Encouraging More Buyers to Leave Feedback....

[samjess54]

I have read various posts on "Feedback" and understand that leaving it is voluntary and that buyers could feel pestered if asked for it.

As a small hobby seller I would like to maximise the positives as one negative can take me to 99.5%...as it did last year.....leaving me a little anxious about having a second problem in that same 12mths......plus I do like the warm and fuzzies - call me needy!. (About two thirds of my buyers leave me feedback and several others email me to say they are happy and all is good but do not leave formal feedback).

Up until last week I included the following 'note to buyer' on the packing slip:- "Many thanks for your purchase. Please contact me if there are any problems. Otherwise, I would appreciate you leaving me a positive Feedback to confirm that all is well. Regards, Julie"

I have just updated it to:- "Many thanks for your purchase. Please contact me if there are any problems. Otherwise, I would very much appreciate you leaving me a positive Feedback to confirm that all is well - positive Feedback is also helpful to me in improving my ebay seller rating and useful in informing others as to what they might expect from me. Regards, Julie."

Would a few of you please give me "feedback" on my updated note - is it likely to encourage people? or could it it be offputting to some?

Thank you.

[robinsonmarineparts]

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

If it is just a printed note you pop in with the items, then it's good as many sellers do the same and seems more like a professional standard procedure rather than a hand written plea.

My suggestion -  

Many thanks for your purchase. Please contact me if there are any problems before leaving feedback so I can resolve the issue. I appreciate you leaving me positive Feedback to confirm the item/s arrived and in good order. Regards, Julie"

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I get them quite often and i don't like it.

As i said that's just me.

[imastawka]

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@robinsonmarineparts wrote:

You really are not very clever, i gave him the opportunity to change it to WHATEVER he wanted,

And you say " Maybe they want to revise it to a neg?

Just sayin' 

Why would you say such a stupid thing?

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I just read the fb and it sounds like he got the wrong part, is all

[robinsonmarineparts]

Let it go will ya, you have no idea, he got exactly what he ordered, he made a mistake and wanted to change feedback, the part he received is used by nearly every professional outboard race team on this planet.

The other feed back was because the buyer's engine is a 2003 model, the part that he purchased was listed as fitting engines from 1984-thru-1996.

He wanted me to pay for return postage and i said that he has to take ownership for his mistake, so to him that was being aggressive.

While where at it is there anything else you need, socks undies??

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

I personally avoid all mention of feedback in communications with buyers, I feel like the best method is to keep the focus on your product and service, because no matter how nicely it's worded, encouraging feedback is still a bit of a niggle to do something a lot of people feel like is a chore. 

It's an impressions thing, really, sometimes in really subtle ways - think about it this way (I'll keep running with the restaurant theme for my analogies today  ), when a waiter provides you with amazing service, they were friendly, efficient and when they brought your food to the table, most simply leave it at "enjoy your meal, sing out if I can do anything else", and you tend to just think about how great the service was, might even mention it on Facebook or to friends / co-workers.

If, on the other hand, they put your plate in front of you and said "please give us a good review on [some website]", it can give the impression the staff us less focused on providing great service and more on getting good reviews. And if they went so far as to say "please give us a good review, we need a higher score!", it would be a bit of a dampener on the experience because it can add an element of obligation (or guilt) to it. 

I can guarantee you that if/when someone mentions the restaurant to another person, any mention of the request for a review will be prefaced with a "but", as in "great food and service, but...."

All this is just an extended way for me to say, I'd leave it at "Many thanks for your purchase. Please contact me if there are any problems". 

I know it can seem counter-intuitive or counter-productive not to have a reminder, but all I can tell you is I never ever mention FB in any context, anywhere (at best, I'll answer a direct question from a buyer, but often even when they mention it in a message to me, I skip right over that and just address the main issues), I do leave it for buyers once payment is made, though, and about 70% of buyers are currently leaving it in return. 

[clarry100]

We never "encourage" buyers to leave feedback either. What will be will be. Somewhere about 40% of our buyers leave feedback.

But... if getting feedback is so important to you (and it is to some sellers & buyers even) then you might consider adding an extra enticement to your message along the lines of every 100th (or whatever number suits you) leaver of positive feedback wins a free surprise gift in the mail.

Everyone likes the chance of a freebie.

[springyzone · Accepted solution]

I personally wouldn't mind if I got a little note such as your first one in with my purchase.

I usually leave feedback anyway though.

The second one, I don't know, I would steer clear of the last sentence. As someone else said, it might give a disgruntled buyer ideas.

What I would never do as a seller though is send an email weeks after a sale, asking someone to leave feedback. A note in with a purchase, no hassle. A follow up email though would be annoying, especially if I had chosen not to give feedback as a kindness to avoid neg or neutral, and I've done that a couple of times.

[samjess54]

Thank you all (or almost all; I think a bit of topic hijacking went on) for your feedback opinions.

The jury is in! I've ditched my revised message and will either revert to my first one or adopt Kopenhagen's suggested wording. 

A big thank you also to  mbselections digitalghost and springyzone for your very helpful and thoughtful comments.

PS to Kopenhagen: The note I send is printed as part of the "packing slip" that ebay lets me generate once I have have printed the ebay postage label - so it does look quite "professional" in that sense; it is not a separate note or handwritten.

PS to springyzone: I never sent any followup corro to buyers after posting their item - that would be annoying.

[*tippy*toes*]

I'm on the fence about messages. I've had sellers leave polite notes either on the packing slip or a printed card about leaving feedback. I always leave it as soon as I open the parcels any way, so most of the time I don't take a lot of notice of them. The ones I do get, I prefer the short and sweet ones, rather than the ones that go into every aspect of feedback and defects! I also agree about not sending messages weeks later, which you already said you don't do.

I've had quite a few buyers contact me days after they received their parcel demanding it. Some have got quite rude. One even said "I've left you feedback, how dare you not leave it for me". What annoyed me about that buyer was, she had over 5,000 feedback! She bought a $4 item with free postage, paid 2 days after I opened an UPI, so I added her to my blocked list and didn't leave her feedback. Obviously she was buying to get green dots rather than items, so I decided to burst her bubble.

[chameleon54]

I have a fairly low care factor about feedback, UNLESS ITS RED, THEN I REALLY CARE

I dont have any problems with recieving friendly little messages in my parcel such as those suggested above, and dont worry about polite ebay messages requesting feedback.

As I say I just dont care, so if feedback is what floats your boat, I,m happy to leave it for you. I also try to leave feedback for new members with low scores as it can be of help to them.

[chezzy]

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chameleon54 wrote: "so if feedback is what floats your boat, I,m happy to leave it for you. I also try to leave feedback for new members with low scores as it can be of help to them".

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See I might read that as leaving feedback being a bit of an inconvenience. But might be done for a few 'special people'.

In the case of positive feedback I see it as a simple courtesy, a sign of appreciation, good manners etc. But these days it is often forgotten. Reminds me of a time recently in a restaurant I saw a teenage girl thank the waiter for clearing her plates, that was a pleasant surprise. Anyway....

I like the note suggestion Kopenhagen gave. I am more concerned that the buyer is happy or that everything is ok, am always a bit concerned about postage issues/delays/damage. So sometimes I contact buyers to check if all is ok as I'd like to close the transaction. Once I have a positive answer then I will leave feedback for the buyer (personal choice but I do it at the end of the transaction)