Mr. Seller, Please Pack My Record Carefully!

What phrase do you hear most often in your life? Is it, “Dad, will you buy this for me?” How about, “Honey, please take out the garbage.” Maybe it’s “Turn that TV down” or “Wipe your feet dear!”

The most common phrase to enter my small corner of the world is, “Please pack my record carefully.” It’s a request that appears nearly every single day in customer emails.

When you place an order with L.L. Bean, J.C. Penney, Sears, or any on-line department store, do you instruct the company on how to pack your purchased item? Do you tell them you want it surrounded in bubblewrap, sealed in plastic, double-boxed, with the invoice number written clearly on the outside of the package? What do you think the company would do with your request?


Do you ever worry your record will arrive like this?

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There is something about transacting business on eBay that apparently gives free license to some buyers to behave as if the seller is a moron. In some cases, that assumption may be correct. But what if the seller has nearly 10 years of on-line selling experience, with just under 20,000 positive eBay feedbacks, and is presumably beyond tenderfoot status? (I’m talking about me, of course.)

When I first started selling on eBay in 1998 I already had many years of mail order experience selling from advertised lists that we dispersed to our customers on a quarterly basis. I was always a little annoyed with customers who would tell us how to pack the item, but it happened so frequently that after awhile I just became impervious to it. “Get over it, Dad” is how my teenage daughter would put it.

Clearly, there is something about eBay buyers that distinguishes them from buyers on other sites. Ecommerce blogger Randy Smythe, once the largest seller of DVDs on eBay with a feedback rating of over 100,000, recently compared eBay buyers to those on Amazon. He said, “The eBay buyer is plain and simply too much work. Customer service emails are 100 times more on eBay than on Amazon. eBay buyers want the lowest price yet they want Nordstrom’s service while Amazon customers want a fair price with Amazon service and reputation.”

I’m going to get around to making my point in just a moment. But first, let me quote from just a couple of emails I received from customers this week.

“Pack this album very carefully. Although I am insuring this very rare record, I want you to know that insurance can never replace an irreplaceable piece of music history."

And here is another that came in just yesterday. “I need to have this record in perfect condition when it arrives. Please do not pack it yet. I am going to mail you a special box to ship the record. Please let me know how much extra this will cost.”

Obviously if every buyer wanted to send me his own box, we’d have to close our business. We wouldn’t have the time or resources to devote to this kind of service. Plus, it requires us to override our automated Check Out software because the stated shipping price is no longer applicable. I can tell you with certainty we will make no profit on this transaction.


Every capable seller knows how important it is to use the right sized box.

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I have participated in many seller conferences, including the annual eBay Live, where experts tell you to strive for stellar customer service –- and we do. Whatever the customer wants, they usually get it, and they get it with a smile. The customer is much more likely to come back and that is the bottom line.

Nonetheless, here is my advice. Read the seller’s feedback. Check their history to see how long they’ve been doing this. Then, if it’s clear they know what they’re doing, don’t tell them how to do their job. Think about your own workplace environment. Do you need to be told everyday how to perform your duties?

Please, don't misinterpret what I'm saying. There are all kinds of legitimate customer requests; from a change of address, to a shipping upgrade. I’m not talking about that. We enjoy helping a customer get his package where he wants it, and when he wants it. We want our buyers to be ecstatic over their purchase. We also want them to be comfortable in knowing we are packing experts and its our responsibility to get it to them quickly and safely.

If you want to be guaranteed that kind of treatment, limit your purchases to those sellers who have a proven track record. If the seller is a bad packer, nothing you say will change that. If the seller is a great packer, nothing you say will change that. Some people confuse being a smart buyer with being a difficult one.