Communicating with buyers
Buyers often have questions before, during, and after a sale. When they do, they click the Ask a question link in your listing. As a seller, it's important for you to respond quickly and thoroughly. This keeps the buyer interested in your listing and you'll be more likely to get positive Feedback from your buyer.
Sometimes direct contact is best—it's more personal and directed towards the buyer's specific question, but takes time. You can also post your responses to individual questions in your listing. Routine questions and answers can be generated immediately from your listing information and with questions and answers (Q&A) you create. This saves you time and helps the buyer know sooner whether they want to bid or buy. Here are the ways you can respond:
Allow buyers to contact you from your active listings – Your buyers enter their questions into a form and send them to you. These questions are sent to your Messages inbox (in My eBay) and your personal email account. You can choose whether or not the buyer sees your personal email address.
Show Q&A – Your buyer sees Q&A generated automatically from your listing and any Q&A you create.
What are auto answers?
Auto answers are Q&A that eBay generates automatically from the details you provide when creating your listing. This provides your buyers with key information they may have missed in your listing and saves time for you and your buyers. When you use eBay or PayPal postage labels, the tracking information appears in post-transaction Q&A.
The text you use to describe your item isn't included in auto answers, so it's important to fill in as many fields as possible when creating your listing.
Sometimes the answer to a question has to do with an eBay policy, and eBay provides the answer.
Here are some examples of auto answers:
Q: What is the condition of this item?
A: This seller has listed this item as used.
Q: Have you received my payment?
A: Yes, according to our records, the seller received your payment on March 7, 2009.
Q: How do I return an item and get a refund?
A: This seller doesn't accept returns.
Before the transaction
Eric is selling a train set and only wants to ship within the United States, so he specifies that in his listing.
Todd thinks the train set would be perfect for his little cousin in Paris, and wonders if he can have it shipped there. He clicks Ask a question in the listing. He clicks Postage and selects: Do you offer international postage? The auto answer is generated from the information Eric provided: "This seller doesn't offer international postage."
During the transaction
Sally understands that buyers want to know when they'll receive an item. When she listed her belt for sale, she made sure to provide complete postage information, and when she posted the item, she used an eBay postage label and included a tracking number.
Hayley buys the belt and pays online. After a couple days, she wonders when she'll receive the belt. She clicks Ask a question in the listing and then selects Shipping, and Where is my item? This auto answer is generated from the information Sally provided: "The seller received your payment on March 12, 2009, and your tracking number is <1234567890>. Your delivery estimate is March 20, 2009."
After the transaction
Audrey finds the perfect pair of black pinstripe pants. Excited, she clicks the Buy It Now button in the listing. But then she realizes that the pants are the wrong size and wonders if she can cancel the purchase. She clicks Ask a question in the listing and selects Payments, and How do I cancel my purchase?
Since eBay policy defines whether a buyer can cancel a purchase, the answer is provided by eBay: "You can’t retract a purchase made through a Buy It Now listing. Once you confirm your purchase, you are obligated to pay the seller."
Setting up Q&A
You set up your Q&A in My eBay, and your Q&A applies to all your listings.
Here's how to set up Q&A:From the top of most eBay pages, click My eBay.
Place your pointer over the Account tab, and then click the Site Preferences link.
Below Selling Preferences, find the Manage your communications with buyers section.
Click Show, then Edit. The Manage Q&A for buyers page appears.
Select your preferences for Show Q&A and Allow buyers to contact you from your active listings. (If you use a third-party site to manage your Q&A, you'll also have two additional options: Use Q&A that you manage on eBay or Use Q&A that you manage from a third-party site.)
If you select only Allow buyers to contact you from your active listings, your Q&A won’t be shown. The buyer sees a form that allows them to send you a message.
When you include Show Q&A, the buyer sees auto answers and any Q&A you create yourself.
If you don't have information for a certain question, remove it from your Q&A or it will state that the seller didn't provide an answer. To remove the question, click the Don't show to buyers link below the question.
If have more than 5 questions and answers, you'll see these topics:
Take a look at the auto answers for each topic.
To see the auto answer questions for each topic and create your own Q&A, click the topic name.
Because specific auto answers are generated for each of your listings, you won't see actual answers on this page. You'll see what information is used to generate the auto answers. To see your auto answers, once you create a listing, view your listing and click the Ask a question link. You'll see your Q&A with the auto answers corresponding to that listing.
Each topic will be filled with information pulled from your listing. To disable or enable any questions within those categories, click the Don’t show to buyers or Show to buyers link.
At the bottom of each topic page, under Your Q&A, you'll find questions you can answer, such as what type of packaging you use or whether you'll post through a certain carrier.
To create your own questions and answers, click Add more questions. Enter the question, select the topic from the pull-down menu, and enter your answer.
To save your new Q&A, click the Save button. You can also save your question in a different topic. (For example, you can start a question on the Postage page and save it in the Payments topic.)
To edit or remove questions and answers, click the Edit or Remove link.
Converting your FAQs
If you created FAQs before we launched the new Q&A system, we'll convert them to the new system. You'll need to go in and organise them into the appropriate topics.
Responding personally to buyers' questions
When a buyer clicks the Ask a question link in your listing, they can send an email to you through your eBay account. You'll receive the message in your Messages inbox and your personal email account. When you respond, you can choose to hide your email from the buyer, send a copy to your email address, and post the question and answer to your listing so all buyers can see it. When you post the answer, you can't change or remove it.
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
