Just like the popular bumper sticker says, Bad Feedback Happens. Oh, wait. It’s doesn’t say that? Hmm, well, it should.
Sometimes bad feedback happens to good sellers. But what should you do if you find yourself dinged with bad feedback be it a neutral, a dinged DSR or just an old fashioned negative feedback?
I just got some negative feedback. What do I do?
- Once you cool off, consider the feedback rationally. Our gut reaction is that all negative feedback is unfair. Take as long as you need to rant about the unfairness of the feedback to your spouse, neighbors, therapist, etc but then come back when you have cooled off and really read what the person wrote. Even the most irrational bad feedback has a grain of truth in it and is reflective of a problem beneath the surface even if what they might be saying doesn’t match the issue. Try to think like the buyer and figure out why they feel wronged.
- Contact the buyer and try to work things out. On most marketplaces, including eBay, there is a system in place by which feedback can be removed. Once you have calmed down and are ready to honestly work with your buyer (and not pick and fight with them), contact them and see what would correct the situation. Would a return, a partial refund, or a coupon for a future purchase make this situation right? You never know if you don’t ask and sometimes a negative feedback can turn an angry buyer into a loyal customer.
- Take measures to avoid bad feedback in the future. If the buyer had a legitimate complaint, take a moment to evaluate how you can correct the issue that caused it for future sales. If the buyer’s bad feedback is based on a misunderstanding or other faulty logic that is truly (once you have honestly looked at it rationally) no fault of your own, consider how you can avoid misunderstandings or issues like this in the future. Even if the buyer is dead wrong, there are ways for you, the seller, to work on making sure to steer future buyers right.
- Sell more stuff! The feedback on most marketplaces works on the law of averages. One bad feedback out of 100 is going to do a lot more damage than 1 bad feedback out of 10,000 so the sooner you complete some new sales, the sooner you’ll have some more positive feedbacks to raise your feedback average. Even if your marketplace site doesn’t work on an average system, a few more positive feedbacks will push the negative farther down the list and out of the buyer’s sight.
- Get that dirt off your shoulder! Once you’ve done everything you can do to make the buyer happy and avoid the problem in the future, just get on with business and forget about it. It may seem difficult but dwelling on past problems isn’t going to help your business in the long run. Put the bad feedback behind you and get back to doing what you do.
I think any of use who have been in this business for any length of time have some bad feedback horror stories. If you want to share a situation you remember and how it turned out below, we’d love to hear it!
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Dealing with negative feedback is all very well and good, but IMHO, the likelihood of bogus negative feedback is higher on some sites than on others. Everyone makes mistakes, and some even deserve a big red dot. But some sites seem to encourage spurious and poor feedback (are you listening eBay?). At some point the ROI on your time satisfying the unsatisfiable must be considered. Is the entire venue worth your time? Consider doing a plus/minus column analysis of your selling experience on each venue to determine if your time should be invested elsewhere. The propensity and likelihood of negative feedback on some sites should be part of that analysis.
If, at the end of the day, your analysis shows that there is sufficient ROI to work within the venue, the above strategies are very sound. If not, why bother with the site at all?
Dealing with negative feedback is all very well and good, but IMHO, the likelihood of bogus negative feedback is higher on some sites than on others. Everyone makes mistakes, and some even deserve a big red dot. But some sites seem to encourage spurious and poor feedback (are you listening eBay?). At some point the ROI on your time satisfying the unsatisfiable must be considered. Is the entire venue worth your time? Consider doing a plus/minus column analysis of your selling experience on each venue to determine if your time should be invested elsewhere. The propensity and likelihood of negative feedback on some sites should be part of that analysis.
If, at the end of the day, your analysis shows that there is sufficient ROI to work within the venue, the above strategies are very sound. If not, why bother with the site at all?
I just tweeted this as an article I wish I wrote! Nice job.
Christine
Follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/CASHBACKATEBAY
I just tweeted this as an article I wish I wrote! Nice job.
Christine
Follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/CASHBACKATEBAY
Thanks for the tweet, Christine!
Thanks for the tweet, Christine!
I have a situation where I know I’m going to get 2 negs. Buyer bought 2 items from me and only paid for 1. I filed a UPI and the buyer is now pissed. They claim that they get “error” messages when I tried to pay. I took your advice and contacted the buyer, and when I suggested I sent a paypal money request the buyer all of the sudden raised her voice and started screaming profanity at me and hung up the phone.
A lot of eBay’s problems were created by eBay. eBay needs to collect payment on behalf of sellers, and should not allow any feedback to be left unless the item is paid. Hopefully the new UPI system will eliminate many of these problems
I have a situation where I know I’m going to get 2 negs. Buyer bought 2 items from me and only paid for 1. I filed a UPI and the buyer is now pissed. They claim that they get “error” messages when I tried to pay. I took your advice and contacted the buyer, and when I suggested I sent a paypal money request the buyer all of the sudden raised her voice and started screaming profanity at me and hung up the phone.
A lot of eBay’s problems were created by eBay. eBay needs to collect payment on behalf of sellers, and should not allow any feedback to be left unless the item is paid. Hopefully the new UPI system will eliminate many of these problems
David,
I don’t want you to think I’m attacking you and maybe you didn’t give us all the info, but just from reading that there are a few big things you could have much handled better in this.
