Why Won’t My Buyers Give Me Positive Feedback & Reviews?

Published – Mar 30th 2018

Building a good reputation is the foundation of any business especially for selling goods online. You will do this by providing a service worthy of top feedback and reviews.

Statistically, it takes around 12 positive experiences with a business to make up for 1 negative experience. Bad news sells better than good news. This means that you will need to be on top of your game.

Negative emotion is powerful and buyers are much more likely to be talk harshly about it. One bad instance of customer service reverberates far and wide.

It can easily and maybe unfairly cancel out a lot of the good service aspects of your eCommerce brand. This is a shame as some of your successes won’t make as much of an impact but that’s business for you.

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.” – Elon Musk (Inventor & Businessman)

How do we grow if we don’t understand what we’re doing wrong? Mistakes can be valuable lessons if we use the to our advantage (I’ve made plenty in my life). I think this is essentially what Mr Musk is getting at here.

We sometimes fail to see things objectively which is where other people’s perceptions come in handy. You may believe that reviews only exist to benefit other buyers but that’s not at all true. One of the indirect purposes of customer reviews is to hint at how you the seller can do better in the future.

All the negative feedback and reviews you ever get will help you in one way or another. They teach you where you went wrong and what you need to do to rectify the problem.

As little as just one bad review can cause customers to walk out of the door. You have to remember that you are up against other sellers. Some have 100% perfect records. This means you will always be second best if you have made any major errors that have upset customers.

Sometimes that one stinky review can be a petty grievance about something out of your control. It can make you want to rip your own face off but feedback like this is the reality at times.

Your feedback is what people look at to see if you are trustworthy or not. Why would you purchase from a seller with a poor reputation? I certainly wouldn’t.

How do I receive great feedback? Why do I keep getting bad reviews from buyers? I will try to answer all these questions.

I will be mainly using the eBay selling platform as an example for positive and negative buyer feedback. This is purely because it is such a popular site with sellers along with the likes of Amazon.

Here are a few tips I have put together for you. They should help you attain the excellent reviews that you dream of.

How does feedback work on eBay?

eBay members can give each other either positive, negative or neutral feedback. A written review can accompany this to describe the quality of the service in more depth.

eBay will assign you an average overall 5 star rating based on all the feedback you receive over the last 12 months. In summary, this will give buyers a comprehensive idea of your reputation.

eBay determine feedback according to 4 different areas which are:

postage & packaging
communication
item description
dispatch time

You need to focus and constantly improve on these 4 things if you want to be successful.

Can sellers give buyers feedback too?

eBay only allow sellers to give out positive reviews to buyers. This is a controversial talking point among a wide spectrum of sellers. Many argue that there is a bias here and that it is unfair (let’s be honest … it kind of is).

However, these are the rules that stand so there isn’t much you can do about it. You will have to find another platform to sell on if you can’t abide by this.

Your feedback score will only go down a notch if you receive more negative than positive ratings from the same buyer in the same week. This is unlikely to happen unless you really drop the ball so don’t worry too much.

[bctt tweet=”People will see your great feedback, establishing trust. They may buy from you & express good word of mouth.” via=”no”]

How does the star ratings system work on eBay?

eBay has a fancy multi-colored star rating system for their members just to make it interesting. In order to get your first star you need a feedback rating of 10. For the highest possible star you need a feedback rating of over 1 million.

The star colors in the correct order include:

yellow
blue
turquoise
purple
red
green
silver

If you reach the end then the next level of this is to earn a shooting star for each color. This will be possible when you get really establish yourself and climb much higher up the ladder.

In a lot of ways, the folks at eBay try to weed out bad sellers aggressively. This can be to the point where they only have a good selection of reliable sellers left. Conducting a monthly performance review helps them monitor this. They can check up on you and see what you could be doing better.

You can increase your reputation by buying a few items as buyer. You will still get good feedback for each transaction as a buyer. There is nothing wrong with doing this so don’t mistake it for cheating. Buyers don’t really trust new sellers with a zero feedback score very much so this might be a good first step.

I know from experience that it takes time to rank up to the next star color. Keep grinding away and try not to grow impatient.

How does the eBay seller dashboard work?

You will be able to view your past, current and projected performance level on the seller dashboard. This information updates in your performance review on the 20th of every month.

I always check my dashboard at least once a month to make sure I stay on track. It can even help you to set goals for yourself.

You should aim for your performance to be ‘above standard‘ at least. It’s difficult but if you really go all out then you can reach ‘top rated seller‘ status. If you drop to ‘below standard‘ then eBay will punish you and your reputation will suffer.

How will eBay punish me for poor standards?

If your standards slip then eBay more than likely decrease your seller limits, the search ranking of your listings and it can even result in account suspension or termination.

I know first hand that these penalties can be a massive inconvenience to your day-to-day business. It can feel like walking on eggshells sometimes trying to please eBay. Although, they do try to be just and unbiased.

Keep an eye on your defect rate as it could affect your account if it were to rise too high a percentage. You can work out the defect rate by the number of orders that end with seller cancellation or via eBay support resolution.

You don’t really want either of these things to happen. Do your best to remedy the situation to the best of your abilities on your own.

Your credentials on eBay will vary depending on where you’re selling to and from. The rules surrounding seller standards vary from country to country.

How do I become a powerseller on eBay?

Being a eBay PowerSeller can give your business a big boost. In order to become one you need to have a feedback rating of at least 98% or higher.

It’s not just a case of naively becoming a powerseller once and then lying on a beach sipping cocktails indefinitely. eBay can literally be snatch it away at any time.

You need to maintain these high standards of reputation or else you will lose this superior status. You can all too easily part ways with your powerseller status if your performance drops or you break eBay’s rules.

