Ebay rant!

HeadAboveWater

Will keep this short and sweet!!

Why won't buyers contact sellers with ANY and ALL queries/problems regarding the transaction before leaving feedback?! :mad:

Yes ok, they've left me positive feedback but with a negative comment regarding postage. I've immediately refunded the full postage costs as I do admit the error is mine, and also replied to the feedback stating as such.

I had a cheeky positive left for me once before, so queried it with ebay and requested that it was removed. The feedback and the comments are still there 4 months later so apparently that doesn't work...

Grrrrr :mad:

Rant over

chemical.galaxy

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Will keep this short and sweet!!

Why won't buyers contact sellers with ANY and ALL queries/problems regarding the transaction before leaving feedback?! :mad:

Yes ok, they've left me positive feedback but with a negative comment regarding postage. I've immediately refunded the full postage costs as I do admit the error is mine, and also replied to the feedback stating as such.

I had a cheeky positive left for me once before, so queried it with ebay and requested that it was removed. The feedback and the comments are still there 4 months later so apparently that doesn't work...

Grrrrr :mad:

Rant over

I would not worry about the positive comment - it soon drops down the page and most people don't read each and every feedback do they? I tend to just look at the negs/neutrals.
It's the associated stars which might be more damaging...

HeadAboveWater

Thanks

I know what you're saying, but my feedback still says 'This information will be available when this member receives at least 10 detailed seller ratings.' and I'm positive I've sold over 10 items. Or do the 10 items need to be sold within a certain time period?

EDIT:
Duh! 12 months...!!!

chemical.galaxy

Oh I see! perhaps your feedback won't drop down so quickly then!

Rhymsta

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Thanks

I know what you're saying, but my feedback still says 'This information will be available when this member receives at least 10 detailed seller ratings.' and I'm positive I've sold over 10 items. Or do the 10 items need to be sold within a certain time period?

EDIT:
Duh! 12 months...!!!

Yes, it's not the number of sales - it's the number of times a buyer has left you star ratings.

Crowqueen

eBay don't tend to remove feedback just on the seller's say so. They need proof of some hanky-panky, e.g. a positive but four low stars or something like 'quick dispatch thanks' with a low for the dispatch star. You need to listen to what buyers are saying. What sounds like a cheeky FB can actually be indicative of a mild problem with an item - when I was selling off an accumulation of stamps I sold a lot with some 'thins' in it - stamps which are damaged and haven't come off the envelope properly. When I collect stamps, I don't worry about that - but when I sold them people were obviously upset when I sent them badly removed ones. It was a positive and I got away with it, but it made me check everything I listed thoroughly.

If you are concerned about issues like this, pre-empt poor feedback, particularly on postage, by refunding any overcharge as soon as it is incurred (that is, after you get home from the post office) and checking you have a reasonable return policy in place. Also make sure your listings state up front that you are happy to listen to queries if there are any problems or delays. I find a polite message thanking buyers for payment and encouraging this doesn't do any harm.

Look after your buyers and they will look after you.

Crowqueen

Rhymsta wrote: »

Yes, it's not the number of sales - it's the number of times a buyer has left you star ratings.

eBay are still checking your account for low ratings even if you yourself can't see your dashboard, but will match any criteria against the number of transactions rather than the number of feedback in order to insulate sellers somewhat against the vagaries of potentially low receipt rates of feedback.

It's important to get everything right regardless of how things get marked - that is, make sure people buying from you are happy, not just try and remove the evidence that some people aren't.

hiccup123

if it's showing as positive then don't worry. most buyers just have a quick look to see if there are any negatives and neutrals. If it is worrying you and you want it changed then contact the buyer and politely ask them if they would change the wording. say you did the right thing and refunded the postage and are they happy with that outcome. if they say yes ask if they are willing to change the feedback. you have an option to send a change feedback request to buyer via ebay....but note you are allow to do this only a few times in a year and may need it for when ever you get a negative. What you can also do is leave response to feedback and maybe leave a message saying all postage saw refunded so why the negative words. so everyone can see their feedback but your response
HTH

HeadAboveWater

Thanks all, esp Crowqueen and hiccup123. Definitely have to be more customer oriented in future, rather than profit! lol

I did refund the buyer the full postage when they left the feedback, and sent an apology email (to which I did get a nice reply ), and also left a comment under their feedback too with an apology and the fact that I issued a full postage refund.
But yes I agree that I should've refunded on the postage when I got back from the PO, rather than waiting for the customer to pick up on it...

And for (my own!) future reference...

Crowqueen wrote: »

Look after your buyers and they will look after you.

luvvlyjubbly

Just leave a reply to the comment stating you gave a full refund on postage

Crowqueen

Thanks all, esp Crowqueen and hiccup123. Definitely have to be more customer oriented in future, rather than profit! lol

Ideally one should lead to the other. If a company treats me right they get a loyal customer. I spent last winter eating Gregg's jaffa-cake doughnuts, love Amazon to bits over their customer service (kind of jumping ship from eBay even as a seller) and must have contributed substantially to the local Oxfam bookshop's takings over the last nine years because they cultivate discerning readers rather than just packing the shop with cheap tat like other charity bookshops. I have a long list of products/shops I will recommend because they are good quality but also because of customer service aspects when things go wrong. You really want repeat buyers, not loads of minorly annoyed single purchasers.

Make sure everything is watertight and described as accurately as you can make it. You will make mistakes - we're all human - but when you are in the driving seat, make sure the buyer has the comfiest of rides. This is particularly important if you are a business and dependent on the income, but it's also important as a private seller because you are going head to head with the big boys who can do things cheaper, more efficiently, more thoroughly than you might.

Because it is a positive it's a good idea not to draw attention to it with a response - learn what you need to learn from it then let it get lost in everything else. Any low stars may be a blip - but blips don't ruin accounts, only accumulations do that.

Best of luck and I hope it doesn't affect things too much.