I bet that many shoppers on eBay feel that it is enought to just spend your money on eBay and who cares how you behave while doing it....after all this is "online."  It is all too important what kind of customers we are, dear reader and the following will explain why it is critical that you be a great customer. 

I also want to preface this guide with sincere thanks and positive recognition of our millions of wonderful eBay customers.  Without you, we would just be a whole lot of sellers surrounded by a bunch of STUFF!!  Thanks for being here!  I also want to thank each wonderful customer for your courtesy, understanding, forgiveness (when required), great communication and the real spirit you bring to the site and every good seller on eBay.  Your honesty and communication is the single most critical part of getting rid of bad sellers and scam artists too!  It is important that Great customers – (you know who you are) know how grateful we sellers are for your presence and the business you bring to the eBay community. 

This Guide is dedicated to the hope that I can help great customers be better and those of you who aren't there yet, to understand why you want to be!  

I have blogged and written many a guide for sellers.  However, two recent (and extremely unpleasant) selling experiences (along with memories of other crazy bad selling experiences) indicate a clear need for a guide on "How and Why to Be a GREAT Customer.”  I know it is hard to believe that being a good customer is difficult - it should be intuitive -- right?  After all, as the keeper of your money, it is important that you spend wisely and with merchants you personally choose and can trust.  Usually it is also important to remember that a great deal and a super transaction is really a two way street. 

Frankly, being a GREAT customer has at least as many advantages for you, as it does for the merchants who have the privilege of doing business with you.  Being a great customer usually nets one or more of the following benefits:

     -  Sellers trust that your check will clear and he/she ships on receipt of your payment rather than a week to 10 days later after the check has finally cleared --far less wait time for you.

     -  Sellers will wait for payment while you shop further to enable you to massively combine ship and save LOTS of money.

     -  Sellers easily understand that eBay items you want and paydays to pay for them don’t necessarily happen at the same time.  So, the seller will work with you waiting for payday or when your monthly check arrives.  You can have what you want without using the credit cards we should all be avoiding these days.

     -  Sellers will include gifts, provide you with special discounts or invite you to special sales designed for only regulars and favored customers

     -  Sellers will come to know your preferences and give you advanced notice that something you have been looking for is about to be  listed and/or they will offer you an advanced "Buy It Now" price so you don't have to wait or compete for the item in an auction.

     -  You make a friend based on your common interest in the items you collect and/or are buying and selling on eBay (which often results in getting great information or advice on sourcing and collecting).

     - Sellers will go out of their way to personalize their service for your individual needs (i.e., ship a special way or on the date you request). Sellers will comply with other personal buyer requests such as holding items until you return from vacation, shipping to vacation address or shipping super fast to arrive before you leave for that anniversary cruise)

     -  A seller may become your mentor when you want to learn to sell, providing great starting tips and advice along the way.

     -  You are welcomed (not blocked from) the best stores and auctions on the eBay’s website (yes sellers can choose to block you from their site and frequently do so when you are a difficult or time consuming customer).

     -  You make a pen pal friend of your favorite seller! Or you seller can teach you how to use eBay more effectively by advising about combined shipping discounts.

Now you know WHY being a GREAT customer is important -- here’s HOW to be a GREAT customer:

1.  When you find the item you want, read the ad carefully.  If you need some specifics or more details not currently in the ad, send the seller an email.  If they don’t respond within 24-36 hours, it may be your first clue that they are not the seller for you.  If the response never comes, is curt or rude - that is your second clue to move on.  Your item is probably out there being sold by someone else, possibly at a better price too!  Learn to use eBays great search functions to get a super selection and great prices for the item(s) you want!

2.  Look at the sellers’s feedback.  Less than 95%?  Read some negatives.  If they relate to slow shipping – ask your self if that is a problem BEFORE BIDDING.  If they concern undelivered goods, misrepresented or broken goods, failure to communicate or refusal to address customer issues – MOVE ON AND DO NOT BID.  To do otherwise is to engineer your own disappointment and disillusionment with the seller and eBay.

3.  You work hard for your money and good sellers know it.  So, good sellers will make sure that their ads always answer the BIG question, “What happens if I am not satisfied with my purchase?”  A good seller has a clear return policy – PLEASE make sure you read and can live with the terms BEFORE you bid.  If no return policy is listed, you can look to see if the seller has any frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to returning items.  If not, email and ask BEFORE BIDDING.  PLEASE be sure you know what the seller says they will do if you are not happy with your purchase BEFORE you bid.  In many ways, it may be too late after you are disappointed or may require you to escalate a claim.  Sellers with great feedback are unlikely to disappoint, but opinions can be very subjective (although a seller should remember that the customer is generally right).  Therefore, you need to know UP FRONT what will happen if you are disappointed in any way.

