Auctioncope Auction Blog

Most sellers spend the bulk of their time on eBay creating new listings.  One way to save time is by creating Inserts.  Inserts have several downsides though.  You’re only allowed to create five and sometimes eBay doesn’t save them properly or they get deleted.  For this reason, I suggest using a program called Texter to copy/paste text or html code that you’re likely to reuse in your listings or don’t want to retype over and over.  Texter uses “hotstrings” you create and replaces them with whatever text you like.  For example, in the Insert guide we created an Insert called “PayShip” to paste in payment and shipping terms into the listing.  With Texter, you can create a “hotstring” that Texter will automatically replace with your payment and shipping terms.  Here’s how to do it.

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As I mentioned before, I’m working down the eBay “Sell Your Item” form, starting with the Item Title and finishing with whatever comes last.  The eBay Item Description is a substantial topic and I could go on for months about various subtopics relating to it.  For that reason, I may skip around a bit so we aren’t stuck talking about html coding for the next three weeks.  Not today though, as I will be explaining how to use “Inserts” to quickly include html code or text in the description.  I recommend using Microsoft Internet Explorer to do this.  It’s a little more buggy when using Mozilla Firefox.  Read on to find out how.

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I like the color and the font of this theme a lot more than the old one. Plus, the images are shown full size so it’s easier to view them.  I’ve installed a comment spam plugin as well as a few other things that won’t be as obvious.  Hopefully things will run more smoothly now.  If you have any suggestions please email me.

Why Feedback is More Important Than Ever

Feedback is the most important aspect of your seller reputation.  No matter how many feedbacks you receive, it’s important to minimize negatives.  When I was first starting out, I underestimated how much negative feedback would affect my business.  I felt like I could “take the neg” because I was receiving so many positives.  This may be true to a point, but there are many buyers who take a lot of care reading over feedback profiles and won’t bid on an item if there is the slightest hint of a problem.  This is especially true for sellers who offer more expensive items.  At the same time, the majority of bidders take nothing but the feedback percentage into account and some don’t even do that.  There is only one way to appeal to all bidders and that is to do everything you can to keep your feedback percentage as high as possible.  If you know what you’re doing, you can quickly resolve problems and convince buyers to revise their feedback.

Feedback is now even more important than it ever has been because it’s tied to Powerseller discounts as well as where your items will show up in buyer’s searches.  It is imperative to get negative feedback removed because of what it can do to your Detailed Seller Ratings.  Negative feedback is almost always accompanied by a 1 rating in all four Detailed Seller Rating categories.  Let’s say you’ve received 20 feedbacks in the last month, one which was a negative.  Even if you received perfect fives from all of your other buyers that month, the one rating from the negative would bring your average down to 4.8 (19 *5 = 95.  +1 = 96.  Divided by 20 = 4.8).  If a couple of your buyers left a 4, your Detailed Seller Ratings could drop into the 4.5 range or below instantly after a negative is received.

A History of Feedback Withdrawal

EBay’s procedure for feedback removal has changed dramatically over the years.  Beginning in 2004, it was possible for a buyer or a seller to initiate a “Mutual Feedback Withdrawal Request.”  If the other person agreed to the Request, the feedback icon (green plus/clear neutral/red minus) would be removed and the negative would be eliminated from the feedback percentage, but the comment would remain on the feedback page.   Buyers and sellers could send as many of these requests as they wanted.  Many sellers who received negative feedback from buyers would in turn leave negatives for the buyers.  Most buyers came to the understanding that if they left a negative for a seller then they would in turn receive one from the seller.  Sellers left negatives for buyers in order to give them more of an incentive to agree to the Withdrawal Request.  This resulted in buyers having to agree to withdraw the negative they left for the seller, even in those instances when the seller deserved the negative feedback, because the buyer didn’t want the negative on their account either.  Many people thought this was unfair.

