New Seller - Should I be asking customers to leave feedback?

[northern.splendor]

As a new seller, who has only had one sale so far (woo hoo!). Should I be asking my new buyers to leave feeback when they receive the item? I don't necesarily mean, messaging them specifically to leave feedback, but perhaps asking them how they like their recent purchase (after being delivered) and to leave feedback if they have the chance? Thinking about this from a buyer's perspective, I don't think I would be offended or upset, I would either leave the feedback or ignore the message.

I'm assuming that having some reviews will increase the chances of me getting some more buyers, but I can see this backfiring on me as well. I was just hoping to see what other more experiences sellers have to say about this topic. Any answers are appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[rocketscollectibles]

I've been there when i started selling on eBay for the first time in july/august and i also did similar threads. I will save you time everyone in here will tell you to not do that. I'm thinking 100% like you but this is not how most people think. I feel from my small experience that most people on eBay expect you to be a bot, they don't really wanna talk with you, they don't really wanna be bother by a stranger. At the end it's useless to message buyers if it's not to share important information. Even when you message important information, most of the time you are ignored anyway, so imagine for feedbacks

If you are very lucky you can expect 30% feedbacks i guess. I personally have around 20% it's been a while i gave up about expecting them. We must accept that eBay system is absolute trash for new sellers and that this platform is overall very highly oriented to favoritism etablished sellers

This system is a mess and expect that you may have to underprice to sell because of it, because if a buyer have the choice between a low and a high feedback seller, they will no brainer buy to the high feedback ones, sometimes even if you have the best quality and price. Unless you have unique items you'll need to find a way to be more attractive than giant reputations, which can be tough. And the fact that people do not leave feedbacks, it's just like a broken wheel for new sellers

I would recommend to sell cheap items with high demand if you can, even if you're not doing profit. Just to boost. I'm doing it a bit. It's fine to not doing profit on some items if it helps at the end to do profit on others, in my opinion. Most people will recommend to buy a few cheap items as well to at least reach 10 feedbacks, sellers leaving more than buyers

[msau4301]

I agree with rocket that you can't come out and ask someone, you never know how they are going to take it.

Myself I had bought items here before I started selling so I was lucky to already have a little feedback at the get-go but I do remember wanting that number to build when I started selling. I used to send a quick message to everyone who bought, thanking them for their interest in my item and letting them know I when I was shipping it out. I would sometimes add something like "enjoy the rest of your weekend" (corny I know but thats me!) I've been selling here for about 8 years now and I still have some buyers that bought from me back then that are still buying to this day. Being friendly is usually okay...though maybe not in every category...I've made many friends here in mine! Good luck and be patient...it will come! 🙂

[mcrlmn]

Did you thank and leave feedback for your customer?

Sorry rocket...

The query was for jondejeu.

[brettjet38]

What's that wise old saying

"Be careful what you ask for..."

Feedback is used less and less by shoppers it's a leftover from the last century. It does not even factor into your "official" eBay ratings.

Look at your Buyers FB left for other Sellers, many never leave feedback anymore.

[femmefan1946]

Leave your own feedback on shipment.

And do some buying (Christmas is coming) to get more since sellers are much more likely to leave FB than buyers.

[recped]

I see you sold an item last week but I also see you have not yet left feedback for the buyer.

The easiest way to encourage buyers to give YOU feedback is by leaving it for THEM. Won't always work but it can help.

Just understand that these days buyers are shopping on many different sites, many don't have any feedback system or if they do it's not something that is frequently used by anyone. Bottom line, feedback just isn't very important to buyers,  think about all those receits you get when you shop in person that urge you to give the retailer an online review or fill out a survey (often with a carrot beinging dangled), have you ever filled out one of those? When you are online and you get a pop-up asking if you would like to complete a survey, do you? I imagine the response rates are very low for that sort of thing.

[rocketscollectibles]

Feedback is used less and less by shoppers it's a leftover from the last century

feedback just isn't very important to buyers

This is exactly why this system is trash, and why eBay should rethink it. Cause actually it does not seem important to buyers to leave them, but it seem important when they buy. There's contradiction. So etablished sellers have a huge advantage on newers even if they may not offer the best items or the best services, lower scores get stuck to low scores for longer, while etablished sellers feedbacks keep raising exponentially cause they take more sales

Funniest thing is that scores does not mean a more trustable seller everytime. Almost everyone leaving feedbacks are pre made and does not reflect at all the truth of the seller service. Most feedbacks are not even personal to sellers... And this system induce everyone to give more confidence to higher scores, but i experimented buying from top rated sellers who gave me absolutly terrible and doubtful service, bought also from 10 and less who did fine

I see you sold an item last week but I also see you have not yet left feedback for the buyer

I guess you meant to answer to the author of the thread?

[ypdc_dennis]

You could put a note in the shipment asking for feedback about the purchase.

...

I looked at couple of your listings. For some of the items you should include a measurement, so potential buyers know how big the item is -- avoids disappointed buyers.  For example, your dutch wood shoes are how long?   [my mother had a pair of 2" wood shoes, bought in Holland at the end of WW2]

-;-

[mcrlmn]

Perhaps not, but a thank you never hurt, and sometimes goes a long way.

Cheap PR.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

I would send a stock message when you ship the item that lets them know their item has shipped. That you want to provide a great transaction, and if there is an issue to please contact you, and if they are happy with the transaction, 5 star positive feedback is always appreciated. 

That way, you're not bothering the buyer for feedback. Instead, it's an afterthought in a message that had the purpose of confirming their shipment, and opening the lines of communication in case they have an issue. 

Some people say stuff like "Please contact me before leaving a negative feedback!!!!", I wouldn't do that. 

Feedback isn't the end all be all. A large chunk of buyers don't leave it. Not because they are unhappy, it just isn't a priority. A large chunk of buyers will leave feedback for all their purchases at the same time. Some times this can be weeks after a transaction. When you first start, you need a bit of feedback to appear legitimate, but after a certain point it doesn't matter much. Most people do not read feedback beyond taking a quick glance at the number/percentage on the right side of the listing.

[femmefan1946]

Your feedback can give the shipping date and service used as well as a thank you.  This makes it useful as well as polite.