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The Importance of Reputation Management: Ensure buyers leave happy, not bad reviews

This post isn’t for all the perfect sellers out there … it’s for all the ones who’ve made mistakes. The difference between making a mistake, and making a mistake that leads to bad online reviews, is all about reputation management and why it’s important.

Bad online reviews for your business are like pesky spurs in an otherwise functional pair of boots: They can shorten your stride, slow you down and lead to no end of irritation. All it takes is one, bad online review to seriously hamper your projected growth.

Take the case of the Canadian guitarist whose guitar was bashed up by United Airlines. It wasn’t so much that they bashed up his guitar, it was that they refused to apologize and compensate him. He wrote a song about it and made sure several million viewers knew all about it. Then there’s the case of the Colorado restaurant that served a caterpillar with a salad. Instead of making the situation better, they offered the customer half off a dessert. After a couple of really bad online reviews, one of the two restaurants is now closed.

What do these stories have in common? Bad reputation management. Every company makes mistakes, but it’s often how we handle those mistakes that lead people to take the extra step and give a bad review online. These two companies handled these situations badly because they didn’t do what was right … and they didn’t manage their reputation.

eRated’s series on reputation management is all about turning mistakes into learning opportunities, not bad reviews. Here are some tips to manage your mistakes and avoid bad reviews:

Turning a bad rating into a bad review: So you’ve screwed up. Something went wrong and you shipped your cat to someone instead of a box of DVDs. They’re not happy and they give you a bad rating, like a 2 out of 5. It wasn’t your fault because your husband was distracting you. You’re pissed. You write the buyer and give them hell. The buyer then posts a review: “She sent me the wrong product AND emailed me to give me shit. Don’t buy from her.” Your reaction to the buyer just turned a bad rating into a bad review, which is MUCH worse. Additionally, they have another complaint against you. If you hadn’t done anything in response, you could have minimized the damage. Now, you’ve lost your cat and you have a bad review. So don’t turn a bad rating into a bad review by berating your buyers.
Failing to rate your buyers. At eRated, we know that the more positive reviews and ratings you get, the more you’re going to sell. It’s a fact. Unfortunately, only 20-40% of buyers leave a review. So how do you get MORE reviews? One way to NOT get reviews is not taking the time to rate your buyers. If they’ve paid you and it’s been a good sale, give them a positive rating or review. If you pat their back, they’ll pat yours’. Even if you’re making a dozen sales a day, take the time to drop ratings for all of them. If you don’t, they’ll be much less like to rate you … which means you’ll have fewer ratings … which means you’ll make less money.
Shabby shipping. You’ve got eight products to send today. Your kid is whinging about what’s for lunch and you have to feed the baby. You’ve got a lot of balls in the air and you decide to just chuck that book you’ve just sold into an oversized box without any filling and ship. Too bad it was a First Edition you sold for $400.00. It arrives to the buyer bruised like a Canadian hockey player. They are not happy and let you know it by publicly disparaging you for the quality of your product. Bad news for you. It could have been avoided by taking the time to pack properly. If it’s between sending sooner and making sure the product arrives in the best condition, always choose the latter. You can always blame the postman for timing, but you have no one to blame but yourself when it comes to condition.
Taking too long to respond. Have you ever posted on AirBnB and been hassled by AirBnB admin for not responding to potential buyers? They do that for a reason - because buyers hate not being responded to. If someone contacts you, get back to them, even if you have a better buyer in mind. They may leave a negative review based on your bad response time. Additionally, you may be pissing off possible future buyers. Don’t take too long to respond and always respond to queries. They make smart phones for a reason - take it with you to the cinema and get on the ball.
Using unreliable parcel delivery. Buyers comment on two things most often: Speed and quality. If your product takes ages to arrive, it will take half that time for them to post a negative review about it. How can you manage this? Use a reliable parcel delivery service you can count on with a reputation as good as yours’ - because your success is tied to theirs’. If you’re in the UK, why not check out our friends over at ParcelBright? They’re as committed to building your reputation as you are.

Don’t let your mistakes turn into bad reviews. Good reputation management is about doing what’s right and making sure your customers leave happy, instead of leaving bad reviews.

Check back next week for eRated’s series on how online sellers can manage their reputation and get more out of their good reviews.

The Numbers are in and Reputation Matters

Have you ever wondered who the best sellers are in the world’s major online marketplaces? Who’s selling the most in Amazon? Where do they live? What are their ratings like? Heck, what are they eating for breakfast? Online sellers want to know what makes good sellers great and what the difference is between mid-volume sellers and those guys literally making a fortune.

Thanks to WebRetailer, we now know who the giants are. This week, the team over at WebRetailer followed up their 2014 list of top eBay sellers with a list of the top sellers in Amazon.

