GreenMetropolis.com

Anyone else find this really irritating?
I dont sell many books (cant bare to part with most of my collection), but when I do I like to know that the book has at least arrived with the buyer. Im not so concerned about them rating but I'm terrible with bits of paper in my handbag and so I want to know when I can ditch the redundant Certificate of postage thingy.

If this is in the wrong place feel free to kick me as hard as you like.

hi angelfish, yep i brought this up also, on the announcements section...if you have a look on there, you will find that quite a few people agree that its a common problem ;)

Absolutely! I've got 3 outstanding over 3 weeks old too!
It takes little effort to log on & click received.

just a thought, i wonder if the people who do not acknowledge that the books arrive, read this forum ? .. if so, maybe they will now acknowledge safe arrival.. .and maybe, just maybe, the last 6 people who i sent books to, would just take that little bit of time to let me know that the books arrived safely....;)

oh well, if you dont ask , you dont get ;)

AGREE, AGREE, AGREE! I had a buyer who waited, I think, 6 weeks before they condescended to let me know it had arrived. Perhaps GreenMet could print a note about confirming arrival, in bold caps, next to their address? Guess there'll always be people who don't read instructions/ignore them!

Thankfully I am new and my buyers have been great - acknowledging arrival as promptly as I send the books. What I can say is thank goodness you don't need to wait until it is marked as received before funds are cleared!

hi alison, yep thank gawd we dont have to wait until the buyer confirms that the book has arrived , before the funds clear .. otherwise we would all be doing this for nothing, and with the credit crunch, i can not afford to give my books away and to pay for the cost of letting my books go....

JBD, yep good idea , if only greenmet would give the buyers a gentle nudge ;).. we can only hope cant we...you would think though, after i started moaning about this last week, and a lot of people agreed, and now anglefish has even started this thread, that they will now see that there is a problem ;)......oh well, lets see what happens ;)

ha ha when i said anglefish, i of course meant angelfish....just an early morning lapse before i start work ;).......

Although we ask all buyers to login and update their account details as soon as a book is received, we realise that this is not always adhered, with many buyers not actually logging onto their accounts and updating the book status until they're ready to order their next book! To compensate for this, if a book is not marked as received by the buyer within 6 weeks of being marked as sent then our system will automatically mark a book as received and award 5 stars for the order. Beyond this time, buyers cannot submit a lost or damaged claim for the order.

Please remember this does not effect your book payment. Funds from book sales take 7 days to clear from the day the book is marked as sent, regardless of when the book is actually marked as received.

Obviously however this is an area of fustration for our sellers, therefore we'll review our procedures, to see if we can perhaps introduce a reminder e-mail to buyers, to prompt them to mark a book as received.

Hi GreenMet, thank you for your explanation, that is extremely helpful. I did in fact notice that 2 of my sold books had been updated as being received weeks after and wondered if it was an automatic process!

Hi GreenMet, thank you for your explanation, that is extremely helpful. I did in fact notice that 2 of my sold books had been updated as being received weeks after and wondered if it was an automatic process.

Hi GreenMet, thank you for your explanation, that is extremely helpful. I did in fact notice that two of my sold books had been updated as being received weeks after and wondered if it was an automatic process.

I totally agree. It is very annoying. Has the book got lost in the post??? I have 2 books outstanding, posted weeks ago. Let us hope there will be some improvement. Happy reading

I totally agree. It's a good job we don't have to wait for payment. I am at present waiting for confirmation on a book that I posted in September.

hi greenmet cust supp ;)....thank you for at least taking note of what we are saying, cheers for that...wish you good luck on that one........

I'd noticed that it gets automatically updated but it does annoy me as I have no idea when I can safely get rid of the postage certs. I know on a couple of other sites I buy from there is automatic reminder to rate the seller, but GM is the only one which even has the facility to register when it's arrived (and the lack of the function else where hadnt even bothered me until I discovered it on here).

Thank you for the clarification, that is helpful to know the procedure. It is annoying I agree but the people who use the website a lot are excellent. Both of my long term books that are not marked as received are from people who joined the site the day they bought the book.

If I may suggest a reminder email after 2 weeks is probably the best that can be done.

Yes I agree, you put all the effort into carefully packaging an item and posting it off in good time, and then you wait... and wait... and wait...

