Tactics for Receiving Feedback

[orbitdrop.ont_01]

Hello,

I am having a heckuva time trying to get people to give feedback. No matter how many reminder emails they receive people just won't post feedback. This is starting to be a problem. I have only recently started selling on eBay and I could use every feedback I can get. I currently have about 40 feedback I am waiting for.

I offer trading assistant services for my area. When people drop something off and I sell it, they expect a somewhat reasonable turnaround for payment. It is hard to issue payment when I don't know if the item was received in good condition or not. The best I can do is verify the item was received through tracking.

I have posted positive feedback for some of the older transactions thinking the buyer was waiting for my feedback before giving me feedback but that is not the case either.

Incidentally, it seems to be the people with a good deal of feedback (200 or more) are the hardest to get a response from.

So, my question for you is: What do I do about the feedback deadbeats? I'm guessing eBay doesn't much care about who doesn't leave feedback or not so I feel a little lost.

[treasure-pot]

My suggestion would be to cut out the reminder emails. If you become a pest with them you may begin to get feedback of the wrong colour.

Feedback on eBay is entirely voluntary for both the buyer and the seller. Approximately 60% of my sales result in feedback being left for me. Some people get a little more - some get a little less.

Communicate with buyers at all steps of the selling process and you will find that you get a fair share of feedback left for you. However, you are dreaming if you think you will ever approach 100% feedback response. It just isn't that important to a lot of people.

I'm not sure how you came by the term "feedback deadbeats" but I would urge you to change your thinking. It is my experience that newbies are frequently the ones less likely to leave feedback. My guess is that it is simply a case that they haven't figured how to leave it.

As with much in life, many people only comment when they have something bad to say. Good customer service often goes unrewarded. Move on.

Bill treasure-pot

[katiusciav]

as a seller, its only natural for us to want a sense of closure, knowing that everything was satisfactory both on our end and at their end, and that we did a job well done. I'm afraid its true though, that there is a portion of the ebay buyer population who just choose not to leave feedback, for whatever reason..
the reason i find it a little frustrating is simply not knowing whether or not they received the item, or received it well. after a while, i assume that if they hadn't received it, or received it damaged, they would have notified me, so i have to assume all went well.
i remember one case, i looked up a buyer's "feedback left for others" section, (surprisingly, this buyer had HUNDREDS of feedback left for them) and they had never ever once left feedback for anyone-NOT EVEN ONE!!! 😮
i found this to be a little uncourteous...sellers were nice enough to leave good feedback for them, and they were never courteous enough to return the favour, i'm surprised at how many sellers actually did leave feedback first, or maybe did what you did, and left it in the hopes of receiving it. i can just imagine how many other sellers there were that never left feedback.
bottom line, you're certainly far from the only one, instead of sending reminder emails, maybe try a personal note in their invoice letting them know you appreciate any feedback left and that once received, you will reciprocate, or even in a personal thank you email after the sale. I've also seen it on auction listings. that's pretty much the best you can do, in my opinion...:-)

[tobyshitzu]

I leave fb right away for everyone, never ever mention fb to the buyers, and get over 80% returned. I would never send a "feedback reminder"...if a seller send me a request for fb that would rule them out from receiving positive.

[orbitdrop.ont_01]

tobyshitzu

I leave fb right away for everyone, never ever mention fb to the buyers, and get over 80% returned. I would never send a "feedback reminder"...if a seller send me a request for fb that would rule them out from receiving positive.

You would really rule out leaving positive for a reminder? Wow. I guess I still have a buyer mentality... I feel the strength of the eBay economy is solely based on our feedbacks. To me, the feedback system is the only thing keeping eBay alive. It is it's greatest asset and also it's greatest vice. Do a random check on electronics and see all the (1) feedback sellers from foreign markets... or better yet, get tons of eBay spam mail from these (1) feedback sellers who can "offer you great deal at well below Retail, my friends... visit our web site or message us not on eBay at...."

