How did you handle your first negative feedback?

[retrogames10000]

My wife received a negative feedback on her account and it has derailed me a little this week.

The buyer just waited a week with no contact and placed a bad feedback with no ask for a remedy.

We refunded the buyer completely without asking for a return and changed future policies to just offer free returns for any reason.  The buyer doesn't seem responsive to a feedback revision.

I know that it is statistically probable to receive bad feedback the more that you sell, especially if you sell lower dollar items and second hand goods.  How did you "get over it"?  Did the negative feedback affect your future sales?  Seems disappointing going into the holiday season with a 98% rating.

In some ways it does make me concerned about continuing to acquire more inventory as I feel overexposed with the amount of inventory I already have..

[hartungcards]

I told the guy to enjoy the items he stiffed me for.

[spark-chaser1]

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@dhbookds wrote:

Best thing to do is to try to make your response make YOU look good......

I'm sorry if there was any confusion, we have refunded you and not required a return....

I think you are correct in changing to accepting returns.......A no return policy can invite a neg since there doesn't seem to be anything a buyer can do......(if they aren't conversant with the Ebay Guarantee)........

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Agreed… as a buyer, when reading feedbacks, I consider a professional, factual response a cancellation of the negative.  A lot of buyers won’t dwell on negative feedbacks when the person who made it sounds unreasonable.

Sorry it happened, but it isn’t the worst thing.

[josephb555]

One negative feedback in your wile's account will not effect sales. The feedback score only goes back 1 year so if she doesn't get any more negative feedback in a year she will be up to 100%.

[spark-chaser1]

Another point I meant to add to my last post… I’ve had great transactions with plenty of sellers having low-90s and worse feedback ratings. In almost every case.. the cause was stupid reasons left  by buyers… either product reviews or complaints about carrier delays - nothing to do with the seller’s actions. 

Most buyers ( at least the type you want to have) will see through the garbage and focus on the seller’s response and general professionalism.