Over
years, I have been amazed at “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 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 customer is always right. You make sure that you communicate effectively, refund monies if buyer is truly unhappy, and try to meet needs of people who buy your goods or services.
However, there are more than a handful of Ebay sellers that are of mind that customer service and effective communication is not something that they need not participate in. Take case of a woman named Barbara, (Nickname: BobAnn) who recently posted her disappointment on 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 item at buy now price. Of course seller refused to allow 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 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 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 part of seller, not only cost them one customer, but also destroyed 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 request right away. And while I have never had anyone use “Buy It Now” by accident, I have had several people over 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 process, (bid retracting) and I was more than willing to guide 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 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 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 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 shipping price, would have doubled US retail cost. I told them that they could probably get product cheaper at their local electronics stores. Without hesitation, I let them out of their obligation to pay for item. I then contacted next highest bidder and offered that person chance to make purchase.
Both bidders thanked me for my honesty. They had forgotten about electrical differences. I could have ignored that little detail, and sold them 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 same item for a lot less in their native countries.