But then, I guess its the buyer's prerogative isn't it? And good to have the procedures laid out, its the one thing we forget, information is key, and without we tend to make up our own stories dont we?

Tis annoying though...

:(

Hi guys! Just wanted to share with you
how I get around 'persuading' my buyers
to confirm receipt.... I merely highlight
the reminder that GM include on their
Order Details section of our email! Hope
this helps :))

Great idea! I will do that too in future.

I've had this happen three times now, and one person who declared they hadn't recived the book and that for some reason they no long wanted it anymore. There needs to be more protection for the sellers on this site. Needless to say I was most annoyed as I now have the rigmarole of trying to claim it back via the Royal Mail, so there's no telling how long that's going to be

Quoted from geckofabulous View Post

I've had this happen three times now, and one person who declared they hadn't recived the book and that for some reason they no long wanted it anymore. There needs to be more protection for the sellers on this site. Needless to say I was most annoyed as I now have the rigmarole of trying to claim it back via the Royal Mail, so there's no telling how long that's going to be

In the email that Greenmetropolis sent me, they said I'd just have to claim it through the post office. I still have the response

I hate it when buyers don't take the time to acknowledge receipt of the books I send out - I always take the time to do so when a book arrives for me (I use the books arival as a propt to do so!). It seems like such a common courtesy to show someone.

I wish all buers would also use the rating system and that we could see why we have been given the rating we get (I was given a 4-star rating on one occasion and wondered why I'd been marked down as I had packaged the book very carefuly and sent it out within a couple of days of the order being placed) but had no way of finding out or appealing the rating if I thought it unfair.

I agree with Kell, it is common cortesy to acknowledge recipt, Most of my clients do, as for the remaining few lets just forget it, it takes all sorts,and if Green Met redress the situation after six weeks giving max stars, thats probably more than one could expect from thoughtless clients!
I also agree it would be nice to know why one is rated down so that one can address the situation if needed.

In actual fact it's only the sender that can make a claim against the Royal Mail for lost or damaged parcels. It's no use sending the proof of posting to anyone. You as the sender have to make the claim, if you don't, you loose the money because you have to stand the refund. Been there, done it, had it all explained to me. One point though. Sometimes the Royal Mail will get in touch with the person you have sent the parcel to, for them to sign that they have noi received the parcel.

Another point on this. Don't give the refund until the customer has signed that they have not received the parcel. If they ignore the request from the R M, they have probably received the parcel and are pulling a fast one.

oakwood: I like it! Could solve a lot of problems.

yep oakwood, good point....it may sort out the ones who try it on...you always get a few...normally on every site...but the good outweigh the bad...well, in most cases ;)

I have to admit that I don't get wound up about people not acknowledging receipt of a book. You'll probably know about it if they don't receive the book, so hearing nothing probably just means they haven't thought about it. Some people may not even realise that you have to. I've always noticed a big time lapse before receipt is acknoweleged. I'm sure many people only get round to acknowleding receipt if they log on to browse again and realise that it still shows as unsent.

Also, this refunding and claiming from Royal mail business, the rules on this seen to have changed since I started selling on here. The FAQs used to say that if a buyer claimed they hadn't received a book, greem metro would refund the buyer. Green metro would then ask to see a copy of the COP, just as proof that you had sent the item out. No one claimed from the royal mail. I remember discussing it with my postmaster a long time ago, when he asked me about the site. I'm sure I even printed off the FAQ on the subject to show him.

I'm wondering if a lot of refunds were given so they have now changed this way of working, and no longer take the hit themselves.

I must admit I have never had anything go missing in the post and only rarely get a COP. I buy the postage online and drop it in the nearest post box. Getting a COP means having to get the bus home instead of a lift with my other half which costs money,and also means finishing work early or having a long dinner and losing flexi time. It's not worth the cost or effort for the small chance that it doesn't get there. I normally only go to the PO if the book won't fit in a letterbox, and it normally means I can send the book as soon as I read the email saying it's sold.

AFter Nicola's comments I read the FAQ and Green Met have indeed changed the rules as they were always the ones that would deal with books that went astray in the post which is why you were supposed to put their name & address on the package as sender. Yes, the sender has to make the claim and this is what entitled them to do so.

If I now have to deal with this myself, then it is my name & address that should be on the package otherwise I am officially making a false claim!

I think Green Met should clarify this point.

