Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

If I could think of one word that could strike fear into almost any dedicated seller, it would be…..Feedback.  Specifically, negative feedback.  Oh, the power of those little stars.  

 

If you’ve managed to avoid any bad ratings thus far and still have 100% positive feedback, consider yourself one of the very rare.  And if you have a very high rating, but not the elusive 100%, there’s still a good chance that you’re doing everything right.

Hard work, promptness, and all around good customer service (thank you, Captain Obvious) can get you a very high feedback rating, but sooner or later, everyone gets That Buyer.  If you’ve been selling for any length of time, you know what I’m talking about.  That Buyer is going to leave you a bad rating no matter what you do.  There’s any number of reasons for this to happen:

Misunderstanding – rating the seller on something unrelated to order fulfillment, and entirely out of their control (“The post office left my package out in the rain.”)

Substitution for contact – instead of e-mailing the seller, using the feedback link to complain about a problem

Unrealistic expectations – the package didn’t arrive the day after it was ordered
The list goes on.  Regardless of the reason, at this point, you, the seller, need to decide how to handle it.  Pop Quiz!  Do you:

    a)    Contact Amazon Services and demand that it be removed, since it was clearly not your fault

    b)    Leave a comment in response to their rating about how ridiculous and unfair it is

    c)    Contact the buyer to try to work it out

Ok, that was a pretty easy one.  Contacting the buyer should always be your first action.  

In case you don’t get an immediate response, you might also want to respond to the feedback in your account, but keep your audience in mind.  Although it can be directed to the buyer, there’s a much better chance that future potential buyers will be reading it, not the buyer who left the response.  After leaving a rating, he has no real reason to return to your feedback page.  Anger-driven replies will only make potential buyers think you’re unreasonable and difficult to work with.  I like to see comments like “We’re sorry to hear about the problem with your order.  We have a 100% satisfaction policy.  Please contact us and we will be happy to arrange a return with you.”  This tells me (the potential buyer) that, should something go wrong with my order, the seller is responsive and really wants to make me happy.

When contacting the buyer directly, it should also be pleasant and professional.  Is the buyer intentionally trying to sabotage your reputation?  Probably not.  And once they realize that you’re a reasonable person just like them, they are usually more than happy to remove their negative rating.  It often helps to include a direct link to the feedback removal page in the e-mail:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/feedback/view-all-feedback.html/

When you contact the buyer, the solution and content are entirely up to you, but there are a few ground rules.  Removing the feedback should always be at the buyer’s option, after you resolve their issue.  Offering to help them if they remove their feedback would be considered feedback manipulation.

OK: I’m sorry to hear that your IPod was broken when you received it.  I have issued you a full refund, and hope this is to your satisfaction.  I would appreciate if you would consider removing the negative rating left on my account on Amazon.

Not OK:  If you remove your negative feedback, I’ll refund your money.

The final option of contacting Amazon Services should be very rarely used.  There are only a few, very specific instances when we are able to remove feedback:

    1)    Personally identifiable information about the seller that is not publicly available on the site (“I called Bob Anderson at 555-2039”)

    2)    Profanity – This is a pretty narrow definition.  If it’s a word that can’t be said on prime time network TV, we can remove it.  Otherwise, it stays.

    3)    Product Review – Again, there are very strict guidelines on what is and is not a product review.   “The strap on the camera case is too short” is pretty clearly referencing only the product.  “It fell apart as soon as I opened the package” could indicate a poor quality product, but it could also mean that the seller didn’t package it well enough, or inspect it for obvious defects before shipping it. And if it mentions both the product and the service, no dice.  It's your review.

And that’s it.  No matter how unfair the feedback seems, or how much the Amazon Services support person sympathizes with you, or even if you ask to talk to a supervisor, we can’t remove it.  Your best option is to work with the buyer and leave a response on your own feedback.  If the buyer later removes their feedback, your response will be removed as well.

And if all this fails and the feedback is going to stay, I have one final piece of advice to offer: let it go.  Every seller runs into this at some point or another.  If you have good business practices and truly want to take care of your buyers, it will show through in the majority of your feedback.  Consider it a learning experience and move on to the next sale. 

Yes, those little stars are important.  But they’re not the only important thing.  Don’t let them ruin your day.

~Kelley

Comments

[ed hardy]

Great post and keep up the great job blogging!WOW. Nice written instructions.

[Francesca Fine Jewelry]

John, the most you can do is to reply to the customer's email and thank them for their kind words, and then you can also type out the directions on how the customer can get to their feedback section in their Amazon account. You can go to Seller Central's help section and look up feedback. The directions are stated in there and it tells you how to direct your customer to their feedback section in their account. You can just copy and paste all that right into your email to them. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Only a small portion of people leave me feedback. I too get a lot of emails with compliments, but they don't bother with the feedback. Maybe it is too "ebay-ish" for customers and that's why they don't bother. I don't know, just guessing.

[Magic Pizza Books]

Thanks for the info.

On a slightly different note, I always ask for feedback from buyers, but in a couple of cases, instead of using the website for entering the feedback, the buyers have replied to my seller email address!

I have relatively few sales and so it is kind of important for me to get all the positive(!) feedback I can.

Here's an example:

I received my new book in two days. What a pleasant surprise! Thank you!

She was very nice and I'd love to get her comments on my feedback list. Any suggestions?

John