While E-Bay promotes the Feedback system harder than any other feature they offer, they do virtually nothing to prevent abuses of the system.  In fact, they state explicitly in their policies that feedback is not their responsibility, but that of the participants.  The serious seller must learn how to protect his or herself in order to survive.

In another article, I will describe how the feedback system evolved and what the numbers mean.  In this essay, I will assume that readers are familiar with how the numbers are calculated and what they mean.  With that being said, I will point out that the formatting E-Bay uses encourages the viewer's eye to be attracted to bad news.

On the listing web page, the feedback score is to the immediate right of the member's ID, and it uses the same font and color.  The parenthesis and ranking symbol next to the feedback score vainly attempt to single it out, but it remains well blended in with the background.  In contrast, the positive feedback percentage score is below the ID in larger letters and bolded.  It stands out.  The member's feedback page is likewise geared to bringing the view's eyes to the negative score.  Even though it is below positive and neutral scores, it is bright red and demands attention.

As a result, the focus goes on the problems the member has had rather than what the seller is doing right.  E-Bay does not explain to people what a good score is, only that high numbers are important.  As a result, new members sometimes look more favorably at the 100% percentage someone with a 10 feedback has over a 99.9% percentage with a 10,000 feedback score.  This isn't theoretical on my part, I've seen people do it.

This would not be such an issue if the feedback meant the same to both the seller and the buyer each had an equal stake in their feedbacks.  The truth is, the seller has more at stake.  As a seller, I can't stop someone with a 80% feedback score from buying from me (I've actually had a sale to one this low).  If I have a first time buyer that wants to purchase something very expensive, however, I am under no illusion that they are going to look very closely at my feedback.  The feedback page get the most traffic out of any page associated with my store.  It's not just me, E-Bay recently reorganized how the feedback pages are displayed because they admitted buyers look at seller's feedback more closely.

With feedback, especially the positive feedback percentage, being so important to the seller, it is important to keep the negative feedbacks to a minimum.  I will spend the rest of this article explaining how to avoid them and what to do when they inevitably happen.

The first thing you, as a seller, can do to protect yourself is to give accurate descriptions of your items, especially if you are selling used or refurbished merchandise.  It is my experience that less than perfect items sell as well as near perfect items, assuming the asking price is adjusted accordingly.  Customers rightfully expect that an item, even if advertised used, is like new unless specifically told otherwise.  They will find the problems as soon as they open the package, so it is better to let them know up front.

The second thing you can do is to ship quickly.  I almost always ship items the first business day after payment is received and sometimes the same day.  No big chain store can beat that and for some reason most of my on line competition doesn't either.  Even if the item is not exactly what they thought it would be, their first impression is at least positive and may put them in a better mood to work with you.  At the very least, it won't hurt while a long delivery time only adds fuel to the fire.

In line with this, you can use Vacation Settings under the Manage My Store site.  You have three choices.  The first is to black out all your listings with a single button when you go on vacation and then turn them back on when you return.  You are not cancelling your listings, you are just keeping the public from seeing what you have to offer.  The other two choices let customers buy from you, but gives you the chance to tell them that shipments will not be made until a specific date that you return.  I favor these two options (one for store pages, the other for item listings) as I can still make money while I vacation.  Although you do run the risk of angering someone who didn't pay attention, this is a minimal risk that I believe is worth taking.

This leads into another proactive measure you can take, that is good communication.  At a minimum, you should let someone know when the money arrived (if they send checks) and when the item is mailed.  Include any tracking numbers.  E-Bay stores have form letters that make this job easy.  If a customer writes back with a concern, respond quickly.  They can't see you in person, so it is easy for their fears to get the better of their imagination.  By letting them know you are there and that you are concerned about their satisfaction, they are more likely to communicate with you.  Some sellers write in their listings requests that customers contact them before leaving a negative feedback.  I don't do this myself, but it certainly will not hurt.

Finally, E-Bay encourages sellers to have a refund policy.  I have a no questions asked refund policy and I even will pay for their first class or parcel post shipping charges.  They get refunded and reimbursed when I get the merchandise.  While not all customers take the time to read, many of them do.  By offering a refund, they have a monetary incentive to work things out with you.

