Feedback

[doubleplay_collectibles]

I'm just getting back on Ebay as a seller after 20+ years sabbatical. I recently retired and I'm trying to sell a lot of the collectible stuff that's been in storage for the last 20 years. I have over 1600 feedback but for the last twenty years it is for buying not selling. Any ideas on how to encourage people to leave feedback when you complete a transaction? A lot has changed since I was on here so there's a big learning curve. Any help is appreciated

[rosszonebricks]

Opinions may vary, but:

1) You got to give to get.  I leave feedback for every buyer right after I ship for the day, as part of just my daily flow.   I feel this encourages buyers to leave feedback, because it skips the 'let's wait and see who gives feedback first' dance.

2) It's not like you can leave anything less than Positive for buyers anyway, so waiting to see if they are a 'bad buyer' doesn't matter.  There are other avenues to report a bad buyer.

3) NEVER actually ask/remind a buyer for feedback.  In my opinion, all this does is encourage them to leave a negative/neutral.  "Be careful what you ask for..." kind of thing.

4) If you already have 1600 feedback, that's amazing.  Buyers won't *really* look that hard to see if it was as a buyer or seller.

[klhmdg]

FB now is mostly useless especially since you have 1600+

It is not required and I never ask for FB.

FB is not something most buyers leave anymore. Now days it is buy and unless there is an issue they move on to the next purchase.

FB can do more to hurt a seller than help and many buyers know this.

If you get positive FB on 30% of sales anymore thats good.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Welcome back.  Buyers are more likely to leave feedback if you leave it first.

As noted earlier, most potential buyers won't look at your feedback history closely enough to notice that it's all from buying.  They WILL look at your feedback percentage, which is based on feedback received (as both buyer and seller) in the past 12 months.  So if you just purchase one item from a seller who reliably leaves feedback for their buyers, you will immediately have a nice 100% feedback score.

[gloryglorygifts]

Welcome back! Just do the best you can to make every transaction as easy and perfect as possible. Answer questions, pack well, ship the items quickly and the feedback will come. I usually send a follow up thank you and give feedback immediately upon shipping. 

Good luck to you. The feedback will come. 

[mam98031]

Welcome back to selling.  Did you get your account all set up for Managed Payments?

Some buyers will leave feedback and most just don't.  Don't ask for it as that can backfire very easily.  Just let it happen.  I've tested it all kinds of ways.  Leaving FB first, leaving it after the buyer does and set up my account to automatically post FB.  None of it seemed to make a difference and I did do long periods of testing.  I settled on leaving FB after the buyer.  I get about 25% or less of my buyers leaving FB no matter what I do.

You just need to do what makes you feel right.  Except do not email buyers asking them for feedback.  That at some point will backfire on you.

Just be patient.  They will come.  Just concentrate on being a wonderful seller and they will come.

Good luck and have Fun.

[slyders_finds]

You have alot of new things to brush up on. The biggest is setting up managed payments which another mentioned. Also know now Ebays fee structure is much higher these days. Now you are charged fees on the total transaction. Price + Shipping Cost + Tax(if applicable). Shipping heavy items can really bite into your profit. Youtube has alot of great selling videos. 

[mam98031]

---

@slyders_finds wrote:

You have alot of new things to brush up on. The biggest is setting up managed payments which another mentioned. Also know now Ebays fee structure is much higher these days. Now you are charged fees on the total transaction. Price + Shipping Cost + Tax(if applicable). Shipping heavy items can really bite into your profit. Youtube has alot of great selling videos. 

---

Twenty years ago.  I highly doubt the OP thought that the selling costs would be the same now as it was 20 years ago.  The site is different by a long shot from two decades ago as well.  More features, tools, sellers [competition], etc.  It is vastly larger than it was back then and more to be managed.  Prices on everything have increased over the last 20 years.

Oh and carrier costs.  OMG have those increased over this timeframe. You are right, it is simply so different now than it was in the early years of Ebay.

[monster-deals]

---

@doubleplay_collectibles wrote:

 Any ideas on how to encourage people to leave feedback when you complete a transaction? 

---

Don't.

Whatever someone tells you how to request feedback from a buyer ignore them.

No news is good news and pestering your buyer to leave feedback is a good way to get a negative.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Don't bother worrying about FB is less a part of the process than what it used to be.

You appear to need to adjust the use of the auction format.

20 years ago buyers were more engaged with Ebay and auctions had bidders.

Buyers spend far less time on Ebay. Auctions are lucky to get a bid even two bids is rare on grossly underpriced auctions. Buyers expect to complete a sale when they find the item, not wait 7 days to see if they won a shirt.

Price for the market and make most of your sales fixed price. You will be in line with most Ebay sales which are fixed price.

Attach a priority to items which can be sold as a single item which will bring enough to justify a decent price. Lots of near worthless comics are unlikely to be worth much effort, rarely does anyone pay serious money for other than holes in their collection.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

---

@doubleplay_collectibles wrote:

 Any ideas on how to encourage people to leave feedback when you complete a transaction? 

---

Yeah ....

If you want feedback, pester them to no end. You will get feedback, but probably not the kind you actually want

If you want positive feedback, leave them feedback first, provide great service, don't bug them or ever talk to them about feedback.

If you choose to include Packing slips as some people do, there are little comments/notes you can include on the packing slip, and one refers to feedback. When I first started, I used to include packing slips (I no longer do) and I would select the note about feedback, and I would highlight the little note with a highlighter. Generally a subtle way to encourage it without pestering them.