Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

Boost Profits: Market to the Gay Community
Research shows that the gay and lesbian market is worth cultivating, no matter what your product or service. Despite the cultural changes during the past fifty years the gay and lesbian market is still relatively untapped. According to GLINN...
Do you want your own fully programmable ERP? - Part 1
Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in your newsletter, on your website or in your print publication provided you include the resource box at the end. Notification would be appreciated but is not required. Do you want your own fully...
PR: Focus on What Matters!
Sure, as a manager, you have a talented member of the PR team assigned to your department, division or subsidiary, or housed at your agency, and s/he is darn good at placing product and service plugs on radio and in the newspaper. Which may be all...
Professional Transcription and Your Business
Got stacks of audio tapes that need to be converted to a more user-friendly format? Professional transcription services may be the answer. Professional transcriptionists can take standard or micro cassette tapes and produce a typed...
Top Ten Online Choices to Get Clients to Choose you Again and Again - Part 2
Did you know that 95% of coaching businesses fail because their owners don't pay enough attention to sales copy? Whether you are a professional speaker, coach, or entrepreneur, every business wants more clients. Even more, they want to entice...
 
ForGive All Ebay Sins: Why Bad Customer Service Can Cost You Money!

Over the years, I have been amazed at the “blinding” greed and reckless approach to commerce that some business owners have employed.

Lying to customers, selling inferior merchandise, and not offering refunds, left a firestorm of irate customers in their wake.

Without fail, all of this “ill will” led most businesses to bankruptcy, and in some cases, Federal Prison.

I realize that not everyone engages in “business criminality” that rises to the level of fraud and incarceration. Most people try to be good stewards, and approach their enterprise in an honest and forthright manner.

For those of you who own thriving business concerns, you already know that in most cases the customer is always right.

You make sure that you communicate effectively, refund monies if the buyer is truly unhappy, and try to meet the needs of the people who buy your goods or services.

However, there are more than a handful of Ebay sellers that are of the mind that customer service and effective communication is not something that they need not participate in.

Take the case of a woman named Barbara, (Nickname: BoAnn) who recently posted her disappointment on the Ryze Business Network:

Quote:

Barbara Cerda wrote:

Greetings Everyone,

When will sellers on Ebay understand that customer service is key? And when will Ebay sellers learn using customer friendly approaches can only make their business grow?” Again today I've bought from a less than friendly seller.

Thought I was placing a bid and instead bought the item at the buy now price. Of course the seller refused to allow the retraction, nor was I allowed to place a bid. I always pay for my winning bids immediately upon email confirmation.

And did so in this case. But it would have been customer friendlier for this seller to accept my retraction to be replaced with a bid.

He would have gotten repeat business from me and my friends. His "Buy Now" price is 30% over the retail price for this item.

Lesson learned by me again - that there are way too many sellers on Ebay out to grab a buck and the hell with fair practice. Lesson learned yet again.

Bobann

End quote…

The operative phrase here is “repeat business from me and my friends”. There is no better endorsement of your product or service than word of mouth advertising.

Lack of flexibility on the part of the seller, not only cost him/her one customer, but also destroyed the possibility for future business. Good news travels fast, but bad news travels faster!

As an auction seller, (Ebay auction ID: LevelBest77) I would have accommodated her right away. And while I have never had anyone use “Buy It Now” by accident, I have had several people over the years ask me to retract bids.

The number of people who have made that request can be counted on one hand! Some did not even understand the process; (bid retracting) and I guided them through it.

People make honest mistakes, and you should never “abuse” a buyer for doing so. If you plan to get into Ebay auction selling for the long haul, always practice good will toward your customers.

Unless someone is totally unreasonable, and you have done everything in your power to accommodate their request, never deny people the ability to change their mind, return an item, or retract a bid!

Developing good will also requires that you anticipate customer needs…..

For instance, I had a few overseas customers bid on a wireless router. This particular item needed to be powered with a Universal Adapter, since voltage requirements in France and Australia are obviously different from those here in the United States.

I made this abundantly clear to both bidders before they sent me any payment. The purchase of such an adapter, not to mention the shipping price, would have doubled the US retail cost.

I told them that they could probably get the product cheaper at their local electronics stores. Without hesitation, I let them out of their obligation to pay for the item. I then contacted the next highest bidder and offered that person the chance to
make the purchase.

Both bidders thanked me for my honesty. They had forgotten about the electrical differences. I could have ignored that little detail, and sold them the item anyway.

I just had to put myself in their situation. Think of how frustrated they would have been if I did not reveal that information. Buyer’s remorse would have set in quickly, once they realized that they could have purchased the same item for a lot less in their
native countries.