But, no matter how customer friendly you make your store, this is still a people business.  Never forget that some people are just no good.  No matter how much you bend over backwards or how unreasonable their expectations, they will still give you a negative feedback if given the chance.  Fortunately, they are few and far in between.  But they will be the ones you remember and, more importantly, will be the most visible to your new customers.

The first thing you need to know is that E-Bay will not help you.  It is possible for a customer to refuse to pay for an item and give you a negative feedback.  If he does things right, you will not be able to get rid of it.  If you type in Feedback Abuse, Withdrawal and Removal in the search box of the E-Bay Help page, you will get a list of related subjects.  The top link should have the same title that you just typed in.  Click on it.  While you need to read all of it carefully, the real eye opener is in Additional Information, which is most of the way down the list.  Notice that most of the conditions under which E-Bay will remove a negative are extremely rare and certainly don't apply to the typical negative feedback.  I will cover the few practical methods of removing negative feedback, but they will prove to be unsatisfactory to the seller.  The best thing to do is not get it in the first place.

One method is for both parties to mutually withdrawal their feedback.  Note that this is voluntary on the part of the other side.  If they were mad enough to give you the feedback in the first place, why would they do so now?  If you already gave them a positive feedback on the naive notion that they paid quickly and therefore you are obligated to do so, probably not much.  Why would they be willing to worsen their feedback to help yours if they don't like you in the first place?  If you haven't already offered a refund, you can try to leverage that in exchange for the mutual withdrawal.  If you've already given a refund and a positive feedback, it is beyond my ability to offer further advice in this matter.

Another method approved by E-Bay for removal is to get a third party, such as a court order or a discussion board officially sanctioned by E-Bay.  Of course, this is going to cost you money and there is no guarantee of a favorable ruling.  Although I do think high feedbacks are important, I don't think the cost is worth it, especially if you have very good scores otherwise.  I'll go into more detail about how to deal with a negative once you get it anyway.

The last removal method I am going to talk about is specialized, but it is a very common problem.  The customer wins the auction or buys the product but doesn't pay.  Besides the time and effort it takes to relist the item, not to mention the possibility of a lost sale while it was off the market waiting to be paid for, you have a moral obligation to warn the E-Bay community of this type of behavior.  Fortunately, this is one time E-Bay is with you, sort of anyway.

You need to follow the non-payment protocol, which requires waiting a week to file a dispute.  After you file the dispute, the customer has 8 days in which to respond in some manner.  The best that you can hope for is that the delinquent buyer coughs up the money.  The good news is that this will happen more often than not.

The next best thing is for them to not respond at all.  After that time, you can give them a negative feedback and they can not retaliate (actually, if they try it will be posted but immediately removed).  Furthermore, they will be given a strike for not paying and your final value fee for the sale will be refunded.  After 3 strikes, they will be kicked out of e-bay.

The worst that could happen is that they do respond but still refuse to pay.  Fortunately, this is very rare.  You can still close out the dispute, give them a strike and get your refund.  But because they did respond, THEY CAN STILL GIVE YOU FEEDBACK!

If being a nice guy is not enough to stop all negative feedback and there is no practical recourse once negative feedback has been achieved, what can a seller do to protect his investment and time?

There are things that can be done to minimize the affects of negative feedback, but before I go into them I want to talk about one more preventative measure.  I did not include it with the other protective measures because I felt I first needed to explode the myth that E-Bay will protect the honest merchant.  It is a policy of not giving your customer feedback until he or she gives you feedback.

This policy is frequently called retaliation by the naive and idealistic.  The reason given as being retaliatory is the mistaken belief that the only thing a seller has to base his or her feedback on is promptness of payment.  They sweetly ignore that feedback is a voluntary process to begin with and neither side is obligated to the other.  Furthermore, the E-Bay standard is to comment on the selling experience.  The selling experience includes much more than just being paid in a timely manner.

