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Lack of responses to "Post Message"

Ken SternKKen Stern
in Questions 1 LikesVote Down
Hi, I am new at this site though have been a long-time buyer and seller at eBay. Have already purchased 3 items since I joined last week so I am happy to have found this site. However, I am wondering if the "Post Message" system is working at the moment. I have asked 3 different sellers questions about 3 different high value stamps and have received no responses. Of course it may just be that these three are either not around (maybe they went to Atlanta for the SuperBowl!), or don't want to be bothered with questions (though I made it clear that I was very interested in making a purchase). The fact that I received no response from 3 sellers makes me wonder though if the system is really sending the message to the sellers, or alternatively if any responses are getting back to me properly. Or maybe I am expecting a response too quickly (though on eBay I always tried to respond immediately to questions.) So have any of you recently used the "Post Message" system successfully...i.e. both sending and receiving responses? Thanks for your thoughts, Ken.

Comments

  • 14 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Richard PaulsRRichard Pauls
    0 LikesVote Down
    I receive and send messages through the "Post Message" system without a problem. This includes the last couple of days.
  • Ken SternKKen Stern
    1 LikesVote Down
    Okay...thanks. Guess either they have chosen not to respond, or are delayed for some reason. Will probably move on to purchase from a different seller if I don't hear back by today.
  • Michael GeneraliMichael Generali
    5 LikesVote Down
    People should normally respond within three days (2 days is better, and 24 hours is optimum) to a message. At least that's what universal customer service policy tend to say.

    With that said, things do come up that prevent people from responding quickly, especially when dealing with an international site, such as time differences, holidays (including vacations), problems in some countries, weather issues, and, most importantly, considering the age of stamp collectors, health problems.

    I have found that I miss messages sent to me by people here on HipStamp as the pages on this site don't really tell someone in a manner that is easy to see that they have a message. Just yesterday I found a message from someone in my spam filter. It had been there for a couple of weeks. Why it wound up there when all my other messages from here go to my inbox I don't know. I took care of it on my end.

    There are things that could be done here to make that notification icon at the top of the screen look bigger and add a color indicator to readily point out that a message has been received. But, the changes being made involve making the stamp prices smaller, adding a centering description for stamps (images show that better than a seller stating that everything is VF++++), changing how the system displays store items rather than letting a seller select that, etc. Oh well...
  • Michael GeneraliMichael Generali
    2 LikesVote Down
    Ken, "moving on to someone else" is exactly what happens when a buyer has to wait. Some sellers don't realize that lost sales is the cost for the lack of customer service.
  • Ken SternKKen Stern
    0 LikesVote Down
    Michael, thanks for the response. What is interesting is that with one seller, I sent a question, then later made an offer on another stamp. He accepted that offer and I paid him...yet still no response on my initial question on the other stamp. But at least I now have his email address from the purchase so I can contact him that way.
  • Ken SternKKen Stern
    1 LikesVote Down
    OK....now I am suddenly getting responses. Maybe they did really take a 5 day weekend for the Super Bowl. (And though I am sure it is a minority view, Go Pats! (after all I am a Mainer.))
  • Ron LenkeRon Lenke
    1 LikesVote Down
    Michael, when you mentioned finding a message in your spam filter, I took note, as the same thing happened to me. It was just by accident I scanned thru and found a 2 week old inquiry. I promptly deemed it as "not spam" and moved it to "inbox". Hopefully this is just an anomaly we both have experienced. I check more often now.
  • Michael GeneraliMichael Generali
    1 LikesVote Down
    It was by accident for me as well that I opened my spam folder. It is scary, Ron, that we are on the same wavelength!
  • Jeri StathasJeri Stathas
    0 LikesVote Down
    OMG - Now we have a giant morph of Michael #'s or is it of Ron. How will we know which is which?
  • Ron LenkeRon Lenke
    edited February 2019 1 LikesVote Down
    Heh, looking at our identity icons here, Jeri, I'm beginning to question whether we represent philatelists or the zoological society.
  • Rod TilyardRod Tilyard
    1 LikesVote Down
    What do you mean... :)
  • Ted TyszkaTed Tyszka
    2 LikesVote Down
    Can't imagine.
  • Luree HughesLuree Hughes
    1 LikesVote Down
    I'll add to the zoo. ;)
  • Mike SternMMike Stern
    1 LikesVote Down
    Ken, I wouldn't give up on the sellers just yet. I have been on Hipstamps a long time, and recently noticed I was not getting any of my seller notifications for about 3 weeks. I checked (Spam, deleted, etc.) but nothing. Luckily I didn't miss the sales because of the paypal notification.
    After reading your post I decided to message Hipstamps to see if they could figure out the problem. So, it could be that they did not get the messages in their email, but responded after seeing the questions directly in Hipstamps.
    P.S.
    Love the name
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