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How To Turn Negative Feedback to Your Advantage

In my experience the vast majority of people are well balanced and fair minded. If you make a mistake in your eBay business by sending out the wrong product or some other error, the majority of people will inform you and be quiet happy with an apology and wait for the replacement.

You may however, in your eBay business come into contact with one of the antisocial group people who delight in being obnoxious and disagreeable. One seller complained that someone who bought one of his products sent him an email saying "if you send me 50% of my money back I won't leave you negative feedback." The seller refused; the buyer left negative feedback.

Most sellers go out of their way to please to avoid negative feedback. Since EBay, in another of their rule changes have now prevented sellers from leaving negative feedback we can't even retaliate. So what can we do if someone leaves us a negative?

We can turn it to our advantage. The way we respond to negative feedback says a lot about us. If for example, we respond with a stream of expletives and abuse then buyers reading our feedback will soon move away from our shop. Would you go into a shop where the owner may start abusing you if you upset him? For this reason I would strongly recommend that you resist the temptation to respond immediately.

The way to turn a negative into a positive is to respond in a rational and friendly way. If the buyer complains about the slow delivery. Just respond with something like: "Sorry about that. I did post it the day after ordering." Or if the buyer complains about the product. Again, apologise and mention you are happy to exchange it or offer a refund.

Under no circumstances get involved in a slanging match. It will only damage you. You may be fuming at the negative feedback especially if you believe it is unjustified. Don't show this in your response. Respond calmly and friendly. This will show future buyers that you're only human and may make mistakes. You do however seek to put them right.

Once you've responded in a reasonable and objective way. Leave your computer and go to the gym. Start pounding the treadmill imagining that the negative feedback reader is under your feet. You'll feel much better.

Excellent advice! Just to add to it, you will need to respond to any negative feedback that's left for you. As future potential customers will see that your % is less than 100% and may look at what negs you have. As decca234UK said you need to respond politly. Have a coffee, calm down and then leave your response.

If a customer emails you about refund 50% to avoid neg feedback forward the email to ebay. They will only act on it if it was sent via there system, but it makes them aware.

I also block all these people from my sales. If you use selling manager or selling manager pro, there's a link towards the bottom of the page to block or approve sellers.

Hope it helps

Yes, politeness is the key because it's natural for buyers to look for the negative feedback. If they see you have a negative and have responded in a reasonable amd logical manner it can actually enhance your reputation, and work for you. Imagine if you delivered a product late and a customer left you a negative. A response like " Fair eniugh. My fault, I was a bit slow posting this item, I got my orders mixed up. Sorry.

Compared to a response like: "YOU TOSSER! AVOIDE THIS ******** USELESS BUYER etc etc. You get the point.

If you was a potential buyer would you really feel happy about buying from someone who appears to be aggressive, what if things went wrong, is this the respons you can expect.

You may feel like responding with a rant. Don't, take some time out. Don't respond for 24 hours. Then make it reasonable for the public view. If you feel you have been wrongly negged, then you can take it up through private email with the buyer. On the public forum, however, always be logical and polite.

It happens to everyone. As long as you did nothing wrong, than don't put too much stress on yourself. And make sure you add a comment in reply to theirs. Some buyers are just horrible

http://ebaysellerreview.blogspot.com/

That is the downside in eBay business. But since customers are always right, you just have to deal with it professionally. In spite of the buyer threatening to leave negative feedback, it is still worth it to abide in his terms until the buyer is satisfied. After all, feedback represents the seller's image and it really matters to most buyers.

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decca234uk wrote:Compared to a response like: "YOU TOSSER! AVOIDE THIS ******** USELESS BUYER etc etc. You get the point.

Well excellent tip here by Decca! Do not be harsh or criticize directly. You can convey your point with little politeness also.. This will not only increase your credibility but also of your website!

pfm_1027 wrote:That is the downside in eBay business. But since customers are always right, you just have to deal with it professionally. In spite of the buyer threatening to leave negative feedback, it is still worth it to abide in his terms until the buyer is satisfied. After all, feedback represents the seller's image and it really matters to most buyers.

Exactly! The kind of feedbacks you get either makes you or breaks you as a seller so these have to be handled with "care". The way you react to a negative feedback especially reflects are credibility and professionalism as a seller. So before you start typing in your response take a deep breathe and relax. Avoid the all caps reply

The most common way to get a negative altered is through communication with the buyer - so be nice. They are able to revise feedback within 30 days, but only request them to do so once you’ve fixed the problem or if you think they left a negative by mistake. Make sure you use your revision request wisely, because you are only allowed a limited number per year. Sellers are only allowed 5 feedback revision requests per 1,000 total feedbacks. The only downside to this, is the seller is completely at the buyer’s mercy.

In the most extreme cases only, eBay may intervene in getting the negative feedback removed.

Cheers!