Not surprisingly the top ten are dominated by sellers in the US and Europe, they’ve all got feedback that’s over 90% positive and they’ve got a track record of hundreds of thousands of reviews. As far as the Amazon popularity contest goes, they’re going to be voted class president for sure.

What else did we learn from the hard-nosed research from WebRetailer? We know that he most successful sellers are those selling across borders, especially in Europe, and that most sellers are selling in multiple across platforms. Great sellers do not restrict themselves to one platform - they take advantage of other markets.

If more reviews and ratings means more sales, imagine how much MORE these guys (and you) could be making if you could bolster your reputation through reviews and ratings you’ve earned in other marketplaces? Well, with eRated, now you can! It’s like compiling your Airmiles with your Aeroplan points and putting them tow work together!

Check out the list and see why reputation matters!

Help for the Holidays: From Gifting to Heavy Lifting

Does this time of year remind you of your parents rushing to sign and post Christmas greeting cards? Your father’s colourful language as he puts up the Christmas lights? The strange aroma of an overcooked turkey, smelling like someone dropped a nuclear weapon on a chicken farm? You’re not alone.

Many of us remember our parents juggling everything to make sure Santa arrives on time, while managing all the usual work and school responsibilities. What if you could delegate Christmas tasks like work at the office? Well, thanks to the sharing economy, it’s now possible to make your Christmas a team effort.

Marketplaces like Sooqini in the UK and Jacando in Switerland allow you to outsource tasks from the commonplace to the complex. Post a task and marketplace users will apply to carry it out. So what can you get done with the help of others this Christmas? Here are 5 eRated suggestions:

Decorate it: Decorating the house sounds like a recipe for broken and twisted limbs, but you want to surprise your partner with lights all over your house. Post the task on Sooqini, an hour later you get two offers. You pick the best one, set a date when their not home and, as if by magic (and £40.00) the lights are up! You post a review (using eRated, of course!) and you’re house is the envy of the neighbourhood.

Deliver it: No truck? No car? Not even a little red wagon? You’re probably not keen to carry that larger-than-expected pine tree from the Christmas tree lot up the road to your humble abode. Never fear! Post on Jacando that you need a Christmas tree delivered on 18th December. After sorting through a few offers, you make your selection and for a small delivery fee, the tree if at your door. Now, if only decorating was that easy!

Write it: You have a thousand reasons to love spending Christmas with your partner, but you can’t find the words. Why not ask a tasker to write up a poem or song for your special someone? It can be done!

Buy it: Do you enjoy malls like a three-hour trip to the dentist? If so, why not task out your Christmas shopping? Some people love shopping, why not give them some money to do what they love? After selecting an eager shopper, all the kids’ Christmas presents magically appear wrapped and ready for ripping into under the Christmas tree.

Host it: Is it your turn to host the street for the annual Christmas party? The last time you did this several guests ended up in the emergency room. This time, try outsourcing your party to someone with experience. Taskers can create invitations, decorate and set-up your event, even sort out the mess for you the next day! Organizing a party can be stressful, so why not pay someone else to help you out?

Christmas is the perfect time to get tasking! Sign up with Sooqini and get £25.00 of free tasks. Jacando is the best way to get things done this holiday season in Switzerland!

Over the holidays, take advantage of all your transactions by using eRated to advance your listings and build a stronger reputation online. It’s like a Christmas bonus!

Merry Sharing!

A Collaborative Christmas: Regifting and the Sharing Economy

The approach of Christmas Day and the full-swing of the Holiday Season predictably leads to the whinging of urbanites against commercialization and consumerism. Much of this “Bah, humbugging” is well-founded. We know many presents, while providing instant gratification, will soon find their way into the backs of closets and boxes in the garage. Their value to the recipient is in the moment of opening, and then they disappear into that limitless space under the bed. But what if you could turn unwanted Christmas presents of past and present into something of real value to someone else? And, ironing over the sense of guilt, actually let you make some money?

This is where the sharing economy comes in. Collaborative consumption is about regifting “dead assets”; those things we own, but rarely or never use, into something useful for someone else. After the wrapping paper has cleared and the dried-out Christmas tree hauled out of the living room, Brits should look to the value their presents, particularly the ones they shake their heads at, by how they can help someone else and perhaps bring them a bit of money.

So where can you get value out of your presents? RentMyItems is a great British marketplace allowing you to make quick cash off of old Christmas presents by renting them out for periods of time. Dust-gathering instruments, power tools and, yes, the fine china and silvery you don’t use anymore can all get a new life for a period of time with someone else.

You can start by simply selling your clutter. On Preloved.co.uk you can post everything from furniture to fine prints by location or category. You can also post items as a charity, so why not round up all those unused presents and fundraise for the leaky church roof? If you don’t want to sell, you can always rent or swap your items.