Quoted from 29478 View Post

AFter Nicola's comments I read the FAQ and Green Met have indeed changed the rules as they were always the ones that would deal with books that went astray in the post which is why you were supposed to put their name & address on the package as sender. Yes, the sender has to make the claim and this is what entitled them to do so. If I now have to deal with this myself, then it is my name & address that should be on the package otherwise I am officially making a false claim! I think Green Met should clarify this point.

To clarify when Sending books:

Please ensure you write 'If undelivered please return to: GreenMetropolis Customer Support etc'. on the reverse of the envelope. This way, should the package be returned undelvered for any reason, the book will be returned to us here at Customer Support. We can then contact the buyer, check the delivery address and either re-sent, or arrange delivery to an alternative address. This way the seller is not inconvenienced in any way, and does not incurr any additional postage costs, in sending out the book a second time.

If a book is posted but never arrives:

On the rare occasion a book is posted and does not arrive, we will cancel the order and issue a full refund to the buyer and ask the seller to claim against the post office. The Post Office will no longer accept claims for missing postal items other than from the actual sender, therefore we can no longer make claims on behalf of our sellers.

Lost books must be reported to us within 6 weeks, therefore we ask all sellers to retain their certificate or proof of posting until the book is marked as received (or for 6 weeks), just in case the book doesn't arrive and a claim needs to be made against the post office.

We hope this has helped clarify our postage and receipt guidelines

Quoted from angelfish View Post

Anyone else find this really irritating? I dont sell many books (cant bare to part with most of my collection), but when I do I like to know that the book has at least arrived with the buyer. Im not so concerned about them rating but I'm terrible with bits of paper in my handbag and so I want to know when I can ditch the redundant Certificate of postage thingy. If this is in the wrong place feel free to kick me as hard as you like.

I have just bought two books but there is no longer a reminder as soon as I log in that "I have books to receive".

I always thought this was one of the best aspects of this site. There were obviously buyers who didn't acknowledge receipt until the next time they logged in, but without that reminder I think the proportion will vastly increase!

OK, it's there, but so tiny I missed it! It stood out in big red letters before, now it's just part of the small print that no-one notices!

I suggest that there could be some kind of reverse star system. If we can achieve a good rating for prompt service and 'book as described', then perhaps we should be awarded grumpy faces for a failure to notify GM and the seller. This might jolt a few of the less committed into bothering to acknowledge receipt.
Automatic reminders to lazy buyers from GM would also be a help.
Thanks to GM customer support for a very clear explanation of the 'missing book' set up.

guilty party :-( okay hands up here guys I admit to sometimes being tardy with clicking the receipt button and it has been due to spending time at more than 1 address but only one place has a secure post box/reliable postie so i used to order to that address for security reasons but then might not be there to pick up the book for a week. Frustrating for me too cos if I'm buying something it's usually cos I wanna read it asap! Does the receipt button allowed you to write comments/excuses on tardiness? Also if i've ordered anything to be sent to my parents they don't always think to tell me it has arrived straight away. Big apologies on behalf of the other tardy folks out there but please consider sometimes this is not always due to laziness. :-)

Why would a buyer acknowledge receipt but not put a star rating despite receiving a well packaged book sent the same day that was immaculate and unread???

Hi 48450 Ditto I have the same problem sometimes makes you wonder if it is worth it

Quoted from GreenMet Cust. Support View Post

Although we ask all buyers to login and update their account details as soon as a book is received, we realise that this is not always adhered, with many buyers not actually logging onto their accounts and updating the book status until they're ready to order their next book! To compensate for this, if a book is not marked as received by the buyer within 6 weeks of being marked as sent then our system will automatically mark a book as received and award 5 stars for the order. Beyond this time, buyers cannot submit a lost or damaged claim for the order. Please remember this does not effect your book payment. Funds from book sales take 7 days to clear from the day the book is marked as sent, regardless of when the book is actually marked as received. Obviously however this is an area of fustration for our sellers, therefore we'll review our procedures, to see if we can perhaps introduce a reminder e-mail to buyers, to prompt them to mark a book as received.

Quoted from Sunnybooks View Post

So - if I am to read this right - if I order a book and I don't receive it for weeks - the seller gets 5 stars. I ordered a book several weeks ago and have had no notification that it has been despatched. The only notification that I received was to ask that I mark it as received - even though I havent received it. Does that mean my buyer keeps the money and also gets 5 stars?

