how to deal with my first negative message

[fashionoutletdeal]

Hello i need help on  how to respond to my first negative feedback.The item number is 272287386070  . I received a message from the buyer 42 days after the item was delivered.the message states :"The quality of this item is definitely not what I expected for the price or the description."

My answer to the message was "Hello we are really sorry that the item did t reach your expectations. The product it's original Simon Chang and the price of $19.99 it's very good for this brand . The description it's the original description of the dealer . Thank you".

Afterwards the buyer left me a negative feedback without having further communication.I have contacted eBay for help because we never said "too bad that you dont like it "as the buyer states in the feedback.After all i checked the buyer and i saw that very often he/she isnt completely satisfied with his purchases and there is a lot of recommendations to the sellers.

My question is how to respond on this feedback.I have doubts that even tho the eBay sees our messages and is aware that the negative feedback do not respond to the truth and as usual isnt willing to help.That is why im looking for an advice once again from you.Thank you and have a nice day

[amandabalmain]

I noticed that you had 30 day returns on this item... if they were really unhappy they should have done a return -- I wouldn't make communication with the buyer at this point (as they don't seem reasonable), but I would check the other feedback that this buyer has left for others and call into eBay to see if they can 'right' this for you.... 

[kitschnvintage · Accepted solution]

Well, this might squeeze in on the "reply to feedback" line:

I never said too bad. I do offer 30 day returns Buyer waited 42 days to contact?

It's impossible to reply to a feedback without writing a book in most cases so sometimes the best thing is to say nothing and responsible reasonable buyers will see your item descriptions and excellent feedback and will ignore the 1 red dot.  But I can understand where the " too bad" comment isn't "fair" or true and you might want to simply refute that statement. 

You could also try calling ebay and explaining the situation , with your messages as back-up , they will probably not remove the red dot but they can remove comments (usually when they get nasty etc but maybe they would do it in this case also where the buyer is using words you didn't use ... )

[fashionoutletdeal]

thanks

[fashionoutletdeal]

I had spoken with eBay CS .They told me that they will not remove nothing because this is the buyer opinion. (???) . When I told them that I checked the feedback left for others and there is a pattern . They asked me to report the buyer . Why for CS the seller is left with no support. I don't mind one bad feedback. The problem is that I never said something like this.i had noticed that eBay it's always with the buyer. Doesn't matter what exactly happened

[i.am.vivian]

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@fashionoutletdeal wrote:

My answer to the message was "Hello we are really sorry that the item did t reach your expectations. The product it's original Simon Chang and the price of $19.99 it's very good for this brand . The description it's the original description of the dealer . Thank you".

Afterwards the buyer left me a negative feedback without having further communication.I have contacted eBay for help because we never said "too bad that you dont like it "as the buyer states

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The negative really isn't that bad.  There are so many worse things to see in FB.  What further communication were you expecting?  Hard as this will sound, basically you did say "too bad".  Not your EXACT words, but to paraphrase, yes.  Your reply to her message completely closes the door to anything further. 

Your buyer is probably very picky.  For the price its a cheap bag and the quality likely fits the price.  Everything else in life is that way.  She was expecting a higher quality SC bag for that low price.  She might, in your opinion, be in the wrong but a buyer can leave feedback so if red dots bother you,  basically saying to a buyer "tough luck" will never result in a green. 

If you bought something that left you terribly disappointed, would YOU want to be told, "we are really sorry that the item did t reach your expectations. The product  and the price  it's very good. The description it's the original description of the dealer. Thank you."    ?

For now, don't worry about that one neg.  Christmas is coming, you'll sell lots more bags, and soon that neg will be pushed on to page 2 and out of sight  (unless they go looking, but most don't).

[pjcdn2005]

This isn't going to be a popular opinion but....

If you look at it from the buyers point of view you didn't offer a solution when they said that they were unhappy so you basically did say too bad ......that they got exactly what they paid for.  

I'm not saying that they were being reasonable but I think when a buyer complains we have the option of trying to fix the problem or not. If we decide the buyer is being unreasonable and/or that there is nothing to 'fix' then we have to realize that there may be consequences whether we are selling on eBay or in a brick or mortar store.  On eBay we know that they have the option of leaving feedback, in a b & m store they have the option of complaining to their friends,  More people are likely to see their complaints on eBay but either way, it is bad publicity and regardless of where your business is there is never going to have 100% 'protection'  from customers bad comments.

Edit...I had to step away while writing my response and didn't see vivian's post until I had already posted.  I guess we had the same train of thought...

[ricarmic]

Femme will have to remind me where the saying "resistance is futile" comes from.... but when a buyer has a complaint, resisting resolving to their satisfaction only brings problems....

If it were me, especially for a $19.95 item, I would have handled it with a modified version of my last suggestion customized before the feedback was left, giving them the option of returning or partial refunding, hoping for the partial refund option.... (see link below).

