automatically put emails into their mailing list without being asked, but even after I asked them numerous times to remove me from their list, they never did!

On my second time firmly telling them to remove my email, they replied

"Hey Dear,

Unsubscribed. Thanks ;)"


And I thought that was the end of it. Oh boy was I wrong. More emails were sent to me, even after I got quite pissed off, and asked them to remove my email in BIG BRIGHT BOLD RED LETTERS, and had "REMOVE ME FROM YOUR MAILING LIST" in the subject line. Quite hard to miss, don't you think? Apparently it was, for whoever's managing DLookingGlass' emails.

To make matters worse, my secondary email address was also on their list. Again, they sent that account the fake unsubscribed email only after my second time complaining to them (also in BIG BRIGHT BOLD RED LETTERS. I was really really reallllyyy annoyed then). Again, I still got emails!


All the emails I have with me now are only from when they changed to a .com from .blogspot.com, so you can imagine how long I've been trying to get them to stop spamming my emails. If only I didn't delete their previous emails, for even back then they were spamming me!

Yes, they don't send spam mails that often, so I'm not so ticked off about that. It's the fact that they still spam mail both my accounts after at least 4 emails asking to unsubscribe per account was sent.

D Looking Glass, if you're reading this, unsubscribe me for real this time, will ya?


----
End of major rant, but not of complaints. Am gonna keep this short though before I start cussing.

1) Blogshop owners, please remember to put your list of emails into the BCC column. I'm sure all your customers will rather not have everyone else know their emails.

2) Also please stop "stealing" email addresses from the tagbox/mailing list of other blogs. I've gotten emails from random blogshops that I'm 100% sure I didn't contact before, and I know that I'm not the only one who's had that happen to them. Also, don't take blogshops' email addresses from their blogs to auto-subscribe them (unless they asked to of course). Business is business, private is private. Keep it that way.

3) Don't auto-subscribe people (customers or inquirers) just because they've emailed you before, or did business with you before. It's all right if they (customers or inquirers) asked to be on the list, but just because we emailed you doesn't mean we want to be spammed with your updates. Some of us prefer bloghopping or use RSS feeds.

4) If you give an option for people to unsubscribe, really, truly unsubscribe them. If you're lying to your potential clients over something small like that, how are we supposed to trust you on other more important things?


----------------------------------------

Dear Fashion Truth,

Thanks for informing us about the complaint and we'll definately work it our to improve our service :) here is our reply to our beloved customers
:)


Dear Reader,

Saying sorry doesn't really change much but we're still really sorry for the inconveniences we've caused you. Allow us to clarify.

Our mailing list consists of more than 1000 email addresses and we admit that we have a hard time trying to maintain it; not due to laziness but due to the lack of time as both owners are working full-time. We are already currently in the process of doing some house-keeping on the
list which will take a long time as the list is not even in alphabetical order. (On a side note; our email addresses are all gotten legally and we did not steal from other people's tagbox. As mentioned above, we are both working full-time and we do not have the time or the unethical
character to do things like that.)

However, we can honestly tell you that we did unsubscribed your email address from our list, 'for real' as you quote. There is seriously no reason for us to lie about unsubscribing you from our list because how will that benefit us? Nonetheless, we’re not sure how your email address got into our list time and time again. Maybe due to the fact that our list is updated with new addresses once in a while. Or maybe there are duplicates of your email addresses in our list (which as mentioned above, we are currently vetting through and doing some clean-up). Hence the email updates coming through even though we've unsubscribed you from our mailing list.

We can assure you that the last email you've received from D Looking Glass will be the last that you'll ever receive from us now and in the future. Would appreciate it if you could email us both your main and secondary email addresses (and any other email addresses) that you
wish to remove from our mailing list (just to ensure that none of your email addresses remains in our mailing list).

:) Sorry again for the inconveniences caused.

Sincerely,
D Looking Glass

Reader 239

Hey there Fashion Truth,

I would love to talk about this blogshop - Fascinate88. I recently bought a fedora from them and boy, I find them super nice. Firstly, I was enquiring on the prices of the postage, I wasn't too convinced to pay so much for postage and they were kind hearted enough to give me a 2buck discount, not much you might say, but its really a nice gesture. Unlike many blogshops out there who are really unwilling to give us discounts - " business is business sorta thing ", "sorry not negotiable " which annoys me to the very maximum. But what can I say, I am lucky I found em' !

