Remember the student in school who complained (or even
cried) because they only got a ninety-nine percent mark on
an assignment or test. Meanwhile, some of us were relieved
(if not ecstatic) to have merely passed.
I actually witnessed one case where the math student
insisted that he was not wrong. On rechecking the test,
the teacher realized the answer sheet was wrong and not the
student. The student got one hundred percent correct.
Realistically, however, most of us lesser mortals can’t
expect to get a perfect mark or score every time.
First of all, none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes.
Secondly, unlike math, some subjects are more subjective
in nature. In certain subjects, the answer to a question
may not be simply right or wrong. The teacher may have more
latitude in how your grades are calculated. The teacher
may even (consciously or subconsciously) increase or
decrease your grade based on whether they like you (or
your attitude) or not.
Similarly, in business, you can’t please everybody all of
the time.
In eBay or other Internet auctions, you will not be able
to satisfy everyone. Even if you have one hundred percent
positive feedback on eBay now, eventually it must fall.
Not all of your customers will be happy with you all of
the time. You might make a mistake resulting in an unhappy
customer. Sometimes factors beyond your control (such as
a lost shipment) may result in a negative feedback.
Occasionally, you might even get a customer who is
unreasonable. If he leaves you negative feedback, sometimes
all you can do is leave a negative feedback in return.
This is not so much as an act of retaliation; it is more
a matter of presenting your side of the story.
Sometimes, a customer has a legitimate complaint. Other
times the customer has jumped the gun and hasn’t given you
a fair chance to resolve matters. It is even possible
that your customer is a sadist who takes delight in
tormenting others.
Regardless, you can make the offer to mutually agree to
withdraw negative feedback from each other.
If you both agree and follow eBay’s procedure, the negative
feedback will be removed from both of your total scores
(thus improving both feedback ratings). The negative comments
themselves won’t be removed by eBay but neither will your
response to defend yourself.
Even if this tactic to remove negative feedback is not
successful, at least you tried. Don’t let your pride stand
in the way of trying to make peace with the customer and
reversing any negative feedback.
If the customer won’t agree, at least you’ve told your side
of the story. Let your prospective customers decide if they
want to do business with you or not.
I personally like it when I see an eBay seller with a
perfect feedback rating. Realistically, however, I realize
that you simply can’t please everyone. Even if you did
everything perfectly, there are still people who are just
not reasonable.
Thus, even if a seller has some negative feedback, if the
overwwhelming majority are pleased with him, I tend to
discount the few dissidents. I suggest you do the same in
evaluating others as well as yourself.
RESOURCE BOX
J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc.,
has been helping clients to earn maximum business
profits for over twenty-five years.
To learn more about Internet auctions, visit
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/auctions.html
For more profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas,
visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/
Posted in Auction Marketing, Corporate Evangelism, Tips + Tricks 
