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Hack 3 How to Avoid Negative Feedback

Protect your feedback profile and your
reputation from the proverbial slings and arrows of
disgruntled eBayers.

In most cases, negative
feedback is unnecessary. And I'm sure that if you
just received negative feedback, you'll agree in a
heartbeat.

But the reason that negative feedback is unnecessary is that
it's usually avoidable.
Complaints are usually lodged for one of
the following reasons:

A buyer's expectations weren't met. A buyer will leave negative feedback for a seller if the item
doesn't arrive quickly, if the item
isn't in as good condition as promised, or if the
seller isn't responsive to emails.

All of these are avoidable: see [Hack #39] and [Hack #70] for tips to effectively prevent
customers from being disappointed, both before and after the sale.

But it's important to note that sometimes
there's only so much a seller can do to please a
customer. For this reason, sellers must also do everything possible
to convince their customers especially inexperienced ones
to communicate any problems or concerns to the seller
before they go ahead and leave feedback.

If you're the seller, probably the easiest way to do
this is to include a note inside all your packages with your email
address (and phone number, if applicable) and the assurance that, if
the customer has a problem, you'll do everything you
can to make the situation right. Sometimes the note alone is enough
to make the customer happy.

Deadbeat bidder. A seller will leave negative feedback for a bidder who
doesn't pay. If you're a
bidder, you can avoid this by quite
simply not bidding when you don't intend to follow
through and purchase the item. Sellers can usually prevent deadbeat
bidders from bidding on their auctions or rather, prevent
bidders from becoming deadbeats by
following the tips in [Hack #54].

Communication breakdown. One of the most common causes of failed transactions and the
resulting negative feedback is one party's
inability to email the other. See [Hack #8] for a variety of solutions.

Retaliation. A single negative feedback comment will
often result in a reciprocal retaliatory feedback. Unfortunately,
this is human nature, and there's not much you can
do about it. What's worse, though, is that many eBay
members don't leave negative feedback where
appropriate out of fear of retaliation. See [Hack #5] for an approach that may work in
this situation.

Any buyer or seller who lets another member get away with murder,
simply for fear of retaliation, does the entire eBay community a
disservice. Anyone who tries to blackmail you by threatening to leave
negative feedback can be suspended for doing so; see SafeHarbor for details.

It might ease your mind to know that in all my years of using eBay, not a single deadbeat bidder who received negative feedback from me has ever retaliated. Not once.

SafeHarbor

SafeHarbor is
essentially eBay's policy police. While that sounds
like the last thing in the world that would interest a hacker,
it's actually quite a valuable tool.

Most of eBay's polices have been put in place to
protect buyers and sellers, as well as to maintain the integrity of
the marketplace and the level of trust within the community. If you
feel that another user is dealing unfairly or abusing the system in
some way, you can notify eBay SafeHarbor by going to this address:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/select-RSl

Some of the situations covered by eBay's policies
include:

Listings for items not in the seller's possession
(pre-sale)

Non-paying bidders and non-shipping sellers

Fraud, illegal account takeovers, spam

Feedback extortion

If you'd like eBay to investigate a listing or
another member, navigate through the choices on this page, click
Continue, and then click Contact Support.

1.4.1 Etiquette and Netiquette

It goes without saying that there are some very simple things you can
do on an everyday basis to avoid negative feedback, and most of them
involve simple
etiquette. For
example:

Be friendly, even if you're not in a friendly mood.

Write in complete sentences.

Respond quickly when someone emails you.

Be patient, and don't panic if you
don't get immediate responses to your emails.

Be forgiving and understanding, especially with new eBay members.
Take a little time to educate newbies rather than penalizing them for
their inexperience.

Sellers: treat your customers like gold. Understand that when you
have a bidder's money, they can get anxious,
suspicious, and downright demanding if you don't
reply to their emails quickly.

Buyers: sellers aren't employed by you, so be nice.
Courtesy, gratitude, and patience will go far.

Be diplomatic, even if it means sometimes swallowing your pride.

1.4.2 See Also

If someone has left negative feedback for you, see [Hack #4] for tips to help with damage
control, or [Hack #6] for a way to have
it removed.