Secondly, I have a very very naggy mom and it was pretty tough to ask her to bank in the money via online banking because she thinks I shop too much (maybe), for one week, fascinate has been asking me (not bugging) in a very nice way, with all the smilies in her email, whether I would still want the item. They waited for me for a whole week, and my mama have finally banked in (thanklord).

Posted this because I would like everyone to have a look at their site, they deserve the attention :)

Click here to enter

p/s : they support a very good cause too - PULAU KETAM DOG RESCUE MISSION

With love,
XXX

Reader 238

Hi FT!

I came across this contest recently - held in April on an blogshop - and was appalled. The winner for the contest was based on how many email addresses the person can provide to this blogshop!

Worst thing is, just the winner of the contest alone submitted more than 300 email addresses! The owner of the blogshop even stated that she has verified that all of the 300+ email are valid. I wonder how did the winner get hold of these many addresses, and do the owners of the address consent to their email being used for this purpose?

To quote the blogshop owner, "i will use those emails to promote my blogshop". Isn't it very unethical to acquire email addresses through this way and then spamming the inbox of people who didn't even request to receive mail from you? And also, it's equally disgusting that people are willing to help spam for the sake of winning a prize.

The blogshop in particular had some nice items I might have been interested in, but with this bad impression, it just doesn't make me feel confident about the products she sells and the service provided.

Seller 66

hey there FT,

as seller 61-64 said, it's true.

there are many experiences i've encountered with the buyers.

among the serious ones are,

case 1:

buyer was delaying payment and once payment was made, she demanded it to be posted out on that day itself.

ever thought that we had other commitments?

when i said i couldn't, she got all chaotic and started saying she's disappointed and stuff.

how irrelevant is that?

then she said, "customers are always right."

case 2:

buyer wanted to COD DURING MY EXAMS WEEK.

she demanded me to get to her car, so i went finding although i was studying for my exams, she called and said she was behind me. her being so demanding, and hung up the phone on me when i was talking so nicely, despite all that, i still put on a smile on my face and COD with her.

she looked moody, so i thought it was something that happened before she came to meet me.

i didn wanna get involved.

so, i COD and just left. suddenly, she texted me saying i'm rude, i'm demanding and that she's paying for the stuff she bought from me. i need to be a better seller.

wth?? i smiled although she was rude and said i was rude and SHOULDN'T OPEN A BLOGSHOP WHEN I HAVE EXAMS. SO IRRELEVANT.

when i asked what's her problem, she said, "customers are always right."

case 3:

buyer begged for discount and i finally gave in.

when posted, she claimed the item is ruined etc etc and wanted me to be responsible. saying cos she asked for a discount then i decided to send her a ruined item. who on earth would be so stupid to ruin their own reputation by posting something ruined?

once again, she said, "customers are always right."

many more cases that happened and one post would never be enough.

HOWEVER,

the conclusion i concluded is that ppl always say, "customers are always right."

i totally diagree.

think about it, us sellers, are trying our best to make your shopping experience the best, as we know how it is like to be a buyer as well. waiting for your purchase to come, OF COURSE, is normal. however, over anxiety causes stress and impatience. then, release it on the sellers.

and when the sellers defend themselves, they start saying that we're not good sellers cos we're rude and shouldn't open a shop.

what is going on here??

we're humans as well and we have other commitments and responsibilities to attend to. just cos you're paying, doesn't make you all right. fyi, one right doesn't make up wrongs. we're buyers as well. just ask nicely and your deed will be returned, some way or another.

we go to the extend of getting stocks for you girls, under the hot sun, fuel money, time, effort.

going to the post office to post/COD, and what do we get in return?

a slap across the face accusing this and that.

are we not appreciated as sellers?

that we should just keep quiet and let you buyers step all over us?

think about it.

ponder.

we're all human after all.

on the contrary, there are certain customers which i enjoy dealing and going the extra mile for.

because they are friendly, patient and well-mannered.

these are the ppl which i appreciate and will get appreciation in return as well.

being rude/demanding won't get you anywhere.

thanks for reading.

