Another Neutral Feedback!

[TheRevolver]

I had a buyer leave neutral feedback, here's what she wrote.

great product. It wasn't as thick as i expected but i'm very picky

??? So because your picky and it wasn't as thick as you expected, I have to have the integrity of my account messed with?

I tried to explain this to the buyer but they took it as me being rude and threatened to open a case lol. As if a case will affect me in any way whatsoever.

Here's the conversation, was I rude in any way?

"Hello, I see the shirt wasn't as thick as you expected and I understand you may be frustrated but neutral feedbacks can highly impact the integrity of my account. I've worked very hard to get top-rated seller and I don't feel I deserve a neutral feedback just because you're picky (as you stated) and it wasn't as thick as you expected. If you're not satisfied with the shirt, why not just ask to return it rather than keep it and leave a neutral feedback? I wouldv'e gladly paid for the return shipping or maybe even fully refunded you and let you keep the shirt! You didn't contact me so there was no way for me to resolve your problem! Leaving anything other than a positive does nothing but harm my account. Believe it or not, neutral feedbacks can impact the account just as a negative can. You need to be aware of the harm these neutrals can do so you don't do it in the future. If you ever become a seller you will see what I mean."

I truly wasn't trying to be rude, rather, let them know the harm they did so they don't continuously do it.

Here's what they wrote back.

"obviously if you speak to your customers the way you just spoke to me, you deserve bad feedback. I understand how feedback effects your account. I am not a seller but if i was i would definitely use accurate descriptions for my items. I was ok with keeping the shirt and not disputing it with you, but I still have freedom of speech to express my opinion about my purchases. I do not appreciate being spoken to in this manner. I should open a case with eBay just for your rude behavior. I, however, have integrity as a buyer and a person so I am not going to do any more about this transaction. I hope you can improve your communication skills so you can keep your top-rated seller status. Have a great day!

What??? Rude??? Am I missing something? Did I actually come off as rude because I don't see it.

Here's what I wrote back.

Rude? I spoke to you very respectfully and only quoted your words. I don't know what part you read that seemed rude but I'd love for you to point that part out to me as I feel there was no disrespect at all in that paragraph. I was simply letting you know the harm you did to my account without knowing, and the harm that these neutrals carry. If you felt I was rude then I do apologize but that was not my intention in any way. You could have still expressed your opinion and left a positive. There's no reason to threaten me with opening a case as it would not harm me in any way whatsoever. I apologize that you took what I said the wrong way but truthfully I didn't mean any disrespect at all, I just thought you should know the harm these neutrals bring. Thanks and once again I apologize for the misunderstanding and inconvenience.

I sooo wanted to say more but I'm not a rude person by nature. I was only trying to let them know the harm these neutrals carry.

My main question is will this neutral affect me? I've read that if you get too many neutrals they'll shut you down. I've gotten 5 in the past 12 months and 2 negatives. Also, if you was them, would you see my message as rude? Thanks for any input on this, it's greatly appreciated!

[bruceuk]

Your opening email to them does have an aggresive nature to it.
I would work on that in future .

[AmazonStealth]

if you get this frustrated over a neutral your in for a hell of a ride.

[TheRevolver]

Originally Posted by bruceuk

Your opening email to them does have an aggresive nature to it.
I would work on that in future .

Thanks for the reply, I still don't see it but I'll try to work on it.

[Prophecy]

You sounded intimidating to her and it doesn't matter what your intention was, you should never respond to a neutral or negative feedback in that way. What you should do is thank the buyer for saying your product was great and express your appreciation for doing business with her. Offer to give her a partial refund and wait until she responds. In your last message write something like "PS: Is it okay if you could remove the neutral feedback?" but do it in a way so that she doesn't think the refund was a sort of "bribe". You have to bend over in these types of situations because you're on eBay and you're not in full control.

