eBay is one of the most important digital sales platforms for sellers. eBay seller reviews are an important factor to gain the trust of potential customers and inspire them to make a purchase. Our article explains why eBay feedback is relevant for you as a seller and how you can positively influence your eBay Seller Reviews with simple means.
eBay Feedback – essential for the purchase decision
eBay was one of the first major online marketplaces to implement a rating system. When it first launched, people recognized eBay for its concept of online auctions, in which any individual or company client may participate. Here, a reputable rating system was required to represent the reliability and honesty of the individual seller.
Over time, eBay has developed into an extra sales channel for retailers of all types, much like a merchant account on Amazon. Few shops and resellers operate without eBay, whether to complement a physical store or as a digital touchpoint in addition to an online business.
Reviews have always been essential for establishing the confidence of potential customers. Here, sellers should reflect on their function as consumers and online retail behavior. No matter how appealing the goods or the selling price are, negative evaluations of specific products or the seller nearly always discourage a planned purchase.
The changing nature of eBay customer reviews
The transformation from an online auction house to a classic online marketplace has changed the character of reviews. Hardly any customer is willing to drag through hundreds of entries with short comments to recognize the seriousness and reliability of a seller.
A quick purchasing experience, similar to Amazon, is what the new generation of consumers desires. Here, eBay seller ratings of 98 or 99 percent send a strong and clear buying signal. However, very few customers will calmly look for the seller’s slightly lower ratings even if the worth is “only” 96%. The pace of the internet retail industry has gotten too quick for this.
The curse and blessing for you as a seller is that you can still find a percentage of satisfied customers under your account’s name. It provides incentives to purchase, if consciously or unintentionally, especially if the entry is located just next to the competition. Even if eBay Seller Reviews have a different meaning than in auction times, sellers should pay attention to them.
The eBay Seller Score – How is it generated?
Nowadays, eBay uses the so-called Seller Score as the criteria to evaluate sellers. For this, a look at your eBay feedback over the last 60 days. Simple elements like the “thumbs up/thumbs down” as well as thorough ratings and written feedback are taken into account.
No matter how frequently a buyer has made purchases and given favorable eBay feedback, their rating only enters the system once for reasonable reasons. The score is an initial, valuable guide for brand-new customers that is especially useful for larger retailers. No matter how frequently a buyer has made purchases and given favorable eBay feedback, their rating only enters the system once for reasonable reasons.
How is the percentage of positive reviews calculated?
Based on the Seller Score, eBay calculates the percentage value displayed under the account name. The period time of the included ratings extends over twelve months, and repeated customer feedback is excluded. This also applies to neutral ratings, which buyers can leave in addition to “thumps up” or “thump down”.
You can calculate the individual percentage by dividing the sum of the remaining positive reviews by the sum of the reviews, both positive and negative. The platform is user-friendly here; the actual computation of the current percentage number, including the calculation, may be accessed in the info section.
A disadvantage for new merchants on eBay?
As with any new registration, there is a potential indirect disadvantage for sellers who utilize eBay as a secondary sales channel for the first time. In the beginning, there were simply not enough reviews, due to the small number of purchases made so far. Indirect compensation for this comes from the percentage value of eBay Seller Reviews.
On the one hand, if there is not enough data, there is no percentage display. On the other hand, the percentage value does not show at first glance how many reviews have been included. It would be different from the Seller Score, which could leave a negative impression with few sales and reviews at the beginning.
Regardless of eBay Seller Reviews, every serious and committed seller should prevail on the platform and receive positive feedback in perspective. In the long term, eBay Seller Reviews will not be ignored. Smart management of reviews helps to build trust faster or even improve percentages already achieved.
New: eBay Seller Reviews at gominga – How does active review management help?
Whether eBay, Amazon or any other B2C marketplace – negative reviews and customer opinions cannot be excluded in principle. There will always be customers who are bothered by little things or criticize aspects that you as a seller cannot actively influence. It is therefore not important to completely prevent negative criticism. It is more important to react correctively to such eBay Seller Reviews and to express gratitude for positive reviews.
To ensure that there is time for this in a seller’s day-to-day work, professional and well-organized review management is crucial. Our < online review management tool allows reviews, ratings and customer questions to be collected across all platforms, not just eBay, and efficiently processed, handled and analyzed by using AI-based text recognition. The goal is to create interaction with the customer regardless of feedback. Often, this is possible by responding and reacting to reviews.
Negative criticism in particular opens up the possibility of making a factual statement, explaining the circumstances and accommodating the customer. Even if this does not convince the customer in question – other readers of the comment will recognize your commitment and you will learn a lot about your customers – keyword analysis. All of this can be handled thoughtfully and systematically.
Improve eBay Seller Reviews
With this method, you cannot modify written eBay Seller Reviews. However, they encourage current and potential consumers to consider providing consistently devoted customer service. Even if there were issues with a specific order, this may result in a “thumbs up.”
Indirectly, sellers thus influence their percentage value without producing positive customer reviews in exchange for money in a dubious manner. And this kind of authenticity will also be excellently received by a large part of the customer base.
eBay Seller Reviews now new in gominga Review Manager
Learn more about how gominga Review Manager can help your brand delight customers and create a better customer journey across all channels. Or request a demo here.