Reader 237

Hello FT,

I've been an avid online shopper for about a year plus already. And I would like to share my experience with this blogshop Lush Serendipity. It's been quite some time I've been purchasing stuffs from her onliine boutique. Recently she's been undeniably unreasonable, self-centered and very arrogant. I've read about the complaints other customers said about her. And now, I'm starting to agree with them. I reserved 2 pair of heels with her last month. I emailed her asking about the heels.

"Hey babe, I'm interested in the Flats in white and the gladiators. both in size 40 available? :) "

Within few minutes, she promptly replied me through via sms,

"Hey babe. Yeah Flats in white and gladiators I'll restock for you next week yea? :)"

"Ok dear. Thanks. Do let me know when you have the shoes yeah. Then I'll arrange the cod timing."

"Hey dear. The gladiators sold out already. So it's only the flats :("

"Yeah sure. How about the lindsay pumps?"

"Owh that one sold out too. :( So it's just the flats dear? "

"Yeah. Will arrange the cod date soon :) Thanks."

"Hey dear. Can you cod tomorrow? My sis will be able to cod with you at Monash Uni."

"Yeah. At 3pm ok?"

"Yeah. :) Thanks"

As the cod time was arranged at 3pm, she last minute sms my sis and told her to change it to 4pm as she was having her facial. It's ok to cancel cod last minute as sometimes certain appointments have been arranged in advance. And by 4pm, she told my sis in 15 minutes she'll be there. =.= and guess what time she came? At 4.40. I don't blame her for being late as sunway area is always jam at certain timing. But she proudly came and pass the top to my sis without an apology for changing the cod timing last minute and for being late! My god! i really think thats rude!! Other blog owners will have the courtesy to apologize even if they're 5 minutes late but she was 40 minutes late and delayed the cod last minute have the guts to just meet up with my sis and gladly took the money and went off. Her shoes are undeniably nice. Just that her customer service is bad. My sis then passed me the shoes when she came home and told me the whole story. At first I didn't want to make a big fuss about it. Till one of the midnights she updated with new heels and clothes. I emailed her again and ask,

"Hey dear. Is the stylish adele available in black or white? I'm interested. :)"

"Hey dear. Yeah. Both available. When do you wanna cod?"

"Erm this Fri again? Same timing? 3pm?"

"Yeah sure.. :)"

* As I do not want the previous incident to happen again, I emailed her and told her

" Oh yeah babe, this Fri at 3pm right? Confirm?"

"Yeah. :)"

"Owh ok. Please be punctual yeah cause my sis has to rush off somewhere."

.....

I did not get a reply from her till today. -.- Was I being rude? I just told her politely to be on time cause who won't be pissed if you're always late? We have better things to do than to wait for you so yeah -.- And I again texted her and ask her

"Hey dear. So, is the cod still up? Are the heels still reserved for me? "

I assume it is cause in her blog it's still reserved there so yeah. And when I called her. She cancelled my call again. Texted her about 7 times but still no reply. I mean, come on! If you're not willing to sell it to me, then just let me know, rather than me asking her and texting her about the cod time. Cause honestly, I really didn't think I was being rude.

So the moral of the story to myself is : never buy from LS again. Lousy customer service.

.Annonymous.

----------------------

Received no response from LS regarding this matter.

Seller 65

Dear Fashion truth,

I'm not sure if Seller 61 & Seller 62 have faced the same pain as I do but I have had one customer who ordered a bottle of OPI top coat from me and just vanished into thin air. I nudged her through MSN (though not many times cuz my MSN is spoilt), emailed her a few times and also SMS her but she did nothing to confirm anything from me. We agreed to COD either 2 or 3months ago at BSC but our time could never fit so she kept delaying it until today. And I can't even locate her.

So far, I've only have one MIA buyer like this and I'm really frustrated because now that she ordered an additional top coat worth RM40, I need to cover the cost price myself. Note that all my products do not have as high profit margin as other items cuz we're trying to keep the price low. The extra top coat is still sitting on my table waiting for its owner to come and collect it.

Please ask buyers to be fair on us. We equally demand for high quality services and goods but at the same time, please make sure that you have already fulfilled your own responsibility. Note that we sellers are not full-time sellers and most of us are actually students who have assignments and tests just like you buyers have. Please be considerate and mature enough to don't take online purchasing as some online game instead.

