eBay

mscollect1948 · ‎03-30-2018

Today I spend almost an hour to leave 'feedback' and mark 'item shipped' for ten sales. The process is too time consuming. Several times I had to go back to 'sold' because the item did not show on the feedback page. Also twice I was asked to leave feedback again for an item I already did leave feedback for. The process is too slow and I'm considering not to leave feedback and just mark the item as shipped.

SUGGESTION: When leaving feedback there should be another button "itme shipped yes/no"

femmefan1946 · ‎03-30-2018

I don't like the new feedback page because each feedback has to be individually posted, but even so, taking an hour to post ten FB sounds very unusual.

Do you have a standard FB for your buyers/sellers?

Mine actually includes one of your points (item shipped). Thank you for your prompt payment. Shipped 30/3/18 Canada Post Air Mail. is my norm and it now self-loads after TH.
I do have to change the dates each day.

I can add the shipping label number if I want, when I use tracking, but the buyer got that automatically anyway.

Feedback is voluntary and for buyers is just warm pink fuzzies, since they can only get positives.

For sellers, it is a measure of buyer confidence.

vintagetonow2134 · ‎03-30-2018

why buyers can only get positives?

silverpinups · ‎03-30-2018

eBay changed the feedback rules back in 2008. eBay felt that buyers were intimidated to leave their true impression about the transaction they had with the seller. If they left a neutral or negative feedback the seller could retaliate and do the same to the buyers feedback.

Of course this policy has had positive and negative reactions with sellers. Some sellers left eBay over this policy change because some malicious buyers could use feedback system to manipulate and extort sellers and the services they provided.

I feel that most neutral and negative feedback is unwarranted and can be avoided if both parties are reasonable and willing to work together and resolve the issue.

momcqueen · ‎03-30-2018

@vintagetonow2134wrote:
why buyers can only get positives?

So far as ebay is concerned, if a buyer makes a purchase and pays for it, that is good enough to warrant positive feedback.

However, if the user buys multiple items and then fails to pay for them, opens excessive Item Not Received or Not as Described Cases, leaves malicious feedback, attempts to extort additional products and/or services, or any other of a handful of practices deemed unacceptable and against ebay policies, other behind-the-scene procedures are supposed to kick in to protect sellers in ways that public shaming at the hands of retaliatory negative feedback left for buyers would not.

In other words, the buyers will be halted in other ways (supposedly) without (reciprocal) negative feedback coming into play.

Ebay itself is very secretive about what precisely triggers these actions so as not to tip their hat to the unethical types out there. To be clear about what exactly warrants action or sanctions would be akin to writing The Scammers Handbook: What to Stop Short of Doing in Order to Continue to Fly Under the Radar.

momcqueen · ‎03-30-2018

Also, ebay probably learned that negative feedback left for buyers was the final straw in many cases. The buyer had already had a bad experience at the hands of a much larger seller, and got left with negative feedback which would drop their feedback to like an impossibly embarrassing 65 per cent whereas the negative feedback they left for the Big Bad Seller left the seller's at 99.9 per cent. It's certainly a major factor in what prevented me form leaving actual truthful feedback about some very. very horrid experiences that I had as a new buyer with large sellers.

If I, as a buyer, got slapped with a negative that left me with 65 per cent positive feedback, I'd not have come back to ebay to buy again ever. It would have humiliated me.

It would have added insult to already-substantial injury.

That being said, the bad experiences I had as a buyer certainly made me a better seller.

femmefan1946 · ‎03-31-2018

Feedback is voluntary and for buyers is just warm pink fuzzies, since they can only get positives.

And since the change in policy, eBay has also decided that FB makes no difference to a member's selling account.

If you have a problem with a buyer, when you finally start selling, you do have better alternatives, starting with the Unpaid Item Dispute.

kawartha-ephemera · ‎03-31-2018

@mscollect1948 wrote:
Today I spend almost an hour to leave 'feedback' and mark 'item shipped' for ten sales. The process is too time consuming. Several times I had to go back to 'sold' because the item did not show on the feedback page. Also twice I was asked to leave feedback again for an item I already did leave feedback for. The process is too slow and I'm considering not to leave feedback and just mark the item as shipped.
SUGGESTION: When leaving feedback there should be another button "itme shipped yes/no"

Feedback can be left for 1 or 50 transactions with just a couple clicks of the mouse.

With your Selling Manager page open click on either:

"New PayPal payment received" or Sold "Awaiting Shipment" or "Paid with no feedback". Either of the first 2 choices will save time versus the third choice.

Select ALL of the transactions listed whether there be 1 or 50 of them.

