I get the frustration and can see why it is important to some as certainly in my category its common that people buy based on the feedback score of sellers even if the item is $100-200 higher in price. Although of course they may be loyal customers of the sellers and have had a great experience in the past...or cough cough the way ebay listings show up (or don't).Feedback also does provide a buffer from any negs that come too.
For me I was operating at around 25-30% feedback given around 18 months ago and now probably it has risen to 45-50% i would say. My personal thoughts on why this is are the following;
1) I was originally waiting for buyers to leave feedback first in case there was an issue/problem buyer, and i did not inadvertently leave them another point on their fb score. I now leave fb for buyers within 24-48 hours generally.
2) I always send a courtesy message to buyers now which I did not previosuly. Just to say that we had safely packed their item and when we would be handing over to the frieght company. I find this communication has contributed a lot to the fb with a lot of buyers crediting the good communication. And it's always a personal message not computer generated with their first name used.
I think both of the above have led to the increase on top of what was already good customer service in other aspects. I do occassionaly look at the feedback given from my buyers to others and it is rare that a serial fb giver does not leave fb for me, and some never give fb to any sellers and so nothing will likely help with those buyers who just do not see the point in leaving feedback.