To FT,

I've always wanted to post comment on your blog on praising vendors & sellors etc yet I've never had the chance. Though today is just to share a quite bad experience of mine, I still hope you guys would keep up the good work and let online shopping be nothing but fun and pleasure. :)

Thanks very much.

Reader 236

I thought long and hard before deciding to write this. I am an avid e-shopper and have bought from a number of blogshops for the past 3 months or so.

Here are my comments on the blogshops that made an impact on me:

Dr.Pizzicato = I loved the fact that she made such a lot of effort to liaise with me for a COD. Her schedule and mine was totally clashing, but she went to great lengths to arrange for a COD. Thanks girl (and your bf too for passing the items to me :P)

TheItGirlOnline = She too was reallllly sweet about arranging for a meetup and tried her best to accomodate by crazy schedule. The top that I bought from her had a few seams that were loose, and she immediately offered an exchange and apologized profusely but I didnt think that I would hassle her again for an exchange. A stitch or two on my end would do the trick nicely. Im not a huge fusspot really ;)

However, the blogshop that made me the happiest was MidnightCarnivale. I was looking for clinchers and suggested a few types that I wanted and she specifically restocked one for me without me paying her first. And though the picture on her blog of the clincher (Feisty) is not so good, but gosh, the real thing is awesome! Im sooo glad I bought it from her, in black at that! And also, I bought the Topshop inspired floral dress from her too at RM48, and OMGGGG Im lovinnggggg it to bits! Planning to wear it tomorrow if possible :P The quality is really good, im amazed she's selling it at that price. I would say that this item is the best item out of the dozens of stuff I have bought from various blogshops.

Knowing that I will be unavailable and busy, MidnightCarnivale delivered the items to my apartment by COD without any fuss. Thanks girl for the effort.

I have a grouse with one blogshop though. ABLINC. I bought three items from her, and she did give me a discount. However, I felt that the Tomb Raider jacket that she is selling (which is stated as containing 10% leather) to be untrue. There is no leather ANYWHERE in the jacket. I did mention this to her, and she said that the supplier claims that there is 10% leather. I believe that sellers should not believe what their suppliers say 100%. One must be wise enough to be proactive to check and verify. I feel that she should remove that 10% leather claim on her blog as it is misrepresentation and would mislead potential customers. Apart from that, she was quite polite and nice towards me.

So sellers, do make an effort to go the extra mile for your customers. I know that I am one of those customers who would make repeat purchases from your blog merely on the grounds that you were nice to me, and not just coz of price alone ;)

Seller 64

Dear FT,

I agree with Seller 61 and Seller 62 100%. I don't mean to carry this on (commenting on buyer's do's and dont's) but i feel like i have to say this as i've read it many times on your cbox. I see lots of buyers, when they are unsatisfied with the seller who send out late shipping due to class/exams and such, they'll say things like "if u're so busy then close your blogshop la' or 'if no time to do business then why open in the first place?". Honestly, it is kind of harsh.

Most of the sellers i know are students and obviously we got classes, assignments, exams and such. But we are NOT busy all the time, maybe the buyer caught the seller during a bad moment, say during exam week or the week to submit assignments, presentations and all so i'm begging buyers to please understand this. So their comments asking us to close our blogshops is really ridiculous. We might be free last week but we can also be super busy the next week. Not everyone in the world has the same class schedule.

Of course we sellers will try our best to post the item asap but if we're too busy we might have to postpone the shipping. I'm sure most sellers will notify the buyer of the delay so please, respect the seller.

I had this customer who took such a long time to pay that when the payment is finally made, my schedule is hectic and i was super busy. I explained to her and she said the exact same thing to me, told me to not open a blogshop if i'm too busy.

Excuse me, i'm only busy for three days not for three months so please dont go saying things without thinking. Why is it okay for buyers to take a long time to pay up but it is not okay if the seller cant make the shipping on time? Because customers are always right? Sorry, i think that can only be said to a certain extent. Buyers aren't always right in every situation. I just get really upset that buyers dont seem to understand that sellers have things to do in their life too, just like them. And most importantly, sellers that are still students have to put their education first. So don't blame them for delaying the shipping. Unless they dont say anything then ok, but most sellers will sure inform theire buyers.

