EBay is probably the largest online marketplace, with millions of jobs happening every day. You can find almost anything you can think of on eBay, from that toy you remember well from your childhood, to cars and houses. But with this great selection and resource there, are risks too.
The context of the eBay experience is the concept of auction, where individual sellers sell items and buyers can bid on these items. Here lies the danger. Who are these Traders? Can you trust them? Will they send you your item after you have sent your payment? Will they provide customer service after the sale in the event of a defect?
Most of the time you will have nothing to go on, and you will have to put your trust in an eBay seller. This is especially true for new sellers and sellers who sell only a few items and who never build a track record. But there are a few ways you can get the Vendor experience before you bid on the item, especially for sellers who have been on eBay for a long time or who are selling a many, numeruous items.
EBay has some useful tools to help you qualify for a Seller early. The first and most important of these is the eBay Feedback program. Whenever an eBay transaction, both buyer and seller have the opportunity to leave a brief comment about the transaction. EBay calls these “answers.” Feedback may be labeled Good, Medium, or Bad. Then about 80 characters are left to comment on the purchase experience.
In particular, these comments will recommend a quick delivery or successful termination of the purchase. You can ignore this comment as it is posted automatically (using the eBay option) or inappropriate. But if you look at the ideas for the answer, you should see the correct answers. This could be a product review after a product has been tried, or it could be a complaint.
The most important answers you should look for are negative answers. This is easy to see. First find the response page of the Merchant you are investigating. Find the seller's name at the auction you're looking for. You will find this in the information box labeled “Seller Information” in the upper right corner of the auction. Here you will find the eBay Seller's name, Merchant response rate and the Merchant Positive Feedback percentage. If your Merchant has a 100% Positive Response rate, congratulations, find the Best eBay Seller!
If the positive response rate is below 100%. you should refer to the actual Response Page. Next to the Merchant name you will find the number. Click this number to go to the Merchant Reply page. Once you are here, check out the Latest Ratings box. This will give you an overview of the last month, 6 months and last year. See Negative and Medium Answers. If there is one or two negative feedback on the list and the Merchant has too many Positive Answers, it may be a problem in itself. But if the seller has more than 10 negative responses in the past year, or more than 2 negative feedback in the past month, you should take a closer look.
Next look at the Received Response section, here you will find the actual comments left by Buyers. See this list for Bad and Medium feedback and read consumer comments. This will allow you to quickly judge the quality of this Vendor.
The next thing you should look for is the eBay Power Seller logo. This is the logo rewarded by eBay for sellers who maintain a certain sales rate per month and who maintain a response rate of 98% or more. So the Power Seller will be a Soldier who sells consistently on eBay and keeps his customers happy. It does not mean that a Seller with a 100% response rate and a large sales value will also be an eBay Power Seller.
Another thing to keep in mind is the change of name of the latest eBay or a new eBay seller with little or no record. In the Auction Seller Inbox, you will see a line indicating how long this Seller has been a member of eBay. The longer you are an eBay member the better, especially if they have a high response rate. This will tell you that they not only kept their customers happy, but they did it for a long time.
Beware of new sellers, and be especially wary of Vendors who have recently changed their eBay name. An easy way for a seller to remove many, numerous of negative responses is to change their names. New name, no answers. For the first 30 days of a change of name, eBay will place a note next to the new name informing you that the name has been changed. After 30 days, you will not be able to say.
Lastly, one of the best ways to judge a seller is to ask a Seller a question. Good Sellers will answer questions quickly and completely. Wrong marketers will often take longer to answer or ignore your whole question together. In the same Merchant Info box you will find the link "Ask the Merchant Question." Just click this link and complete the simple form. EBay will send the seller an email with your query. Make sure your question is clear enough to get an idea of how the seller will treat you as a customer. If they are good, they will respond to you quickly and fully.
EBay is a good marketplace and one of the most exciting places to shop online, but you should be careful.
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