Surf any eBay forum and one topic is always apparent. The feedback score. Nothing upsets an eBay seller more than receiving negative feedback, especially if they think the feedback is unfair. The annoyance is understandable given that most buyers will take the feedback score into account when considering a purchase.
However, there are ways you can avoid negative feedback (or at least try to…
Be proactive. Be clear about how and where you customers can contact you, to avoid them taking their anger out on your feedback score. For some reason, many buyers on eBay think it’s impossible to get in contact with the seller and therefore leave negative feedback without trying to resolve the problem first.
Be precise in your product descriptions.. Describe your products very carefully. A lot of negative feedback comes from misunderstandings between buyer and seller regarding size or colour. If the colour is not exactly the same as in the pictures be sure to inform your customers clearly.
If you can point them to a section of the description which made it clear what they were getting there’s a good chance that they won’t leave negative feedback.
Use social media. More and more companies use social media. So why not get in the game as well? It’s much easier to communicate via Facebook or Twitter and it adds credibility to your business. Moving your communication away from eBay will also contribute to moving your complaints away from eBay.
The thing to remember if you follow this strategy is to check your pages regularly. At least once a day. Otherwise the initiative can end up having a negative effect.
If you’re honest and helpful most people will try and do their best to resolve an issue as well. Unfortunately, there will always be some customers who are looking for something to complain about and there’s not much you can do about that.
As for the rest of your customers providing great customer service will not only make sure you avoid bad feedback, it will also build loyal customers who will take to Facebook and Twitter to share their good experiences.
This article was a guest post from Camilla Gilbro of iwoca
(Photo: oknovokght)
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