This Post is about eBay

Dealing with bad eBay feedback and complaints Part 4.

 

How to deal with the Awkward/Abusive buyer.

 

It really goes without saying that your aim selling on eBay apart from making money is customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the key to repeated sales which is how to grow your business.

 

Some simple things can make the process so much easier. An once of prevention is much better than a ton of cure. So some simple measures can make your life so much easier.

 

Always put in a dispatch time for the item. I always give my dispatch as 2 working days, but 95% of my sales are posted the next working day. I get great feedback for my speed of service. I have a friend with a hectic life who cannot post items midweek so he clearly states that all items will be posted on Saturday morning’s 1^st class post. Being up front about his post times has done him no harm at all.

 

Set up an e-mail template if someone sends you a message saying that their item has not arrived. Mine is dead simple, I just ask them to be patient for a few more days and then quote the delivery times for different classes of post from the royal mail website. royalmail.com. I then ask that if they have not received after a stated number of days (you need to choose this number) to contact you again and you will deal with the problem immediately.

 

Be true to your word. It is possible to offer 5 star service with a 1 star budget. If people like your service they may tell others. If they don’t, they will tell everybody. Always obtain a certificate of posting. Unfortunately there are a small number of buyers who never receive any item that is posted to them; you can usually get a feel for them in the wording of the e-mail they send you. I had one that never received any item that was sent to him. I simply put him on the blocked bidder list.

 

I always replace the item or offer a refund; the buyer can then decide how to proceed. At the worst all that has happened is that I have lost my profit on the product. For overseas I usually just refund outside of Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand.

 

Really simple but it stops a significant amount of repeated messages and e-mails asking “where’s my stuff”? If you have more than one eBay identity you must have a separate e-mail address for each identity.

 

Remember to check this regularly. Don’t make the mistake I once did and assume that a buyer will contact you through the eBay my messages system.

 

I had rather one irate buyer who had not received their item blowing his stack because I was not answering his e-mail. He eventually contacted me though the my messages. Not a happy bunny, to make amends I refunded him all costs and sent a replacement product. Ok it cost me, but I have never overlooked checking e-mails again. His feedback was phenomenally good.

 

More next time

 

Rob