A seller has a moral and practical obligation to offer customer service.  It is moral because the seller should give a product or service equitable to payment made and it is practical because a satisfied customer is a potential repeat customer.  Customer service is, by definition, an open ended affair that can only be closed by the customer unless some time limit is imposed.  Since feedback can be left up to 90 days after a sale, the imposed time limit in the E-Bay community is basically 3 months.  Anyone, such as myself, who argues that customer service is incumbent on the seller, must therefore agree by extension that the seller's experience is not complete until he receives feedback from the customer.

For those that are turned off by logic and legal interpretations, I do offer a touchy-feely answer to the same accusation.  Serious sellers are in it for the long term and plan accordingly.  Not only is there no motivation to slam a paying buyer, but it is actually counter productive to give frivolous negatives.  Why would a buyer come back to someone who gave them negative?  A serious seller will overlook a lot of grief hoping to get a customer back.

In contrast, a customer that got less than they expected is more likely to be caught up in the moment and act on impulse rather than rational thought.  Some customers simply do not think in terms of getting refunds or replacements, especially when angry.  Leaving a negative feedback is quick and easy, e-mailing a seller is time consuming and requires effort.  By withholding feedback, the seller adds an element of pain to the knee-jerk reaction that some buyers have.  They now have an incentive to calm down and try to work out an arrangement that suits them better in the long run.

Now that I have exhausted all methods of preventing a negative feedback, I will talk about what to do when one is inevitably received.  Yes, I know that there are those with 100,000 feedback and 100% positive, but don't think they sweet talked their way that high.  Go to their feedback page and see how many mutually withdrawn actions they have.  I guarantee they did not give up positives.

First of all, don't give up hope that your dreams are shattered.  Although having a high positive percentage is important, it is not the end of the world.  I actually had a six month high in gross sales the day after I got my first negative.  You can be a Power Seller with a percentage as low as 98%, but personally I think any store at 99.5% or better is doing well.

But don't blow them off, either.  You can leave a rebuttal to any comment a seller left you, but there is little point in doing them to anything other than negatives.  I can see leaving a rebuttal to some neutrals, but only if they were inflammatory or inaccurate.  For negatives, however, this is mandatory.  For those who care about your score, they will dig through a million positives to find that one negative just to see what it was about.  They can likewise respond to your comment and you can respond again.  This can go on forever, but don't fall into that trap.

I think 1 comment from you is nearly always enough.  In extreme cases, perhaps a 2nd response from you.  I can not, in my wildest dreams, think of when a 3rd would be appropriate.  By then, it has turned into a pointless bickering and the customer will think you are both acting like children.  You want to be the adult, the one who was wronged but is man or woman enough to move on with life.  Keep your responses short, factual and professional.  Don't use emotional words.

After you respond to their attack, bar them from ever buying your stuff again.  Unfortunately, E-Bay does not make it easy to do this.  When you complete a Buyer Has Not Paid for Item dispute, it will give you the option then to add the buyer to the list.  This is relatively easy and should cover most of you customers, but you must look for it on the page because it blends in with the background.  For those that do complete their transaction but are not worth the effort to deal with again, it is much harder.

There are only two other ways to find it, neither of which are obvious.  The first is to go to the Site Map.  At the top in the center is a link that will take you to the Block Bidder/Buyer List.  Not very hard, but again you need to know where to look.  Another way is to go to the help link and type in block bidders and buyers in the search box.  It will then give you a list of related topics.  The top one should be Managing Bidders and Buyers (Block Buyers or Cancel Bids), click on it.  You will then get some generic advice, but under the first paragraph should be a link called block bidders and buyers.  Click on it and then add the E-Bay ID to the list.  I find this list tends to shorten with time, which means that these troublemakers have left, or were kicked out of, E-Bay.  No surprise there.

One final option that can be used is to hide your feedback.  I do not recommend this.  If there is a customer that is worried you might be unreliable because you have a 99.8% postive feedback rating, then they are certainly going to think you are guilty of hiding something if they can't look at it at all.  On the other hand, people who might not care that you have less than perfect score may be concerned that they can't at least see it.  This technique will not win you over concerned customers, but it might cost you reasonable ones.

This essay has covered quite a bit, from why it is important to have a good score, pro action methods to prevent negative feedback, methods of removing negative feedback and how to deal with negative feedback that can't be removed.  I hope it was helpful.