Maybe it is the buyers who are the ones who should not shop online if u're to impatient and have no respect for other people. U demand things to be sent on certain days and yes, we do try to oblige but if we're too busy/something suddenly happens (accident or anything we cant forecast) and we explain to you, PLEASE understand the situation. Some buyers who make prompt payment are super nice when i told them that i have to delay postage due to certain reasons but some are just hell to deal with. So to buyers out there, i do hope u can change your mentality and accept that sellers have a life too, they're not born to serve your every needs and whims.

Seller 63

Hi Fashion Truth..

It's regarding the Seller 61 and Seller 62 stories.

First of all. I would like to show my heartfelt thanks to two of them for raising up their voice upon all the "aggravated" us,the seller.
Now it's my turn to tell the stories of my side.

I have had an COD experience with a buyer previously.
She placed an order to us and we met at one place to arrange the deal.
When we meet that time, she said she doesn't want the item anymore without any explanation.
I had purposely gone to the place to deliver the items for her but then she said she didn't need that anymore.
That's really annoying.

Anyway.
Another experience of mine is much more annoying.
I have had a buyer who purposely requested me to look for her the similar shirt which had appeared "SOLD OUT" in my blog.
It happened in the mid of April.
I tried very hard to help her to find it and at last I managed to get it.
She was happy with that and agreed to buy it so I purposely placed order and restock it for her.
Then she changed her mind on the colour she requested.
First she requested for blue then changed her mind to red.
It's ok so I just told the supplier to change the colour too.
After the item arrived, I text her to pay us the amount.
She told us she was busy and asked us to reserve her till 15th of May.
I said ok I'll reserve for her (she requested for 1 month) and waited for her payment.
Then when the day came (15th of May), I asked her about the paymant again.
She said she was still busy and had no time to make the payment.
Then she said she want to cancel the item.
I was speechless....
Hey ... you mean the item you wanted us to purposely restock for you.
After the one month long reservation, you told me that you want to cancel your order?
Isn't it unfair to us? The seller who had tried very hard to look around high and low for the clothes you specifically requested for?
Why can't she inform us earlier if she didn't need that clothes anymore?


For the seller 62, I totally agreed that it's pointless to blacklist them as they would have changed their email or name.
Therefore, it just depends on our luck I guess.

Seller 62

Firstly, to Seller 61, I really have to say that I admire your courage to speak out for all of us and thank you so much. :)
Reading the comments, i see that a few other blogshop owners have come across customers like that and no doubt, I've been there too and maybe still there. But really, Seller 61 has covered a fair bit of what's happening.

In my opinion, I find those 'set the deal, MIA and back out' customers the most annoying. What I mean is that, they e-mail and say I want this item, is it still available? I would like cod/ postage please. So okay, after a few e-mails, deal is done; and we're just waiting for the cod date/ payment. Suddenly, they don't reply e-mails, and/or text messages, then at the last minute they back out and say "oh i don't think I want it anymore, so sorry". Are you really sorry? If you have a sense of guilt, you would do more, such as a valid explanation maybe? So please, please think about it before you even make your order. Confirm you really want it and are able to get it. Inquiry and asking questions about it is fine, even I would ask too, but at the end of that, please confirm whether you want them or not. And if you have confirmed, do not be so fickle minded to back out after that for no good reason (excuse?). We've reserved the item(s) for you, but if this is how you want to treat us in the end, sorry, you're implicitly blacklisted.

Sure, you can always think, "...but customers are always right!" No dear, it doesn't work this way. Perhaps try to put yourself into a seller's shoes. Visualize quite a number of people backing out after going missing for like, a week!; or being superrrr late for COD without earlier notice, cancelling COD last minute when you're already there/heading there, the issues go on and on. You would get frustrated too! Tell me if I'm wrong that you won't get frustrated.

Plus, we all have a life. Which is why COD is arranged based on both sides' convenience. If I'm not mistaken, quite a few of the blogshop owners are students, including myself. We all have classes, tutorials, assignments and exams. Some of us study further from our homes and some are tied up with many other responsibilities. Everyone is busy with their own affairs, right.

Shall we just try to understand, give and take and co-operate and make online shopping easier for all of us?

Thank you, FT, for posting this up and thanks to you, who read this.