Without feedback our eBay world would collapse. I don't want the positives for my ego but more for my future buyers. As it stands now I am too paranoid to buy from anyone with less than 50 feedback.

[katiusciav]

well said...but this is probably more important to sellers, and not buyers...right now, there really is no incentive for buyers to leave feedback...

[jakeeangel]

eBay was built on the buying and selling of goods not feedback. Feedback was introduced as a way to be able to try to tell a good seller from a bad seller. It was much simpler back then. Today eBay is much more complicated being worldwide and having tons of scammers from all over the globe and hackers and keystroke virus and so on.

I wouldn't give you a feedback either if you bugged me. It's one thing to send a reminder once but another to send several emails. That's annoying and bothersome. There have also been many incidents reported where the person bugging for feedback gets a negative.

---

[bestshowtime]

As it stands now I am too paranoid to buy from anyone with less than 50 feedback.
Wow! I just love these sellers !!! They work hard to get their "hi" feedback. All perfect service I got most from these e-bay sellers(also not custom fee). A lot of these sellers have already 100-300 feedback and I'm proud that was one from first buyers!!! And I continue to buy from newbies.

[sunshine2426]

I used to leave feedback first and I didn't get much in return. Now I wait for the buyer and if I don't get any neither do they.

It used to bother me but I let it go.It doesn't hurt my sales at all 🙂

[treasure-pot]

Sunshine2426

ooooh... you are so going to hear from Toby.

Bill treasure-pot

[futuretech_liquidations]

We find in our dealings that a follow-up phone call for the more higher priced items (US$300+) we sell work for us.

However, we do not do this for the bulk of the items we sell and simply accept the fact the some people will and others will not leave feedback no matter how many reminders you leave them.

Too many reminders will certainly get you negative results.

TIM @ FTL

[recped]

Just provide a good service and you will get all the feedback you need.

In my books good service from a seller does not include repeated requests for feedback.
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

[orbitdrop.ont_01]

bestshowtime

And I continue to buy from newbies.


And I continue to sell to newbies. This is the way newbies should gain a feedback rating. From any readings I've done on the subject, it is recommended to load up on $1 auctions just to give your feedback a kick-start. I've bought off people with under 50 feedback twice and both times it was a bad experience. Let me give you an example of why I don't buy from people under 50 rating and you might understand.

I bought an item from someone with 9 feedback. I paid promptly in full the item price and shipping to Canada. Apparently, the seller did not realize a packed item weighs more than the item alone. The seller was extremely ticked off that it cost him more to ship the item than the amount he stated for shipping to Canada. He requested more money TWICE. The first time I paid his difference in shipping as I thought the cost to ship was a little low in the first place. The second request came about a month after we left feedback. The seller got an invoice from a brokerage company for fees owed on the item which he in-turn wanted me to pay.

I am quite patient, however I should not be expected to hold a seller's hand while they sell me something. I accepted the additional shipping but I was not covering the brokerage. Does this make me a bad person? Should I walk him through the shipping process and tell him what boxes to tick off to ensure he doesn't have additional charges? Inexperience by eBay newbies (under 25 feedback for example) is the main reason someone shouldn't start selling until they do the legwork required to set themselves up for selling.

Of course this is all just my opinion...

[katiusciav]

i agree 100%. and of course, this isn't to belittle anyone under 50, lets face it, we were ALL there at one point, and we ALL had to undergo a learning curve (which never ends), i know i've changed alot since i started selling much more on ebay, my attitude towards cx's have changed, the way i do business with them, etc.... and i'm sure i'll continue to learn and grow the more and more i sell. your story sounds very typical of a first time seller. in fact, this happened to me once as well where i underestimated the shipping costs and notified the buyer asking if they still wanted the product or not with the higher shipping. i shouldn't have done this, which is something i understand now. it was my mistake, not theirs, and i should have shipped it off and paid the price, which would have made me that much more careful in the future.


of course, generalizations of any kind are never good, everyone is different, but i do believe that more experienced sellers are just that-more experienced, and thus better able to handle difficult situations as they arise..