4. Online communication (email), while seemingly simple, is fraught with pitfalls that are no fault of buyers or sellers…merely a fact of internet life.  So, it is best to communicate through eBay email “My Messages.” (use “Contact Member” or “Contact Seller” Links).  The key reasons are:

         -  Today, there are so many fake or spoof emails and fraud scams on the net focussed on sellers (and thousands more are invented daily).  Online commerce is constantly surrounded by fraudsters with clever schemes designed to defraud eBayers.  Sellers (and buyers) are punch drunk from it.  Sellers (especially those with large investments in their business) have a hard time trusting correspondence generally, and certainly correspondence only appearing outside of eBay’s “My Messages.”  I get at least 3 fakes and scams a day – many get 10 or more.  So, use eBay’s “My Messages” so everyone stays safe. 

        -  Busy sellers have literally hundreds of emails to go through in a day or week.  It is very easy to miss the important message customers send sent directly to the seller’s home email address.  Sellers shouldn’t miss them but it happens.  When the message appears in a sellers “My Messages” (inside eBay), it is real and filtered from the “clutter” of the much spammed home email inbox. So, it is far more likely to be seen. 

        -  Spam filters are growing ever more efficient (which is both good news and bad news).  Filters often “capture” legitimate emails from people who are not already in the sellers address book (including anyone corresponding with a seller for the first time).  When the email is directed straight to the SPAM filter, the seller will have to make an effort to check his or her spam filters regularly for any legitimate correspondence.  Some sellers may not even know they should check the spam folder, and may get negative feedback for failing to communicate with disgruntled customers.  This is why it is important for a customer to always make more than one attempt to contact the seller (and at least one attempt should be in My Messages inside eBay).

4.  OK, you have purchased your item and it just arrived.  Excitedly, you tore the box open like a kid at Christmas.  The Precious Moments figurine you won is broken.  You are heart sick, angry and disappointed.  STOP!  BREATHE!  Get a pen and paper.  Make FACTUAL NOTES about what is wrong with the item(s) (i.e., broken in 7 pieces).  Figure out what you think the seller should do to make it right (full refund including shipping in spite of the fact you chose not insure).  If you cannot be calm in your contact with the seller avoid it until you can!  DO NOT be angry, crazy, emotional or in a tizzy when you attempt initial communication!  Once you are calm and rational, take your notes concerning breakage, cracks, splits, stains, etc., then sit down and email the seller.  Begin your email to the seller indicating that you are disappointed with the purchase, then explain factually why this is so.  Use your facts list to explain your disappointment.  Here are samples of what TO DO and what NOT TO DO:

DO WRITE:  Dear Seller XYZ75, I received the Precious Moments figurine I purchased today.  I am very disappointed.  Sadly, it is smashed in 7 pieces.  Obviously, I cannot use the item.  It has arrived not as pictured or advertised (new in box).  I write now to ask you what we should do about this issue. Although I did not insure the item, I do believe that you bear responsibility for the poor packaging.  Under the circumstances, I feel that I should be refunded completely (including shipping).  I will gladly provide a picture of the damaged item or return it to you if you provide shipping costs of $3.35.

DO NOT WRITE:  YOU HORRIBLE LIAR AND CHEAT!!! HOW DARE YOU SEND ME THIS PIECE OF CRAP??  You said it was new in the box!!  When I opened the box it was smashed in seven pieces – did you sit on it before mailing it to me??  I have been looking for this PM everywhere. I WON IT AND I WANT IT!!! SO, YOU GET YOUR ASS OUT THERE AND GO FIND ME ONE, BUY IT AND SEND IT TO ME OR ELSE!!!!  If you don’t send another IMMEDIATELY, I will report you to PayPal and eBay.  Rest assured, I have some very choice things to say in your feedback!! (Note:  While seeming ridiculous -- this sample NOT an exaggeration.  The item and damage is fictional but the content of this email is based on one I received last week FOR A $7.00 ITEM.)

5.  ALWAYS contact the seller directly and allow reasonable response time before leaving negative feedback or filing a complaint.  Always be polite and factual in communication (putting a seller who has your money on defensive is not a good game plan).  Give the seller 24 hours to respond.  If no response is forthcoming, send your polite email again.  If no response is received within 36-48 hours total, file a claim with PayPal (if the service was used in the purchase), use your credit card or eBay appeals process otherwise.  Be prepared to provide item number, copies of correspondence and payment.  Most of the time, you will get a timely response from the seller in which they will take responsibility for bad packing and will refund you.  If the item was insured, they even may undertake to make a claim on your behalf or to tell you how to make a claim with UPS or USPS.  The seller may request the broken item be returned (or more likely a photo provided) for their records before refunding (losses are tax deductible for business owners).