Reader 235

Dear Fashion Truth,

I would like to have your favor to publish this bad experience with this seller, her name is Patricia XXX. She does not have a blogshop as she is just an individual who has posted in Shopping Critique to help her out to sell a t-shirt which couldn't fit her. I've even asked Shopping Critique to help me out in this and Patricia did not reply her. I've countless emails and lastly, all i get is failure in delivering the emails, which can only mean one thing: the email accounts are gone! like, *poof.

So here is the sequence of events from day one till to date:

Feb 13:

Heys dear,
The owner of the 'cutecloset' blogshop told me you would like to sell of the 'emo' tee... can i get it RM15?(=

Seller: hi, im sorry but im selling it the price i got it for cause it's totally brand new. are u still interested in it? if
so, the total is RM22 + RM6 = RM28
my maybank acc:

Me: RM6? but can i opt for RM4 for pos express?Thanks

Seller: um im really sorry but posexpress is really out of my way, i have to take a bus 20 minutes away just to get to the pos office and by the time i reach there it'd be around 6:30 which means it's always closed. but poslaju is a lot more nearer, just 5 minutes walk away.. do you mind? im so sorry :(

seller: i live in johor... it's just an additional two ringgit, please?

me: oh, ure from johor...i see, i see...do you mind if i get the t-shirt from for RM20 well, plus pos laju then? is the shirt made of good quality cotton and is the graphics on the shirt nicely done? just wana check if i'm buying good stuff, hope you understand..(=

seller: im selling it for the price i got because it's in perfect condition and totally brand new. and yes, the graphic, material is really good. :)

me: awrites. whn can you post it to me?i should be able to bank in tmr..

seller: right after i receive the payment :) let me know :)

So, the day came by and i made my payment on 18 Feb and she did not reply me until 22 Feb because she was away for competition ...or so she says. So i believed her.

I apologized to her for being antsy and at the same time asking for the tracking number on the 24 Feb and 27 Feb.

Then only on the 28 Feb she replied:
"will do real soon sorry about the delay!!"

>>> so what does this suppose to mean?she said that she will immediately do it after i've made the payment and counting the days, it's 10 days after i've made the payment. So ok, it's 7 days after taking into account her days at 'competition'. She has the knack to ask for RM6 for postage (pos laju) instead of RM4 for the sake of her convenience! Did she not say that it's just TEN minutes away from her house...?


So I keep waiting and waiting for the parcel to arrive. I sent numerous emails ....and then,

on the Apr 1, she replied:
"what! i sent you eons ago! what is all these? my laptop was out for repair and there are so many mails from you asking for that t shirt!
i SENT IT OUT TO YOU ALREADY! LONG AGO!"

>>so it's my fault for asking for the status of my shirt? wow, great... and avoid getting strained our transactional relationship, i apologized and asking for the tracking number, for which she could have given me instead of shouting, roight? =.='''

me: which is why i need the tracking number.. and now that it is definitely lost somewhere by those post office people, would appreciate your help to furnish me the details so that i can track it and spare your troubles.. thanks

seller: okay. i'll try to help find as much as i can. sorry bout what happened.

>>> so she has a heart afterall, and like any of you, putting yourselves in my situation, would give her the benefit of doubt after all that has happened. Wouldn't you?

But believe me, that was the last of her reply after promising to help me look for my parcel. The question lies, "why cant she just give me the tracking number? What's so difficult?" So i sent emails on the Apr 3, 7 and 21, May 6 and lastly, May 13:

"Hi Patricia,
Week in, week out i have been emailing you. I hope you can furnish me the tracking number of the t-shirt which you claimed to have sent to me! Thanks."

>>>In return, I got this:

" This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
onfla*******@gmail.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or unnecessary spaces. Learn more at http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6596

----- Original message -----
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.141.43.19 with SMTP id v19mr163496rvj.226.

1242189772757; Tue,
12 May 2009 21:42:52 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: ....
References: .....
Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 12:42:52 +0800
Message-ID: 4e748b2f1ff7fb6@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: the emo tee(=
From:@gmail.com>
To: Patricia
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=000e0cd20a32261cbd0469c3d808

--000e0cd20a32261cbd0469c3d808
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hi Patricia,
Week in, week out i have been emailing you. I hope you can furnish me the tracking number of the t-shirt which you claimed to have sent to me! Thanks.

