As a salesman, I’m out of the office about forty weeks during an
average year. The nature of my business is such that I am not
only unable to be contacted at all times, but really wouldn’t
want to be even if I could. Our office utilizes a remote calling
function with our business phone system that allows me to
receive all my messages from my desk phone. More importantly, I
am able to call one toll free number and place calls from my
desk phone as though I were there. Considering I am on the phone
quite a bit throughout the day, this feature saves me time and
money. At my previous job, I was required to use my own personal
cell phone, which I would submit an invoice for and be paid a
month later. Eventually, the company outfitted all the sales
representatives with company cell phones, but that still didn’t
solve the problem of needing to have an open line when
necessary. I can tell you from firsthand experience that trying
to make outgoing calls while people are calling you makes for a
hectic day. I was always trying to get one thing accomplished
while having to deal with someone else. With the business phone
system my current employer has in place, all calls go to my
voice mail, allowing me to do things on my own schedule and with
the prioritization to clients that I feel is necessary. Of
course, all my emergency contacts are still able to reach me on
my mobile phone, which means I’m not relegated to checking my
voice mail to find out if something I should immediately be
aware of has happened. All in all, the remote calling features
of our business phone system make my job a lot easier, which
allows me to be more productive. Since I work on commission, my
productivity is paramount to my financial success.

At some point in your eBay selling life, one of your customers is going to send you a complaint. As long as you respond to it properly, however, it’s easy to keep a complaint from turning into a crisis.

Respond Immediately and Grovellingly.

Someone might complain to you directly, or they might do it through eBay. Whatever happens, you need to email them immediately. Here’s a template to use:

“I have just received your complaint and I would like to say that I am very sorry you aren’t satisfied. If you would like, I can send you a [replacement/refund] for the item, as part of my ‘no questions asked’ guarantee. I apologise again for our mistake.”

Whatever you do, don’t start making excuses for yourself. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t get around to posting it yet because I’ve been busy at work and I’m going on holiday next week…” – no-one cares. If the buyer isn’t satisfied, then you screwed up, and you need to apologise repeatedly and do everything you can to make them happy again. Besides, is it really worth your time to go through eBay’s long-winded dispute process when all it’s going to do is alienate your customers?

This an attitude that will give you a massive advantage in eBay selling, for the simple reason that many smaller sellers are confrontational, unhelpful and out for every penny they can get. If buyers are rude to you, it’s just because they’re used to dealing with rude sellers.

Responding politely, promptly and being willing to do anything for your buyers will mark you out as different. It’s so rare that you might even manage to turn your complaining buyer into one of your most loyal customers!

Let People Phone You.

Don’t insist that everything is done with email – allow frustrated buyers to phone you and have a chat about their item. The chances are that they will never have talked to a human voice before about an eBay complaint, and will be even more impressed with anything you offer them to solve their problem.

Neutralise Negative Feedback.

If it really comes down to it and your complaint ends up as a piece of negative feedback on your record, make sure you post a response – and don’t make it something like “buyer was impossible to work with, avoid”!

Instead, post an apology, and detail what you did to put things right, for example: “Very sorry for the scratched item, I have sent a replacement”. You may also find that some buyers leave feedback before you have the chance to put things right, in which case you could write a phone number in the response space, or something like “I have emailed you about a refund”.

This will let anyone looking through your feedback see that not only are negatives very rare, but the few that there might be aren’t really worth counting.

In the next email, you’ll learn how to turn your shipping costs into a profit center.

Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.