6.  If you and the seller are unable to come to a satisfactory agreement on what should be done, file a PayPal and/or Ebay claim by following the clear instructions provided on how to file a claim (you have 45 days to do so).  Stick to the facts in your report!  If you need guidance on eBay claims click “Live Help” on the main home page (upper right corner).  When filing with PayPal, write your complaint in a word processing program (making sure it contains all the facts of the matter, logically ordered and is clear and succinct).  When it is ready to be posted, log on to PayPal and go to the dispute area.  There you can file your claim by filling in the boxes. Copy (Control + C) and paste (Control + V) your comment from the word processing program into the space provided for disputes.  The space provided for your complaint is limited, so stick to the facts.

7.  I have written a specific guide dealing with Feedback and it is important that customers understand how it works and some of the pitfalls of the system in order not to get burned.  Please check the guide out.

8.  There ARE occasions when disputes actually begin or escalate rapidly to the “crazy” stage.  It is sad, unwarranted and is often made worse by a seller who wants to get even or is not mindful of stooping to the same low level as a crazy customer -- DON'T!  It is always in the best interest of sellers to solve the problem before disputes (or worse) can happen.  If it isn't possible -- let eBay or PayPal sort it out.  Your seller fees pay for that service -- use it and avoid participating in craziness.

9.  If you happen to be someone who is given over to the following horrible behaviors, it is well past time to get some anger management training, step up your medication and/or check into rehab.  Unfortunately, as funny as some of this stuff is to the observer – it is no joke to those who have to deal with it -- it is real.  NO CUSTOMER SHOULD EVER DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

-         NEVER threaten life or limb; (or threaten filing with eBay or PayPal).  Sellers know what your complaint options are and the good sellers will do everything reasonable they can to help you and avoid them.  If claims through eBay or PayPal are necessary, just DO IT. Threat of “life and limb” or anything else is WAY over the top and wholly illegal.  In fact, threaten life and limb online and you may well find yourself explaining to your local police why you have vowed to “shoot” the individual who sent you a broken Precious Moments figurine.  Threats, nasty language and the like should not be your approach to any seller (it says far more about you than the seller).  Lest you think I exaggerate here about threats– think again and hang out at the blogs for awhile where copies of these emails are routinely posted as warnings to others!  It takes all kinds to make a world and, unfortunately, if you sell on eBay long enough you will actually see this stuff -- first hand.  Strangely, the smaller the amount of money involved – the crazier it can be sometimes!!

-         DO NOT EVER show up at a sellers house or stalk them.  I know – it sounds ridiculous --but it has happened.  Having a protection order filed against you is a matter of court records.  Court records affect future and current employment and other aspects of your life that you might not be aware of now.  Is the $10 really worth being fired as a cray or worse?

-         Save your exclamation points, name calling and vitriol for a time when the seller refuses to do anything about your problem or issue (if you choose to stoop so low).  Keep nastiness out of the initial correspondence and RELIGIOUSLY stick to the facts.  

-         Always make CIVILIZED contact and ask for the restitution you desire.  Keep “demands” out of the correspondence.  YOU personally cannot make a seller do anything, so why waste the time and emotion spouting off about it?  It is a fact that you have recourse – sellers know it as well as you do – why belabor it?  Demanding a seller produce what you want because you said so is patently stupid.  The only real leverage you have is getting your money back -- either as negotiated directly with the seller or through a PayPal or eBay claim.  If you are nasty, a seller cannot be blamed for not communicating with you further.  Demanding that the seller “Go out and buy another and get it to me NOW or ELSE!” is beyond absurd!  Sellers report this language to eBay by forwarding your correspondence to them.  They also block you from their sites and often share the information with other eBayers in blogs (if you have ever tried to bid on an item and the system blocked it, you will understand how being blocked works).  This information also goes into your eBay file if it is escalated.  Initially you will be warned, enough warnings and you are banned from the eBay site.  Bet you are just thinking how easy it is to just start another eBay name and continue?  Computers operate from an Internet Protocol (IP) address and can be tracked easily.  They routinely find potential terrorists, kidnappers, child molesters and killers this way – trust me, they can find, recognize and ban YOU the same way.

As I review this to post I realize some will read it in absolute disbelief, while others will nod knowingly having dealt with a few (possibly the same ones) I mention here.  I can only say that the examples I used are completely real.

If you have time, stop by my other guides.  They are all written to teach basic and advanced eBay.  Please drop by my store (The Write Place) where YOU name the price you pay every day.  My auctions offer quality items for a great deal daily (Pepper120851),

Happy Ebaying and Thanks for Stopping by!

Pepper