Customer Care:  GOODNESS -- Where to Start?  I remember that there was once a saying that “The Customer is Always Right!”  Perhaps, in this age of depersonalized electronic communications the adage (and the reasoning behind it), might seem irrelevant even when more important than ever before because you cannot smile and hand the purchase to the buyer and invite them back!

Do you find yourself annoyed with customers and what is required to make them happy?  Perhaps people ask a question concerning your ad and you are annoyed (and your email answer probably reflects it).  Perhaps you just don’t answer at all.  After all, it is time consuming.  It is oh so easy to wish away.  After all it is only information a computer screen, right?  Wrong...It may not seem so, but there IS a real person at the other end with expectation of service.  Our ability (or inability) to work well with others will truly define our success on Ebay.  It all happens by defining a customer's buying experience with us.  Sellers must always remember, you are not the only person (and Ebay is not the only web site), where your product is available unless you are an inventor or an artist.  Even as an inventor or artist, YOU become a part of your product.  If they don't like YOU, they will NOT buy your product.  It is also entirely likely that if the experience is bad enough they will share it with others (Blogs are a common place to share such experiences)  I have seen fellow bloggers make notew of those sellers to avoid them by word of mouth too. So, you see, conistent excellent customer care is paramount to your long term success.

With the advent of on-line commerce, the personal interaction of old has been replaced by the computer interface.  However, the concern customers have about spending hard earned money in a specific place or with a specific storekeeper is little changed.  Today, any change is usually defined by the expectation rather than hope for a positive shopping experience overall.  So, as a storekeeper (especially online), you must understand that purchases and customer care remain very personal even in a depersonalized environment like cyberspace! 

Today, “small business owners” or “entrepreneurs’ are at the forefront of American business.  We are competing more successfully each day with the ”bricks and mortar” businesses for the consumer’s dollar.  Sometimes, our growth is rapid, more often it happens gradually as we learn the ropes and improve our store, sales pitch and use the experience we gain daily.  Crtyical to building an online business is repeat business and that comes most from caring for our customers. 

One critical element of being a small internet business is that our business often begins as a hobby (or from following our passion), and turns into a business over time.  In the process of that transition, our minds can shift focus from fun to profit and the product and away from care of the customer who makes it all possible!  This guide is a reminder that your customer base is the foundation upon which your business is built -- and critical to your success.  So, the care and feeding of customers should be central to conducting your business -- all day -- every day.  A strong customer base offers many advantages and defines the long term success or failure of your business enterprise.  Therefore, do everything you can to build and keep that customer base through reliability and trust.

To begin we ask ourselves, “What do customers want?”  The obvious answer is the product that we advertised and at the best price possible.  To stop there, however, is to sell the customer short.  Yes, they want “the deal” but that is only formalizing the gentle dance between seller and buyer.  Customer care before and after the deal is grows your customer base (and that of the entire Ebay Community).  A bad experience with one seller may well cause some customers (especially new Ebayers and/or older folks) to go back to the mall.  A strong customer base means your own returning customers and the added plus of free advertising when they recommend you to friends, colleagues and relatives -- bringing new customers to your store and auctions too.

Yes, customers DO want a good product and at a great price.  They also want to buy from sellers they like and can trust.  Even though they never are likely to meet you personally, the trust they have in your product, the tone and quality of your responses to questions, the integrity you demonstrate when you stand behind your ads and your products, the mutual worry free interaction you inspire and provide can establish a positive relationship that assures that your customers will return to purchase from you again and again. 

It is also critical to understand and remember that online customers must suspend the classic need for “instant gratification” from purchasing at the local mall, to one of delayed gratification while waiting for delivery of the product through the mail.  In this case, your response time to questions and dispatch of the product following payment becomes an important element in good customer care routine.  The more quickly you can deliver your product, the greater customer interest you will retain.  To facilitate quick shipping, outstanding organization is an absolute must.

Here are some others essential elements of good customer care:

1.  Look objectively at your product and decide what a customer wants to know about it in order to make an informed decision on purchasing it.  Size, weight, fabric, dimensions, capabilities, and value for money (usually demonstrated via manufacturers suggested retail price or general, brick and mortar store price).  The more attractive your presentation and the appearance of accurate and essential facts concerning your product, the less time the customer has to spend deciding on the deal.  Interestingly, this also decreases your time spent answering questions.  So, take the time to share the right information in the ad.  If there is damage to the item, tell about it in your ad.  If the item is old or antique tell what you know about it and admit what you don’t know.  Keep it upbeat and positive.