Four years later, in January of 2008, eBay announced that beginning in May, sellers would no longer be able to leave neutral or negative feedback for buyers.  As you may be aware, this resulted in no less than an online riot.  To fan the flames, a few days later eBay announced that they were doing away with Mutual Feedback Withdrawal and not replacing it with any other means of removing negatives.  For many sellers this meant that there was no longer any reason to satisfy buyers after they left a negative feedback.  After all, there was no longer any upside to shipping refunds or fixing problems if buyers couldn’t let people know that the seller was reasonable.  EBay also put an end to Squaretrade Feedback Removal, which basically consisted of the seller paying $20 to Squaretrade in order to get the negative removed from their account.  Since that no longer exists there isn’t much of a reason to go into it, but let me just say that it was a bizarre and corrupt system.

What is eBay Feedback Revision?

The end to Mutual Feedback Withdrawal was one of many mistakes eBay made during 2008 that they would later attempt to correct.  Just five months after announcing its demise, eBay announced a new procedure called “eBay Feedback Revision.”  The process is similar to Mutual Feedback Withdrawal.  The seller sends a request through eBay asking the buyer if they want to change their feedback.  Instead of removing the negative feedback icon and leaving the comment visible, buyers can actually change the feedback to a positive and enter a new comment.  Under the feedback it will say, “Feedback was revised on Date-Time.”  The total number of revised feedback the seller has is visible on a seller’s feedback page at the top right.

The downside of the new program is that you are limited in the amount of Feedback Revisions you can send.  Each calendar year, every seller gets to send 5 Feedback Revision Requests.  For every 1,000 feedbacks a seller receives (positive + negative + neutral + positives from buying), they will have the opportunity to send another 5 Feedback Revisions.  In order to maximize effectiveness, sellers must be certain that the buyer is willing to change their feedback before sending the Request, or they will have wasted a Request.  The seller must send the Revision Request within 30 days of receiving the feedback and the buyer only has 10 days to complete it after the seller initiates it.

The Best Ways Sellers Can Convince Buyers to Complete Feedback Revision

First, access the eBay Feedback Revision page

There are a variety of reasons buyers leave negative feedback and the first thing you’ll have to do is identify what the buyer’s problem is and how you can solve it as quickly and cheaply as possible.  You also need to identify the type of buyer you’re dealing with – Male or female?  Age?  How active are they on eBay?  Do they also sell?  Profiling your buyer will help you decide what the best approach will be.  Remember, you are limited to the amount of Feedback Revisions you are allowed to send.  You want to be certain the buyer is willing to accept the Request before you initiate it.  Pleasing a difficult buyer is one of the most unpleasant experiences a seller will have on eBay.  You’ll probably hate yourself, the buyer, and eBay for making you refund $10 of the buyer’s payment for a problem that probably doesn’t exist or isn’t your fault.  As angry as you might be about the negative, don’t let it show in any of your emails.  You want to convince the buyer that you are a reasonable person and genuinely want to work it out.  Also, I don’t recommend replying to the negative feedback on your feedback page until you’re certain the buyer is unwilling to complete the Feedback Revision.  Here are some examples of how to handle the situation.  Keep in mind that every situation is different.

The easiest and most ethical way to go about Feedback Revision is to ask the buyer what they want you to do and do it.  Put the ball in the buyer’s court by asking them what they want to do, rather than making an offer of your own.  This will ensure that the buyer isn’t insulted by your offer and you haven’t offered them more than they would be willing to accept.  If the negative is about the item itself, tell the buyer that you were unaware that they were unhappy with their item and would like to do anything you can to fix their problem.  Ask them what they want you to do to fix the problem in your first message.  I usually say something like, “Hello, I am sorry you were not satisfied with your item.  I had no idea there was a problem with the item when I shipped it to you.  Your satisfaction is important to me and I would like to do whatever I can to resolve this as quickly and amicably as possible.  Please get back to me with what you would like me to do.  Thank you again for your purchase and I look forward to hearing back from you.”  Notice that I don’t mention anything about the Feedback Revision yet.  Even if you were aware that the buyer was not happy with the item, it’s better to plead ignorance and make it clear that you are now willing to work the problem out.  Most buyers are reasonable people and will reply that they want to return the item or they want a partial refund.  If what they want is unreasonable, ask if they would rather return the item for a full refund.  If you are able to come to an agreement then ask if the buyer is willing to complete a Feedback Revision saying that you resolved the situation quickly and amicably.  Most buyers will be relieved that you are willing to comply with their demands and happy to complete the Revision.