Neutral feedbacks don't really effect your account and I have had 3 in 1 week, and 2 full evaluations of my account passed and they did not effect my performance at all. I believe it's the DSR that counts so if you got a neutral feedback with low DSR, then of course it will effect your account.

Finally, one of the main things in keeping a solid account is to have great customer service and communication skills and one of the ways of doing that is to word your message cleverly and re-read them 2 or 3 times before sending. Companies like eBay have entire teams that sit down and carefully word their emails so that even the most bitter customers agree with them and understand where they are coming from.

[TheRevolver]

Originally Posted by AmazonStealth

if you get this frustrated over a neutral your in for a hell of a ride. sounds like you are a small time player.

Lol, If I get this frustrated? I'm not frustrated at all, I just wanted an opinion if this neutral would affect my account and if I came off as rude. I run 7 accounts, one being TRS and PS, two others will be TRS next month. Been doing Ebay for a few years. Some may consider that a small time player. Maybe I'm a small time player but I make big time player bank...

[corleone]

Wait til you get a negative like this:

Awesome product, great seller!

Some buyers aren't even smart enough to check mark the positive. True story.

[ateep22]

this buyer is a word that rhymes with BUNT...let it go and move on

[bruceuk]

Try to focus on the bullsh1t and make them feel special before you try to get you point across .
ie
Thank you for your purchase and i am deeply saddened you are not happy with the quality or thickness.
I will arrange collection of this item once agreed as i simply will not have unhappy customers.
Your feedback impacts my business greatly so even a neutral leaves a tarnish on a record i only will be satisfied at 100%..

Im sure your getting the point by now.... Bulls1ht baffles
Make them feel special even if you wish to stab them ...

[TheRevolver]

Originally Posted by ateep22

this buyer is a word that rhymes with BUNT...let it go and move on

LOL! True Story!

[GreenBean]

Revolver,

You can not have your cake and eat it too.

By all means protect the account. But pick the method better.

Quickly learn to reword your defense of the stupidity of a buyer.

Buyer is always right. btw, read the thread below. Changes are going to happen for sellers. With this knowledge, you can try another angle with buyers.
http://www.aspkin.com/forums/subscri...nges-ebay.html

[TheRevolver]

Originally Posted by Prophecy

You sounded intimidating to her and it doesn't matter what your intention was, you should never respond to a neutral or negative feedback in that way. What you should do is thank the buyer for saying your product was great and express your appreciation for doing business with her. Offer to give her a partial refund and wait until she responds. In your last message write something like "PS: Is it okay if you could remove the neutral feedback?" but do it in a way so that she doesn't think the refund was a sort of "bribe". You have to bend over in these types of situations because you're on eBay and you're not in full control.

Neutral feedbacks don't really effect your account and I have had 3 in 1 week, and 2 full evaluations of my account passed and they did not effect my performance at all. I believe it's the DSR that counts so if you got a neutral feedback with low DSR, then of course it will effect your account.

Finally, one of the main things in keeping a solid account is to have great customer service and communication skills and one of the ways of doing that is to word your message cleverly and re-read them 2 or 3 times before sending. Companies like eBay have entire teams that sit down and carefully word their emails so that even the most bitter customers agree with them and understand where they are coming from.

My intention was not to get her to remove the neutral as you're only allowed 5 feedback revision requests per a 1000 feedbacks, I would'nt waste one of those for a neutral. My only intention was to point out the harm she's doing so she no longer does it for such small reasons as this. I also wasn't looking to refund her or to do anything further about it as she said she was satisfied and the harm was already done.

[TheRevolver]

Originally Posted by GreenBean™

Revolver,

You can not have your cake and eat it too.

By all means protect the account. But pick the method better.

Quickly learn to reword your defense of the stupidity of a buyer.

Buyer is always right. btw, read the thread below. Changes are going to happen for sellers. With this knowledge, you can try another angle with buyers.
http://www.aspkin.com/forums/subscri...nges-ebay.html

Thanks! Maybe I did come off the wrong way but my true intention was only to let her know the harm she was causing for such a small reason. I appreciate your input on this.