Thanks for that reply - I ordered 2 books on the 24th of October - one was marked as sent on the 28th and I have received it and left feedback.

The other book hasn't been marked as sent. I am wondering if they know that they have sold a book - could have had internet connection probs or whatever.

I'll nip of and re-read the email I was sent from support in case I missed something.

Edited to add that I have now read your email properly and replied.

Thanks again

I joined in January and bought a couple of books for my kids schoolwork. I did not spend long on the site and honestly did not realise I could acknowledge receipt or give a star rating. It is only because I have now started listing books and using the site for myself that I am discovering how it works.

So I have ordered 8 books of which I have received 5. Only by reading this forum did I look at my account and see how the system works. I have now just marked them as received, but have not given a rating because firstly they are my birthday presents, so I can't check the condition until I receive them from my hubby (Buying your own gifts is sad I know but I have more time than him!)and secondly I then need to check the condition against my original order to see what condition the seller claimed them to be - it all takes time, so have patience is all I can say! I know some people won't, but if the majority do then you're winning I'd say.

Just adding a thankyou to Angelfish for starting this thread

I've now found where to say I have received my orders and all my feedback is up to date now :)

Perhaps the people are like me. I haven't received my book yet(only recently ordered) but I HAVE just accidently deleted the E mail which gave me instructions!

I have found the opposite problem that buyers don't always mark books as sent either.

Quoted from Kell View Post

I hate it when buyers don't take the time to acknowledge receipt of the books I send out - I always take the time to do so when a book arrives for me (I use the books arival as a propt to do so!). It seems like such a common courtesy to show someone. I wish all buers would also use the rating system and that we could see why we have been given the rating we get (I was given a 4-star rating on one occasion and wondered why I'd been marked down as I had packaged the book very carefuly and sent it out within a couple of days of the order being placed) but had no way of finding out or appealing the rating if I thought it unfair.

Quoted from bean View Post

guilty party :-( okay hands up here guys I admit to sometimes being tardy with clicking the receipt button and it has been due to spending time at more than 1 address but only one place has a secure post box/reliable postie so i used to order to that address for security reasons but then might not be there to pick up the book for a week. Frustrating for me too cos if I'm buying something it's usually cos I wanna read it asap! Does the receipt button allowed you to write comments/excuses on tardiness? Also if i've ordered anything to be sent to my parents they don't always think to tell me it has arrived straight away. Big apologies on behalf of the other tardy folks out there but please consider sometimes this is not always due to laziness. :-)

Quoted from Alison27 View Post

Hi guys! Just wanted to share with you how I get around 'persuading' my buyers to confirm receipt.... I merely highlight the reminder that GM include on their Order Details section of our email! Hope this helps :))

It really depends on how frequently buyers access their GMet accounts - not everyone is on their computers 24/7.

Quoted from Petersbooks View Post

It really depends on how frequently buyers access their GMet accounts - not everyone is on their computers 24/7.

I think it'd be very helpful to email a reminder a week after dispatch; I'm quite prompt but other things do tend to push it out of my mind!

Quoted from angelfish View Post

Anyone else find this really irritating? I dont sell many books (cant bare to part with most of my collection), but when I do I like to know that the book has at least arrived with the buyer. Im not so concerned about them rating but I'm terrible with bits of paper in my handbag and so I want to know when I can ditch the redundant Certificate of postage thingy. If this is in the wrong place feel free to kick me as hard as you like.

Lots of other sites allow you to send the buyer/swapper a reminder e-mail to remind them to mark the book sent.

I've just received my first book, and having come across this thread earlier, I have speedily completed acknowledgment and five-star feedback.
.
But, had I not come across this thread, I'm not sure I was even aware of the facility/requirement. Information overload is the curse of the internet and as a result lots of things get missed, which is possibly one reason for defaulters.

Hi angelfish I agree I sold a book in December and the buyer has not let feedback. How do I know they have the book, I agree it would be very helpful to email a reminder a week after dispatch, even better if the buyers just left feedback it only take a few minutes.

Do you think this problem is increasing? Strange that it never happened to me in 5 years but my last four sales have not been acknowledged.

Going back to the postings on Nov 9th, from 48450 & Jinksygirl, I don't think it's clear that the stars and feedback system is there. I clicked 'received' for a book this week and the page jumped to the top of my 'sold' list,
completely covering up the Books Bought page.