2.  Make sure your ads carry all essential additional information including your payment and return policies.  I also like the innovation on eBay in which you can add up to 15 frequently asked questions (FAQs) with answers. Take advantage of this function to answer the most often asked questions from your customers.  The FAQs will appear in the Ebay mail section associated with all your ads and will cut down on the common questions you get asked saving you time in the long run.

3.  I am not a fan of any demanding language in ads at all.  This includes absolute cut off times for payment –especially in a very short time.  It is a turn off to potential customers and especially to a historically loyal segment of the buying public who lives on a fixed income.  These people are online trail blazers and for whom online commerce is a God-send.  Suggest a payment cut off date and encourage communicating if there are extenuating circumstances.  In offering an extended payment time (or at least a negotiable one), you open the door to combined shipping because the customer has more time to browse and make multiple purchases.  Obviously, a little patience just adds to your bottom line sales.  Many of the online purchasing pioneers are shut-ins, who are without ready access to huge malls, others are on a fixed income.  Unfortunately, the market place doesn’t always offer what a customer wants exactly on the day before the monthly check arrives.  Working with your customers concerning payment pays off in the long run if they have great feedback. Good customers will always be back to deal with sellers who treated them well, respected their situation and will work with and care about them. 

4.  While on the subject of payment – it is silly to accept only one or two types of payment.  There are many customers who will not purchase from sellers who do not accept PayPal (I am one of them).  When I make a purchase I want to receive it in the shortest possible time.  PayPal cuts payment transit time to nothing.  It also offers some protections for me in a modern day “wild west of commerce.”  The fees we pay for the speed and security of online transactions are great value for money.  The savings a seller thinks they realize from not using PayPal, very clearly fits into the category of “Penny wise, pound foolish”.  I accept but discourage personal checks for the benefit of the check writer because a personal check in the hands of a “check washer” inclined to commit fraud is a bad thing.  I want my customers to be safe and secure in any eBay transaction.  As a security conscious eBayer, I try to teach and discourage risky online behaviour.  However, I do accept checks and usually don't hold merchandise until they clear.  It is worth the risk on items sold for less than $25 or purchases from proven good eBayers or my regular customers.  Of course, money orders are also always welcome and PayPal is a super platform for the use of credit or debit cards too.  Give the customer all possible payment options.  It clearly increases your customer base (with worldwide potential), while adding to your bottom line.

4. Return policies are a huge stumbling block for many new sellers.  We are so busy counting pennies by refusing to negotiate with our customers and/or accept a return that we fail to realize how many customers will not do business in cyberspace when there is an ”all sales final” policy attached.  Since quality and condition are in the eyes of the beholder, and we all work hard for our money, I consider it a worthwhile business expense to guarantee a customer’s satisfaction.  I try to work as fast and accurately as possible, but as a 1 person show, I don’t always get everything right.  In that case, I ask to be forgiven and my customer should and does have the option of getting their money back.  Rest assured, while this sounds like an endless circular door for your products, it isn't.  The customer who wants to return the item is very rare.  So, a positive and effective return policy is a worthwhile and cost effective customer care expense.  In clothing sales, I used to pay for return shipping until I realized that many customers do not read the actual measurements of the item provided in every ad.  Instead they either buy by the tag size or take a chance on the size rather than making an effort to get it right before purchase.  Now, my return policy requires that buyers pay return shipping so people will read the ad carefully before buying.  I consider this one of the most important lessons I have learned eBaying.

5. Questions:  When people ask questions (even those that are already answered in the ad itself), refrain from being curt, negative and/or nasty.  Make it your mission to be friendly, polite and answer every question and email you receive.  Courtesy (like rudeness) ARE remembered – which do you prefer attached to YOUR brand?  It can sometimes be a real drain on a sellers time to go take an extra measurement and answer 10 emails a day.  However, if you make the sale it is worth it – especially when buyers remember that YOU were different from others who were rude or unresponsive.  They buy from and come back to those who go the extra steps.