In fact it might still be fixable if you contact them again and advise that you didn't mean to infer they had no options. They may be amenable to revising their negative after a partial or return situation. The likelihood of that working with the feedback reply to their feedback is less though as it's a "he said she said" kind of situation now.

Here is a link to something I wrote up a while ago... that may help in the future....

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Neutral-Negative-ratings-or-threats-thereof-the-form-lett... 

[silverpinups]

Femme will have to remind me where the saying "resistance is futile" comes from....

It's a quote from the alien race "The Borg" on Star Trek: The Next Generation television series...... 

[fashionoutletdeal]

Thanks you for your help.I saw where was my mistake.Its a lesson for me 

[jewelntime]

Ebay will just side with the buyer anyway ... it doesn't matter what you have in your listing ebay will ensure the buyer gets his way and you lose as a seller

[fashionoutletdeal]

I did this everything Saturday... she just left me the feedback. That's all . For communication is need two people ... anyway one unhappy customer for one year isn't so bad. There will be always something like this . Just didn't have the experience. Now I do. I have learned what I should do if this happened again .

[marnotom!]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

This isn't going to be a popular opinion but....

If you look at it from the buyers point of view you didn't offer a solution when they said that they were unhappy so you basically did say too bad ......that they got exactly what they paid for.  

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In fairness, if what we're seeing in the OP's post is all that the buyer messaged, I'm not sure that the buyer wanted to resolve this.  Consider their pattern of leaving feedback for sellers and the amount of time that elapsed between delivery date and when they contacted the seller.

[ricarmic]

I would think if they had no other intention aside from leaving poor feedback they would have just left it without any communication to the op in the first place.

The way they presented their original message (in my eyes) means they were fishing probably for a partial refund.

To my mind, especially since the buyer did it with an inexpensive item, it is not expensive to make them go away, and subsequent blocking prevents them from doing the same thing with a more expensive item later on.

However one never knows for sure the workings of a given buyers mind, but that's my thinking.....

[kitschnvintage]

I agree that the buyer was probably fishing for either a return or a partial refund ~ and the OP could have done that and will maybe do that in the future based on her experience from this transaction ~ I guess it depends on how important one considers 100% positive feedback to be, but that doesn't guarantee a Seller won't get a neg or neutral feedback regardless, I have seen negative feedbacks that also acknowledge a refund so ...

 ~ but this bothers me in that both the Sellers return policy and the ebay money back guarantee give 30 days for "returns" ~ but why limit it to 30 days then if a Buyer has the ability to wait until day 59 to contact a Seller and either flat out demand a return or fish for one and then leave a negative feedback when the Seller doesn't "comply" or "appears" to not want to address the Buyers disappointment with an item ~ to me that seems quite unfair and I do not think a buyer should be able to leave any feedback for a transaction that old ~ I do understand in some cases why ebay allows feedback to be left  for up to 60 days due to overseas Sellers/Buyers and shipping lengths but then I would think that ebay could have some policy in place that would account for that and narrow the window on the same continent transactions. 

I think in this case ebay should be removing the neg feedback period. The OP has done nothing wrong, the buyer waited 42 days to "complain"  ~ ebay money back guarantee (if that even applied, it's not like this was an INR or NAD situation) timeline was over , you shouldn't have to take a hit as a Seller and you shouldn't have to "pay out" in order to maybe not get a negative feedback. 

[pjcdn2005]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

This isn't going to be a popular opinion but....

If you look at it from the buyers point of view you didn't offer a solution when they said that they were unhappy so you basically did say too bad ......that they got exactly what they paid for.  

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In fairness, if what we're seeing in the OP's post is all that the buyer messaged, I'm not sure that the buyer wanted to resolve this.  Consider their pattern of leaving feedback for sellers and the amount of time that elapsed between delivery date and when they contacted the seller.

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I never said that the buyer was being reasonable or that they had a legitimate case.  Perhaps they did but it is just as likely that they were just fishing for a partial refund as ric suggested.  But that doesnt mean that they were going to leave a negative unless they received money back.  Its possible that if the reply they received was different, the result would be different....no one knows.   If a sellers reply suggests that they are concerned, that can sometimes be enough to diffuse the situation.

My point is that before a seller replies to a complaint that they don't think is legitimate they have to think things through. If I decide that my best course of action is to tell them that their comments are incorrect then I have to realize that I might get a negative or that they might file a nad in PayPal or a chargeback with their cc.  Or I might start a course of action that could result in a partial refund or having them return the item.  I have to decide what the best possible outcome is for me in this situation and follow through accordingly.. I'm not saying that any of those results are ideal or "fair" but things are not always fair in life or in business.  

[ricarmic]

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@themodernowl wrote:

I agree that the buyer was probably fishing for either a return or a partial refund ~ and the OP could have done that and will maybe do that in the future based on her experience from this transaction ~ I guess it depends on how important one considers 100% positive feedback to be, but that doesn't guarantee a Seller won't get a neg or neutral feedback regardless, I have seen negative feedbacks that also acknowledge a refund so ...