There are four different stages to being a powerseller which are:

bronze
silver
gold
titanium

These levels are based on how many units you sell and how much money you can earn per month.

How do I become an eBay top rated seller?

An eBay Top-rated seller needs to keep their late deliveries below 4%, defect rate below 0.5% and negative cases below 0.3%. If you can do this then you have a good chance of keeping your status and the privileges that go with it.

You need to have a very low defect rate, be a business seller with a 98% or over feedback rating and turn over at least £1,000 per year. These parameters are in order to qualify as both a powerseller and a top-rated seller. You need to build up an exceptional reputation.

How do I deal with bad eBay buyers?

eBay has been clamping down on bad buyers more and more over the years. They will most likely remove negative feedback left by dodgy buyers at your request. Only if they feel it is unfair to yourself.

This is commonly in regards to unpaid item cases, lying about not receiving items and other scenarios like that. I know from experience that you come across a surprisingly high number of members like this on eBay.

You also should think about blocking buyers who you know are bad. If you add them to your block list they can’t purchase from you. In turn, this means they can’t leave unfairly negative feedback for you ever again.

Can I remove negative feedback?

A very rare number of buyers can be unreasonable sometimes. They may decide to give you negative feedback out of spite. This sucks but there is a sliver lining.

You can sometimes dispute a neutral or poor feedback that you may have received if you think it is unfair. Like I was saying, some buyers can be quite petty when it comes to giving a review. You can usually spot these people judging by the reviews that they have left for other sellers previously.

If a buyer leaves you negative feedback then you can always ask them politely to revise their rating. This should happen after you have resolved their issue of course.

If they don’t want to do that then you can always reply to the feedback with a message. You can then give your version of events and other people will be able to see this too.

eBay does their best to protect your reputation from bad buyers when reviewing your rating. They can detect when the buyer has a habit of not paying up. Conversely, they may open a lot of cases frequently with other sellers. eBay will take all this into consideration to give a fair report.

Are there any scams to look out for?

It’s rare but some people will try to fabricate petty complaints. They this in order to cheat the system, get their refund and at the same time keep the product. This has happened to me a plenty of other online sellers. There isn’t a lot you can do to combat this unfortunately. You will never be able to please everyone.

Dodgy buyer will also sometimes try to manipulate you with feedback. An example of this might be demanding unreasonable things in exchange for positive feedback. Alternatively, they may threaten negative feedback if you don’t do something that they want.

This is called feedback manipulation/extortion and you must report this if ever come across it. I always do this straight away if I ever come across any incidents. If you make it known then other sellers are less likely to fall victim to the same buyer.

Why is positive feedback so important?

Reputation is everything when it comes down to selling online. If you’re lucky you will get positive feedback or reviews for every successful order you process.

Other people will see the great ratings that you are getting. This will encourage trust and then hopefully they will purchase from you. They can then tell their friends and family about your business reputation. This should drive even more potential customers your way.

If you become infamous for giving poor service then customers will avoid you like the plague. Yes, you guessed it! This will also cause a chain reaction on to other people when the gossip gets out.

Don’t fret if you get one or two rare negative or neutral reviews. These won’t matter as long as the majority of feedback is positive. Selling platforms have rating systems in place in order to mainly benefit their buyers. They want to ensure that they’re getting a great service.

[bctt tweet=”You need to excel at shipping, communication, item description and dispatch time if you want success on eBay.” via=”no”]

When should I expect feedback?

I often get impatient when waiting for positive feedback from a buyer. The buyer has no more than two months to leave feedback for a transaction on eBay. Leaving reviews can be a time-consuming hassle. For this reason, some buyers will be slow to reciprocate or sometimes not at all unfortunately.

Many buyers don’t feel like going out of their way to leave feedback. There is no real incentive for buyers to leave a review other than to help you and your reputation. This is a bummer as every positive review you can get is really important.

If you’re all out of ideas, you could get in touch with the buyer and remind them to give a review.

When should I give the buyer feedback?

As a seller, I would recommend that you only give the buyer feedback after you have received positive feedback from them first. This might seem a little miserly and mean but think about it for a minute.

You really need to have this upper hand as buyers will sometimes give you unjust feedback after your turn. Your own feedback cannot be rescinded if you go first.

You have to keep in mind that you’re running a business and they’re not. This means that you have a lot more to lose than the buyer from negative feedback. In short, it will burn you the most.

Your reputation is vital as customers who are browsing will see your good reviews and be able to trust you. This is why you should wait for the other party to go first.

Can I influence buyers to give me good feedback & reviews?

Don’t try to sway the buyer by writing anything in your listings. You can’t instruct the buyer into giving you a positive rating, review or anything like that. eBay does not allow you to demand that they specifically say something in great detail, word for word.

In the interest of fairness it has to happen organically without any prompting. eBay frowns upon this as they see it as manipulation which is cheating.

These points should work on eBay and wherever else you decide to trade on the net. Remember, if you are good to your customers then they will be good to you in return.

We can learn a great lesson here in the importance of reputation in business. This all comes back to treating your buyers like Kings and Queens. Their customer satisfaction is your top priority (even before profit) so remember that.

Your primary goal should be to help people not make money. If you focus on this then the income will follow.

From here, the next thing on the agenda should be going through all the bad reviews, ratings and feedback you’ve ever received in your history of selling.

If you analyse this data, it will teach you what you’re doing wrong and how you can improve. Apply yourself and this will ultimately result in more sales and profits for you. YAY!

Good, so now you know a little more about feedback and reviews. It doesn’t end there. You can now learn about purchasing great inventory with my Shocking Secrets Of Sourcing Cheap Wholesale Inventory & Suppliers post.

Do you have any tips on handling buyer feedback? What’s the best and worst customer review you’ve ever received? Please don’t forget to share this with your friends and comment below. Thanks for reading!

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