----- Message truncated -----"

>> So, there goes the t-shirt of which I know not where it is. To date, it's been THREE months and the parcel has yet to arrive. If there is anyone of out there who KNOWS who this PATRICIA from Johor is, please let me know. All i need the tracking number and i would like to do the finding... ):

Thanks!

Reader 234

HI FT,

Thanks for having such a blog so that us buyers/sellers can share our online shopping experience with others. I used to hesitate buying clothes online because of not able to look at the real item itself and had to make a payment first. So i consider myself not a risk taker and had alwayz been cautious wit money issue. But then last year, i've changed my POV abt buying clothes online because it's so much more convenient and there is various types of designs/clothes available in juz one clickaway. I've tried preorders but becoz of the lengthy time waiting for it and stimes it doesnt turn out to be wat im expecting (e size might defer frm the measurements stated), i've then turn to sellers that gets frm local suppliers which i thk much more promising. (based on my own experience, no offense to preorders sellers yea!)

My favourite blogshop will be SIISONE ( http://www.siisone.blogspot.com/ ) which i thk their clothes r pretty and selling at a very reasonable price. I've bought from other blogshops as well, and most of them provides gd service but then some is a bit too pricey. I have a budget to spent on clothes every month so i cant afford for impulse buying.

Once i saw e same top i bought on9 in Sungei Wang and my jaws drop down e moment i saw the price. Its oni RM 35.00 meanwhile i bought it for RM55.00. So den they will say that they get it from other suppliers which use different material, but it was exactly the same with mine!! Den i sort of taken aback frm that seller and turn to other blogshops. There is a blogshop which sells the same style of dress n tops for each updatez and with prices around RM50 for most of it, stil, they r able to sell off most of the clothes. So im juz curious what is the buyers looking for now. Is it the quality of the clothes? The design? or the price?

I'm sorry if i have offended the sellers in anyway yea. It's solely my opinion and shopping experience.

Thanks,

LittleDottie

Reader 233

The reader that sent in *Alternatives 300* also would like to compliment Phat Culture for their services :

Oh and I also want to commend Phat Culture because I asked her about a dress I was unsure about.. and she went out of her way to get a larger sized girl to try it on and tell me if it would fit..even if it would risk the sale of her product... ! Other blogshop owners should take this initiative too.. kudos Phat Culture!! :)

Reader 232

First and foremost, I think whoever thought of this idea of this was a genius!! My friend told me about this site,.. and I think it's grea tto keep the online shoppers in the know of who's best to shop from ;)!

I would like to share my online shopping experience too... :)

Simpli-licious has very good service.. she reserved the shirt for me for longer than a week and when she COD-ed with me there was even a free pair of earrings in the plastic bag!! and she was very friendly too.. service with a smile always helps. I will definitely shop from her blogshop again.

Red Lips Closet is quite good too.. they are very caring.. and answered all my questions (i like to ask alot of questions about the product) and reserved my product for quite long.. I think as long as we customers inform them we'll bank in at a certain time and keep to our word, blogshop owners will be less wary to reserve products.. it is customers who have no consideration for others who give others a bad name...

A bit of everywhere is really good too!! I was interested in purchasing something from her and asked for fashion help and she was so helpful. I did not buy the top in the end but I will definitely buy something from her as she is pleasant and lovely enough to answer all my detailed questions.. haha.. She recommended that I don't take her top as I told her my measurements.. I mean how many blogshop owners would do that wei?? She should really be commended for this behavior..

I once enquired about a top at Dovey Lovey and she was nice enough to let me try the top on when we COD-ed and told me I didn't need to take it if it didn't suit me.. I didn't take in the end... but she was lovely about it... this is another attribute that is truly commendable!! Plus she answered all my questions satisfactorily.. :)

I would like to remind blogshop owners to remove photos of things that are unavailable.. this is mainly for those pre-order sites because it is very disappointing to see something cute and to be told that it's out of stock etc etc...

And blogshop owners who keep demanding customers to pay up for items only to be told that the color they wanted is unavailable?? this happened to me but I was okay with it.. but obviously I would have been happier if she found out first and informed me beforehand so i could perhaps change my order or something..

Anyway, Thank you FT .. keep up the good work!!! :)