While the benefits of these actions may not have an immediate effect, you can be sure that should I ever have another “item of interest!” these two gentlemen would not hesitate to purchase from me. They can count on me to accommodate their needs, instead of catering to my wants. Creating this type of good will instills trust, and the knowledge that you have the customers best interest in mind.

“Me thinketh thou doth protest too much!

Do you accentuate the positive? Or, do you run on negativity? Negative Ebay feedback is a tool that everyone should use with restraint, or not at all. As a rule, I never leave negative feedback.

Unless someone has blatantly lied about your product, or attacked you personally without merit, then I would not leave any feedback in the “minus” side of the isle!

“Flame” wars are not pretty. I have seen a lot of unnecessary back and forth “banter” that could have been avoided, if they (the seller) just resisted the urge to make their “two cents” known. Sometimes it gives customers the impression that you are more concerned about arguing, then conducting your business.

I have also witnessed seller feedback that has included some pretty foul language. Engaging in this type of verbal sparring is not much of a confidence builder either.

It is more telling of what you are, then about revealing the sins of your customers. Don’t go out of your way to register a negative response if you can help it. Heed the sage advice that our Mother’s use to tell us: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!”

“What we have here is a failure to communicate!” From The Movie: Cool Hand Luke.

Communication with your customers should not amount to the sound one hand clapping! Bottom line, if someone e-mails you with a question--answer it! Here is an example of the type of feedback I obtained by doing just that……

“He was very Helpful and cooperative in answering questions.” Follow-up: Will DEFINITELY use his services anytime he has items of interest! Great Seller!

The gentlemen who left this positive review, wanted to know about some of the particulars of a “Mickey Mouse” clock I had up for auction.

His wife is a collector of all things Disney, and thought it would be a nice surprise for her birthday. The clock, to say the least, was in sad shape.

It was incapable of keeping time, and the only part of it in working order was the second hand. I thought for sure that he would be disappointed with the item despite full disclosure of all of it’s imperfections.

To my surprise, not only did I receive positive feedback, but he also told me that his wife absolutely loved it! In this instance, one man’s junk, truly, is another man’s treasure! I never thought this item was worthy of any praise! The time it took to answer his questions—all of five minutes!

I know that some of you will say that I am not being realistic. You just can’t answer e-mails all day; “I have a business to run!,” you might proclaim. If you plan on making a living on Ebay, then you better think about hiring someone to help you answer your daily inquires if it is just too overwhelming. If you specialize in a particular product set up Frequently Asked Questions to an Auto-Responder. Click here: http://www.aweber.com/

If you use Ebay on an infrequent basis, and have less than thirty listings a month, then you really don't have any excuse not to provide great customer service and e-mail communication. You shouldn’t be inundated with questions regarding that many items, unless the product you are selling is technical in nature.

If you ignore your customers, they will go away. Good customer service should be woven into the fabric of every good business.

I cannot overemphasis the importance of this issue. I continue to be perplexed by the fact that it is last on the list of business priorities for some Ebay sellers!

Will good customer service and communication alone make you rich on Ebay? That would be a resounding "no".

You will have to understand your market, and provide products that the Ebay community will bid on consistently.

There will be “bidders & buyers” out there that will make mistakes, and commit some auction sins! Forgive all Ebay sins and you will be rewarded with happy, repeat customers!


About the Author

Robert C. Potter is a wholesale & surplus specialist, who helps all businesses and auction sellers find products for resale. He is the author of "The Ultimate Guide To Products For Resale". His 160 page ebook can be found at:
http://www.productsforresale.com

 

Language Tools
Translation of text and web pages between English and several European languages.
www.google.com
 
Language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gestures are a part of human language too. Some invented human languages have ... In human languages, the symbols are sometimes known as lexemes and the ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
English language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Estimates about second language speakers of English vary greatly between 150 million ... Distribution of first-language native English speakers by country ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
Free Translation and Professional Translation Services from SDL ...
SDL International is the world's number 1 provider of free and professional language translation services for websites and documents.
www.freetranslation.com
 
AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation
Select from and to languages, Chinese-simp to English, Chinese-trad to English, English to Chinese-simp, English to Chinese-trad, English to Dutch ...
babelfish.altavista.com
 
yourDictionary.com • Comprehensive and Authoritative Language Portal
Comprehensive index of on-line dictionaries in more than 200 different languages. Includes an index of on-line grammars, word of the day by email, ...
www.yourdictionary.com
 
iLoveLanguages - Your Guide to Languages on the Web
The Human-Languages Page is a comprehensive catalog of language-related Internet resources. The over 1900 links in the HLP database have been hand-reviewed ...
www.ilovelanguages.com
 
AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation
AltaVista Babel Fish provides the online text and web page language translation! ... Select from and to languages, Chinese-simp to English, Chinese-trad to ...
world.altavista.com
 
BBC - Languages - Homepage
Learn French, Spanish, German, Italian and other languages with the BBC. Start up with our courses or brush up with our audio magazines.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
Online Dictionaries and Translators
online dictionaries that assist in the conversion from one language to ... If the dictionary only translates from one language to another you will see this ...
www.word2word.com
 
The Klingon Language Institute
Nonprofit organization offers language tutorials, related merchandise, mailing list and membership information.
www.kli.org
 
MARC Code List for Languages
MARC Code List for Languages prepared by the Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office.
www.loc.gov
 
Python Programming Language -- Official Website
Home page for Python, an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented, extensible programming language. It provides an extraordinary combination of clarity and ...
www.python.org
 
SYSTRAN Language Translation Technology
Machine translation products. Free online translation available (the engine used by Altavista's Web translator) - English to French, German, Italian, ...
www.systransoft.com
 
Project MUSE - Language
Language, the official journal for the Linguistic Society of America, ... Edited by Brian Joseph , Language serves a readership of over 7000 and has been ...
muse.jhu.edu
 
Learn a Language :: English, Spanish, German, Italian, French ...
English language courses online: e-learning, learn English online, ... English language learning events,news, conferences, workshops and seminars ...
www.edufind.com
 
Parlo - Welcome to Parlo - learn to speak a new language.
Parlo helps you learn English, French, Spanish and other languages with free online courses, music, a magazine, flash cards, chat rooms, message boards and ...
www.parlo.com
 
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
PHP is a server-side HTML embedded scripting language. It provides web developers with a full suite of tools for building dynamic websites: native APIs to ...
www.php.net
 
Ethnologue, Languages of the World
Home page of ethnologue.com, a searchable database of language resources.
www.ethnologue.com
 
Language Log
Weblog run by University of Pennsylvania phonetician Mark Liberman, with multiple guest linguists.
itre.cis.upenn.edu
 
 

 
Content Menu
  • 10 essential criteria for choosing your target market

  • 10 secrets to motivating yourself to great accomplishments

  • 10 steps to promote your small business

  • 10 tips for effective email sales letters

  • 10 tips to grow your business plain simple

  • 10 tips to help you pack more power into your business writing

  • 10 top tips for networking

  • 10 ways entrepreneurs shoot themselves in the foot

  • 10 ways to boost profitability

  • 11 awesome ways to increase your affiliate commissions

  • 12 ways to increase traffic and sales part 2

  • 25 proven strategies for improving your telephone results to build your mlm dowline

  • 27 tips for an effective presentation

  • 50 surefire business card tips

  • 5 business development blunders

  • 5 powerful article writing tips

  • 5 things more important to internet buyers than what youre selling ii

  • 7 explosive strategies to maximize your google adwords campaigns

  • 7 necessities to do well in google

  • 7 sanity saving business boundaries

  • 7 steps to test prices and convert more sales

  • 7 strategies for feeding success thoughts to your brain

  • 8 awesome ways to attract more visitors to your web site

  • 9 ways to make your website more presentable

  • add some firepower to your pr

  • alternative legal billing win win strategies

  • are you an investment dummy like me

  • are you hearing everything your customer peer boss supplier isnt saying

  • are you ready to go international

  • asset searching for recovery actions the decision makers most critical tool part 1

  • attention pr shoppers

  • at home in your overseas home

  • at your service the ten commandments of great customer service

  • avoid outsourcing pitfalls in plastic injection molds and stamping dies

  • a career with the fbi

  • a clear view about the nature of home based internet business

  • a common sense approach to job interviews

  • a gadfly on a dinosaurs butt or the hood winking of the american investor

  • a great way to do pr

  • a happy professional chooses clients

  • a mentor can make you a smashing success

  • a pr question for chinese managers

  • a pr surprise for managers

  • a renewed view of the modern business culture

  • a strategy for attracting higher paying client

  • a uniting culture for the new multicultural workplace

  • a world outside the us

  • back to the basics how to successfully start an online business

  • before they buy what you say 10 steps to selling yourself

  • begging your trust in africa

  • being family friendly

  • being stressed out may not be all that bad

  • better decisions balancing efficiency buy in

  • birds of a feather may be turkeys

  • body language how to read your prospect like a book

  • body language speakers louder than words

  • body language speaks louder than words

  • book summary nice girls dont get the corner office 101

  • boost profits market to the gay community

  • boost your sales copy with one simple tweak

  • breaking the ice and winning over the client

  • brief introduction about china

  • build confidence credibility first person pronouns get your messages heard

  • business card etiquette

  • buyer beware choose a business coach carefully to get the results you want

  • buying a business

  • buying overseas property

  • career management in a jobless economy

  • chandler hill body language can make or break interviews

  • characteristics of high performance teams

  • choosing a good spanish english translation dictionary

  • choosing the right online shopping cart

  • colorblind people can they really read your web site

  • complete web site optimization for search engines part 2

  • computer controlled led signs

  • create a magic connection with clients leads and business associates part i

  • create a positive upbeat can do workforce and dazzle the customer with your caring

