Buyers who cant be bothered leaving feedback

[Anonymous]

An increasing annoyance of mine is buyers who just cant be bothered leaving any feedback

Out of my last 20 sales i only have 10 of them who have left me feedback (2 of them are recent sales) and 8 people are yet to leave any feedback and its been weeks.

Feedback is important as i know my item has arrived safely, plus im trying to build up my business and i want positive feedback to hopefully generate more customers.

My policy on selling is simple. I use good customer service. I always contact the buyer and thank them for their purchase and quick payment (if they paid instantly). I always let them know when i will be posting their item. I always leave positive feedback once they have made their payment and mark item posted as soon as i post it. I even contact the customer to let them know that i have sent it, Good friendly and professional customer service is not hard.

Some of by customers really appreciate it and let me know. Others just dont care, i never hear from them and they dont bother to leave any feedback.

Does this happen alot to other sellers? what strategies do you have to aid in helping. I have sent a few friendly reminders about people "forgetting to leave me feedback". The odd time it works but most of the time it doesnt.

[haolove13]

Feedback and the lack of it is a problem now on Ebay.

Ebay use it to determine suspension and closing of accounts.

It can be the difference between having a business or a bankruptcy.

When people are upset the vast majority will leave negative feedback or low DSR , but with the increasing apathy of satisfied customers it means that negatives are being intensified.

This is something that Ebay should consider when handing out suspensions as the marketplace has changed considerably since sellers are unable to leave negative feedback.

I looked at a seller today who has received 312 negatives in the last month. As they are in China and have had 21,000 positives this month as well they maintain a 98% rating.

But if their feedback ratio dropped by 50 % they would be in trouble. And for one person who may cop a couple of negatives in ten transactions that is where people need to be protected.

The DSR ratings need to be taken out of the Ebay equation as they are not factual , just perceptions and often vindictive.

[green-gifts-mkd]

I can't substantiate whether it is more effective, but I have read on these boards that some sellers hold off leaving feedback until feedback is first left for them by the buyer. For those buyers obsessed with seeing their 'score' go up (of which there do seem to be quite a few), they will leave feedback in order to receive it. As mentioned, I am not sure if this would have the effect of improving your feedback rates.

I know myself that I receive an extremely low feedback rate as my items are usually purchased right at the end of the planning process for my buyers, right before their wedding and honeymoon. So they have more important things on their mind than to leave me feedback. It is disappointing, given the extensive messaging that sometimes occurs discussing their personalised item/s, but I can't spend time worrying about it.

[clarry100]

We have 2 stores and we estimate that we get about 40% of our buyers who leave FB.

While its always nice to get the POS we don't dwell on it at all.

We never send out reminders and our listings don't even mention it.

We concentrate on the good service aspects that are within our control.

And hopefully the flow-on from that will be buyers who can be bothered to leave us POS.

But notwithstanding this, we still have had one NEG in each store in the past 12-months. Some buyers just press the big RED button straight up without even trying to contact us first to get their roblem resolved. And then will never answer our messages about what happened. When this happens we just leave a factual un-emotive reply to the FB, which hopefully would placate other prospective buyers if they see the NEG.

[ancarswa]

I used to leave feedback as soon as payment was made and found that only about 40% of buyers left feedback. Now I leave feedback only after I receive it and found that I have about 75% of buyers leaving feedback.

It is frustrating at first when you are trying to build up your reputation but the main thing is to focus on good customer service. Then you find those that leave you feedback actually give you good feedback.

My best repeat customer has never left feedback ever! 

[springyzone]

Sparklz said:

Feedback is NOT mandatory it is voluntary and is left if they want to leave it.

If you have not heard anything from the buyer then assume all is good and move on.

DO NOT pester for feedback either as you may not like what is left.

----------------------------------

You're right in everything you say, but there is one aspect I don't think I have seen anyone mention.

I was glancing through ebay/paypal policy a little while back. I used to sell but in the days before paypal and was idly wondering if it would be worth using ebay to sell again and how it all worked so was reading the general info.

Now I could be wrong here but I got the impression that anyone setting up their paypal account for selling would be on a kind of probation for the first 2 months and NO FUNDS from any of the sales would be immediately paid into their paypal account. Paypal would hold onto it for 2 months before releasing it, to make sure the transactions had gone smoothly (ie till they were satisfied you weren't a crook, I suppose). The terms read something like-for 2 months or until the seller received positive feedback on the transaction.

Now if you have been a seller for ages, this would not affect you, each sale you make, the money would go straight into your account.

But for a new seller, getting positive feedback soon after a sale would matter as it would mean those funds were put into your account straight off, instead of waiting 2 months.

[cq_tech]

As a buyer, feedback is of little importance to me and is more an indication of approximately how many transactions I've completed than anything else, and because sellers can only leave positive feedback for buyers, it essentially means nothing to me. However, I'm well aware of the importance sellers quite rightly place on feedback so I make it a point to leave feedback for every transaction completed.

Now I've never checked before today, but was rather surprised to see that I've received 308 feedback comments from sellers, in return for the 326 comments which I have left, but given that a number of those were multiple purchases, it would appear that only a very small number of buyers haven't bothered leaving me any feedback at all, which I found quite surprising as I fully expected the difference to be considerably greater.

[kobies_costume_jewelry]

"But for a new seller, getting positive feedback soon after a sale would matter as it would mean those funds were put into your account straight off, instead of waiting 2 months."

My other account has these restrictions in place 5 sales or 21 days with no problems or sooner if I can prove postage.

or 30 days from my first transaction.

I have found that people for whatever reason choose not to leave feedback, at first she stressed about it got to get those numbers up.

But now they do or they dont. The ones who do great, as its really appreciated. 

The ones that dont, well I can only hope they are happy with their purchase.

No news is good news.

[robinsonmarineparts]

We get approx 2 fb's in 30 sales, nothing we can do about it.

[easywaydvds]

As feedback is not mandatory I no longer give it even though im still a newbie. I did for about my first 20 sales as I did want to be know as a reputable seller and I received 2 in return. Even though it is not mandatory, I do feel it is common courtesy for both parties to leave it. A seller should  leave it as the buyer has paid for the item. When a buyer leaves it, not only does it inform the seller that the item has arrived safely, it completes the transaction. I have found now that I only have my shop set up for leaving feedback when positive feedback is left, my percentage has improved quite a bit. I am on average only receiving around 50 percent but that is a massive hike on my first 20. I know sellers stress about feedback at times but I have seen lots of sellers in the high 80's low 90's sell massive amounts of stock.  If a buyer wants the item badly enough they just purchase the item and pay via paypal, so they are effectlvely covered. People have even purchased after 20 inr. Some buyers you just cannot please no matter what and I don't think sellers should be out of pocket or even distressed in situations like that. I also give buyers the credit of working out if the feedback is genuine or just an unhappy buyer in general. I reckon in the future it will just phase out and won't really exist. For some people it's the thrill of the feedback number alone and has nothing to do with the actual transaction. This is only my opinion so please do not jump on me.

[davewil1964]

So you want it, but won't reciprocate?

You are aware that feedback to buyers is a count? And unrelated to what feedback for a seller means? So why would you want to alienate those buyers who treasure their feedback?