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I share all my sporadic and toilet thoughts in here, because I am random like that.
A world where numbers define your reputation
After taking a hiatus from Carousell, I’ve decided to go back on it in a whim of boredom. My reasons for leaving previously was simple – there was no buyer/seller rating system in place. I’ve had my fair share of buyers backing out after confirming an item (which can be extremely frustrating for sellers), and eventually I decided enough was enough.
Since then, Carousell had implemented a ratings system and I noticed that things have become more civil. In fact, I was just quipping on Twitter earlier today that I’m enjoying Carousell much more than before.
I was really starting to enjoy the community. Most of my buyers were really personable, and the sellers I’ve dealt with so far have been amazing. Through Carousell, I’ve discovered home-grown handicraft artists such as Hanxi from Fresh from the Kiln and young, entrepreneurial girls as young as as 15 who DIY gift ideas such as Kerensa.
Not to mention the several others who have direct links with suppliers and conduct pre-orders on the platform to share the discounts with others – with a slight profit to themselves of course. (And honestly now, what else was I doing back then at 15 apart from whining about school?)
It was nothing short of wonderful… until I received my first negative feedback this evening.
It was a revenge feedback.
The feedback was left in response to a neutral feedback I’ve given a user for backing out after confirming for an item on my list over the weekend. (Though I was tempted to give a negative initially – I thought it was respectable of that user to at least inform me that she no longer wanted the item, so I gave a neutral.)
I’m not going to name the user since that would be ridiculously petty on my part, and we’ve since sorted things out. (Apparently, it was a misunderstanding – I’ve decided to just trust and let go.)
But it did get me thinking. About how rating systems could potentially backfire.
My response to this whole saga already says it all. I do pride myself in my ratings – because I always make an effort to make my buyers happy. Before leaving that neutral feedback, in fact, I did consider the possibility of my ratings being destroyed by a retaliatory feedback from an angry user. (And sure enough, it did happen.)
Now, I do wonder – exactly how many sellers have been in my same position before, and avoided leaving non-positive feedback for fear of receiving retaliatory negative feedback.
In fact after this, it is unlikely I will be using the rating system for anything other than leaving positive feedback, which will then defeat the purpose of a rating system to begin with. This whole negative feedback for negative feedback mentality is breeding an unhealthy culture around this rating system.
People think twice about calling out improper behaviour from other users, because that will mean putting their own reputation score on the line. While for every person who avoids giving negative feedback, means there’s someone else out there with a perfect reputation score who might be causing annoyance to the community.
Of course, it’s not easy to build a foolproof rating system. Such ‘retaliatory negative ratings’ can happen literally anywhere – I’ve seen it happen (although a lot less) on SGSellTrade (a Livejournal community for Singapore-based second-hand sellers) and a little on eBay (although I can’t gauge the extent for eBay because I very rarely use it – although a quick search on Google reveals some results). Although methinks Carousell is in a very ripe position to innovate on the feedback system since they are a very talented fellow startup.
Some ideas off-my-head;
1. Allow sellers to submit feedback for users only when that user has made an offer for his/her item.
2. Conversely, only allow buyers to submit feedback for users only when an item has been “marked as sold” to him/her.
3. Have a “dispute feedback” feature where buyers/sellers may start a private chat in relation to a neutral/negative rating they are unhappy about. This allows them to channel their angst elsewhere and reduce the number of revenge feedbacks.
In an ideal world, a user’s rating will be a true reflection of his/her trustworthiness and reliability. Unfortunately, this is reality where emotions (specifically, anger) usually triumph rationality.
Meanwhile, revenge negative ratings or not, I’ll just continue putting the human connection into every interaction I make on Carousell.
Dealing with lost mail in Singapore
Recently established my presence on Carousell – a mobile app for anyone to sell their stuff, kind of like a community-generated marketplace. Two weeks into using it, I’m beginning to find myself hooked.
