eBay Hacks

How to 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 [Hack #39] and [Hack #70] 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 applicable) 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 happy.

• Deadbeat bidder. A seller will leave negative ...