( 
)
Many times there are "failure to
communicate" problems between buyers and sellers, not because email
isn't being sent but because the other person is not reading or
receiving it. Let me describe some of the many reasons this can happen.
I spent 7 years as an Exchange Mail Administration and I can tell you
for certain that some email messages never reach their destination due
to various server problems. That number is small and declining, but it
still happens. And, I have seen messages sit in the server queue for a
week because some routing table on a DNS server was messed up.
Lets say that you have an email forwarding account. These are great in a way because you can just use one email address for the rest of your life. Whenever you change email providers or ISPs, you just need to log in to your forwarding account and change the pointer. There is no need to contact everyone and tell them that you have a new email address. However, lets say that some spammer weasel gets an email forwarding account from the same host company and then the major ISPs like RoadRunner and AOL put a block on all mail coming from this host. That would mean that none of your email will get delivered until this block is removed. Now, do you think anyone is going to tell you that they did this? No! The only way you will find out is by realizing that you are not getting email that you know has been sent.
This brings us to the next major way that email is not getting read. Because of all the spam, many people have set filters and depending on how restrictive the settings are, you could send them email that is going right into their trash or junk mail box never to be seen. This is especially likely to happen if you are sending a file such as an eBook that they have purchased from you. When I send an eBook, I always send an email saying that the eBook will be attached to another email to follow shortly and if you do not recieve it, let me know. I probably have to re-send about 2 or 3 percent, sometimes to a different email address. Sometimes I have to send it from one of my other email accounts. For instance, if a Yahoo user is having a problem receiving the file it can usually be sent from my Yahoo account and it will go through.
This thing about multiple email addresses leads us to the next little problem. This is one that has caused me a lot of grief and changed the way that I do business on eBay. For some reason, many people use one email address in eBay and a different one in PayPal. This is not a problem as long as they check their email in both accounts. However, I have found that a large percentage of users only check email regularly in one place and messages in the other account go unread for a long time. Ususally it is the account associated with PayPal that does not get checked but I have also seen it other way. When someone makes a purchase with me, I send them an email right away thanking them for their purchase, their quick payment and telling them that I will send their item immediately. Also, if I am mailing the item, I print the label in PayPal and when this happens PayPal automatically sends the buyer a message that includes the delivery confirmation number. Did you know that? Apparently many users do not. Most also don't know that they can go into "My eBay" and click on the shipping information for the item and find the delivery confirmation number there. So, when their package gets taken back to the post office because there was nobody there to accept it (notice I didn't say SIGN for it because I don't request signature confirmation) and the carrier does not leave one of those little green forms that says "Sorry we missed you" or the little green form gets lost or whatever, the buyer will probably send you a nasty email calling you a crook because you have not sent their $5 item and never supplied them with a "tracking number." If they had checked the delivery confirmation number with the USPS website, they would see that their package had been sitting in the post office for a couple of weeks. I have had this exact situation happen three times and it could have been avoided by buyer just checking their email from PayPal or by getting the confirmation number by going to "My eBay."
As I said, I have changed the way that I do my eBay business. First of all, I will never mail anything within the USA without delivery confirmation and why should I when it is free if you print the labels in PayPal. Secondly, when an item sells, I check the email address that the buyer is using in eBay and compare it to the one in PayPal. If they are using two different email addresses, I will reply to both of them. If I am sending an eBook, I will reply and tell them which address I will be using to send the eBook.
EBay's message system has helped to make sure that your message get through but it is limited and there is no way to send an attachment. Most users have put the eBay address in their spam filters so that by using this system you are able to work around that problem. It has however introduced another potential glitch that may stop mail from getting delivered. When a message is sent, if there is a check mark in the box "Hide my email address" and if the other person replies without noticing that the "To:" line reads "UseTheYellowButton," then we have another email that will not get delivered.
In some cases you may have to request the individual's personal contact information from eBay and call them. I have even been forced to send a letter including copies of all the email I have sent to them, making sure that they include the dates that the email was sent. It beats getting an undeserved negative or neutral feedback because the other person is not getting their email.
The next day after the orginal posting of this guide, I got an undeliverable email notice with the following message; "Deferred: Connection timed out with mx4.mail.yahoo.com. Message could not be delivered for 2 days. Message will be deleted from the queue." So, RoadRunner was unable to deliver this email to Yahoo. Two of the largest email providers in the World and this is what happens. Good thing this was not a time sensitive email. Interestingly, the email that I sent to the same address about a minute later with an eBook attached did get delivered. Go figure!
It is now a few days later and I just received an irate email from buyer wanting to know where her eBook was and why I had not responded to her previous email. Of course, her email came from an address that was different from that registered both in PayPal and eBay. I informed her that her eBook was sent to her registered email address 6 minutes after I got the payment and that this is the first that I had heard of any problems. Her reply "Thank you for your quick response. I received your confirmation email which was sent to the @ctaz address which is old but still works as far as I know. My server has changed to citilink.com and then to citilink.net but until now, I thought all three addresses were working. I looked in my Sent folder and discovered that the first email I sent to you was a reply to the confirmation email sent by Square Trade. My mistake. Please pardon my tech glitches and re-send the book to the citilink.com address." Need I say more?!
Some may suggest using "Read Receipts," but I think most people do what I do when I get those and that is to click on "No" because I want to read the message before admitting that I received anything. Plus, I really don't have time to keep track of things and then worry about whether the message was not received or the person just clicked on "No."