First off, before you filed the UPI, you should have sent the buyer an email. I usually take the “really sorry to have to do this but I there is a limit on how long after the listing I can file this so I have to file it now” tact so that the buyer understands that I am not being a jerk. Secondly, while I am not sure how it escalated to a telephone conversation so I am assuming we are missing a part of this, even when you have gone this far, this situation is still salvageable. Give the buyer a call and, even if you are 100% sure that you are in the right, apologize for the conversation the other day. If she is so angry she doesn’t want to talk to you, apologize via email and ask for the chance to talk to her. Take a deep breath and get ready to take all blame for how you handled this.
Look at this from the buyer’s perspective. She paid for one item, tried to pay for the other and ran into eBay issues. (Lord knows we have all been in the eBay issue boat.) You already had some of her money. While she was trying to pay, without even sending her a personal email first, you filed a claim against her. Sure, you and I know that a claim is really only a warning until you complete it but she doesn’t know that and it looks like you are blaming her for an eBay issue. Of course she got upset, anyone would have. After all, you still have her money and you are filing a claim that she didn’t pay you.
Then you called her and took an attitude saying you already sent an invoice. She knows you sent an invoice! She tried to pay it and ran into issues. Instead of offering to walk her through the eBay site issues and work through it together in an “it’s us against eBay tact” you insinuated (even in your post) that you doubted that she really had issues and whined about how you sent an invoice already. And it doesn’t matter if these eBay site issues are a real issue or just her not understanding the site. Either way, you commiserate and work through it with her. This is the very backbone of customer service.
I would have screamed and cursed at you too, buddy, you were being a Grade A jerk in that scenario.
Your post typifies exactly what I was talking about above. You had a chip on your shoulder from the second you didn’t get payment. Instead of working with the buyer to help her overcome her issues, you blamed and nagged her. You turned an eBay problem, that could have been a great opportunity to earn a lifetime customer because you helped her through the eBay issue, into an angry customer who not only hates eBay but you as well.
You also failed to emotionally divorce yourself from the situation. You are trying to spin this story to us in the best possible light and even I can pick out the spots where you acted like a jerk. That means you had the jerk turned up pretty high if you best possible spin on this story still paints you in the wrong.
You need to apologize to the buyer first for how you acted. Once you do this, you can offer to either help her through the payment process or, if she still hates you, to cancel the whole order right now. In that case, explain to her that you will still need to file an UPI but that it will be no fault and just like a return.
And if you still think you are in the right, you need to turn that ‘tude off. The customer is always right, man. Pretend that you are acting out a role if you need to but you owe that customer a big apology. Admitting your part in this mess will go a long way towards fixing it.
This was a large part of this post. Instead of blaming bad feedback on the buyer or eBay, take some personal responsibility! Your business will be better for it in the long run because you will be able to see your problems and be able to correct them.
David,
I don’t want you to think I’m attacking you and maybe you didn’t give us all the info, but just from reading that there are a few big things you could have much handled better in this.
First off, before you filed the UPI, you should have sent the buyer an email. I usually take the “really sorry to have to do this but I there is a limit on how long after the listing I can file this so I have to file it now” tact so that the buyer understands that I am not being a jerk. Secondly, while I am not sure how it escalated to a telephone conversation so I am assuming we are missing a part of this, even when you have gone this far, this situation is still salvageable. Give the buyer a call and, even if you are 100% sure that you are in the right, apologize for the conversation the other day. If she is so angry she doesn’t want to talk to you, apologize via email and ask for the chance to talk to her. Take a deep breath and get ready to take all blame for how you handled this.
Look at this from the buyer’s perspective. She paid for one item, tried to pay for the other and ran into eBay issues. (Lord knows we have all been in the eBay issue boat.) You already had some of her money. While she was trying to pay, without even sending her a personal email first, you filed a claim against her. Sure, you and I know that a claim is really only a warning until you complete it but she doesn’t know that and it looks like you are blaming her for an eBay issue. Of course she got upset, anyone would have. After all, you still have her money and you are filing a claim that she didn’t pay you.
Then you called her and took an attitude saying you already sent an invoice. She knows you sent an invoice! She tried to pay it and ran into issues. Instead of offering to walk her through the eBay site issues and work through it together in an “it’s us against eBay tact” you insinuated (even in your post) that you doubted that she really had issues and whined about how you sent an invoice already. And it doesn’t matter if these eBay site issues are a real issue or just her not understanding the site. Either way, you commiserate and work through it with her. This is the very backbone of customer service.
I would have screamed and cursed at you too, buddy, you were being a Grade A jerk in that scenario.
Your post typifies exactly what I was talking about above. You had a chip on your shoulder from the second you didn’t get payment. Instead of working with the buyer to help her overcome her issues, you blamed and nagged her. You turned an eBay problem, that could have been a great opportunity to earn a lifetime customer because you helped her through the eBay issue, into an angry customer who not only hates eBay but you as well.
You also failed to emotionally divorce yourself from the situation. You are trying to spin this story to us in the best possible light and even I can pick out the spots where you acted like a jerk. That means you had the jerk turned up pretty high if you best possible spin on this story still paints you in the wrong.
You need to apologize to the buyer first for how you acted. Once you do this, you can offer to either help her through the payment process or, if she still hates you, to cancel the whole order right now. In that case, explain to her that you will still need to file an UPI but that it will be no fault and just like a return.
And if you still think you are in the right, you need to turn that ‘tude off. The customer is always right, man. Pretend that you are acting out a role if you need to but you owe that customer a big apology. Admitting your part in this mess will go a long way towards fixing it.
This was a large part of this post. Instead of blaming bad feedback on the buyer or eBay, take some personal responsibility! Your business will be better for it in the long run because you will be able to see your problems and be able to correct them.