On eBay, sellers can only leave positive feedback for buyers. So why bother at all?

Mainly because it's reciprocal. Buyers are told when you leave them feedback, and some of them come back and return the favour. It's a small nudge, but it costs nothing and it happens on every order. It's also simply good manners, and buyers with a long history of positive feedback do notice when a seller didn't leave any.

Doing it by hand is the problem. Once you're past a handful of orders a day it's a chore, so it gets done in batches, then forgotten, then not done at all.

The options for doing it automatically

eBay's own automated feedback. In your seller settings, eBay can leave a stock positive comment for you when the buyer pays, or when they leave you positive feedback. It's free and it works. The downsides are that it picks from a short list of comments you've saved, it can't use the buyer's name, and it can't hold back on an order that's gone wrong.

Software that does it for you. Tools like ours leave feedback using eBay's systems on your behalf, with a comment you write yourself, and more choice over when it's left.

Either is far better than doing it by hand and missing half your orders.

When to leave it

There are three sensible points, each with a trade off:

  • When the buyer pays. The buyer's side of the deal is done, so they've earned it. Leaving it this early gives them the longest time to notice and return it.
  • When you dispatch. A good middle ground. The notification arrives around the time they're thinking about the order anyway.
  • After they leave you positive feedback. The safest option, as you only ever leave feedback for buyers who were happy. But you lose the nudge, because by then they've already left theirs.

Most sellers who want more feedback back choose payment or dispatch. Sellers who've been burnt by awkward buyers tend to prefer waiting.

Whichever you pick, it's worth holding it back on any order with a return, case or dispute open. Leaving glowing feedback for a buyer who's in the middle of a complaint about you reads oddly to both of you.

What to write

eBay gives you 80 characters, so keep it short. A few that work well:

  • Great buyer, quick payment. Thanks for your order!
  • Thanks for shopping with us, [first name]. Hope to see you again!
  • Fast payment, smooth transaction. A pleasure to deal with.
  • Thank you for your order, [first name]. Enjoy your purchase!

Using the buyer's first name makes it feel less automated, but write the comment so it still reads properly if the name gets left out. Some names are too long, or eBay won't accept them in a comment, and a good tool will leave the feedback without the name rather than not at all.

Should you leave feedback for every buyer?

For almost every buyer, yes. The only real exceptions are buyers who didn't pay, opened a case they had no grounds for, or were abusive. Since you can't leave anything other than positive, the choice is between leaving positive feedback and leaving none. If someone has given you real trouble, leaving none is a reasonable answer.