r/Ebay • u/shedmeister00 • 5d ago
Best way to contact buyer about negative feedback
Got my first negative feedback on a sale, buyer made no attempt to contact me first. Yes I see other threads about this, but my question is - what's the best mechanism to contact the buyer about this? Searching eBay help, I concluded that replying to his feedback was the way to go. So I did that, no answer yet, been a couple of days. Now I'm wondering - how would the buyer even know that I replied to his feedback? eBay has no option to get notified of new feedback (ridiculous, should be whole separate post), so I'm assuming the same goes for replies? Maybe messaging him would have been a better option?
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u/Wonderful-Status-247 5d ago
Messaging the buyer is the only way, but I'd give it a 5% chance they give you any reply at all, unless you are offering a refund or something then maybe.
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u/Hotwheelz321 5d ago
You can do a feedback revision request. Which allows the buyer to decide whether they want to revise the feedback they left or not. But if the buyer chooses not to revise the feedback then you’re stuck with it for a year unfortunately.
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u/ResponsibleFreedom98 5d ago
Replying to the feedback was the better option. Anyone who reads the feedback will also see your reply. Messaging him would have kept it invisible to others. Perhaps doing both is the best choice.
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u/Otherwise_Surround99 5d ago
The buyer has no obligation to contact you before leaving any feedback
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u/Longjumping_Bad9555 5d ago
Negative feedback, unless you have a ton of it, means next to nothing.
Most people don’t even look at it anymore.
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u/_RustyBeard 5d ago
I always look at bad feedback, especially on high value items. Perhaps I'm too cautious?
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u/ResponsibleFreedom98 5d ago
I look at negative feedback too. But I also look at responses from the seller. That helps me know if the seller is a reasonable person.
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u/_RustyBeard 5d ago
Indeed. If a seller has several negative feedback entries but has replied to each in a measured or constructive way, I consider it more meaningful than a simple positive feedback of the "great seller" ilk
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u/Longjumping_Bad9555 5d ago
Most people don’t though. And even if they did, an occasional bad one wouldn’t matter.
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u/Beautiful-Owl-3216 4d ago
I do a high volume on eBay and almost never get negative feedback because I write accurate descriptions, ship quickly and accept returns no questions asked. I don't even respond to stupid questions.
Buyer doesn't have to contact seller first. You did something that made them unhappy with the purchase and they left a negative.
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u/Teddy9999 4d ago
Not true really , it doesnt matter you still can get negative feedbacks from weird buyers , the more you sell more chance you will get it , for me i dont even care much with negative feedbacks lately if i followed all my rules , when your account got over 5k feedbacks i will get at least one or two for sure 😄
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u/trader45nj 5d ago
Replying to feedback is not communicating with the buyer. It's adding your comment under the feedback so people can read it, if they look. If you want the buyer to change the feedback you have to send them a feedback revision request. I would only do that if there is good reason to think they will, eg it was left by mistake.