Are people getting ruder? (Not a specific incident, just generally)

[cadelaide]

I dunno, I just have a feeling buyers are becoming more and more abrupt to the point of rudeness.

I have an ebay shop, I'm finding that if items haven't arrived within 48 hrs (for whatever reason) I'm getting such stroppy emails. It never used to be this bad.

What's happening to people? Is it email/text-speak or are we just becoming ruder generally?

Perhaps they're getting more impatient because of what happened last year (snow, delayed post etc). It is November after all and I reckon there's Christmas panic shopping already.

I usually sell and most buyers are fine. There are rude ones and I think encountering them is just part of selling.

I actually think the ebay message system itself is quite rude - for example if an item hasn't arrived and you go to 'contact the seller', the option you have to select is 'Where is my item?', which is then the heading that appears on your message to them.
I actually think that's a very abrupt way to start the conversation, surely 'My item has not yet arrived' would be a more polite heading? I feel that Ebay have kind of 'set the tone' for that message exchange and not really got it off to a good start!

Agree Flouncy!

I have just had to contact a seller today about my missing item and I also felt the "Where is my item?" heading was rude and abrupt. I felt very uncomfortable about it, as if I was angrily accusing the seller of not sending it rather than my intended gentle enquiry as to whether it had been sent yet or not.