eBay Sellers Tips: Dealing with Difficult Customers

Your eBay buyers are your customers if you are selling stuff in eBay. Just like shop retailers, you may also have some problems with a number of customers. While many of the eBay buyers are friendly and easy to deal with, there are some who can “ruffle your feathers.” While your first thought may be to give a difficult eBay buyer a piece of your mind, you may want to refrain from doing so, especially if your monthly income is depending on your eBay business.

First Difficulty: Customers Asking for Lower Price
One common difficulty that eBay sellers face is having to do with their current auction listings. When you have selling on eBay for some time, probably you'll get eBay messages from buyers asking you to reduce your price on one of your listed items. The eBay buyers may mention that they are other eBay sellers offering the same items with lower listed price. If this happens to you, you may solve this problem easily by doing what the customers said, which is lower your price. If lowering your asking price isn't possible, you should reply to your buyers telling them your reasons to make them understand your situation. Do not ever suggest the buyers to look for other eBay sellers that offer lower prices as the buyers may think that your are impolite to them. Whether you want to reduce your eBay prices or not, the decision is yours to make. You should never feel pressured into doing so.

Second Difficulty: Customers Asking for Payment Method Your don't Accept
One of the other problems that commonly arise on eBay, concerning difficult eBay buyers, is the payment process. There are actually a number of eBay buyers have the assumption that all eBay sellers accept the same methods of payments, but not all do. The most common payment method in eBay is PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account at the moment, you may want to look into doing so. Regardless of what payment methods you accept, you are advised to specify them in your auctions. Yes, eBay has a section for sellers to outline the payment methods they accept, but, unfortunately, not all sellers make their way down to that section. Should you have a buyer that wants to make alternative arrangements, you need to use your best judgment. If you cannot reach an agreement, eBay should be notified.

Third Difficulty: The Winning Bidders are not Paying
Another common type of difficult eBay buyers is those who refuse to pay after wining your auctions. A simple policy of eBay is if you bid on an item and win it, you must making payment for the item. But no everyone complies this rule. Your may encounter non-paying buyers. If you do have these buyers, you will want to stay professional when requesting payment from them. By simply sending a few reminder notices you should still be able to keep your positive image. If you non-paying eBay buyer haven't reply your after weeks of waiting, you will want to contact eBay about this issue. eBay has a process that allows you to claim your listing fees back, as well as a process that will gives non-paying eBay buyers a negative feedback rating.

Fourth Difficulty: Customers not Happy with Your Item
eBay buyers that bought and received your item but not happy with the item is probably the most difficult customers you have to deal with. should this happens to you, you need to use your best judgment. To prevent a problem from occurring, you should provide a detailed description of the item you are selling with several pictures. It is also advised that you set a return policy, whether or not you actually have one. If you have unintentionally mislead an eBay buyer, you should apologize and do anything you think needed to make the situation right; however, stand your ground if you are being scammed or “taken for a ride.”

Unhappy customers can damage your eBay seller image which will directly affect your eBay sales by leaving you negative feedback. Some buyers will just post a negative feedback without contracting you when they receive an item that they don't satisfy with. The best way to prevent this is to send a follow-up email when your item is on the way to your buyer. Ask them whether they have received the item and should they not happy with the item they receive, tell them to give you a change to solve the problem before leaving you a negative feedback.

The above situations are just a few of the many that you may experience when doing business in eBay. No matter what difficult you face, you should use your best judgment and also keep your cool.