Feedback
The next part we are going to talk about is feedback, and I feel this is another really important topic. First of all always remember to be professional. Yes, it is your business and you can’t help but take things personal, but you have to keep it professional. This is just as important when you are dealing with an unhappy customer on the phone, through email, or any other communication you will use for your business. I realize you can not please everyone all the time but my own motto is not that you won’t make mistakes or send something someone won’t like. It is the way that you fix it that is the most important part. I always put in my eBay pages and listings that I might make mistakes but give me a chance to fix it. I always do follow through. Everyone is different and we are all allowed to have our opinions. You do not have to agree with your customer, but take care of them just as you would like them to take care of you if you were the customer. The best way to treat your customers is the way you would like to be treated. So, as you probably already know, customer service is always important. Be professional all the time. I know things can get bad if you are being insulted by a customer. I know… I have been there. Believe me; I wanted to follow up with an email telling them exactly how I felt too, but you can’t do that. What I do is type what I want to say when I am mad, read it and then delete it. This way I get it out and usually feel better. Then I start to think about what my policies are, and I remind the customer of the listing or policies and offer a solution for their concerns. This usually works and is better then arguing. If you argue with your customer you will most likely get nowhere and make them mad enough to leave you negative feedback.

You will unfortunately get a small amount of customers that you can’t please no matter what. Just do your best and you will be fine. You might get negative feedback anyway, but at least you tried and you can then reply to the feedback and let everyone know what you offered to do to make it better. Also include that the customer would not work with you or refused. This way everyone knows why this happened. If you want some examples check out my feedback. I do have a recent negative that I responded to. The customer was upset because I didn’t respond right away that day. Once I did respond however, she was happy. Once I made her happy, she then told me she wished she didn’t get so upset so fast and leave the feedback. Now, what do you do if this happens? You now have a happy customer but they left negative feedback. Well, you can then ask them if they will agree to withdraw the feedback. You can do this by going into the feedback forum, and then go to the feedback help link. The next link you will click is the mutual feedback withdrawal link. Once you send them the email you will just have to wait for them to click agree. The feedback will still stay there but your score will no longer be affected. Now, you might think the damage is already done. But that is also not the case. Yes, the feedback is still there; but the customer can reply once you’ve replied, and they can reply that they are now happy with the transaction.

Do not reply to the negative feedback with more negative feedback. If they were vulgar or rude and you feel you can’t leave a positive then leave neutral with details. Once the buyer pays you, they have completed their part of the transaction. You shouldn’t leave them negative just because they did so to you. This is one of the things that everyone finds unfair. It doesn’t happen all the time but unfortunately it does happen a lot and it is called retaliation feedback. It isn’t nice and it’s definitely unprofessional. If you don’t want others to do this to you, then don’t do it to others. I always leave feedback for my customers as soon as they pay. This way I don’t get tempted to leave retaliation feedback.

Now, if someone does not pay you, then you do have the right to leave negative feedback. When the buyer does not complete the transaction, you can follow up with feedback you feel is just. It is also good to warn others that this buyer doesn’t pay. BUT… remember unless you opened an unpaid item dispute which, they did not respond to, they CAN leave you feedback and you better believe it will be retaliatory. It is pretty much a given that if they get a strike from you, they aren’t going to say anything nice. It doesn’t matter if it is false because eBay will not get involved. I know it isn’t fair, but there is nothing we can do at this time. Maybe eBay will change it later, but I doubt it. However, there is a trick that I know if you do want to leave negative feedback with out getting it yourself. Everyone has 60 days from the date and time of the purchase/end of the auction to leave feedback. You can wait until the last day if you keep track and leave feedback hoping they will see it once it is too late. Most buyers are not on eBay everyday and eBay also doesn’t send emails for feedback. So, if you are lucky, they won’t see it. Be sure to keep track of the days. You can do this by sending yourself a reminder email or set your phone to go off and remind you. There are several things you can do these days to keep yourself on track.
The feedback part is a little unfair as you probably realize by now, but knowing the best way to deal with each situation will help to minimize the damage. I am sure you will still have those really nasty customers that will not tell the truth and get very rude. Just take a breath and try to be as nice as possible. I have to say, it is true when they tell you to kill them with kindness. This has worked for me many times. I have been so nice no matter what they said to me and eventually they couldn’t stay mad. It might not work with everyone, but I have yet to see one person who it doesn’t work with. Now, I will tell you, most of the customers did get really mad and said very rude things before they gave in. but I just keep responding as nicely as possible, as if they never upset me at all. So, keep your head up even when they try to get the best of you. I take my business personally because I love it. But I try not to let it affect my customer service.

Well, we have gone over so much. I hope you have found something helpful in this guide. I really want everyone to have great success. I love to hear from my customers and fellow guide readers, so please email me if you liked it, didn’t like it, thought I missed something, or can just add in something. If you are ready to get started selling and want to do so with children’s and kid’s clothing please email me, and let me know what you have to work with. I have several lots for everyone to get started. I am even working on a new starter lot BIZ PACK, that will include everything you will need to get started selling. Well, almost everything except the computer and printer!

If you found this guide helpful at all please click YES, you found this guide helpful. Feel free to stop by ziggybella’s closet. Thanks and have a great day!!!