EBay for Dummies (13 page)

Every time you get a positive comment from a user who hasn’t commented on you before within the past week, you get a point. Every time you get a negative rating, this negative cancels out one of your positives. Neutral comments rate a 0 — they have no impact either way. eBay even has what it calls the Star Chart, shown in Figure 4-10, which rewards those with good-and-getting-higher feedback ratings.

The flip side (or Dark Side to you
Star Wars
fans) of the star system is negative numbers. Negative comments deduct from your total of positive comments, thereby lowering the number beside your user ID.
eBay riddle:
When is more than one still one? Gotcha, huh? The answer is, when you get more than one feedback message from the same person in the same week. Confused? This should help: You can sell one person 100 different items, but even if the buyer gives you a glowing review 100 times in the same week, your feedback rating doesn’t increase by 100. In this case, the other 99 feedback comments appear in your feedback profile, but your rating increases only by 1.

Sellers are only allowed to leave positive feedback for buyers — I know this may not make sense, but that’s the way it is. You can leave a “positive,” but still be honest about your transaction in your words. eBay made this rule so sellers wouldn’t leave retaliatory feedback to buyers who left them negative feedback.

Should a buyer who hasn’t paid leave you a negative, eBay cooperates and removes the feedback, provided you’ve filed an Unpaid Item report.

If feedback is left individually and stretched out over several weeks (only one per week), the person on the other end of the transaction will get a single feedback point each time you leave a positive. I do this for my buyers who buy multiple items from me (it’s easy from the My eBay page). But, grrrrrr, they don’t seem to know this rule so I’ll get several positives — one after another — netting me only one positive. *Sigh*

Anyone with a –4 rating has his or her eBay membership terminated. Remember, just because a user may have a 750 feedback rating, it doesn’t hurt to click the number after the name to double-check the person’s eBay ID card. Even if someone has a total of 1,000 feedback messages, 250 of them
could
be negative.

You can get to your personal feedback profile page right from your My eBay page by clicking the number next to your user ID.

Feedback comes in three exciting flavors:

Positive feedback:
Someone once said, “All you have is your reputation.” Reputation is what makes eBay function. If the transaction works well, you get positive feedback; whenever it’s warranted, you should give it right back.

Negative feedback:
If there’s a glitch (for instance, it takes six months to get your
Charlie’s Angels
lunchbox or the seller substitutes a rusty thermos for the one you bid on or you never get the item), you have the right — some would say
obligation
— to leave negative feedback.

Neutral feedback:
You can leave neutral feedback if you feel so-so about a specific transaction. It’s the middle-of-the-road comment. Say you bought an item that had a little more wear and tear on it than the seller indicated, but you still like it and want to keep it.

How to get positive feedback

If you’re selling, here’s how to get a good reputation:

Establish contact with the buyer (pronto!) after the listing ends (see Chapter 12).

After you’ve received payment, send the item quickly (see Chapter 12).

Make sure that your item is exactly the way you described it (see Chapter 10).

Package the item well and ship it with care (see Chapter 12).

React quickly and appropriately to problems — for example, the item’s lost or damaged in the mail, or the buyer is slow in paying (see Chapter 12).

If you’re buying, try these good-rep tips:

Send your payment fast (see Chapter 8).

Keep in touch through e-mail with the seller (see Chapter 8).

Work with the seller to resolve any problems in a courteous manner (see Chapters 8 and 12).

How to get negative feedback

If you’re selling, here’s what to do to tarnish your name big-time:

Tell a major fib in the item description. (Defend truth, justice, and legitimate creative writing — see Chapter 10.)

Take the money but “forget” to ship the item. (Who did you say you are? See Chapter 16.)

Package the item poorly so that it ends up smashed, squashed, or vaporized during shipping. (To avoid this pathetic fate, see Chapter 12.)

If you’re buying, you can’t get official negative feedback, but the seller still has their “say.” Here’s how to make your feedback comment a serious mess:

Bid on an item, win the auction, and never respond to the seller. (Remember your manners and see Chapter 6.)

Send a personal check that bounces and never make good on the payment. (See Chapter 16 — and don’t pass Go.)

Ask the seller for a refund because you just don’t like the item. (Remember how to play fair and see Chapter 8.)

The Feedback page

When you click the Feedback number next to a member’s user ID, you’ll see all the tools you need to gauge the member. Think of your feedback profile as your eBay report card. Your goal is to get straight
A
s — in this case, all positive feedback. Unlike a real report card, you don’t have to bring it home to be signed.

When someone clicks the feedback number next to your user ID, they see the following information (see Figure 4-11):

Your user ID:
Your eBay nickname appears, followed by a number in parentheses — the net number of the positive feedback comments you’ve received, minus any negative feedback comments you may have (but that wouldn’t happen to you).

Your membership information:
Listed here is the date you first signed up as a member of the eBay community. Below that is the country from which you’re registered, your star rating (refer to Figure 4-11), and any icons leading to more areas related to you on eBay, such as your About Me page (see Chapter 14). This area also notes whether you are a PowerSeller (see Chapter 20) and whether you have an eBay Store.

Detailed Seller Ratings:
This area sums up the ratings, from one to five, that buyers have left for you.

Your Recent Feedback Ratings:
This area is a scorecard of your feedback for the last 12 months. At the bottom of the feedback tote board is a summary of your bid retractions in the past six months — the times you have retracted bids during an auction.