Negative Feedback

[beckdoh-0]

Looking for an explanation to help me in the future. I sold an item (22-08342-32607) and I missed labeled it..my fault. I apologized to the buyer within 15 min. of getting his email, accepted full blame, explained the circumstances, gave him positive feedback &   a FULL REFUND, AND...... let him keep the item!!! He still gave me NEGATIVE...my first in almost 800 sales. What more could I have done and what can I do to get ebay to review it for me. BECKY SUE

[simply-the-best-for-you]

We can't look at your orders.   There isn't anything else you could have done.  Some people will still leave negs, which I get b/c it wasn't a positive experience for them.   If I did something wrong, I always just feel lucky if I don't get the neg, b/c I know I deserved it.  

I don't get what you mean, "missed labeled it".  I assumed you meant you put the wrong label on the pkg or something, but the buyer is saying they didn't get the brand they ordered.  Are you saying you put the wrong brand in the listing?  If so, I'd be PO'd too.   If he ordered Titleist & got another brand & you let him keep the wrong brand, so what, he still doesn't have what he bought.  I'm not clear what happened though,  as "missed labeled it" A - contains a typo, B-in unclear what you're trying to say. 

Anyway, the first one always hurts!  There's not ever a guarantee you won't get a neg, so you may want to reconsider bending over backwards & letting the buyer keep the item in the future.   

[this*old*attic]

It’s just life.

Was your buyer crushed? Or just snarky?

Who knows?

But, people do tend to forget that apologies, refunds, etc. just aren’t the same as getting the item you looked for/found/bought. It’s disappointing, and some folks handle that better than others.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Also, the brand & value matters.  I'm unclear if you sent a different brand balls, but if I ordered an expensive blouse & you sent a mart brand, the fact that you refunded & let me keep the lesser quality item would not sway me.  I didn't want the lesser quality item, I wanted what I ordered.  

OP, please clarify exactly what happened for us & we can better advise you. 

oops sorry @this*old*attic , meant to reply to OP. 

[alltheprettylittlethings]

You can never tell what will upset a buyer - even when you go out of your way to make it right and apologize.

You can always go in and respond to the negative FB - saying something like "We all make mistakes. Buyer was fully refunded without asking for the item sent to be returned.. Again, my apologies."  - just to let others know you did what you could to make it right.

Then move on and don't let it bother you. You did your best.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi Becky Sue. Sorry about your neg. A suggestion for what else you could have done was send him what he ordered. Even if that meant buying from another seller and having them ship it by expedited mail.

I don’t think eBay will remove the neg as it doesn't violate any feedback rules. If you leave a follow-up comment, be matter-of-fact, politely accept the blame, and avoid offering excuses.

Prospective buyers are particularly interested in how sellers respond to less-than-favorable feedback. This is your opportunity to speak to them directly (not your buyer, or other sellers, etc.) but your future shoppers. Show them your good customer service skills and express your concern for the mistake, explaining that you immediately gave the buyer a full refund. (I wouldn't mention you let them keep the mistaken item.)

The response comment is a valuable tool  and can completely undermine a negative’s impact if handled well. 
Don’t let this get you down. It was an honest mistake and that neg certainly wouldn't stop me from buying from you. Sell long enough, negs can happen. All buyers know this. You appear to be a stellar seller, so hang in there, Becky Sue.

[southern*sweet*tea]

---

@alltheprettylittlethings wrote:

You can never tell what will upset a buyer - even when you go out of your way to make it right and apologize.

You can always go in and respond to the negative FB - saying something like "We all make mistakes. Buyer was fully refunded without asking for the item sent to be returned.. Again, my apologies."  - just to let others know you did what you could to make it right.

Then move on and don't let it bother you. You did your best.

---

I would not advise doing that.  The OP might find herself faced with a bunch of "unhappy customers" trying to get freebies.  Something like "My mistake and it has been taken care of" would be better if the OP decided to respond.

Never give someone the idea that you may be a pushover, because you WILL be taken advantage of.  Looking at the OP's feedback received, a good buyer would not have an issue purchasing.  I certainly wouldn't.

[katzrul15]

@beckdoh-0 

So what golf balls did you send him?  Guessing these were not "new" and balls in the sleeve were not what the sleeve said? 

You state in the listing these were given to your husband - way too much info and the description is littered with so much colored font.....

If you did not open the sleeve and verify 1) they were new and 2) what the sleeve said (the pix do not look like a new sleeve of balls), perhaps this is a selling lesson to remember.

Know what you sell - sell what you know. 

E-Bay will not remove the FB as it is not in violation and your only hope is to write to your buyer, hope he has calmed down and ask if he will consider revising/removing.

[bbravo65]

...I hope your buyer will revise his FB if you ever consider asking him...good luck...!

(and I want to share my thoughts over your unfortunate situation...)

[doug_5857]

Make sure you put this buyer on your Block Bidder List so they cant do this again to you. Like mentioned above, Dont mention the give away. Scammers look for that kind of info and will rake you over. Buy some small widgets cheap to bury the neg behind you. In 12 months it will be gone and you will be back to 100% again. 

  The first one hurts the most. Keep up the great job. 787 is awesome string b4 the first neg. Just think I gave a seller their first neg for refusing to ship my widget cuz I did not pay enough. They had 0 feedbacks. You went 787.

[chapeau-noir]

No need to pick this apart - you made a mistake in the listing (we're all human and fallible) and made the buyer whole when notified.  Unfortunately, you have no control over how the buyer is going to react to this. 

At this point, the best thing to do is to leave a reasonable response apologizing for the mistake and stating that you made the buyer whole upon being notified.  No need to grovel, just be sincere.  Everyone makes mistakes, what people tend to look most at in merchandising is how the seller handles the mistake - you handled this immediately and to the best of your ability.

[inhawaii]

We all make mistakes.

You did all you could do to make things right.

I would wait a few days and message the buyer later and ask if he/she would be willing to remove/revise the feedback.

That's about all you can do.

Sorry this happened to you. 

[tex-421]

Happened to me once.  I listed a pair of headphones as the more expensive series X when in fact they were series Z.  Buyer didn't reach out or anything, he just left me a neutral feedback.  Since it was my mistake, I refunded him and let him have the headphones and left a FB reply saying I made a mistake and refunded the buyer.  

As they say, stuff happens.  But really, don't sweat the small stuff.

[beckdoh-0]

First of all, I will contact the buyer and try to reason with him to change this, totally unfair feedback. BUT ....just so you know, these were BRAND NEW BALLS that my husband won in a putting contest at a charity event he was volunteering as Santa Clause at, but because we does not play Golf anymore, has no use for. The problem with the balls is that they have a company logo stamped on them and I mis quoted what the logo said. The box was NOT beat up, it came straight from a case on brand new balls at the event!!  My feedback record should tell you that I DO NOT misrepresent the condition of items I sell......I point out any imperfections, damage, etc very clearly so people always know what they are getting. This incident happened a week after we lost a daughter to Cancer & I was trying to get caught up on my shipping, and I just screwed up!!! But again, I apologized to the buyer, gave him positive feedback, a FULL refund and let him keep the balls, which I can guarantee the used on the Golf course since then. Thank you for your time. BECKY SUE. 

[beckdoh-0]

How do I respond to the Negative Feedback?