eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition

Avoid Negative Feedback

Protect your feedback profile—and your reputation—from the proverbial slings and arrows of disgruntled eBayers.

In most cases, negative feedback is unnecessary. And I’m sure that if you just received negative feedback, you’ll agree in a heartbeat. But the reason that negative feedback is unnecessary is that it’s usually avoidable. Complaints are usually lodged for one of the following reasons:

A buyer’s expectations weren’t met.

A buyer will leave negative feedback for a seller if the item doesn’t arrive quickly, if the item isn’t in as good condition as promised, or if the seller isn’t responsive to emails.

All of these are avoidable: see “Master Expectation Management” [Hack #50] and “Damage Control Before and After You Ship” [Hack #88] for tips to effectively prevent customers from being disappointed, both before and after the sale.

But it’s important to note that sometimes there’s only so much a seller can do to please a customer. For this reason, sellers must also do everything possible to convince their customers—especially inexperienced ones—to communicate any problems or concerns to the seller before they go ahead and leave feedback.

If you’re the seller, probably the easiest way to do this is to include a note inside all your packages with your email address (and phone number, if you wish) and the assurance that, if the customer has a problem, you’ll do everything you can to make the situation right. Sometimes the note alone is enough to make the customer ...