If the feedback is for slow shipping or another shipping problem, offer to refund the shipping charge.  If shipping was free, offer a partial refund in the amount that shipping cost.  I usually say something like, “I’m sorry the item took so long to reach you.  I shipped it the day after your payment was received.  I’m not sure why there was a delay during transit.  I contacted USPS and they were unable to tell me what happened.  Would refunding your shipping cost make up for the delay?”  Notice again that I don’t mention the Feedback Revision yet.  You want to make it clear to the buyer that your first priority is making them happy, not getting them to remove their feedback.  Most buyers will jump at the opportunity to get a shipping refund.  When they respond that it would make them happy, reply and ask if they’re willing to change their feedback to reflect that you resolved the issue amicably.  Unfortunately, the way eBay is set up makes it worth almost anything to get negative feedback removed.  A refund of a few dollars now will mean higher prices in the future because more bidders will be interested in buying from you.  Just be sure that you are as pleasant as possible with the buyer.  Even if the problem isn’t necessarily your fault, take full responsibility for fixing it.  I recommend emailing the buyer as soon as possible after receiving the negative.

Sometimes buyers will be less than excited about resolving the issue with you.  If you do not receive a response back to your first message, make sure you send one directly through eBay as well as a reply to the email they used to send payment.  Say something like, “Hello, I didn’t receive a reply back to my first email about the issue with your item.  I would like to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.  Please get back to me at your earliest convenience so we can get this taken care of.”   The great majority of buyers will be willing to work with you to resolve the problem and will be willing to change the feedback to a positive if you make arrangements to do what you both agree is reasonable.  If they still won’t respond, you can get their phone number from eBay here:

Find Contact Information

There are also several less ethical ways to convince a buyer to revise their feedback.  Of course, I don’t condone doing any of them and most I can’t even really explain.  The easiest way to make it more likely that a buyer will complete the Feedback Revision process is to lie to them about your circumstances and provide an excuse for your poor communication or the delay in shipping.  Tell the buyer that your Mother just died or your kids have been home sick with the flu.  Apologize and apologize and refund their shipping charge before they even respond.  This will make almost all buyers willing to complete the Feedback Revision.  It also makes you a terrible person, so just consider that before you start telling people that you got abducted by aliens.

Pleasing buyers is one of the most frustrating aspects of selling on eBay.  No matter what you do, some people will simply never be satisfied.  Feedback Revision provides an opportunity for you to fix problems with buyers and get the feedback they left changed to a positive.  Going about it in the right way will make it more likely that your buyer will be willing to work with you and ultimately agree to revise their feedback.  Take responsibility for fixing the problem and always be pleasant in your emails and you will find that you can resolve most problems and keep your feedback percentage as high as possible.

The Gallery Picture is the little picture people see next to the Item Title when searching for stuff on eBay.  Although the Gallery Picture is often overlooked, it’s one of the most important aspects of your eBay listing, because it’s one of only a few things you can do to entice potential bidders to click on your listing. There was a time, way back in 2007, when the fee to include a gallery picture was 35 cents.  At that time, many sellers opted not to pay the fee and many eBay searches resulted in pages of nothing but titles and little blue camera icons.  EBay finally realized at the end of 2007 that this was not the shopping experience of the 21st century and made Gallery Pictures free for all listings.  This is why just about every auction now includes one.  Selling on eBay is a process.  First, you have to get your item listed in a bidder’s search results by creating an Item Title with the best keywords possible.  Next, you have to optimize your listing in Search Placement so that your item is listed high enough in search that bidders will see it.  Then, you use the Subtitle and Gallery Picture to reel them in.

