Negative feedback - I'm so over the threats.

[jayoceans2004]

Hi Guys,

I have been on ebay now for a few years as a seller of new age products. I do my very best always to offer exceptional customer service and I communcate to the absolute best of my ability... and now, after another negative feedback today, I am feeling a little let down and tired of it all.

The interesting this is all of my negative feedback is from customers who simply have not read the whole listing in total - and how it all works.

ebay seems very biased towards the buyers and nothing for the sellers... Maybe it's just me today. Maybe I am just a little disappointed and need to vent here. (I have never used this forum since I have been a member and quite possibly I NEED to!)

So, from today, I will always continue to try my best, however, I swear, and never will feel threatened by negativity any more( especially when a customer threatens me on an email letter demanding a refund for postage and the item whilst NOT wanting to send the item back to me!)

That;s all for today - if you read this and you are a seller I commend you! If you read this and you are a buyer, I ask kindly that you communicate well prior to leaving negative feedback - as I am sure, most sellers would prefer to resolve issues rather than have a neg feedback.

Have a great day.

[gerard0408]

I have bought and sold, mainly bought and for a considerable time. 

What 'gets me' is when an item does not match it's description - especially condition.

I bought some tables only to discover the legs had been chewed by an animal. The sellers were elderly, it was easier to just pretend I was delighted. MUCH easier to put beehind me than a confrontation.

I bought some Buddhist relics from what is still a 100% seller on e-bay. They cost me in excess of $300. Sold as "original" "estate" "auction house who deals with such antiquities" bla bla bla. It turns out they were fake. They were a gift for a monk. He showed them, with me being in attendance, to a dealer who used a BIRO to break away the fake age effect.

Worthy of note: Very rare images, dealer did not get a warning we were coming to show him.

Long story short: The "antiquities 100% guy" told me he had already paid his client (so?) and that he carefully examined them (?) and that MY FRIEND WAS TRYING TO CON ME into believing they were fakes.

Interestingly, he launched into legal threats against ME!

I may as well have bought them at a market in Thailand for $6 which is what they were worth.

So, it happens both ways.

I think the quick guns to the legal threats are usually bluff and the threat is made in seeking a quick resolution, without much evidence. This is so, especially if they've simply changed their mind.

Be accurate, your feedback score suggests you are anyway, keep things short and sweet.

Have many things here to sell but delaying it in fear of dealing with horrible customers, so good luck and I hope you feel better!

[jayoceans2004]

Thanks for this - it is comforting just to know that I am not alone in my business on ebay. Sometimes I feel it is me only... thanks 🙂

[jayoceans2004]

Thank you  - this is all good to know for future reference. Thanks again. Jason.

[jayoceans2004]

Thank you 3 coopers for your feedback - and this is very good for me and yes, I will need to clear a few things up here....

IN regards to all my products I send out, I send out a sheet with details about refund process etc and to contact me first if there are any issues.... I always go above and beyond and also send a little gift of something and free music /relaxation downloads to with this sheet of paper.

I only put the comments in reply to the feedback more out of my frustration  - I know that it would not change anything as it was all too late.

But thanks, I am learning and have learnt a few things from your notes.

[lotdealz]

Hi jayoceans2004,

I know how this feels. Buyers purchasing without reading the listing properly then blaming you.

I could have lied and called my store NO1.QUALITY and sold cheaper products under the no.1 quality name and I probably would do better. Yet I still get people threatening me with negs and complaining about quality even though my store is a reject shop. I'm not hiding the fact my shop is called clearanceandseconds but the buyers think my products are the same as Harrods of London and Myer. You just can't win.

Advertising the truth about products and being an honest seller  does not help when you complain to ebay they just say it does not fall within their guidelines for them to do anything about it. This is even though the buyer has openly threatened me on an email. I don't know what kind of logic is used with these determinations but seriously why do buyers buy from me if they are looking for no.1 perfect quality? I don't get it.

I need a coffee and toast now. 🙂

[patchoo78]

I need a coffee and toast now.

Good idea.. I just had some raisin toast, so might be time for another coffee 😄

[patchoo78]

Hi jayco 🙂 I am looking forward to getting my stones! 😄

[***super_nova***]

I think that to put object in pics, as Coops suggested is the way to go. Although I am not sure about matchbox, as they can vary in size.

I know it sounds stupid, but it is not always easy to imagine the size when you are given the measurement.

I have been recently looking for little buttons and came accross some 5mm, I looked at my steel measuring tape and 5 mm looked good.  Well, they are all but useless.  LOL

I learned the lesson, and put in my listings coin, depending on size of the item I am selling - 5c, 10c, or 20c.  Or having tape measure in the picture for large items, where size is important.

I also had a FB (thankfully with green dot) for something I sold, saying that although correct, it looks much smaller than the measurement it is listed  with.  ?:|

[i-b-a-mad-loco]

Hello Jason for me it nice to see a seller who cares about there negs because for me it shows a person who cares about there business and there customers. but of corse we all handle the same situation differently that's what makes us human.

So just a word of support keep up the good work :-x

[the3coopers]

I only put the comments in reply to the feedback more out of my frustration  - I know that it would not change anything as it was all too late.

Always remember - new potential buyers judge you not by what your older buyers say, but how YOU respond to them. So, if you just make a comment that a buyer "should have contacted" or "I do my best" you are kind of being defeatist and it actually comes across kind of lame.

Plus it tends to come across as the buyer doing the wrong thing, which is not the message you really want to say. 

A better response is something to the effect of...

"So sorry you are unhappy, and disappointed that you never told me. I have refunded you (or sent a replacement)"

That way, when buyers see the neg (which they will) they see that you were proactive in rectifying it. Thus, replies to feedback should always be used as marketing excercises, not as a way to bag out or humiliate previous buyers.

Buyers don't want to take the risk of being made to look like an idiot IF they happen to have a problem. They want to see that the seller is 100% proactive in rectifying issues, even if the buyer was a nong.

I realise that those comments don't 100% apply to you, but it's important to always keep in mind when you are feeling frustrated. The frustration does come through in the words you type, and those words stay there forever and ever.

I always work on the basis of this little quip that I heard once....

"Always be nice to people, even those who haven't done the right thing by you. Don't do this because you think they are a good person... do it because YOU ARE."