Ratings for communication on Ebay

[Curdsandwhey]

On your detailed seller ratings, how do you get good ratings for communication? I would've thought it would help to send a the buyer a quick, friendly message saying thanks for your purchase and it's on its way to you. But apparently some people don't like receiving these?

There are also some people saying that if you don't send any communication at all, the option will be greyed out for the buyer and you'd automatically get 5 stars, just like when you give free postage. I don't know if this true or if it's out of date indignation.

I have good scores for everything else so I don't know where I'm going wrong. Private seller, not professional.

Out of date information, not indignation!

Maybe if people order from ebay ALL the time, then personal emails are annoying. I personally find it nice and would always give a 5 star review for communication. TBH, I'd also give 5 star even if they didn't send a personal message. I don't know if no communication gets you the 5 stars automatically? Ebay do have a community forum though, so you could ask on there.

The only time I might drop to 3-4 star would be if they never answered my questions, but if that was the case, I likely wouldn't buy from them anyways.

If people mark an item as posted and send a tracking number (if they have one) I'd always give a five. Also, if they reply to any questions reasonably quickly and helpfully, I'd give them full marks.

I don't know what detailed seller rating I have, it says it only shows it if you get 10 within 90 days.

I use ebay in the way it was intended before it became a way to sell millions of widgets, ie sell bits and pieces over time, and I never send personal messages to buyers, and I think many people would find that annoying.

But I do use the eBay tools to mark despatched on the day I send things out, most of the time. I never leave feedback for buyers, even if they ask for it, because it serves no purpose whatsoever, seeing as you can only leave positive feedback, even if they are a complete PITA or rip off merchant.

Communication to me is literally just marking it as dispatched which some sellers fail to do. I find that irritating because I have been in a situation where I’m sitting there a week or more after purchase and it still hasn’t been marked as dispatched nor as it arrived.

I use eBay a lot and don’t mind a message to say it has been dispatched. I do mind the messages begging for feedback though, that grates on me.

I absolutely always mark items as dispatched. I thought it was important otherwise you could get into trouble with Ebay for late dispatch.

I think it's really handy to update a tracking number into eBay if you have one. The buyer can then track the item themselves and are less likely to message you about its whereabouts. It's also means you don't have to sort through loads of receipts if they query when they'll get it and you're covered if they claim it doesn't turn up and the tracking shows otherwise.