Online Marketplaces & Feedback: Why It's Important For You
So you're making a purchase on Ebay (or Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, or other marketplace or auction site) and as you're doing so you notice that next to the seller's user name is a number, or a percentage, or series of coloured stars. This is their feedback rating, the result of "votes" cast by previous paying customers, designed to show prospective customers how efficient and trustworthy the seller is. Nice feature, huh? Well, if you shop on marketplace and auction sites, it may be more important than you realize.
Trust and Risk
Shopping online means you're buying goods from people whose faces and storefronts you will probably never see. A high feedback rating, obviously, means that the majority of customers have been happy with the seller's service. Wouldn't you feel better making a purchase from someone your friends recommended highly, than some total unknown? Of course! Seeing that high rating left by real paying customers, like you, means less risk for the next customer. It's no guarantee something can't go wrong, but a very good indication that it won't (and that even if it does, the seller will very likely politely and efficiently handle the situation).
Reputation
Feedback is important for sellers too, because it establishes their reputation in the marketplace. When that reputation is good it gives them an edge over their competition, and their business thrives. When it's bad, they know they will have to improve their business in order to survive. And if they don't, they will eventually fail. In a sense, the existence of feedback "culls the herd", silently nudging out bad business from the marketplace site. And in some cases, such as Ebay, there are even penalties for insufficient feedback such as loss of listing fee discounts, lowered exposure in search results, and even restrictions on how many items the seller can list.
Thus for sellers, a high feedback rating is just as crucial as it is to customers, if not even more. So when "no news is good news" (nothing went wrong with the purchase), the seller should be entitled to the best possible rating. If something went wrong, did you talk to the seller and work something out? A positive outcome deserves a positive rating. If they refused to help or didn't respond, an unpleasant outcome like that deserves an unpleasant rating. Just remember to keep in mind things like distance (they may be in another country or state, so shipping time and rates vary) and language (they may not speak your language and are using a translator). Feedback is your chance to step up and be honest with the seller *and* other customers.
Community
But what if some of those paying customers didn't leave any feedback? What if something went wrong with their purchase and they didn't rate the seller accordingly? Or what if everything went right and they couldn't be bothered? And what if only 30%-50% of customers left any rating at all? Clearly, the answer is that the feedback rating you see would not be accurate. If you don't leave feedback for your purchase, you're skewing the seller's rating in favor of those who did. Quite frankly, without your high rating for an uneventfully smooth transaction, you're not telling the next customer that the seller did a good job. Without your low rating for a purchase gone bad, the next customer might be taken advantage of. And that customer could even be you someday. After all, do you memorize every seller's name that you buy from online? Probably not.
Time Flies
On many marketplace sites, there is a time limit for leaving feedback. In other words, you won't be able to leave any feedback after a certain window of opportunity has passed (for Ebay the maximum is 60 days). Depending where you shop, this time limit will be different. Therefore it's important to always leave feedback as soon as you know you won't need to communicate with the seller anymore. Take a few moments to visit the marketplace sites you shop at and look at your past purchases. There will usually be a link or button for leaving feedback beside the item, unless you have waited too long (on Etsy however there is no link, use the top right menu to go to the Feedback section).
In short, it is in your best interests to leave feedback for your purchases if you shop on marketplace and auction sites like Ebay, Etsy, Ebid, ArtFire, Amazon Marketplace, BluJay and many others. Feedback isn't just about punishing bad sellers for poor service, it is for rewarding and promoting sellers who practice good business. And most of all it's about you, the customer, spending your money safely and wisely.
Author's Note: If you shop on Ebay, you might want to read this detailed About.com article about Ebay feedback, there may be quite a bit about how it works and how it affects you that you didn't realize.
Author Elaine Barrick, writing for Art of Adornment ~ Victorian Gothic Jewelry & Accessories, also sells handmade Gothic jewelry and imported costume accessories on Ebay, handmade Victorian Gothic jewelry on Etsy, and "de-stash" craft and jewelry making supplies on Etsy.
Trust and Risk
Shopping online means you're buying goods from people whose faces and storefronts you will probably never see. A high feedback rating, obviously, means that the majority of customers have been happy with the seller's service. Wouldn't you feel better making a purchase from someone your friends recommended highly, than some total unknown? Of course! Seeing that high rating left by real paying customers, like you, means less risk for the next customer. It's no guarantee something can't go wrong, but a very good indication that it won't (and that even if it does, the seller will very likely politely and efficiently handle the situation).
Reputation
Feedback is important for sellers too, because it establishes their reputation in the marketplace. When that reputation is good it gives them an edge over their competition, and their business thrives. When it's bad, they know they will have to improve their business in order to survive. And if they don't, they will eventually fail. In a sense, the existence of feedback "culls the herd", silently nudging out bad business from the marketplace site. And in some cases, such as Ebay, there are even penalties for insufficient feedback such as loss of listing fee discounts, lowered exposure in search results, and even restrictions on how many items the seller can list.
Thus for sellers, a high feedback rating is just as crucial as it is to customers, if not even more. So when "no news is good news" (nothing went wrong with the purchase), the seller should be entitled to the best possible rating. If something went wrong, did you talk to the seller and work something out? A positive outcome deserves a positive rating. If they refused to help or didn't respond, an unpleasant outcome like that deserves an unpleasant rating. Just remember to keep in mind things like distance (they may be in another country or state, so shipping time and rates vary) and language (they may not speak your language and are using a translator). Feedback is your chance to step up and be honest with the seller *and* other customers.
Community
But what if some of those paying customers didn't leave any feedback? What if something went wrong with their purchase and they didn't rate the seller accordingly? Or what if everything went right and they couldn't be bothered? And what if only 30%-50% of customers left any rating at all? Clearly, the answer is that the feedback rating you see would not be accurate. If you don't leave feedback for your purchase, you're skewing the seller's rating in favor of those who did. Quite frankly, without your high rating for an uneventfully smooth transaction, you're not telling the next customer that the seller did a good job. Without your low rating for a purchase gone bad, the next customer might be taken advantage of. And that customer could even be you someday. After all, do you memorize every seller's name that you buy from online? Probably not.
Time Flies
On many marketplace sites, there is a time limit for leaving feedback. In other words, you won't be able to leave any feedback after a certain window of opportunity has passed (for Ebay the maximum is 60 days). Depending where you shop, this time limit will be different. Therefore it's important to always leave feedback as soon as you know you won't need to communicate with the seller anymore. Take a few moments to visit the marketplace sites you shop at and look at your past purchases. There will usually be a link or button for leaving feedback beside the item, unless you have waited too long (on Etsy however there is no link, use the top right menu to go to the Feedback section).
In short, it is in your best interests to leave feedback for your purchases if you shop on marketplace and auction sites like Ebay, Etsy, Ebid, ArtFire, Amazon Marketplace, BluJay and many others. Feedback isn't just about punishing bad sellers for poor service, it is for rewarding and promoting sellers who practice good business. And most of all it's about you, the customer, spending your money safely and wisely.
Author's Note: If you shop on Ebay, you might want to read this detailed About.com article about Ebay feedback, there may be quite a bit about how it works and how it affects you that you didn't realize.
Author Elaine Barrick, writing for Art of Adornment ~ Victorian Gothic Jewelry & Accessories, also sells handmade Gothic jewelry and imported costume accessories on Ebay, handmade Victorian Gothic jewelry on Etsy, and "de-stash" craft and jewelry making supplies on Etsy.