I have had several people not acknowledge receipt at all, I agree that's it's very annoying! it only takes two minutes!

:( I'm guilty as charged. When I get in from work and the school run, the book is on the mat, I pick it up, unwrap it, smile, put it down, go into mum mode (tea, homework, housework)then completely forget about it until next time I want to order anything. I check my e-mails once in a blue moon, my friends know to phone me instead. Please know that I feel thoroughly reprimanded, and promise faithfully to do better in future.

Hi, I've been with GM for about six weeks, and I'm thrilled to have sold 10 books so far - but I've only had 3 acknowledgments. It's a bit disappointing, as I've made every effort to post the day after receiving the order, and made sure the books were well packaged.

At least I'm not the only one who is experiencing this problem

Hi. As a new member I was so excited when I sold my first book and rushed up to the PO as soon as I got the message but as Gill1503 says its bit disappointing when you don't get acknowledment of receipt.I hope I have better luck with this second book whcih is ready and waiting to be posted tomorrow

Another thought on the above. Perhaps it would be a good idea if seller could perhaps put a prompt on the buyer's profile page.

Quoted from eternity View Post

Lots of other sites allow you to send the buyer/swapper a reminder e-mail to remind them to mark the book sent.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. I always try and send out my books the day or the day after I've received notification of a sale and it is really annoying when the buyer doesn't at least acknowledge they have received it. If they don't want to leave a rating fine but at least let me know you got the book as I worry that it may have got lost in the post!!

Between Jan 12th and Feb 13th I have despached 6 books. 1 person has confirmed it as received, left a rating and a message (thanks Dunrentyn), 1 has confirmed it received but not left a rating or message and 4 have not even confirmed receipt. Is this a record or is anyone doing worse than me?

I'm waiting on 3 confirmations since Jan,all newly registered on the day they bought,and with no books for sale.However trying to leave feedback for a book received on Wed.was not very easy.Wanted to leave a message and after submitting,it had failed because I must have put a punctuation in.Said only letters & numbers allowed.Redid it, submission failed again because I had not redone all the ratings again.Third time of doing both. got the oops error on page,so not sure if it had actually gone through.
So maybe people give up if first attempt fails and just leave it marked as sent.

The last 8 books I have sold only 3 have acknowledged and left feedback, 4, I have been automatically given as 5 starts after 6 weeks and the other one probably will be the same.

It doesn't bug me though. Feedback is optional anyway, and in reality how many occasional users of the site will read the packing slip and be aware of the option of feedback. I've never read a packing slip from any online purchase.

It simply doesn't matter, your ratings get updated anyway and are always in your favour.

It is a pain in the backside though that punctuation isn't allowed when you do leave feedback. Its easy to forget and its a pain re writing it.

I have only had a couple who have not confirmed as received. If they cannot be bothered to update the computer then I cannot be bothered to worry. sounds hard I know but life is too short to worry. GM will pay the mopney into my account if the buyer doesn't chase it. I am a softy really.

Newmanses, my sentiments exactly! Too much reading to do to spend time worrying about lack of receipt confirmation : though it is a pain in the you know where!

Exactly Nicola. What is the deal with no punctuation? A little odd on a site based around the written word?

I'm really nervous at the moment. I posted a book sold here the other week and they haven't marked it as received yet, and I sent a book requested on Bookmooch at the same time and they haven't marked received either...I'm hoping they're both just forgetful.

Hi Eternity. Hope you hear from your buyers soon. I'm currently awaiting acknowledgement of receipt on 33 books! Could that be a record? I've given up worrying about it any more.

Wow!That is a lot! Yes you may well hold the record

Yeah, I don't feel as nervous anymore. 33 books!

Think of all those CoPs you have to hang on to for 6 wks!

What's this "acknowledge receipt" business. I've never received any :(

Only made one sale mind you :)

well, you have made 1 sale, your ratings are still on 0, they have not acknowledged receipt yet...... dont worry, it happens quite a lot.....you soon get used to not worrying about it ;)

Wow just noticed my ratings have gone up to 2 books sold. The buyer of 25feb just rated me 5 stars and good feedback. Still awaiting 9feb buyer acknowledgment. So perhaps 'everything comes to he who waits' Now on the strength of that I have just bought another book!!