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Hack 2 Using Prefabricated Feedback

Save time by storing prewritten feedback for
future use.

It won't take you long to get tired of writing
feedback comments
for the various buyers and sellers with whom you trade. You always
end up saying the same thing, so why bother typing it every time?

The solution is simple. Write two generic, all-purpose positive
feedback comments, one for buyers and one for sellers, and place them
in a plain-text file saved on your hard disk. Remember that each
comment can be no longer than 80 characters, including any spaces and
punctuation.

Then, when it comes time to leave feedback for someone, open the text
file, highlight the appropriate comment, and press Ctrl-C to copy.
Then, click the Feedback Review field, and press Ctrl-V to paste.

Naturally, you can store as many prefabricated feedback comments as you like (variety is the spice of life, after all). Just be careful not to place negative comments too close to positive ones, lest you select the wrong line in haste.

1.3.1 Feedback for Multiple Auctions

Go to My eBay Feedback Leave Feedback, and
you'll see a list of all closed auctions for which
you have not yet left feedback, as shown in Figure 1-2. Simply go down the list, pasting your
prefabricated comments for any deserving transactions.

Figure 1-2. Leave feedback for dozens of auctions at a time without typing a single word

Make sure to choose the corresponding rating (positive, negative, or
neutral) for each transaction, and then click Leave Feedback when
you're done.

1.3.2 Right-Click-O-Rama

Users of Windows XP, Me, and 2000 can use their context menus for
even quicker access to prefabricated feedback. Start by installing
Creative Element Power Tools (www.creativelement.com/powertools) and
enabling the "Copy file contents to the
Clipboard" option.

Next, create at least two plain-text files (one for buyers and one
for sellers), each with only a single feedback comment on the first
line, and save them to your hard disk. Give each file a name that
describes its contents, such as Standard Seller
Feedback.txt or Positive Buyer
Feedback.txt.

When you're ready to leave feedback, just
right-click one of the files and select Copy File Contents. Then,
click the Feedback Review field and press Ctrl-V to paste in the
feedback text.

1.3.3 Feedback for International Users

Saving feedback is also handy when you want
to have several different prefabricated comments at your fingertips.

For instance, when leaving feedback for an eBay member in another
country, you'll probably want to write in the
user's native language. And every time you go to the
trouble of constructing a comment in a foreign language, you might as
well save it for future use. Eventually, you'll have
a folder filled with filenames like Positive feedback for
Swedish buyers.txt or French feedback
comments.txt.

If you're not familiar with the member's native language, use a free online translator to help you out, as described in [Hack #30].

1.3.4 See Also

Some of the auction management tools discussed in Chapter 7 also have features to leave feedback
automatically for buyers who have paid.

See [Hack #95] for details on using the
eBay API to leave feedback for other members.