Saturday, July 10, 2010

Something I Re-Learned Today - A Picture Speaks a 1000 Words

I have always been one to preach about taking good pictures in an auction (and now fixed price) listing. That being said I was reminded today just how important it can be.
We all know how critical not getting low DSRs are to our well being on EBay. I had sold some expensive pottery pieces recently, packed well, shipped and then never heard anything... until 2 weeks later.
I awoke to an email from the customer stating the lid on one piece had a discoloration on it and he wasn't happy. After my adrenaline rush subsided I went to look at my description and photos. It was then I realized first off my auction software had removed the photos from the listing already yikes! I went and reloaded them and looked and sure enough I had put in a closeup of the discoloration.
I wrote back to the customer first stating I was sorry they were not happy but that I had clearly pictured the lid in my listing and what would he like me to do to make this transaction satisfactory for him. I was surprised to get a response that yes it was their mistake for not noticing the picture and that I had done nothing wrong in my description.
I'm still always disappointed when a customer is unhappy with a transaction, and I was prepared to make this right however that may have turned out to be for this customer, but relieved they took responsibility and held no bad feelings to me as the seller since I had carefully photoed the item.
So the lessons here:
1. Make sure your photos are clear, thorough showing front, back, sides, top and bottom and especially ANY damage, discoloration or quirks of the item.
2. Make sure your photos remain on the listing until the item has been received and all is well (customer leaves feedback etc) or 90 days... after that they really can't come back on us if they then decided not to like the item.

2 comments:

Kat Simpson said...

Good reminder and congrats on having a reasonable customer!

Kat

http://katsklosetwomen.com

mymomsbooks said...

Danni like Kat said this is a good reminder. A picture is worth a thousand words, guess they are right. Bottom line we want our customers happy!
Suz

http://mymomsbooksebaystore.com