The most valuable piece of real estate on eBay is the seller’s follow-up response on feedback. It is a rare opportunity to speak to your future buyers, the audience that matters, not the buyer who left the negative.
A well thought out, non-emotional response can utterly disarm a poor rating. Conversely, a blaming, defensive or angry comment serves only to emphasize to potential shoppers that perhaps that seller should be avoided.
The follow-up comment reaches all the prospective buyers who take the time to vet a seller before purchase. They will pay special attention to how a seller handles an upset customer. It is not the negative that damages business, as most buyers recognize that there are occasional buyers who get confused, or can’t be pleased. It is the seller’s words that carry the most weight and are of greatest interest.
Name-calling is a damaging way to handle a negative rating, even when one is justifiably angry. Leaving a response when one is furious rarely serves a seller’s interests.
Keep in mind that feedback is losing its impact as time goes on. Because it is arbitrary and subjective, as well as voluntary, eBay no longer uses it to evaluate a seller’s performance metrics. Fewer buyers are leaving it and fewer are consulting it.
Also, one negative in a sea of happy customers’ positive ratings does not have the deleterious effect you give it credit for. So it was unnecessary to lash out at the confused customer’s comments. They would soon be covered up by more positives, and a simple, “We offered a full refund that the buyer declined.” says everything that need be said. Future buyers would then see your excellent customer service instead of your rancor, and plainly know the negative was from a flaky customer.
albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
