Happy holidays!

[bisbeeminerals]

Happy Holidays!

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The relationship of a single negative FB to sales is usually overstated.

The lack of demand for what a seller is offering is usually understated.

Multiple marketplaces is often appropriate, assuming you can manage avoiding selling the same item more than once. Many sellers with perfect FB find it makes good business sense.

Many sellers only make things worse when they receive communications from buyers. Your negative was earned, and your response to the negative is probably harming you more than the negative is.

Sellers sometimes cannot find the items they sell, assuming some buyer read your FB they would not there has only been one negative in the past 12 months. Your reaction says, move on to some other seller.

[brightlightbookseller]

You... replied to that feedback very poorly.  Not as bad as some, but starting off with "Thanks for leaving negative feedback and destroying my holiday sales." is not a good look for other buyers looking to purchase from you, nor is it true.  You still have 99.1% positive feedback, and absent your reply I would have said that negative wouldn't affect you at all, but if anyone chooses to read that.... oof.  They might choose not to purchase from you based on that reply alone.

It's business, not personal.  Don't reply like that to anyone, ever.

I actually expect you could've gotten that feedback removed had you simply tried again (eBay doesn't send Feedback Revision Requests, though you can, not that I would in this case, but eBay would simply remove the feedback entirely if they were going to take action) since it's an issue out of your control as a seller.  That said, now?  I think it'll likely stand, and your response is probably going to hurt you.

[kensgiftshop]

I don't think that negative feedback is so much the buyer being upset because the refund is taking a little bit, but you canceled the order because you sold an item you couldn't find.

If you didn't cancel the order, there would be no reason for the buyer to wait for their refund.

[buyselljack2016]

let's not deflect from the fact that the buyer was not pleased with the fact that they did not get the purchased item.

Slow credit of the refund may be secondary to their displeasure.

Deflecting to fake items, mislabeled items, scams, and a host of other issues...................  has nothing to do with you not being able to find the item and ship it resulting in poor feedback being left.

[mr_lincoln]

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@bisbeeminerals wrote:

Time to have another serious discussion about eBay's outdated and unfair feedback system.

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@bisbeeminerals 

I agree because the system is EXTREMELY subjective, many don't truly understand the purpose and proper use of Feedback.

However, I will say that when Sellers use the No returns accepted setting Buyers not familiar with how to bypass that setting feel helpless and lash out with Negative Feedback ... so on a certain level Sellers using that setting open themselves up to less than Positive FB when a transaction goes sideways for any reason. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

You are creating problems for yourself that are completely in YOUR control:

1.) that negative is already buried behind 8 positives as well as one neg vs all those positives will NOT hurt your sales

2.) Your response is not professional (The negative was deserved as it was YOU that could not locate your item and blame should not have been laid on the buyer in your response)

3.) Your response is a chance to tell ALL THE OTHER buyers who view your feedback, how you handle issues- this response should have more in line with:

I'm so sorry I could not locate your item. I refunded just as soon as I realized I could not find it. Refunds do take a few days to process but I can assure you I acted as fast as possible

After all, the negative was deserved as it was you that could not locate your item so laying blame on the buyer is the non future-buyer friendly part. 

[bisbeeminerals]

Very true, but the only issues I've ever encountered did not involve returns. Every single one was because the seller was mad at something involving eBay and took it out on the seller, e.g., not processing refunds back into their accounts in a timely manner, or some other policy, not the seller's fault. This also happens with shipping, when the item goes out on time, but it's porch-pirated or late due to circumstances beyond the seller's control.

I can only imagine the loss of revenue eBay suffers from sellers who have departed due to the Draconian feedback issues. It's the number one issue I hear from ex-sellers.

[chevymontecarlo88]

Yes, the reason the buyer left the negative feedback was because of how long it took for his money to get back to him. That is not your fault and unfortunate. However, if you did not misplace/lose the item you were committed to sell. The feedback is valid.

The good news is that your feedback is not bad at all. I would agree with @tobaccocardyahoo about your feedback reply probably doing more damage than the actual feedback left. Your reply shows no remorse. 

Just stay on top of things and eventually the feedback will fall off in a year. 

[brightlightbookseller]

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@bisbeeminerals wrote:

I can only imagine the loss of revenue eBay suffers from sellers who have departed due to the Draconian feedback issues. It's the number one issue I hear from ex-sellers.

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Anyone who has stopped selling on eBay because of their feedback issues is a seller we probably don't want on eBay.

[bisbeeminerals]

You did not see the private emails between the buyer and myself. It's not uncommon for a seller to have to cancel an order because the item is damaged or otherwise unavailable. The seller made it clear that they were upset with the processing of the refund by eBay. Regardless, this does not justify a negative feedback.

[bisbeeminerals]

NO. You did not see the private emails between the buyer and myself. It's not uncommon for a seller to have to cancel an order because the item is damaged or otherwise unavailable. The seller made it clear that they were upset with the processing of the refund by eBay. Regardless, this does not justify a negative feedback.

[buyselljack2016]

More stuff to buy on eBay than there are buyers to buy it, so miniscule (undetectable) loss of revenue for eBay when a seller chooses to depart.

[buyselljack2016]

Item purchased, item not received, ..........................  is a less than positive experience. Compound it with other issues and.....................

ETA:   If they are only upset about the refund delay process, perhaps some more communication with the buyer about how the refund happens could persuade them to revise the feedback

[mr_lincoln]

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@bisbeeminerals wrote:

Very true, but the only issues I've ever encountered did not involve returns. Every single one was because the seller was mad at something involving eBay and took it out on the seller, e.g., not processing refunds back into their accounts in a timely manner, or some other policy, not the seller's fault. This also happens with shipping, when the item goes out on time, but it's porch-pirated or late due to circumstances beyond the seller's control.

I can only imagine the loss of revenue eBay suffers from sellers who have departed due to the Draconian feedback issues. It's the number one issue I hear from ex-sellers.

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@brightlightbookseller 

There are a number of reasons that less than Positive FB should NOT be allowed or REMOVED WITHOUT QUESTION, you've touched on a number of those and I am sure there are more.  That's one of the reasons I stated that the system is subjective.  And it really is.  When a venue has seven (7) dedicated Help Pages to a specific process (pic below) then it may be time to change the process to get it back to a simple process.