Well then....give great service! It only stands to reason that the better the eBay buying experience, the better the feedback. That is a given. However, there is a huge difference between good feedback and "great" feedback. When I get more than 5 words, I think that I have successfully sold a great product and my customer is happy.

I look at a lot of feedback as I am certain you all do. Some people are just the type to write one word, something like, "great", or "thanks", and that's that. Other people are more inclined to write a bit more about their experience. No matter what type of buyer you are dealing with, you can encourage them to write a little more by giving them excellent customer service. That is all people want. They can deal with a garment not fitting, a comforter not working out for them, a CD not being the correct one, but they cannot deal with a seller who doesn't answer their messages, charges inflated shipping costs, misleading listings, etc. You sellers know what I am talking about. You should be speaking to your buyer a minimum of five times. Yes. It is a lot of extra work. Yes. It takes time that you don't have. In the long run, not only will you receive the super adjectives in your feedback, but you will also gain a repeat customer. I can tell from reading a sellers feedback just how much they put into it. If I see those one word responses mentioned above, well, I can tell that they got the product they wanted, the listing was a good representation of the item, but that's about as far as it went. When I see things like, "awesome seller...contacted me many times..Super A communication..Will be back!", then I know that they not only got what they were expecting to get, but that the seller went out of their way to take the deal all the way through the several stages and gave them peace of mind. Listen, when these people buy something, think about it. They don't know you. They are trusting you with their hard earned money. Doesn't that deserve your attention and commitment to excellence? I think so. Contact them when they purchase/win an item. Thank them for selecting your store. Tell them that you ship daily or whatever and that you do combined shipping. (what an opportunity for you) By the description of what they purchased, tell them of other items that are similar, something else that they just can't live without. Providing they have paid on time and everything is going smoothly, (hooray) contact them letting them know that you rec'd their Paypal payment and how grateful you are for their "promt payment". When you ship, they should get yet another email through the shipping provider, telling them that their item has shipped, along with a tracking number. So that is the third contact. After one or two days, send them an email asking them to let you know as soon as they receive as you are very excited to see what they think of it. People like to feel special. We all do. Finally, thank them for their very generous feedback and ask them to shop with you again. Great time to promote yourself and offer them something to encourage repeat business.

I beleive that if you implement this policy into your daily business day, you will see a boost in the "type" of feedback you get. Afterall, it isn't just the number that counts!!

barb05130