Has anyone else realized that the limited amount of characters allowed when leaving feedback simply "doesn't cut it" for some eBay transactions? Sometimes you just want to explain the situation (whether you felt the need to give positive, neutral or negative feedback) and this cannot always be done in just one short sentence.

Well, since I'm a fairly new eBayer (in the past few months I've bought 14 and sold 8 widgets) who has been discovering all the wonderful "extra" things eBay has to offer besides just the ability to buy and sell (like blogs, reviews and guides!) I decided to start my own blog...and with what better topic than to talk about my eBay transactions as a buyer and a seller!

Little did I know back then that my introductory blog would become somewhat of a problem solver for a couple of issues I've had with sellers (replacing a couple of broken chandelier parts and taking care of some missing sheets that were supposed to be included in a comforter set).

Since my goal is to give and receive 100% positive feedback, I go out of my way to work things out with a seller who is not performing as well as they should and I remain patient throughout the process...as long as they continue to cooperate with me. So after I had been waiting a couple of weeks to receive my replacement and missing items, I sent follow up e-mails to those sellers asking for tracking numbers on my packages. To my dismay, one seller first denied that they even were supposed to replace the broken parts and the other seller did not even respond to me for 6 days!

So here's what I did to turn this bad situation around, and no, I did not threaten to leave negative feedback (remember, I only want to leave positive feedback and I don't give up so easy!) Anyway, in my messages to them, I added a "P.S. I also have detailed feedback information on my eBay Blog, check it out - http://blogs.ebay.com/bobleilani" Everything I've written is documented, so I don't need to look for e-mails here and there and gather up info for a timeline; I know exactly what happened and when because I wrote it all in my blog!

Well, since I referred them to my blog, they probably must have checked it out because the first seller ended up giving me a tracking number for my replacement chandelier parts and the other seller e-mailed me saying that if they can't find those sheets that were supposed to be included in my auction win, they would refund me my money. Now, nothing has happened yet and I'm still waiting for the final results, but at least I have gotten positive responses from both sellers at this point...and you can bet that I'll be updating my blog with whatever happens from here!

Blogging about your eBay transaction experience also gives the other party (buyer or seller) the opportunity to respond to your concerns before an eBay dispute is filed and before negative feedback is given. Sometimes communication is the main problem when it comes to disagreements, so if blogging can turn things around for the better, I think it's well worth it.

I also used my blog to document a couple of scams I've encountered, so hopefully my viewers can learn from my experience on what NOT to do if they ever encounter a similar scam.

Anyway, I've also been inserting (on my most recent feedbacks) a short blurb like "Read more at: blogs.ebay.com/bobleilani" so if any viewer would like to do more research on a particular seller that I've had a transaction with, they have the opportunity to hear the whole story (and even read both sides if the seller leaves a comment on my blog) so they can make a better determination of the seller at that point.

Hope this guide helps everyone and feel free to let me know if you decide to start your own eBay Transaction Blog...I'd love to check it out!

bobleilani's blog