Negative feedback stings more on eBay than on most marketplaces. It shows on your profile where every buyer can read it, it puts people off, and the problems that cause it (late dispatch, cases, returns) often count against your seller performance too.
The good news is that very few negatives are a surprise if you look at the order history. Something went wrong first: the parcel was late, it arrived damaged, the buyer asked a question and nobody answered. The trick is to notice those orders while there's still time to do something.
Why buyers leave negative feedback
In rough order of how often we see it:
- The item arrived late, or hasn't arrived. By far the biggest cause, and often not the seller's fault. That doesn't matter to the buyer.
- It wasn't what they expected. The colour was off, the size was wrong, it was smaller than it looked in the photos.
- It arrived damaged.
- They tried to get in touch and didn't hear back, or got a reply that felt like a brush off.
- A return or refund dragged on.
Notice that almost all of these are things the buyer would happily have let you fix if they'd thought you would.
The warning signs on an order
These are the orders worth keeping a close eye on:
- Not dispatched by the dispatch date. Late dispatch is the single most common start of a bad experience.
- A return request, especially "doesn't match description".
- An item not received request.
- An open eBay case. At this point the buyer has asked eBay to step in.
- A cancellation request.
- A partial refund. Something wasn't right, even if it's been dealt with.
- A message from the buyer with words like damaged, broken, not arrived, still waiting, wrong item, missing, refund or return in it.
Any one of these on its own doesn't mean a negative is coming. But almost every negative has one of them in its history.
What to do when you spot one
Reply quickly. Within a few hours if you can. Speed matters more than having a perfect answer. "Sorry about this, I'm looking into it now and will come back to you today" buys you a lot of goodwill.
Fix it before arguing about it. If a £12 item arrived broken, sending a replacement or a refund is almost always cheaper than the damage a negative does. You can decide afterwards whether to claim from the courier.
Don't send anything that asks for feedback. This is the one that catches people out. If you have automatic feedback reminders, make sure they're not going to land in the middle of a dispute. A cheerful "Hope you love your item, please leave feedback!" to someone who's waiting for a refund is about the quickest way to get a negative there is.
Close the loop. Once it's sorted, a short message checking they're happy now goes a long way. Buyers who had a problem fixed well are often some of the most loyal you'll have.
Stop the problems happening in the first place
- Dispatch on time, every time. If your stated handling time is one day and you sometimes take three, change the handling time.
- Describe items honestly, including the flaws. Photos of any marks or damage. Measurements for anything where size matters.
- Send a dispatch message that invites the buyer to message you before leaving feedback if anything is wrong. See what to message eBay buyers.
- Pack properly. It's boring advice, but damaged items are a big share of negatives.
- Answer messages every day, weekends included if you can.
If you get one anyway
It happens to everyone eventually. A few things you can do:
- Reply to it publicly. Keep it calm and short, and explain what you did to put it right. Other buyers read the reply as much as the feedback.
- Fix the problem and then ask for a revision. eBay lets you send a limited number of feedback revision requests, and only within a short window after the feedback is left. Only use one once the buyer is genuinely happy.
- Report it if it breaks eBay's rules, for example if it contains abusive language or is about something outside your control that eBay's policies cover. eBay will remove some feedback in these cases.
The best fix is still the one above, though: notice the order that's going wrong before the buyer gets to the feedback page.