eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition

Reply and Follow Up to Feedback

A little damage control will help save a bruised reputation.

The game isn’t over when another eBay member leaves feedback for you; you have the opportunity to respond to any feedback comment in your profile. Although this feature is handy for thanking users for leaving you positive feedback, its real value is for damage control when someone leaves neutral or negative feedback for you.

Often, one’s instinct is to use this tool as a means of retaliation—to “get back” at the other user for leaving a nasty comment. But given the importance of feedback in the eBay community, your main goal should be to use it to lessen the impact of such comments on your own reputation.

For example, consider the following complaint lodged against you, a seller, by an unhappy bidder:

Item arrived damaged; very expensive to repair. Lousy seller.

Obviously, this is the wrong response:

Stupid buyer! What a jerk for complaining! Now you get nothing.

Think of the message this sends to other people, prospective future customers, who might scrutinize your feedback profile [Hack #1] . It doesn’t address the problem, and since your response shows up only in your own feedback profile, it only serves to hurt you. Instead, consider this reply:

Please contact me with all problems, and I’ll do my best to make it right.

This sends a subtle message to the buyer, should he ever choose to return and view your feedback, but more importantly, it makes it appear to other bidders that you are the reasonable ...