Generally, I have no issues with the sellers I buy from on Shopee but occasionally a not-so-professional experience crops up which is why it’s so comforting to have the Shopee Guarantee. Buyers can be assured of a refund if the item isn’t delivered within the stipulated time unlike if one buys on social media, e.g. Instagram/Facebook.

On 7th July, I made a few small purchases on Shopee because of the cashback and free shipping vouchers (very rare and difficult to get nowadays). I purchased a wristlet pouch at RM15, it came in 3 designs. The purchase entitled me to 450 coins which is a lot for a RM15 purchase. I thought it was a bit strange that the seller hasn’t prepared the parcel for shipping even 24 hours later as most sellers I bought from in Malaysia are very fast.

The next day, 8th July I contacted the seller to ask if the item was available for my order. Although the seller was online, he or she didn’t reply until I sent another message. A few hours after the second message, he or she replied and said the design I wanted was not available. Why couldn’t he or she have told me this when I ordered? How hard is it to inform the customer immediately that the item the customer wanted is not available. I could then have requested for a refund and bought something else with the cashback voucher which had to be used by 7th July.

I think that it’s rather unprofessional to stay silent about the item being unavailable until the customer asked about it. Since he or she couldn’t deliver what I wanted, wasn’t it have been the right thing to do to send me a message immediately so that I could have an option of cancelling or choosing another design. This is the easiest way to lose customers, by staying silent when the seller cannot fulfill the order.