Ebay Selling With a Personal Touch

January 14, 2013 · by Danna Crawford

Does it ever bother you that when you buy an item from someone on eBay all you get is the item you bought?

I’ve done a lot of shopping on eBay over the years and I’ve noticed more and more how sellers don’t do more than the minimum.

Some boxes arrive with absolutely nothing inside except the item I bought, which is nice and what I wanted but a simple thank you would be nice! Even receipts that I get when I go out shopping usually say, at least “Thank you.”

When I receive a personalized thank you note, I get that warm and fuzzy feeling that the seller wants to do more business with me. It makes me remember who the seller was. It sends a message that they care about me, they care about me as a buyer and maybe they want to develop a relationship with me.

Think about it. If you buy 10 items on eBay a month, how many come with a handwritten personalized note? Do they ever come with a personalized note? Which buyers would you remember more, the ones who just send the item or the ones who say, “Hey Danna! We appreciate you as a customer. Please contact us if there are any problems.”

And forget the preprinted thank you note, I like to read, “Thanks for shopping with me and giving the Teddy Bear a good home!” Giving thanks and showing appreciation is a free investment that could bring a long lasting, repeat customer. As we all know, getting repeat customers is a lot easier to get than a new one.

The next time you sell something on eBay think of how many millions of people are selling. Somehow out of those millions, they found your item that they wanted to buy from YOU! Maybe it was based on price, maybe it was your reputation, maybe it was your positive feedback. But remember, for whatever reason they chose to buy from you out of millions of other people. If only a handful of other sellers are including that personalized touch, how are you as a seller going to stand out from millions of others if you don’t do that?

Companies spend millions of dollars training their employees to give excellent customer service because they know that building personal relationships earns more profits and beats the competition every time. Many online retailers recommend you buy future items based on your past purchases. They are personalizing their selling.

I recently received a positive feedback statement on my account from a customer reading; “Thank you so much, especially the personal touch :)”

Are you giving that personal touch?

Category: eBay and eCommerce | Tags: ebay, selling, Ratings and Reviews, customer service