6.  Now, for all my Pollyanna attitude about the world being full of good people, there are some “not so good ‘uns’” out there.  They will deny receipt of packages (ALWAYS use USPS "Click N Ship" with free tracking whenever possible).  There are cutomers who will invent and complain about a “flaw” because they purchased something two sizes too small, didn’t read your return policy and now demand you take it back (ah vanity).  They will preface  complaints with feedback ransom threats like “If you don’t…(fill in the blank), I will leave bad feedback.”  Then there are those who are just plain unhappy people who simply treat you to a diatribe of vitriol that causes you to wonder, ”Where did THAT come from?"  You have miraculously somehow become responsible for Uncle Hall’s 5 year stint in Fulsom Prison and you don't even know Uncle Hal!  There have been times when I had to wonder if my customer actually has a life outside of Ebay or was sane.  It is so tempting to go right down in the mud pit with them and give them as good as they gave you.  Don’t do it!   Why give it ANY of your time and energy?  Two minutes of negativity would be far more than it deserves... so resist the urge to drop to their level.  Absolutely do NOT empower a customer like this to ruin your day by reacting to it.  I generally write back with a pleasant greeting, a copy of my return policy and a personal assurance that threats and personal attacks are never necessary.  My approach serves two clear purposes -- it is an obviously much needed lesson in civility to a bad 'un and they get the assurance that they do not have to keep an item they are unhappy with.  I generally receive polite (and sometimes) contrite communications thereafter. 

While “the customer is always right” is the proper approach to salesmanship, and I believe it with all my heart, I do not believe it is my job (or yours) to listen to personal attacks and vitriol, or to deal with the deeply troubled out there more than once (if ever).  I am not up for Sainthood – that is too hard.  So, I also maintain a blocked bidders list (see ”Seller Resources” >Block or Pre-Approve Bidders).  I believe that people who are unable to communicate civilly, make a responsible contract and/or do the right thing have no business with me.  They are not welcome in my sales or store (and it is their loss considering my prices and service).  It is not prudent use of my time to have to teach adults that to begin a communication with being nasty is inappropriate.  Ebay provides us plenty of tools to deal with it without decent into the mud pit.  Abide by the rules -- remain civil.

7.  Finally, proper customer care requires that you take the time to provide feedback when it has been left for you.  The system is now automated, so you can run through and provide as many as 50 feedbacks in a few minutes.  Early on, I left it immediately after mailing the item.   To my shock, I and many sellers I know, learned that sometimes we received negative feedback rather than communication when there was buyer disappointment.  From that, we learned quickly to leave feedback only when (and if) it is left for you.  New Ebayers often mistake the Feedback function as a location for customer complaints or critiques of their items.  This is not it’s purpose.  I hate to have to say it but, when I stopped leaving feedback first, the feedback area stopped being a non confrontational place to unfairly zing me.   Now, I am fairly given an opportunity to address any issues my customers have (and I consistently work to make sure they are happy), resulting in far less negative feedback.  We are all better off for it.  It took awhile to figure out how a satisfaction guaranteed policy, could result in negative feedback – until I realized it often came from new eBayers who don't read.  So, always leave feedback when it is left for you.  Stick to the facts of the case and leave it at that because what you put in feedback is a reflection on you as a business person.  For more information on feedback, please visit my guide on that subject.

In closing, customer care is not always about your interaction with customers.  Sometimes it is about interactions with fellow sellers or within other parts of the Ebay Community such as blogs. 

I cannot adequately express how grateful I am to other sellers who emailed to let me know of an error in an ad, or saw me online in AOL and made some suggestions to help me when I started selling.  One of the most important gifts several sellers gave me was solace and reassurance when I encountered a “bad customer” in my early selling life.  Some people can be so vicious that it is a shock to the system.  So, as I have gone along, I have been thrilled to share what I know and to provide help to other sellers as they get their own businesses off the ground.  The “Karma” of helping others really does come back to you positively in both sales and good will generally from the  eBaycommunity.  So, when you can, reach out and lend a hand, Write a Guide and share what you know.  Be a living part of this great community -- speak your mind and share what you learn along the way.

When you have time please drop by and visit my store "The Write Place" where YOU name the price you pay every day!  I also have some great items up for auction (Pepper120851) almost daily -- please check em out!  I really appreciate your visit!  I wish you Happy e-commerce!

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