The picture that ultimately becomes your Gallery Picture is either the first one you upload or the one you move over to the far left with the arrows underneath the images.

There are several ways to go when deciding which picture to use as your Gallery Picture.  As I have recommended before, look over the completed listings and take a look at what the most successful sellers use for their Gallery Picture.  Unlike with titles and subtitles though, you don’t want to steal other people’s photographs, as it’s against policy and can result in your listing being removed if anyone notices.  The first option is simply to choose the picture that you think represents the item the best.  It does not necessarily have to be a picture of the whole item.  The goal of the gallery picture is to pique the bidder’s interest and have them click on your listing.   I do not recommend using a stock photo in most cases.  Stock photos are the pictures eBay provides with “Pre-Filled Information” or pictures you can download and save from stores like Amazon.com or Nordstrom. When bidders see the same Gallery Picture over and over, they tend to skip over them and look for something more interesting. You want to include a photo that differentiates your auction from the others. In most cases, there are many sellers trying to sell the exact same item. You have to differentiate yourself to get noticed. The Gallery Picture is one of the only opportunities you have to achieve that.

An easy way to differentiate your Gallery Picture from other sellers is to add text to it.

Otter Creek Trading on eBay

Notice how this seller adds “Free Shipping” as well as a specific feature to the Gallery Picture of every item they sell.  Notice she’s still using the stock photo, but the text and added color make the listings instantly stand out on the page.  You can easily create a similar template for your listings.  Your Gallery Picture also doesn’t necessarily have to be a picture of the item at all.  Take a look at this seller

Time2Envy eBay Store

Remember, most sellers use a stock photo or some other boring image of the item.  You want to catch the attention of potential buyers.  This is the only purpose of the Gallery Picture – to convince potential bidders to click your item and continue the buying process.  With that said, Gallery Pictures without an image of the actual item are popular mostly in the electronics categories where buyers are looking for a specific item like a “Canon EOS 50D Camera.” Bidders know what the camera looks like so it isn’t necessary for sellers to show them in the Gallery Picture. If you’re selling an item where it would be helpful to see it, you probably want to go the traditional route of a picture of the item.

When eBay announced that they were removing the 35 cent fee for Gallery Pictures, you can be sure that they were sad.  To make up some of the revenue they came up with a new upgrade, called Gallery Plus. Gallery Plus also costs 35 cents, the same cost as the original Gallery Picture fee. Gallery Plus displays a larger Gallery Picture when the bidder mouses over the Gallery Picture.  I don’t recommend this upgrade because I don’t think buyers bother with it.  Most bidders have their mouse glued to the “down arrow” on the side of their browser.  If they’re interested in seeing a larger version of your Gallery Picture they’ll click on the listing.  In fact, that’s exactly what you want them to do.  If they mouse over for an enlarged Gallery Picture instead of clicking on the Item Title, you’ve lost.  Also, it’s annoying to have a picture expand like that and block other listings and the buyer is more likely to skip over your listing out of spite.  There is an option to purchase the Value pack which includes the Subtitle, Listing Designer, and Gallery Plus upgrades for 65 cents.  Since I recommend purchasing the Subtitle Upgrade in most cases, it may be worthwhile to include the Gallery Plus and Listing Designer for 15 cents more.  It’s up to you, but be aware that in all the classes I’ve taught on eBay I’ve never seen someone mouse over for the Gallery Plus picture, which makes it pretty much worthless.

The sole purpose of the Gallery Picture is to entice potential bidders to click on your listing.  You’ll have plenty more pictures in your description for bidders to look at, so it isn’t necessary to give them the whole story in one small Gallery Picture.  Consider what your item is, and what the pictures you have available to you are, and choose what image you think is likely to make the most bidders click.  Remember though, eBay is a family website so I don’t recommend posting nudes or something.  Successful selling on eBay is all about the process and you’ll be more successful as you begin to understand how to put all the parts together.