Like many others, I started out selling my second-hand stuff on a Livejournal community called SGSellTrade since late-2005. What started out as a really vibrant community had soon fizzled out into nothing, and it was becoming increasingly harder to sell stuff online. (And flea markets are pretty tiring.) Thank goodness for Carousell.
Even then, selling online is not without its risks. Like lost mail, for example.
In my 8 years of selling online, I’ve had my mail lost 5 times. Thrice when I was selling, and twice when I was buying. The first time my mail was lost, it was gone into oblivion. My buyer never received her item, neither was the mail rerouted back to me. Needless to say, I had a very unhappy buyer on my hands. The second time round, the mail was sent back to my home – apparently, my buyer had provided the wrong address. But that ended well.
And the third time, unfortunately, is now.
When your mail goes missing (whether you’re a seller or a buyer), you’re pretty much helpless, especially when it is through normal mail which Singpost can’t do much about. Registered mail, though it costs $2.24 more, provides an ease of mind as the mail’s delivery path will be completely tracked. But since lost mail is pretty rare, most will just absorb the risk and not register their mail.
After consulting the counter staff at Singapore Post Centre this afternoon, I have a pretty clear idea on what happens behind the scenes when it comes to mail delay. Hopefully, this will enlighten the thousands of sellers out there.
Smaller Mail: Letters/Flat parcels
Delivering smaller mail is straightforward. The postman will simply drop it into your letterbox. If mail in this category do not arrive as expected, it’s due to:
1. The recipient’s address does not exist.
If that’s the case, the mail will be routed back to the sender if there’s a return address. This takes up to 10 working days.
2. The recipient’s address is wrong (leads to someone else instead).
Your mail will land in someone else’s hands, and chances of getting it back is very, very slim. Even if you’ve written a return address, most people won’t bother returning your mail.
3. The recipient’s address is correct, but the postman delivers it to the wrong address.
If the mail is delivered to the wrong letterbox in the same neighbourhood, you’ll still have a chance, although slim.
Large/bulky Mail
Large mail wouldn’t fit into the typical mailbox, so the postman will deliver it directly to the recipient’s doorstep. If no one is at home at the time of delivery, the mail will be routed to the nearest post office, with a delivery advice slipped under the recipient’s door.
Occasionally, the postman might have difficulty slipping the delivery advice under the door due to obstruction (eg. houses with animals might have additional metal grilles to keep the pets in). If this is the case, the delivery advice will be inserted into the recipient’s mailbox (immediate) or mailed to the recipients house (additional 2-3 working days’ delay).
When the mail reaches the post-office, the recipient has roughly 5 working days to collect it on-site (with their delivery advice).
If the mail is still not collected, the mail will be re-routed to Singapore Post Centre in Paya Lebar for subsequent handling. Once at Singapore Post Centre, uncollected mail with return addresses will be mailed back to the sender. (Time taken for processing and re-routing generally takes an additional 5 working days.) Those without return addresses will be stored at their lost mail department for an unspecified period of time before they are eventually disposed.
If your parcel has not arrived by the expected time:
1. Look out for a delivery advice.
This will be under your door or in your mailbox. If you have not received a delivery advice, wait out for an additional 3 working days.
2. If the seller has included a return address, just wait.
Chances of mail retrieval are higher is the seller has included a return address. Although it takes up to 15 working days for the above-mentioned mail routing to take place. Ask the seller to alert you if the mail is returned to his/her place.
2. All 3 possibilities listed for smaller mail apply.
Tips when sending out mail
1. Include a return address. (Can’t emphasize this enough.)
2. Write the recipient’s address and your return address in permanent black/blue ink. (If your mail gets soaked in the rain and your ink is not permanent, the address will no longer be legible!)
3. Seal your parcel tightly, this means masking tape over all the flaps and other areas that could possibly break open.
4. If you’re sending out a higher-valued item, take a photo of the parcel before you send it out. (It helps should you need to describe the parcel to that bewildered, confused-looking counter staff at Singpost.)
Have you encountered lost mail when selling/buying online? If so, how did you handle the situation?
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