Posts Tagged ‘feedback’
eBay Fee Hike Followup
Monday, February 25th, 2008
At the beginning of the month I posted about the eBay fee hike…
Since then, smaller sellers in the eBay community have rallied together to boycott the hike as eBay attempts to court the bigger sellers. Sadly, the mini strike apparently had little to no effect and eBay remains firm in going through with the changes on Wednesday.
It looks like smaller sellers or anyone not happy with the fee hike should look closely at the pros and cons of doing business through eBay. There are eBay alternatives that facilitate auctioning such as Amazon.com or you could even consider beginning your own. Whatever you decide….good luck!
Tags: ebay, ebay alternatives, ebay fee hike, ebay sellers, feedback, online auctions, Rebecca Button
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5 Simple Steps to Keep Your eBay Customers Happy
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
If you are selling on eBay, your reputation is out there for everyone to see. The eBay feedback system is on every item you sell - and potential customers can click at any time to see whether other customers have had positive experiences with you.
It is important to keep a high positive rating on eBay to keep customers’ trust.
Let’s take a look at how to do this.
Keeping Customers Happy
The best way to do this is to do exactly what you promise. When it comes to selling on eBay, there are many levels of customer relations.
1. Honesty In Listings - There is nothing more frustrating to a customer than to find what they think is the perfect collectible in mint condition, and then get the product to find out there is a chip in it, or a crack where it has been glued back together.
When writing your description for an item, make sure it is completely accurate. While many people like to make things sound better than they are, in the hopes of getting a higher sale price, you may end up losing when the person insists on a refund for false advertising.
Not only will they give you negative feedback on the deal, but also you will be out the shipping price and listing and selling fees from eBay. Always read over your descriptions twice and make sure they are descriptions that would fairly match the item, if you were the one buying it.
2. Accurate Pictures - If you are posting pictures of an item, they should be of the specific item you are selling. Many people use stock photos of a brand new version of the item they are selling. If yours doesn’t look like the one that is brand new, customers may feel like they were lied to in your photographs.
If you must use stock photos, make sure it is very clear in your description that these are stock photos of a new item, and that yours is not new or that it does not look the same.
3. Proper Shipping - While it’s acceptable to do, don’t overcharge for shipping unless you make it very clear in your description that your shipping costs are intentionally high. Many sellers try to get around the eBay listing and selling fees by charging much less for the item and very high shipping rates.
While this is legal to do, many buyers don’t pay as close of attention to the shipping price and may be frustrated when their total is much higher than they thought it should be. While it is a "buyer beware" world, sellers should also beware that an unhappy buyer can have a negative impact on their feedback.
Additionally, make sure that your shipping times and costs are very clear. Some shippers only send items out a few times a week. While this is an acceptable practice, you need to assure that your buyers know this.
4. Communication - Even the best thought-out eBay sale may not go as well as you would like. But if you are able to work out the problem with the customer, you will likely get their appreciation and some positive feedback out of the deal.
Whether an item is broken in shipping, running late, or there is some other problem with the transaction, always be available to communicate with the customer.
While every situation doesn’t have a happy solution, a little bit of attention to an unhappy customer will calm them down quite a bit.
5. Feedback - Once you have completed the transaction with the customer and they have gotten their item, ask them to give you positive feedback. You should also do the same for them if the transaction went well.
The more positive feedback, the higher your ranking and the more respectable and professional you appear to be.
Tags: customer loyalty, customer relation management, E-Commerce and E-Business, ebay, feedback, Leeia Ladpoh
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