Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Good afternoon. I'm not sure how much I can divulge about my problem so will skip right to my question:

What is the impact of receiving negative feedback from an International buyer? Am I not mistaken that this feedback will not at all affect my Top Rated seller status? Does it affect my PS discounts? How long will it take to drop off? A year?

I will of course refund my buyer if I am truly at fault but I believe my buyer is unsatisfied because they thought they were getting an actual finished item (instead of a book) and I believe a language issue is at the heart of the problem. I am therefore also expecting the language barrier to make resolving the problem that much more difficult. Do you think it's worth refunding the buyer and asking for a feedback removal or should I just live with it? Have any of you had success getting the buyer to withdraw the feedback after refunding?

Thanks!
Message 1 of 16
latest reply
15 REPLIES 15

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Ok just to update this thread I can now confirm that the buyer did not understand what they were purchasing. I have yet to determine if it's a language issue but that is besides the point.

I am thinking of refunding the buyer and sending a feedback removal request. I will also politely invite the buyer to review the listing details again which clearly describes the item as a book. The category, title, item specifics, auction description and item condition all indicate that it was a book and furthermore the auction states:

***LISTING IS FOR THE PATTERN INSTRUCTIONS ONLY***
LISTING IS NOT FOR THE COMPLETED ITEMS

So this is a wrongful negative. I just want to deal with it and move on and would appreciate some feedback. It's just too easy to get carried away with emotions right now and I need to hear the insight of calmer heads on how to approach this.

Thanks!
Message 2 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Not even 3 hrs buyer left you a neg, had their first neg in last 12 months and only items they were selling in last 90 days. Karma?

You may be lucky since I don't think this one would impact your US rating (which is one you care about). You can see this right away in your Seller Dashboard -> Seller Dashboard Summary -> Seller Performance - it shows Last Evaluation Performance and also Current Performance.
Message 3 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Oh my goodness, I hadn't even noticed! Well it's certainly interesting but I didn't wish it. I am not interested in retaliation. I am only interested in doing what's in the best interest of my eBay business. Right now the question I am asking myself is do I just get over it and live with the neg (which will of course be followed up with a factual response) or do I chance a removal at the cost of a small $10 refund...and if it's even worth it to have it removed. I know as a buyer myself I don't put too much stock into whether or not someone has a 100% FB rating. If there are neg's or neutrals, I look into why and can pretty much sum up who was in the wrong and whether or not it will affect my purchase. I have however noticed that buyers are more likely to give unfavorable feedback once the ice has been broken.

As for my seller performance, it's exactly where it was last month. I don't have any 1's or 2's and actually haven't had any since before spring. I usually have 5's in all 4 areas most of the time and at worst will get a 4.7% on occassion (always for S & H...everything else is very healthy).

I must admit though that I am confused about the TRS requirements. I'm down to only 1600 transactions/12 months this year as I've been worn out and listing less. According to what I read this puts me in the under 400 transactions/3 months category. eBay seems to be telling small volume sellers that in this case they are giving them a break by allowing up to 2 low DSR's/year in each category but in my case I'm actually better off having to meet the .50% requirement as I'm only at .13% in S & H. In terms of numbers though that's 2 unfavorable 1's and 2's so I am right at the limit. I'm confused as to whether they want us to stay under the % OR # or stay under BOTH. If anyone has the answer to this one...fire away!

Thanks for the input!
Message 4 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Crafty, I am confident it's one of those, because in one of the categories I have 3x 1 but it still shows the green checkmark because percentually it passes.

Don't worry about the neg. You are here to make money, not get good grades.
Message 5 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

The international neg does not affect your TRS settings as long as it's not from the US ( and this one isn't).

The neg sounds like it was written by a nut - I doubt if it will affect you more than momentarily.
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan
Message 6 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Maybe should add booklet in your title. Might help eliminate confusion for international buyers.

