An Ebay Feedback Primer

See Jane run. Run, Jane, run. See Jane buy stuff on eBay. Bid, Jane, bid! See Jane get awesome DIY item in mail. Wow, Jane! You look tough in that! See Jane leave feedback....

Err uh something like that. I feel like being a bitch today and complaining about things that I suppose I don't really need to be complaining about. But damn it, the feedback on eBay...when I actually RECEIVE it...can be really really really and I do mean REALLY lame...

As a foreward to this primer, allow me to educate Jane on that spectacular DIY item she just won from me....lets call it a corset just to make it easy. That corset didn't come from a store. That corset didn't magically come out of my ass when I twiddled my nose, either. See Cindy shit a corset... hahah...fuck...anyway... That corset was the product of about eight hours of actual human effort, otherwise known as work. MY actual human effort, a.k.a work, to be exact. I sat in front of a hot (yes, they get HOT) sewing machine for that entire duration of time, cutting material, sewing it together, designing and redesigning....measuring, designing again, retooling, cursing, screaming, repairing the machine, redesigning some more.... you get the picture.

I put a lot of care and effort in my work. I strive for a professional level of quality at all times. I strive for perfection at all times. I seriously sweat the little details, I go to lengths to make sure that the design is wearable, comfortable, and might be something that Jane will actually be able to use, and continue to use for a long time to come...

...and Jane gets her corset. Jane likes it a lot. And Jane leaves feedback for her corset:

Great Seller. An asset to ebay. Superfast shipping. A+++. Just as Described.

*sigh*

Yeah its positive feedback. And its all great stuff. These are things that you'd love to have in your seller profile...if you were selling STORE merchandise ~ you know, stuff that's mass manufactured that you can buy anywhere. Like say its a Mudvayne CD that you could buy just about anywhere. It's to a seller's benefit in this case to be speedy, etc because there are so many different choices available to the Mudvayne CD buyer...you have to have something special to offer the buyer to get them to buy from you.

Its different with DIY. The goals are different because the desires of the buyer are different. What I have to offer thats special is NOT my speedy delivery. It's not that I'm an honest seller, and an asset to ebay ~ while all these things are true, its NOT why Jane bought from me. Jane bought from me because she saw something unique and different that she's not gonna find anywhere else ever. And the reason she's going to come back to me when she wants more DIY is because now that she has my lovely handcrafted item in her hand, she can see the qualities that make my items something that buyers would desire over other similar items:

...these qualities she sees are NOT my speedy shipping, or my reputation as a great ebayer...

These qualities are the precision stitching, the nice straight seams, the quality of the design elements themselves, the obvious care and attention to detail put into this garment. She can tell this garment is going to last her more than 5 minutes. She can tell this garment is even of a higher quality than the stuff she buys at the mall...

This is what other buyers NEED TO HEAR about Jane's DIY buying experience. Not the generic *great ebayer fast shipping* bullshit, because those are not the qualities that distinguish good DIY from bad.

Yep, I'm being bitchy today. But, as I like to say, its MY blog. I can say what I want...

1. Please stop telling me I ship fast. I ship fast because I myself am an instant gratification girl and its nearly impossible for me to wait 3 days for my purchased items. I don't want my buyers to wait, especially when I hate to wait. I've actually considered delaying shipping by three or four days just so I never EVER EVER have to see SUPERFAST SHIPPING on my feedback again. The space could be put to much better use.

2. What the fuck is the A++++++++++++++++++ shit all about anyway? I can see giving a grade, say A+. But then we have what, 15 spaces left and nothing more to say, so we all just decide to fill in with an asspile of pluses? Why can't we think of something more to say...? Maybe something about quality...?? Its a start.

3. What is a *great ebayer* ??? Define that for me. If you do, you will realize you already said it in the rest of the feedback. A great ebayer is someone who ships fast, describes accurately...blah blah...all that shit you just said in the remaining body of your feedback.

4. Stuck for ideas for what to write in feedback? Write down the first words you uttered when you opened your package. Mention something about the quality of your item. Tell other potential buyers how you feel about your new DIY item. If some aspect of the item is outstanding - the design, the feel of the material, the stitching quality, the fit - mention it!

And of course, if your DIY experience sucked out loud, feel free to tell potential buyers that shipping was slow, it was not at all as described, seller is a rotten ebayer, F-----------------------------------------.

*sigh*

It just hurts my feelings a bit, that's all...so fucking much exhaustive work, so much detail work, soooo so so so so SO MUCH WORK...but I ship fast :S