So I ordered a helmet through online marketplace last Saturday, the seller just confirmed my order today and he said the item I want had run out. Then I thought wtf the seller doing, he didn’t contact me for “three days” and now he said the item I want had run out. Okay, I still have the patience and there was my second helmet choice which I found is good, but first I asked him what kind available, and it took frickin 5 hours to reply to me. And just now I texted him back, cuz I just opened the apps, I asked one more question, and I waited for half an hour. Then I saw the status showed he is online five minute ago but he didn’t even try to reply to me. In the end I just said I want the first series I ordered, and I don’t want other, and I cancel the order. Do you think I am too nice with the seller? I think this seller is a dropshipper, cuz I found other seller who sell the same thing as him with and with exact same picture.
No, you have been nice to him, but for me is something that i do and believe that everyone should do as well, there is no thing as "too nice", they are human beings as well and i believe that if everyone was nicer to each other the world would be a better place. No offense, and i know a lot of people will disagree with me, and i'm even gonna say you are "RIGHT" in complaining about it, is your right to do so since he did a bad service!! and you are paying for it, so nothing wrong in canceling it. but as my personal opinion i don't do this(complain) nor i agree with people who does it complain too much-make a fuss etc-(not that you did it, just ranting on your rant). there is assholes living in the world who are just bad in their work but as someone who worked hard in certain things and happened similar things and sure as hell i'm not a asshole i know that sometimes the man just have been "working", simple put there is not only you as customer, he could have been tending other customers in this period, attending some customer who made a purchase earlier and had troubles as well, he is trying to do the best he can with he have to work with, this is how i choice to believe and this is how i did it in my life in the past as well. but then again, you are right, the store could have hired more people, could have done a better service but most of the time is not on "our" hands as employers to decide so high level management and how the "system works", is the owner who decides how many they hire and if is fine with the current numbers , how the in and outs are done and everything else and this is why i don't complain, i try to be the best i can, because is not that guy fault, probably he is even "worse" working-living standards-everything else wise, since is hard to do person to person job, people are the worse things that exist in the world. but then again there is also assholes in the seller department the same as the buyer, so i don't complain with people "who" complains about it, anyone can live their life the way they want, this is how i do it: being nice. if the service is crap, i don't buy with them anymore. being even nicer when not buying ^^;
i do agree with you he's highly likely a dropshipper, judging by how he acts/response. in fact, most online sellers are, in one way or another. they might keep a few stock of the most popular items, but everything else depends on distributors's stock availability. that's how they keep the overhead low and was able to sell you at cheaper price than conventional store. personally, unless you really can't find an alternative seller, no need to wait for that long. just message several at the same time. give your money to whoever give you the best service/price ratio. some seller might have higher price, but they could also be providing better service. in regards to slow response, sometimes there's actually a darker side to it. i don't know which platform you use, but on some platform, the "seller", are actually not the "actual seller". for example, let say you produce something, homemade, and sell it on platform S. platform S however, has a parent company that's also operating platform C, in another country. platform C, will actually create a duplicate account selling your merch on theirs. of course with mark-ups. when people order using platform C, they're not actually dealing with you, the original seller, instead your shadow (that you didn't even know exist). all you know, is that you receive an order, and was told to ship it to their (platform S) headquarters/warehouse, and they'll handle the rest. this is what sometimes led to "slow response".
Unfortunately, that's a normal practice nowadays - sellers often don't store the items they're selling and they only order them once you make your order. It's not a huge deal if they contact you within 1-2 days to let you know they won't be able to fulfill your order - if you need something "right away", it's best to confirm the availability of the item before you order - but the worst kind are those that don't try to contact you at all. Lemme tell you what happened with one seller I encountered last July: I was doing some work at home and noticed the battery pack (for my drill) discharges too quickly so I decided to get a new one... I looked online, found a seller, checked their reviews, etc. They guaranteed shipment withing 24hrs, so I decided to order. It was Tuesday night. The next day I got a notification that they registered a package (registered, not sent out). It was still morning so I expected to get a notification that the package had been picked up around evening. No such luck. I decided to email them on Thursday to ask them when to expect the package. They replied, on Friday. Said they're sending it out today. Damn, that's a weekend wasted then. I knew the package would arrive Monday. It did. Well, I didn't have time to pick it up from the parcel locker so I got it the next day. Problem is, they sent me a wrong battery pack. Damn#2. Well, it happens. I need it for the weekend anyways, so there's plenty of time to get the correct one. So I contacted them to ask if I should just return it and they'll send a replacement or will placing a new order alongside returning the current one get me the correct one quicker... They replied the next day. To just return it. So I did. It's Wednesday. Thursday noon I get a notification that the courier is about to deliver my return so I ask them when am I to expect the my item. They reply it'll get processed when they get my return. Well, they got the return and waited till end of day to email me they don't have my battery pack and will be refunding me. That's end of day on Thursday. These f*ckers. Should've told me sooner, I'd order somewhere else. Now it's too late. Two effin weekends wasted. The funniest thing, they didn't take down their offer or anything. That's an item they supposedly don't have, yet they're still trying to sell it. That was literally the first time I was ever forced to write a negative review.
Honestly speaking, with today's technology, expecting a reply within a few minutes after sending an inquiry is a far stretch. You'd need to be contacting a huge vendor with a dedicated help desk to get that kind of service. AI technology isn't that good yet. Now if it took 3 days to get a response, that's a different story.