From the "Other action" drop-down list select "Leave feedback"

This takes you to the feedback page with ALL transactions selected and ready to receive feedback in bulk. Choose the desired feedback for that day from the saved list or write a new custom feedback message. Clicking "Leave Feedback" applies the chosen message to ALL of the previously selected transactions with one command. It does not matter if some in the list have previously been left feedback, those will simply be ignored, no duplication or changed feedback will be left. Be sure to leave the feedback prior to purchasing shipping labels or changing the shipping status manually. The chore of leaving multiple feedback messages can be completed in very short order, measured in seconds not minutes. Keep in mind that it often takes several minutes for the information shown in Selling Manager to correctly register that feedback has just been left.

Once the bulk feedback has been left and all parcel shipping labels have been purchased the same method can be used to update the shipping status in bulk with one command ... Select all transactions "Awaiting Shipment", click "Change status" and from the drop-down list select "Shipped". All selected transactions whether there be 1 or 50 will be marked as shipped. Of course this is only necessary for those items shipped via Lettermail.

The same process can also be used to print all of the packing slips for all transactions with one command.

imbuzzy · ‎04-03-2018

"The process is too slow and I'm considering not to leave feedback and just mark the item as shipped"

I'm going to chime in with a viable solution to the op's dilemma...

For a small one time fee of about $20, one can purchase feedback monitoring software.

The one I use and give a 100% approval rating to is named InstantFeedback made by Merlin Software.

It is very versatile and allows for many options such as: multiple selling accounts, mass posting of feedback, email follow ups to your buyers, negative feedback warnings to your email account, unlimited email support, free version updates, email address mailing list generation and so much more.

I really like the fact that I can set it up only to give feedback to buyers who have given me feedback (don't debate me on that one - I have my reasons).

I've used it for 5 years - so that works out to $4/year so far (and obviously lower each year)

That is one big chore that I don't need to worry about anymore.

They also have an excellent bidding/sniping software - yet again, don't debate me on that point...

bpl521_sell · ‎04-03-2018

@momcqueenwrote:
Also, ebay probably learned that negative feedback left for buyers was the final straw in many cases. The buyer had already had a bad experience at the hands of a much larger seller, and got left with negative feedback which would drop their feedback to like an impossibly embarrassing 65 per cent whereas the negative feedback they left for the Big Bad Seller left the seller's at 99.9 per cent. It's certainly a major factor in what prevented me form leaving actual truthful feedback about some very. very horrid experiences that I had as a new buyer with large sellers.

If I, as a buyer, got slapped with a negative that left me with 65 per cent positive feedback, I'd not have come back to ebay to buy again ever. It would have humiliated me.

It would have added insult to already-substantial injury.

That being said, the bad experiences I had as a buyer certainly made me a better seller.

I can appreciate your comment, when I was new to Ebay I ran into one of the worse sellers imaginable. Horrible attitude in his responses to questions, would left terrible feedback to buyers. I am sure he/she sat at home pulling the legs off spiders. Anyways I really wanted a item that they were selling but had to grin and bear it as any negative feedback I left would have surely resulted in much worse on my end. As a new buyer with under 10 purchases under my belt vs a power seller, you can do the math as to who would fare worse in the feedback ratings.

ricarmic · ‎04-04-2018

My process works well for me, it might work for you too....

As a note, for each transaction I also "contact the buyer" and send a form letter advising that the item is now on its way etc.

Note that I do mine normally under .COM and it is easier there, but it is still accomplishable from .CA below is the .CA version:

I do my stuff from my "my ebay" under the "selling reminders" line item:

"I need to ship "14 items". Purchase and print shipping labels"

The "14 items" is a link, just click on it to bring up the list of items to ship.

Then for each item under "More actions" I:

-use "contact buyer" to send them the form letter (one time cut and re-paste each time the form letter)

then*

-use "leave feedback" to leave feedback for the buyer

then*

-use "mark as shipped" to mark the item as shipped (unless there is a tracking number then I put in the tracking number instead)

then*

repeat the process for the next buyer

* means you have to back arrow top left corner, or "go back" a couple times to get back to the original "items to ship" screen. I'm not sure the correct nomenclature for the back screens process.

Normally I can do all 3 for a given buyer in a minute......

There are 2 situations that are pains:

-where there are tracking numbers as I can only cut and paste one thing, so I have to save them till the end and put the tracking numbers in at the end

-where there are more than 2 items in a tracked purchase for one buyer, once one leaves the tracking number, it moves it out of the to be shipped and one has to add the tracking numbers for the other items for that buyer from the sold general category

kawartha-ephemera · ‎04-04-2018

ricarmic quote: "As a note, for each transaction I also "contact the buyer" and send a form letter advising that the item is now on its way etc."
______________________________

I do pretty much the same as ricarmic.

A. Leave an identical "thank you " feedback note for every buyer prior to shipment. Many buyers don't look at their feedback on a daily or even weekly basis so I feel taking the extra step of communicating directly by email is well worth the effort.