Frederic
Message 7 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

> Maybe should add booklet in your title. Might help eliminate confusion for international buyers.
>
> Frederic

You mean the search engine title? I guess I could try and squeeze "book" in but most people search by "crochet pattern" which doesn't leave much room for describing the patterns themselves. I also don't just sell the books but sell single sheet leaflets from series and clipped patterns so I cannot avoid this altogether. What I have been doing with my newer listings though is including the cover scans which is probably the better solution. Unfortunately, I do not have the time right now to rework the images for 500+ listings so it will have to wait for when I do (coming soon in the summer of 2010!).

Anyhow, I slept quite soundly last night and this morning decided to refund (as it was only a $10 amount) and ask for the revision and so it is gone now. I think the buyer also got the message that it's not ok to not contact the seller (in fact eBay makes you confirm that you did) before leaving unfavorable feedback so hopefully that will spare someone else down the line.
Message 8 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

En passant Frederic...c'est pas vous le monsieur de la Rive Sud qui voulait des boites? 😉

Didn't you want box sets? You didn't get back to me and I already threw most of them out as we're renovating/organizing our office space that has been over-run by eBay stuff. 😄 I do accumulate a lot of computer boxes though (nice quality boxes that hold Motherboards, power supplies etc.) so let me know if you could use those types of boxes. I can also save bubble wrap and popcorn. I hate to throw those things out when they can be re-used.
Message 9 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Hello Craftycat,

Sorry completely forgot . I have been busy wit the 2 stores. I forget you are from the south shore ? If so I could pickup the popcorn after work.

Frederic
Message 10 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Hello Craftycat,

Sorry completely forgot . I have been busy wit the 2 stores. I forget you are from the south shore ? If so I could pickup the popcorn after work.

Frederic


Frederic, we are renovating and have already thrown a lot of stuff out. I can save it for you though and let you know when I have enough for it to be a worthwhile trip...yes I am on the Shore, very close to the DIX30.
Message 11 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Anyhow, I slept quite soundly last night and this morning decided to refund (as it was only a $10 amount) and ask for the revision and so it is gone now. I think the buyer also got the message that it's not ok to not contact the seller (in fact eBay makes you confirm that you did) before leaving unfavorable feedback so hopefully that will spare someone else down the line.

I'm really glad that it worked out for you!

I didn't know that eBay made the buyer confirm that they had contacted the seller. That is definitely good news!
Message 12 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

jakeeangel
Community Member
We've had this discussion before. It's your pictures that are the problem. You need to show the entire book with title and whatnot but you cut it out to only show the items.

You should know after all this time that a lot of people don't read listings, and some who don't speak English can't, so they only look at the pictures. There's nothing in your pictures that make it look like they're buying a book.

Until you change that you'll always run into this problem. You can say pattern, book, booklet, $1 shipping, a few bucks for the item but until you show the full book cover in your picture nothing's going to change. You're going to run into a handful of buyers who think they're buying the finished item even though shipping costs and item price do not indicate that at all.
Message 13 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

momoftwingles2
Community Member
Hi craftcatsattic,

I see that you use SSB for your listings. I also would suggest that you show a complete picture of either the pattern envelope or the book that you are selling.

You could have this as your top photo and then place your writing and follow up with all of your individual photos that you have.

This would avoid a lot of confusion for you especially with your international buyers.

Have a good one!

Susan
momoftwingles2
Message 14 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

"We've had this discussion before. It's your pictures that are the problem. You need to show the entire book with title and whatnot but you cut it out to only show the items."

"I also would suggest that you show a complete picture of either the pattern envelope or the book that you are selling."


I know. If you look at the 7th post in the thread I explain this and I am putting full book cover pics in all of my newer listings and have been since the spring, but I currently do not have the time to edit all my listings so it's a risk I am going to have to take until I do have the time.

By the way, although the buyer in question did revise the feedback, she also put in DSR's which she hadn't before and gave me three 1's or 2's. They do not affect me because they were international but it was a nasty stab considering I refunded her in full and stayed professional throughout making the resolution process a painless one for her.
Message 15 of 16
latest reply

Question about the impact of a Negative Feedback

Well then, she should find your BBL a suitable place to reside, then.
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan
Message 16 of 16
latest reply