  • create confidence with your writing

  • creating a magic connection with clients leads and business associates part i

  • creating a vision

  • cross cultural communication consultants

  • cross cultural communication needs

  • cross cultural solutions for international business

  • cultural awareness an hr perspective

  • customers what they really want 6 secrets of customer

  • cyber crooks go phishing

  • dealing with anger

  • dealing with difficult people

  • deciphering office lingo

  • dialogue the four dialogic principles for successful communication

  • dirty hooligan what a crude street corner come on taught me about direct response marketing

  • diversity in the workplace

  • diversity in the workplace benefits challenges and solutions

  • dont get caught with your pr down

  • do you have an exclusive market segment

  • do you want your own fully programmable erp part 1

  • economics psychologys neglected branch

  • economic survival in the 21st century the three key questions to ask

  • education and outsourcing 2 ways to improve your business

  • effective collaboration working with your ghostwriter

  • effective multi cultural international business meetings

  • email etiquette ii

  • email etiquette iv

  • embrace diversity to build effective teams

  • emotional challenges facing older woman starting their own business

  • employers quick guide to avoiding sexual harassment liability

  • engage your customer write about benefits

  • english language sputtering online like an old ford

  • exposing your expertise

  • extended enterprise in the nesting and cutting business

  • e mails not getting answered shhhh heres why

  • factual employment screening part one

  • famous business strategies

  • faqs about buying property in spain

  • fight for online visibility

  • fight the fluff

  • five secrets to showing your customers you really care

  • five things more important to buyers than what youre selling i

  • follow up marketing how to win more sales with less effort

  • forgive all ebay sins

  • forgive all ebay sins why bad customer service can cost you money

  • from net dummy to net savvy in two months

  • getting started with html

  • global banking forced to favour the customer

  • god feeds the birds of the air but he doesnt drop it into their nests

  • googlebot wont go home

  • google adsense source of revenue at no cost

  • grow your business and grow yourself

  • heres exactly what makes web audio so powerful

  • hire a virtual assistant

  • hiring students for summer jobs update yourself on the new child labor laws

  • how a change in perspective can help you make more holiday season sales pt one

  • how can you be sure that your marketing efforts will generate profits

  • how effective is your leadership style

  • how not to let powerpoint kill your presentation

  • how pr helps fiercely competitive managers

  • how to build massive keyword lists

  • how to determine good online business

  • how to ensure effective color in todays manufacturing processes and why its more important than ever today

  • how to find the best foreign language courses

  • how to get an extension to file your business tax returns

  • how to get press to come to you

  • how to get the press to come to you

  • how to improve your management procedures usability

  • how to keep pr working for you

  • how to make own cms

  • how to master the art and science of super salesmanship in 3« minutes flat

  • how to pick a winning business name

  • how to protect yourself your business

  • how to recognize a good cad drafting service provider

  • how to seal the deal in seven seconds

  • how to start investing for financial independence part 2

  • how to use humor successfully in your business communications

  • how to write more powerful brochures leaflets and catalogs

  • how to write more powerful business letters

  • how to write more powerful reports

  • how to write powerful speeches and talks

  • how web conferencing provides educational opportunities

  • human resource communication pays off

  • hurdles to cross cultural business communication

  • if i were coaching you

  • imagine pr like this helping you

  • increase business by squashing your fear of phones

  • increase exposure to your website for free

  • index

  • inoculate yourself against bad pr

  • instant rapport the key to sales success

  • interviewing tips to get that job

  • introducing the virtual time machine that gives back your valuable time

  • investing in the stock market

  • investing its a whole new language

  • investorideas com announces addition of chinese language financial research original articles and content in response to asian market growth

  • is email dead

  • is this the pr you thought you were getting

  • i just lost my job how am i going to tell my kids

  • joint ventures in real estate development so how do they work

  • keeping your business event entertainment clean not obscene amusing without abusing