B. Immediately follow-up leaving feedback by sending a "your purchase has been shipped via CP etc etc. Thank you for your patronage etc" I have a variety of form notes saved as word docs that I send using the "contact buyer" link. The form docs contain date inserts that auto update each day so all that is required is copy once and paste repeatedly.

C. My process differs a little from ricarmic's in that I don't send a "contact buyer" note to buyers with tracked shipments, I let the the ebay automation emails handle those unless there are some special circumstances. I do send the Shippo notification to tracked shipment buyers. I wish Shippo would update their notification email system to allow some basic customization.

D. Approximately 1 in 4 buyers respond after receiving their "Your item has been shipped, thank you for your patronage " email. Their responses are always appreciative and friendly. Well worth the effort imo to help build a repeat customer base.

ricarmic · ‎04-04-2018

As an extra note, all my "form letters" etc come in two main styles:

1 for first time customers, this has extra text around let me know if there are problems
1 for repeat customers thanking them for their repeat business
(these I keep in a draft email document and cut and paste from there)

Feedback is all canned (chrome remembers it I just have to type the first letter to get it) and comes in a variety of types, different ones for 1st time customers vs repeat customers one item buyers vs multi item buyers etc.

I also have a pretty good rate of people responding to my contacts, a couple each day, maybe 20% if I had to guess...

About 66% of my sales are from repeat customers so I do what I can to get them and to keep them!!

ricarmic · ‎04-04-2018

In fact here they are, the two most commonly used:

(some of you out there with good memories will remember helping me choose wordings that translate well to many languages a couple years ago or so!!!)

Thank you for your purchase and quick payment. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Monday XXXXXXX. Once the parcel arrives, I hope you will find everything satisfactory. If you are not completely pleased with this transaction, please contact me via email. I will do my very best to resolve any problem you may have. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

Thank you for your most recent purchase and quick payment. I am pleased you decided to purchase from me again. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Monday XXXXXX. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

And for times like last weekend:

Thank you for your purchase and quick payment. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Tuesday XXXXXXX (Canada Post was closed for 4 days for Easter weekend April 14-17 inclusive). Once the parcel arrives, I hope you will find everything satisfactory. If you are not completely pleased with this transaction, please contact me via email. I will do my very best to resolve any problem you may have. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

Thank you for your most recent purchase and quick payment. I am pleased you decided to purchase from me again. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Tuesday XXXXXXX (Canada Post was closed for 4 days for Easter weekend April 14-17 inclusive). Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

kawartha-ephemera · ‎04-04-2018

@ricarmicwrote:
In fact here they are, the two most commonly used:
(some of you out there with good memories will remember helping me choose wordings that translate well to many languages a couple years ago or so!!!)

Thank you for your purchase and quick payment. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Monday XXXXXXX. Once the parcel arrives, I hope you will find everything satisfactory. If you are not completely pleased with this transaction, please contact me via email. I will do my very best to resolve any problem you may have. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

Thank you for your most recent purchase and quick payment. I am pleased you decided to purchase from me again. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Monday XXXXXX. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

And for times like last weekend:

Thank you for your purchase and quick payment. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Tuesday XXXXXXX (Canada Post was closed for 4 days for Easter weekend April 14-17 inclusive). Once the parcel arrives, I hope you will find everything satisfactory. If you are not completely pleased with this transaction, please contact me via email. I will do my very best to resolve any problem you may have. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

Thank you for your most recent purchase and quick payment. I am pleased you decided to purchase from me again. Your parcel has been shipped out today, Tuesday XXXXXXX (Canada Post was closed for 4 days for Easter weekend April 14-17 inclusive). Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)

The friendly but still professional use of the "Regards, XXXXX (Given Name)" salutation strikes the proper tone imo. I use the same salutation minus the username ... maybe I should work that in too for brand awareness.

Buyers seem to respond well when one signs-off with your real name, most will respond in kind and identify themselves. Kind of nice to know who we're really dealing with and how they prefer to be addressed.

More than a little envious of such a high repeat cutomer rate ... have never been able to achieve a rate anywhere near that high.

I'll have to check and see if ebay messaging has an auto-signature feature, maybe my username could be provided that way, will have to omit the personal email and phone though !!

ricarmic · ‎04-04-2018

Part of the reason I put my name after my id is that I was forever being called "Rick" in responses by buyers..... my ebay id is actually my initials and part of my last name, my old userid when I went to university decades ago back in the dark ages of computers....it is too much work to change it now and almost never do I encounter anyone else using it when I'm creating new ids!

I actually don't like using the word regards, or parcel for that matter but they translate very very well into other languages so that is why I use them....those are a couple of the things I adopted when the folks here helped me make my form letters more translatable than what I had been using before that...