Customer Service - Negative Feedback

Hopefully, you will never have to deal with this: negative feedback. However, there are crazy people out there that are simply never happy with anything and don't realize what effect their feedback has on you and your business.

So how do you deal with this? 

Calmly.

If you are anything like me, you will get really upset, want to cry / kick / scream / etc! So if you've noticed negative feedback and you start feeling this way... wait. Take a walk, calm down, wait until the morning. Even open up a typing program and write down all of the things you wish you could say to them. (but don't - and don't even do it in a message to them thinking you'll erase it because you don't want to accidentally send it) Once you've calmed down, then deal with it.

Remember, you still want your customers to be happy, and luckily a customer can change their feedback so try to make them happy.

I will say that some customers will never be happy. - I once had a lady convinced that the dress she bought was cream and not pink like described in the listing... the dress was pink. Some people just don't get it, or want to be picky. 

Obviously each negative feedback will be over a different issue and will need to be dealt with differently every time. The important thing is too stay calm, and ask them what you can do to make them happy with their purchase. Whether that be a return, an exchange, a discount on a future item, etc. Even if it is their problem, or their fault they are having this issue, don't remind them of that. Keep things neutral. Just remember that confrontation will keep both of you upset and can escalate the problem further. 

Hopefully by the end you will have come to a happy conclusion and they will have changed that feedback. Yes, in the end you may have had to make a sacrifice or two, but your feedback is worth it! You want people to trust you as a seller!

What if nothing I do pleases them? 

One more lucky thing that etsy has done recently, you can now leave a public response to their feedback. Don't leave this feedback until after you have tried to resolve the issue because once you've commented they can no longer change their feedback.

In your public response remember to explain the situation and defend yourself but do not get angry. You want people to know that you've done everything to rectify the situation and it's the customer who wasn't cooperating. 

Hopefully that helps, it's always a bummer when it happens but it can be fixed!! So no giving up! :)