  • keep business reports brief

  • kick in the pants job search

  • language in international business

  • lasers and high performance cutting

  • latest technologies on business cards printing services

  • learn a language for career advancement

  • learn to manage people

  • living and investing in new zealand an easy process

  • make money

  • making cultural differences work in your business

  • making informed keyword choices

  • making money with information products

  • managers and pr one thing is clear

  • managers pr more than tix and plugs

  • managers why not pr like this

  • managers why pr is so key

  • managing the sales negotiation process

  • mass text to speech telephone notification tool calls millions in under an hour in multiple languages

  • maximize sales and minimize returns with learning styles

  • maybe the strongest pr on planet earth

  • microsoft great plains middle east arabic language support

  • move key audiences to actions you want

  • moving key audiences to take action

  • multiple channels multiple times

  • narcissism in the boardroom

  • network marketing book lovers guide 10 hot reads in 2005

  • no holds barred conversations with dan lok part 2

  • no money down loans

  • nursing shortage here is what some hospitals are doing

  • offshore this

  • online casino what is it

  • online payday loans how to gain an advantage over lenders

  • organized crime expert amway just like mafia

  • persuasive communication

  • preparing to be an entrepreneur

  • present your message with power and pizzazz

  • printing press development

  • print and modern thought

  • professional transcription and your business

  • promote yourself more successfully

  • protect your business with non disclosure agreements

  • proven two minutes magic exercise to conquer the fear of phone

  • proven ways to dramatically increase your conversion rate

  • pr advice you didnt ask for

  • pr a potent force for success

  • pr essential to your success

  • pr focus on what matters

  • pr heres all you need to know

  • pr lets cut to the chase

  • pr still a mystery to some

  • pr that entrepreneurs often overlook

  • pr the thrill of a good idea

  • pr where it matters most

  • pr your 500 pound gorilla

  • public domain the philosophy of freedom

  • put order and information into file names

  • real estate marketing the importance of listing language

  • reasons for individual corporate and national success and

  • residual income making money while you sleep

  • resolving workplace conflict 4 ways to a win win solution

  • results of poor cross cultural awareness

  • right pr empowers a manager

  • right pr focus a powerful advantage

  • rotator

  • running your own website when you have chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia is easier than you think

  • same old same old pr still tops

  • scammers use better business bureau name to commit scams

  • scrolling led signs

  • secrets of donald trump revealed

  • secret f r ee ingredient transforms web sites into money machines

  • selling foreign language domain names

  • selling online get ready to meet these guys and girls

  • selling with your own web site

  • service professions does your website follow these 5 simple rules for getting more clients

  • show your customers you care

  • small business tax credit americans with disabilities act

  • speaking body language

  • speak with es part 3

  • stop debt collectors

  • success and communication

  • swotting for success

  • taking care of busines e mail

  • talk to yourself first

  • tension stress or creative tension new breakthroughs in personal productivity

  • ten reasons to implement choice theory in your organization

  • ten tips for cross cultural communication

  • test your professional behavior

  • the 10 step resume critique

  • the best traffic generation tool is free

  • the business of torture

  • the challenges of human resource management

  • the effects of printing press society speaking

  • the end is the beginning

  • the essentials of free internet marketing

  • the keys to buying motivation unlock the door to sales success

  • the language of business

  • the language of real estate investing use the f words to succeed

  • the power of words how the right language can make you shine

  • the power of words market yourself by adopting a whole new language

  • the seven best ways for salespeople and entrepreneurs to build awesome customer relationships

  • the six sigma method and design of experiments

  • the small business success summit october 10 2003 to october 12 2003

  • the top three problems it managers face and how to overcome them

  • the top twelve e mail mistakes that can sabotage your career

  • the worst pr mistakes

  • this is the power of pr

  • throw out your selling language unlock your natural voice

  • tips to power up your sales copy

  • top 3 myths of leadership debunked

  • top 7 steps to better public speaking

  • top ten online choices to get clients to choose you again and again part 1

  • top ten online choices to get clients to choose you again and again part 2

  • top ten ways to improve your communication skills

  • translation services use a translator a translation agency or do it in house

  • website globalization

  • website manifestation 7 steps to a successful site

  • web conferences versus video conferences

  • web measurement what you dont know would make a great book

  • web store why do you need one

  • what are internet radio hosts looking for in their guests

  • what is confianza and why is it important

  • what is data visualization

  • what is executive presence

  • what is search engine optimization and why do i need it

  • what you dont know about pr can hurt you

  • which niche to conquer

  • why even a simple contract can save your bacon

  • why good pr warrants your attention

  • why you must stop setting goals

  • why you should learn html

  • working with your real estate attorney

  • write s that dazzle

  • writing a press release

  • your organization what role pr

  • your organizing dna