Keep in mind the important point that there is no guarantee that email will reach the addressee!
If you have found this guide to be helpful, please click on the "Yes" button below. I would certainly appreciate it. Thank you.
Lets say that you have an email forwarding account. These are great in a way because you can just use one email address for the rest of your life. Whenever you change email providers or ISPs, you just need to log in to your forwarding account and change the pointer. There is no need to contact everyone and tell them that you have a new email address. However, lets say that some spammer weasel gets an email forwarding account from the same host company and then the major ISPs like RoadRunner and AOL put a block on all mail coming from this host. That would mean that none of your email will get delivered until this block is removed. Now, do you think anyone is going to tell you that they did this? No! The only way you will find out is by realizing that you are not getting email that you know has been sent.
This brings us to the next major way that email is not getting read. Because of all the spam, many people have set filters and depending on how restrictive the settings are, you could send them email that is going right into their trash or junk mail box never to be seen. This is especially likely to happen if you are sending a file such as an eBook that they have purchased from you. When I send an eBook, I always send an email saying that the eBook will be attached to another email to follow shortly and if you do not recieve it, let me know. I probably have to re-send about 2 or 3 percent, sometimes to a different email address. Sometimes I have to send it from one of my other email accounts. For instance, if a Yahoo user is having a problem receiving the file it can usually be sent from my Yahoo account and it will go through.
This thing about multiple email addresses leads us to the next little problem. This is one that has caused me a lot of grief and changed the way that I do business on eBay. For some reason, many people use one email address in eBay and a different one in PayPal. This is not a problem as long as they check their email in both accounts. However, I have found that a large percentage of users only check email regularly in one place and messages in the other account go unread for a long time. Ususally it is the account associated with PayPal that does not get checked but I have also seen it other way. When someone makes a purchase with me, I send them an email right away thanking them for their purchase, their quick payment and telling them that I will send their item immediately. Also, if I am mailing the item, I print the label in PayPal and when this happens PayPal automatically sends the buyer a message that includes the delivery confirmation number. Did you know that? Apparently many users do not. Most also don't know that they can go into "My eBay" and click on the shipping information for the item and find the delivery confirmation number there. So, when their package gets taken back to the post office because there was nobody there to accept it (notice I didn't say SIGN for it because I don't request signature confirmation) and the carrier does not leave one of those little green forms that says "Sorry we missed you" or the little green form gets lost or whatever, the buyer will probably send you a nasty email calling you a crook because you have not sent their $5 item and never supplied them with a "tracking number." If they had checked the delivery confirmation number with the USPS website, they would see that their package had been sitting in the post office for a couple of weeks. I have had this exact situation happen three times and it could have been avoided by buyer just checking their email from PayPal or by getting the confirmation number by going to "My eBay."
As I said, I have changed the way that I do my eBay business. First of all, I will never mail anything within the USA without delivery confirmation and why should I when it is free if you print the labels in PayPal. Secondly, when an item sells, I check the email address that the buyer is using in eBay and compare it to the one in PayPal. If they are using two different email addresses, I will reply to both of them. If I am sending an eBook, I will reply and tell them which address I will be using to send the eBook.
EBay's message system has helped to make sure that your message get through but it is limited and there is no way to send an attachment. Most users have put the eBay address in their spam filters so that by using this system you are able to work around that problem. It has however introduced another potential glitch that may stop mail from getting delivered. When a message is sent, if there is a check mark in the box "Hide my email address" and if the other person replies without noticing that the "To:" line reads "UseTheYellowButton," then we have another email that will not get delivered.
In some cases you may have to request the individual's personal contact information from eBay and call them. I have even been forced to send a letter including copies of all the email I have sent to them, making sure that they include the dates that the email was sent. It beats getting an undeserved negative or neutral feedback because the other person is not getting their email.
The next day after the orginal posting of this guide, I got an undeliverable email notice with the following message; "Deferred: Connection timed out with mx4.mail.yahoo.com. Message could not be delivered for 2 days. Message will be deleted from the queue." So, RoadRunner was unable to deliver this email to Yahoo. Two of the largest email providers in the World and this is what happens. Good thing this was not a time sensitive email. Interestingly, the email that I sent to the same address about a minute later with an eBook attached did get delivered. Go figure!
It is now a few days later and I just received an irate email from buyer wanting to know where her eBook was and why I had not responded to her previous email. Of course, her email came from an address that was different from that registered both in PayPal and eBay. I informed her that her eBook was sent to her registered email address 6 minutes after I got the payment and that this is the first that I had heard of any problems. Her reply "Thank you for your quick response. I received your confirmation email which was sent to the @ctaz address which is old but still works as far as I know. My server has changed to citilink.com and then to citilink.net but until now, I thought all three addresses were working. I looked in my Sent folder and discovered that the first email I sent to you was a reply to the confirmation email sent by Square Trade. My mistake. Please pardon my tech glitches and re-send the book to the citilink.com address." Need I say more?!
Some may suggest using "Read Receipts," but I think most people do what I do when I get those and that is to click on "No" because I want to read the message before admitting that I received anything. Plus, I really don't have time to keep track of things and then worry about whether the message was not received or the person just clicked on "No."
Keep in mind the important point that there is no guarantee that email will reach the addressee!
If you have found this guide to be helpful, please click on the "Yes" button below. I would certainly appreciate it. Thank you.
Guide created: 06/22/06 (updated 12/15/08)
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