Return Buyers how can you tell?

[helenm777]

I was hoping some more expereinced sellers could tell me how they identify return buyers.

 I have been selling on ebay for 3 years so have sold around 400 items.  

Is there any way through ebay to check if they have purchased from me before?  

Just would like to acknowedge their return business

Hope someone will be able to help

[zelly888]

Is this a trick question? 

[harley_babes_hoard]

By checking your feedback you will see if they are return buyers but that can be very time consuming. I wish there was a pop up or similar that says you have sold to this person before.

[thecatspjs · Accepted solution]

Its a shame there isn't an icon that shows on a sale to indicate a return buyer - it would be sooooo useful to identify them.

I try to leave time when I am processing sales to search my buyers Ids in my emails - and am often pleasantly surprised at how many return buyers I pick up through taking the time to check. 

It only takes a few seconds to cut and paste each id into the search function in Microsoft Outlook, which all my emails are forwarded to from the various email addys I have to have to have several ebay accounts.

[helenm777]

thanks for your help.  I did not think there was an area in ebay to advise you.

 I have also kept a manual record of all names but going through 400 pages is certainly time consuming...  the same for the feedback page.  

A "pop up" would be wonderful and very helpful for sellers.  I will suggest this next time I get a survey from ebay.

Thanks for your help

[helenm777]

that is a great idea re outlook I will certainly do it from now on.. would never have thought of that!!!

thanks again...have a great weekend!

[twyngwyn]

your sales reports will give you your percentage of repeat buyers on a month-by-month basis (under your ACCOUNT tab)

[digital*ghost]

For anyone using Yahoo, if the buyer has paid via PayPal, you can mouse-over the space between the sender and subject line of an email and click on the magnifying glass; it brings up all previous emails received from the same email address, so as long as you keep all PayPal payment notifications it's a quick and easy way to see if the buyer is a repeat customer.

[bigbrickshop]

It would be a really useful feature if eBay added some kind of flag to identify returning buyers. I rely on my memory most of the time and if an ID or address seems familiar I'll do an email search. Some buyers also email to say that they're back to make another purchase.