 ~ but this bothers me in that both the Sellers return policy and the ebay money back guarantee give 30 days for "returns" ~ but why limit it to 30 days then if a Buyer has the ability to wait until day 59 to contact a Seller and either flat out demand a return or fish for one and then leave a negative feedback when the Seller doesn't "comply" or "appears" to not want to address the Buyers disappointment with an item ~ to me that seems quite unfair and I do not think a buyer should be able to leave any feedback for a transaction that old ~ I do understand in some cases why ebay allows feedback to be left  for up to 60 days due to overseas Sellers/Buyers and shipping lengths but then I would think that ebay could have some policy in place that would account for that and narrow the window on the same continent transactions. 

I think in this case ebay should be removing the neg feedback period. The OP has done nothing wrong, the buyer waited 42 days to "complain"  ~ ebay money back guarantee (if that even applied, it's not like this was an INR or NAD situation) timeline was over , you shouldn't have to take a hit as a Seller and you shouldn't have to "pay out" in order to maybe not get a negative feedback. 

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I totally agree that there are scenarios that allow buyers to unfairly punish sellers,.

No matter what eBay does, some buyers will always find a way. Generally eBay has to make the buyer process as pleasant as possible in the hopes that buyers stay with ebay, which is good for us all. ebay can't put themselves in the situation of trying to mediate because just as there are bad buyers, there are bad sellers too (anyone who has more than one kid knows what happens when one tries to figure out who did what when they are in trouble!)

I've mentioned before my buyer mantra: "burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me".

When situations like this happen, I get just as angry as everyone else, however I've been able to partition it aside and look at the scenario from a "minimize business impact" perspective both in terms of time or money.

I try to position the resolution to minimize the cost and time it takes to resolve it. Cost is more than $$$, it includes neutral or negative feedbacks and their relative impact as well as any related defects, as well as the time it takes me to work through the process with the buyer.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You'll see in my feedback I wasn't able to convert  two neutrals despite following my processes to try to fix it and get them revised.

Certainly there are other folks that believe that complying or making it easy for buyers to get away with it isn't the correct way to approach it.

I'm not saying they're wrong either, I'm just saying this is how I approach these always frustrating situations....

[esclyons]

AGREED, YOU CAN'T MAKE THEM ALL HAPPY, ..at some point you have to draw a line..at what point after 30 days to we as sellers still have to walk on eggshells..

my personal response would have been , i am sorry you are unhappy  with your purchase, as my 30 day window for returns has passed , what can i do to make you happy at this point..

then i would respond accordingly , to the response from the buyer..

BUT again, i reiterate. how many days are we supposed to babysit purchases..if you listen to paypal it is 180 days..

so for myself if i was in your shoes and they asked for a refund so late. i would have to go with my gut instinct.. and because i haven't had to do that i can't tell you what i would have responded..

but i do offer the olive branch so to speak whenever a customer complains..i listen to their concerns, and then i decide if i can fix it..

[marnotom!]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I never said that the buyer was being reasonable or that they had a legitimate case.  Perhaps they did but it is just as likely that they were just fishing for a partial refund as ric suggested.  But that doesnt mean that they were going to leave a negative unless they received money back.  Its possible that if the reply they received was different, the result would be different....no one knows.   If a sellers reply suggests that they are concerned, that can sometimes be enough to diffuse the situation.

My point is that before a seller replies to a complaint that they don't think is legitimate they have to think things through. If I decide that my best course of action is to tell them that their comments are incorrect then I have to realize that I might get a negative or that they might file a nad in PayPal or a chargeback with their cc.  Or I might start a course of action that could result in a partial refund or having them return the item.  I have to decide what the best possible outcome is for me in this situation and follow through accordingly.. I'm not saying that any of those results are ideal or "fair" but things are not always fair in life or in business.  

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And I never said that you said that the buyer was being reasonable and/or had a legit case.    If the buyer's email was indeed as vague and cryptic as @fashionoutletdeal is suggesting, then I think the buyer was probably just venting with the possibility of weedling something out of the seller, as has been noted already.  And I agree with you.  If the seller offered no solution in their response, that could be easily interpreted as a "too bad".  

There isn't anything inherently bad or incorrect about how HBG handled this.  Just a little more sugar needed to be added, that's all.  @esclyons has the right idea.  Restate the return policy and note how much time has elapsed since the item was received, and then put the problem back in the buyer's court.  Don't try to guess at what they want and don't offer anything at this point.  Make them come up with an opening for a solution and work from there.

Back in the day when my wife and I sold on eBay that's what we'd do, and most of the time we'd never hear from the buyer again in cases like this.  However, this was about a dozen to fifteen years ago and since much has changed on eBay in that time, I wouldn't want to suggest that this tactic would work this way now.

[fashionoutletdeal]

By the way in the buyer feedback left for others there is a patent the way she deal with sellers .There is few that were removed from ebay.