Good and bad ways to handle communications with seemingly lazy or dim-witted bidders.
No matter what you do, youâll never get all your bidders to read your auction descriptions, shipping terms, or payment instructions as carefully as youâd like them to, if at all. As a result, youâll occasionally get a bidder who looks at an auction entitled âAntique Royal-Blue Vase,â sees the large photo of a royal-blue vase, and then writes you to ask what color the vase is.
OK, itâs not usually that bad, but sometimes it seems like it is. The first thing to remember is how easy it is to miss even the most obvious piece of information. Instead of antagonizing your bidder with the all-too-familiar, âItâs blue, like it says in the description,â try one of the following:
âThe vase is a deep royal blue that almost looks purple in low light. The glaze seems a little darker at the bottom.â Not only does this answer the bidderâs question respectfully, it presumes that the bidder was looking for more information than simply, âitâs blue.â
âThe vase is royal blue. The photo in the auction actually has a pretty good reproduction of the color, so please let me know if it doesnât come through.â This not only (kindly) reminds the bidder that there is a photo, but it helps inspire trust that the photo is accurate, a fact the bidder may not have wanted to take for granted. It also suggests a legitimate reason for the bidder asking the question in the first place; namely, that the photo might not have loaded properly on the bidderâs computer.
Instead of driving your bidders away, youâll be sending them the message, so to speak, that a transaction with you will be a pleasant one, that youâre trustworthy, and that your item is as youâve described it. See [Hack #20] for some of the tactics that your bidders might be using.
Warning
It may seem like a no-brainer, but when replying to a bidderâs question itâs important to use your email programâs Reply feature so that the original message appears at the bottom of your response. This way, the bidder doesnât receive an email that simply says âYes,â with no further clue as to what question youâre answering. Strangely, this simple bit of ânetiquetteâ is basically ignored by even the most experienced sellers â donât be one of them.
Next, remember that for every bidder who writes you with a question, there will be 10 potential bidders who donât bother. Either they bid without asking, only to be disappointed later, or they move on and bid on someone elseâs auction instead. For this reason, itâs best to be a little proactive. If a bidder asks a question that isnât answered in your auction description, go ahead and revise the auction to include the extra information, as described in [Hack #50]. And if you find that several bidders are asking a question that you feel is already addressed, there must be something unclear about it. Thereâs certainly no harm in going back to the auction and trying to clarify.
Finally, as a seller on eBay, itâs often your job to act as a teacher, instructing your bidders on basic bidding concepts, your payment terms, and some of the more confusing eBay policies. After all, a bidderâs first dumb question is not likely to be the last.
When an unfamiliar eBay user makes contact, you may want to take a moment to figure out who he or she is before you reply. For example, if your auction states that you wonât ship internationally, and someone from Iceland[13] is inquiring about your item, youâll want to let him know that you canât ship to him. But how do you know where these bidders are located? Well, youâll have a pretty good clue if someone asks, âHow much to ship to Iceland?â but otherwise youâll have to do a little investigating.
Start by going to Search â Find Members, type the bidderâs user ID into the Feedback Profile box, and click Submit. (For a shortcut, just open any memberâs feedback page and replace the user ID in the URL with that of the member youâre investigating. See Chapter 1 for more information on feedback.) The country where the member is registered is shown right in the summary box at the top of the page.
Tip
While youâre at it, take a look at the memberâs feedback rating. If the member has an excessive amount of negative comments, now may be an excellent time to make sure that bidder canât bid on your auctions. See [Hack #54] for details.
The country specified on the Feedback page is not foolproof, however. If youâre suspicious, just look at the bidderâs email address, which will appear at the top of the email theyâve sent you. Unless the bidderâs domain is .com, .net, .org, or .edu, the TLD (top-level domain) will contain a country code (such as .uk for the United Kingdom, .de for Germany, or .ca for Canada).
Finally, if you want to be as thorough as possible, go to Search â Find Members and look at the User ID History box. If the bidder has ever changed his or her user ID, the change will show up here. If nothing else, one of the past user IDs may be another email address, which could provide another clue as to the bidderâs country of origin.
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