How To Build Your Credibility Through Your eBay Feedback Rating - By Tony Yao

As you might have already figured out, the way to build your credibility and reputation in eBay is by collecting as many positive feedback as possible.

For those of you who are new to eBay, here is how feedback rating works. Every member of eBay, be it seller or buyer, has a feedback rating. Feedback rating is your reputation in eBay. It tells other members of eBay how honourable your transactions (both selling and buying) have been in the past. Both buyers and sellers can leave feedback for each other. There are three types of feedback: positive (+1), neutral (0), and negative (-1). Your feedback rating is the number of positive feedback you have received expressed as a percentage of your total feedback.

It should be obvious by now that as an eBay seller you should be aiming for a perfect feedback rating (100%). There are millions of sellers in eBay and the only way for potential customers to tell which seller to pick is from their feedback. I can't underscore the importance of feedback rating more as it is really the cornerstone of your business.

There are a few things you can do to build up your feedback rating, especially when you have just started.

1. Be a buyer.

Remember when I said that you get feedback rating regardless of whether you are a seller or buyer? Use this to your advantage. When you are new to eBay, the only way for you to quickly build your feedback rating is by becoming a buyer. EBay does not distinguish between buyer and seller feedback. Try to be clever by buying things that you can resell later or that your business can use so you don't waste your money.

2. Provide excellent customer support.

It's of vital importance that you treat your existing and potential customers with respect. Always answer their questions promptly and courteously. You should also provide a clear description of your items in the listings, and make sure that the photos are realistic and reflect the actual condition of the items.

3. Always include a money-back guarantee.

This is a prime rule that you should never ever neglect. Don't ever say that buyers can't return the items because this will turn them away to other sellers who provide money-back guarantee. Always write clearly in your listings that buyers can return the items they bought within a certain time period, no question asked. It is unlikely that you will get lots of returned items. The increased credibility and trust that you get is certainly worth the hassle of handling returned items.

In the unfortunate circumstances that you do get a negative feedback, deal with it calmly. Always remain courteous when contacting the buyer. Ask if you can do anything to remedy the problem. Offer a refund if this would help solve the problem. Do whatever is in your power to persuade the buyer to retract the negative feedback.

There are virtually countless strategies you can employ to establish your credibility in eBay, I hope some of them that I have outlined above would be of benefit to you.

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