posted on April 26, 2001 03:44:15 PM
I'm relatively young at this, and have routinely asked buyers for feedback, trying to build my "rep." And I'm good about giving it as well. But here's an email exchange where the buyer was apparently offended by the request. Does his reaction seem over-strong?
----- Original Message -----
From: "me" <[email protected]>
To: "buyer" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: Book
> Hi, Ray:
>
> Your book was mailed this morning at 10:30 via Priority Mail. Thanks
> for everything - including the label - and I hope you really enjoy
> it. I'll be grateful for your feedback on Ebay.
>
> Dick
>
posted on April 26, 2001 03:52:26 PM
There are:
1) Very super friendly nice folks who buy on eBay... /+/
2) Indifferent uncommunicative folks who buy on eBay /+/
3) TOTAL 100% IDIOTIC JERKS who buy on eBay...
I would say ya just met Mr.#3 -- ignore him; his wife does!
It seems that, no matter what, most sellers seem to get around 65% return feedback. Sellers that claim to get 75% or 85% are either very lucky, or haven't sold enough yet for the "averages" to catch up to them. Myself, it's always been around 64% to 66%. Better to get used to it--giving 100% to get 65% or so.
You could include a simple printed invoice with your shipments with a polite "If you are happy with your purchase, please give us feedback when you get the chance" or something.
I also sometimes get buyers that email to say they are happy with the item, and that they have left feedback. Sometimes, even though they say they have left fb, it is not there and never comes.
posted on April 26, 2001 07:05:54 PM
Acctually I think the buyer's respose was rather well put.
I feel it is extremly rude for either the seller OR the buyer to ask for feedback.
After all, do you ask a clerk at the store to thank you for buying there if they don't do it on their own? Or, if you are the clerk, do you ask the customer to thank you for waiting on them? The answer to both is NO, because both would be extremly RUDE.
Leave feedback for you part of the transaction and don't worry about the other side. If you get feedback it is a plus and you are never disappointed.
posted on April 26, 2001 07:12:09 PM
About half the people who buy from me ask me to leave them feedback. I always figured it was because they weren't getting feedback from other sellers too often. I never suspected that they were being rude.
posted on April 26, 2001 07:30:36 PM
I never ask for a feedback and have about 60%. As a seller I always leave feedback when I receive their money. As a buyer I leave it after I receive the merchandise. In my shipment I send a letter along with my item with this message. It was a pleasure doing business with you and if you have a spare moment please drop me a line and tell me that your package arrived safe and sound. If I don't hear back from them from this letter I know I won't get a feedback. I really don't expect any but out of courtest they could give them. I will also say I never look at the feedback of my buyers before the auction closes and I have had only 1 deadbeat and he had a 1 feedback and it was a great one. So I don't think you can believe half of them. Also there isn't enough room on that line.....
posted on April 26, 2001 07:47:17 PM
Lisa_B, I've read other postings like yours on these pages, but I must say I really don't understand your position. Any good retail - or any - business will seek customer feedback in order to know how well they're meeting expectations. Now, if I were asking for positive feedback, I'd get your point, but what on earth is wrong with asking buyers to conform to good Ebay manners? And, I will say, that because of what I've read around here, I give buyer fb as soon as payment is received. So far, I've had no reason to be sorry for that.
posted on April 26, 2001 07:57:17 PM
I never ask for feedback, very tacky IMO, and score 72% on return. If I quit listing for a few weeks, and let everyone catch up to me, I'd be closer to 75%.
posted on April 26, 2001 07:59:08 PM
i never ask direct but i usally do something like "hi your item shiped today I left feedback for you "or "i received your item today I left feedback"
I think the 65 %number is probably right
what surprises me is feedback that comes long after the auction.
posted on April 26, 2001 08:03:32 PM
"Any good retail - or any - business will seek customer feedback in order to know how well they're meeting expectations"
Ah, but feedback on ebay is not so the seller/buyer can know how well they are meeting expectations. Feedback is not normally used for the business to imptove itself like "customer feedback" is in the real world. In the real world business the customer's feedback is private...between the customer and the business...no one else, including the competition, knows what the customer told the business.
On ebay feedback is the "reputation" of the person. Customer feedback in the real world is not "reputation"
I often send a request for feedback particularly if I'm dealing with a newbie. I even include a quick link for their convenience as quite a few newbies don't understand the feedback process.
That being said, (and I fear I'm about to get flamed severely for this) when I read your post, I actually laughed out loud!
Just my different perspective I suppose, having a very dry sense of humor myself, but did you ever consider that he was just trying to be humorous? I suppose on the other hand he could have just as easily been being a smart a$$. Either way, he most likely replied with a smile on his face. Maybe it was not his intention to offend you.
posted on April 26, 2001 08:07:55 PM
Dickw
I do not think that the way you asked was out of line. When i buy on ebay, i get sellers asking me to leave f.b.
This does not bother me at all. What bugs me is that a lot of them do not leave it at all. Mind you a lot of bidders are just as bad.
Just take it as it comes and dont sweat it. Life goes on.
66.47% That is really cool..I always thought it was me .
Slightly of topic but I discovered somthing new (to me anyway ) on ebay if you go to the section where it lets you veiw feedback you have left about others and if you scroll al the way to the bottom it gives you a link to all completed tranasctions in which you have not left feedback and it lists them on a page where you can scrool down and leave feedback in mass.
I had 27 transactions that I had not left feedback on Some I thought I had ...Some have not payed yet.
I left 10 positives so I guess my rating will go up by 6.47 by morning (looking forward to reading the .47 positive) -
I think asking for an eBay feedback "brownie point" is like requesting a Thank You Note after you give a gift. Just tacky.
My view is this -- while it's laudable that you care greatly about your customer service, there is no reason you can't say to your customer, "Your package was shipped such-and-such a date. I hope you will be happy but if for any reason you aren't, please let me know immediately and I will do what I can to remedy the situation." That seems to be more along the lines of what you're talking about without asking them to go do the eBay Feedback Thing.
As a seller, of course I want my customers to be happy and to come back. But the eBay feedback thing -- that's just like dessert to me -- it's nice but not essential. I have never asked for a single feedback the entire time I've been on eBay and I have plenty. You will get there too, don't worry about racking up numbers. They will come. And I often find that the buyers who never leave feedback still come back to buy more. That, to me, speaks volumes.