[bruceuk]

Originally Posted by Prophecy

You sounded intimidating to her and it doesn't matter what your intention was, you should never respond to a neutral or negative feedback in that way. What you should do is thank the buyer for saying your product was great and express your appreciation for doing business with her. Offer to give her a partial refund and wait until she responds. In your last message write something like "PS: Is it okay if you could remove the neutral feedback?" but do it in a way so that she doesn't think the refund was a sort of "bribe". You have to bend over in these types of situations because you're on eBay and you're not in full control.

Neutral feedbacks don't really effect your account and I have had 3 in 1 week, and 2 full evaluations of my account passed and they did not effect my performance at all. I believe it's the DSR that counts so if you got a neutral feedback with low DSR, then of course it will effect your account.

Finally, one of the main things in keeping a solid account is to have great customer service and communication skills and one of the ways of doing that is to word your message cleverly and re-read them 2 or 3 times before sending. Companies like eBay have entire teams that sit down and carefully word their emails so that even the most bitter customers agree with them and understand where they are coming from.

I will point out at this stage neutrals have a bigger effect than you post.
After losing a TRS account i know the pit falls of neutral feedback.
To say they dont effect your account is bol1ocks.

[TheRevolver]

Originally Posted by bruceuk

I will point out at this stage neutrals have a bigger effect than you post.
After losing a TRS account i know the pit falls of neutral feedback.
To say they dont effect your account is bol1ocks.

I read somewhere on this forum that so many neutrals will get your account shut down, something like 4 or 5, or am I mistaken? I usually wouldn't respond like I did but when I seen what she wrote on the feedback, I felt she needed to know, us as ebay sellers work too hard to have anything other than a positive for such a small reason as what she stated.

I must be doing something right as my DSR's are 4.9, 5.0, 5.0, 5.0. So my communication is very good, I guess I slacked on this one.

[Ebayorbust]

Originally Posted by AmazonStealth

if you get this frustrated over a neutral your in for a hell of a ride. sounds like you are a small time player.

That's one seriously arrogant comment.

You should have called him "kid" too and sealed the deal.

[boost]

I would've just left a negative and opened a case against you, escalating it to ebay before you even had a chance to respond. Oh wait, that's already happened to me. Idiot buyers.

[MM78]

LOL, Time to move on!

[rsot]

Dont waste energy - reply with a polite feedback and work on upp'ing your positive feedbacks. Done.

[TGMT²]

Originally Posted by TheRevolver

Am I missing something? Did I actually come off as rude because I don't see it.

In my opinion, your response was well written and well thought out.

BUT: Since you have no way of knowing a customers IQ score, personality type, reading ability or general mood and the feedback has already been given...

It would probably be best to let future neutrals just pass. A neutral feedback doesn't really impact a account, but the DSR ding she (probably) left will.

In this situation, it seems you have brought more grief upon yourself trying to educate your customer.

[TheRevolver]

Well said!
No grief though as the damage was already done, what more can she do? At this point she just needs to know what she's doing is very harmful for such small reasons.
I hope one day she becomes a seller so she can see what I mean.

I wasn't trying to get the neutral revised or anything, just to let her know what she did and not to do it in the future for such a small issue.

[cantzme]

I had a similar situation with my first negative feedback, with a lost package / misplaced, I asked politely for them to head to the post office and see if the package was being held at their post office since it was last scanned at their home office.

The customer flipped telling me they get 100+ packages a month and that it was my responsibility to get the package to their doorstep and that they were not supposed to do my job... 5 mins after that reply she hit me with a negative. " Seller loses packages and expects me to find them" or something to that effect.

I got heated, but kept my cool and made up a BS story how I was a single mom and needed to keep my account at 100% feedback blah blah blah, she replied a few hours later being a lot nicer and I pretty much resent her another package, provided a refund and got the negative removed.