When Should I Leave Feedback?

[stickybeeapiary]

So far in the past 6 Months to a year I would say I've sold about 75 items. In terms of feedback I have only 24. I've always left feedback for my customers after purchasing an item from me. But It's rare that I receive any feedback from them. So for the past month I've tested to see if waiting to leave feedback would entice the customer to leave feedback to get one in return but that doesn't seem to work either. Just wondering if anyone else is having this issue? or if anyone can give some insight on what I could do to increase the amount of feedback received?

Thank You!

[momcqueen]

Fewer and fewer members leave feedback for one another and that is fine, in theory, because negative and neutral feedback no longer factors into seller evaluation.

As a seller, I leave feedback for every buyer as soon as the item ships. I could automate it but, instead, I like to add a personal touch where it is appropriate. Do I get an equal number of feedbacks in return from buyers? Heck, no! Maybe one in three will leave return feedback BUT if any buyer ever needs to check where they got something, at least my name is on their page SO it makes sense to me to leave feedback for everyone.

And buyers tend to take it personally when feedback isn't left for them, even if they never leave feedback for a seller.

As a buyer, I always leave feedback for everyone but do wait until any issue that I might have had (rarely) is resolved before I do that. I like to have every reason to leave positive feedback. 

But some buyers cannot be bothered. Others have different reasons, citing privacy even though none of that is visible to third parties anymore.

As a matter of course, however, I do find my feedbacks received really dips at this time of year not because sales have dipped but because people often come to ebay for Christmas shopping only and this is the fallout time from that. Those buyers might not be back until next November for me. 

[femmefan1946]

About 2/3 of your buyers leave feedback (22 out of the 36 transactions you left feedback for).

That's about average.

Like mjwl, I like to leave FB on shipping, or pretty close, and make it useful to my buyers by including the date and shipping service.  I believe this encourages buyers to leave feedback although it still seems to be only about 3 out of 5.

More important to me, since I don't often use tracking, is giving reassurance , however meaningless, to my customer that the purchase is indeed on its way.

BTW leaving FB may also assure new customers that you are an active seller, no matter how few FBs you have.

Titles are still more important than FB. As are pictures and reasonable shipping.

[dmil8030 · Accepted solution]

Hello 'bigt...',  

Well, as the saying goes on ebay, "no feedback is good feedback".  After all, it sure beats a negative. 

<< I've always left feedback for my customers after purchasing an item from me.>>

And now you want reciprocation.  Sellers usually leave feedback first for two reasons, -- it leaves a permanent indication of how many items they have sold,  and they hope to get some in return.  

The thing about gratitude is that it tends to come before the favours are bestowed.  So you may have to experiment a bit and find what works best for you.  

If you simply want to boost your feedback score and get rid of that blazing yellow newbie star,  - is there anything you need?  Plastic mailer bags?  Printer ink?  Sticky labels?  Dog poop bags?  Litter box pads?  Cheap little things to boost the numbers that you need to buy anyway.

Otherwise you might try what a lot of sellers do, --  hold back on the feedback, and include a sweet little note with the item which says you hope the buyer is happy with the item and if there are any problems to please let you know, and once they leave positive feedback you will do the same for them.  Something cheery and pleasant  to that effect.  

It might not work any better and simply put, a lot of people do not care about feedback.  But I understand as a seller you want to change colours.  The blue star is really quite nice, but at your current rate you will have to sell nearly 80 more items to get it.  

You are right, however, that everyone has the same 'problem', but just tell yourself that nothing at all  is always better than complaints, cases, defects and negatives.