I have tried both strategys, I agree with both Green and First. The main issue is that all people are different.
There are some buyers that will think "Oh I did not realise this DSR thing was so important, well in that case I will leave 5 star postive feedback and hopefully get the same in return"
And there are other buyers that will think "cheeky sod, well im not leaving 5 star feedback as they charged me £1.50 extra for postage and now I am so angry that this may affect the stars I leave and I am also thinking of a neutral aswell"
I used to send a small note or business card in with all purchases, but I made the extra effort and purchased 500 business cards from vistaprint.com.
These cards are free and you can design your own logo, and they look really professional. Sometimes a tacky piece of paper printed off in Microsoft Word will often work against you.
Agreed there are some buyers that will read the note and it will work favourably and there are others that will react in the opposite way.
I currently dont bother will the notes at all, all I do is send out emails (auto) to let buyers know the item has been posted and hope for the best.
But with DSR's getting even stricter in April its a must to have a "back up" ebay and paypal account.
My advice if you want to enclose a card is enclose a professional business card from vistaprint. I say they are free, but all you pay is for the postage. My cards used to simply have the message on.
Thankyou for your purchase.
Please leave me feedback and I will respond in kind.
Check out free business cards at:
http://bit.ly/bjgjZJ