Turning a Negative Into A Positive
In a recent AuctionBytes survey question asking whether the new eBay feedback changes will have a positive or negative impact on their business, 98.7 percent of the 1,640 eBay sellers taking the survey responded “negative”.
98.7%… Are you kidding me? 98.7%…
I didn’t take this survey but I will be happy to count myself amongst the whopping 1.3% of survey respondents welcoming the new eBay feedback changes.
Why…It’s simple…I don’t use eBay negative feedback. The ability to leave negative eBay feedback means nothing to me. I haven’t given one negative or neutral feedback in the 5,000 eBay transactions I’ve entered into over the past year and a half, nor have I in the slightest even considered using it. Maybe I should, but I feel no obligation to “alert” my fellow eBay sellers to a rotten eBay buyer.
In my opinion, it shows a lack of professionalism for a seller to say anything bad to a buyer. The onus should always be on the seller to handle difficult transactions, even when they are in the right. The seller is suppose to be the professional in a business transaction not the buyer, they should act like it. When I encounter a difficult buyer I do the following:
- Win the difficult buyer over to my side. The only way a seller can start “learning” how to please a difficult buyer is if their first reaction is not to take the easy way out…..which is going down the path that leads to both sides contemplating leaving a negative. It’s the seller’s responsibility to show some class and take the lead in resolving the issue. If the seller knows in their heart he or she is right and the buyer is not responding to all your efforts to resolve the issue then, in my humble opinion, the wisest course of action is for the seller to simply block that buyer from future auctions, cut their loses to a minimum and move on to concentrating on their next customer. Period…end of story…get over it and get on with it.
- I don’t have accurate data on the percentage of customers I win over to my side but I’m sure it’s the vast majority. Of this I’m sure…no buyer will champion your business more passionately than a buyer whom you have gone out of your way to please. They are walking and talking billboards that will sing your praises every chance they get. But the seller needs to learn and be willing to go the extra mile for that difficult customer. If the seller can’t get past how much their “feelings” have been hurt and how “in the right” they are, they will naturally glide down the path of lashing out with a negative.
- And exactly what benefit does leaving a negative have on the environment I sell in on eBay? Will the ability to leave a negative bring me more customers? Nope, if anything the possibility of a buyer receiving a negative may reduce the size of the clientele willing to walk into my shop. If I’m an eBay newbie buyer, and I’ve run across my share of these, and I’m thinking in the back of my head I might receive a negative if I screw something up, I’m not even stepping into your shop, I’m walking down the street, which by the way is ONE CLICK in the online world, and shopping on Amazon where I’m safe from negatives.
I’ve written enough for today…to be continued.
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