Like FreeCycle, Freegle is a marketplace dedicated to people who just want to get rid of their stuff. Sometimes it’s just about people wanting more space rather than making money, so taking their stuff off their hands is doing them a huge favour. Some “Freeglers” have even furnished entire offices and living rooms through the free items they’ve collected.

Nothing finds itself in the back of the closet or in the returns queue faster than fashion that’s too small, too large or just doesn’t suit. Fortunately, marketplaces like BuyMyWardrobe and Rentez-vous (proud eRated partners) provide a platform for folks to sell or swap their fashions. Turn presents into revenue for you, joy for others and possibly a new wardrobe. Anything is better than back of the closet!

Finally, if you’ve been successful in selling, giving and renting your items such that you now have loads of extra room, take advantage of StoreMates. Rent out your closet, the extra space in the garage or in the basement to someone who’s overflowing with stuff. It’s your space, so make it work for you!

Regifting doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Sharing is the disposal of something unwanted or unused to someone else. It’s about helping others get what they need by letting your present take on a second life. The sharing economy is giving Brits a cheaper solution to store goods, give and swap them away, or sell and rent them out. Sharing is what Christmas is all about, so get into the spirit and join the collaborative consumption movement!

Check out eRated for how you can make the most out of your sharing experience this Christmas!

Parcel Bright: A Cheaper, Brighter Future for Parcel Delivery

Anxiety is a painful reality for many SME owners today. Making sure staff are content and properly compensated. Proving your worth to investors. Managing the inevitable snags in operation. But nothing keeps business owners up at night more than making sure clients receive their product on time and in shape. ParcelBright is the UK’s newest solution for individual online sellers and small businesses looking to get their package out on time so sellers can rest easy.

Far from one size fits all, ParcelBright tailors its pricing to you. It’s pretty simple, the more you ship, the more you save. But that’s not all, with many different packages to choose from, ParcelBright will help you find the cheapest way to ship no matter how big or small you are. This is a principle eRated values as well. With time and the right support sellers will increase sales volume. In fact, that’s part of the business model. Helping our sellers grow their bottom line helps us grow ours as well. It’s truly a case of one tide raising all boats.

ParcelBright was founded late in 2013. While the business is just one year old, they are already on track to send 500,000 parcels this year, and have attracted a series of investors who have pledged $1,000,000 to help ParcelBright to continue to support small to medium sized online sellers.

Based in London, ParcelBright has one of the most enviable customer service response times in the industry at 60% response within one hour, and most others soon after. That’s better than most corporations with massive customer support teams. Great customer support, reliability and unbeatable pricing means repeat customers have become loyal mainstays. Clients can trust ParcelBright to get the job done and, if it’s one thing we know at eRated, it’s the importance of trust.

eRated is thrilled to be partnering with ParcelBright because, at the end of the day, we have the same mission: Helping sellers satisfy buyers and scale up. Like eRated, ParcelBright’s door is always open, whether you’re a small scale seller with only a handful of deliveries a week or a High Street chain distributing thousands of packages on a regular basis, they are a solution for all sizes.

Good things may coming small packages, but ParcelBright’s tailor-made solutions make sure good things come in all packages.

To start delivering with ParcelBright, check them out at parcelbright.com

SuperMarket: The Artisans Behind the Art

The big boxes of online marketplaces, like eBay and Amazon, have been around since the beginning. They are reliable and convenient, just like their real-world cousins, but they lack the personal character of smaller marketplaces. Worldly buyers want to know the craftmaker behind the cabinet or the bottler behind the marmalade. That’s where niche marketplaces like Supermarket come in.

Supermarkethq.com is a friendly marketplace where designers are connected directly with buyers. This is like the urban marketplace where you can ask the artisan directly about their sourcing and their inspiration. Just as important for savvy buyers, products are unique - you’re not likely to see the same person wearing your necklace on a night out. Finding the right product is as much about finding a great story. Supermarket connects users to stories as well as their suppliers.

Before eRated’s partnership, Supermarket had no existing reputation system. eRated helped to give marketplace users a reputation. Since integration two months ago, the number of Supermarket users adopting eRated has doubled. More importantly for Supermarket founders, eRated is increasing conversion rates.

In the first month, eRated users increased conversion rates by as much as 90%. By the second month, that number had grown by 185%. On average, Supermarket merchants are connecting 3.5 existing accounts and have imported more than 800 reviews into Supermarket.

Supermarket prides itself on offering a story behind every product and a person behind every story. For one seller, he opted into eRated and imported over 1000 reviews from elsewhere. Before doing so he had one sale on Supermarket, since then he has made 27. That’s the power of eRated.

We’re proud of our partners, so check out Supermarket!

As a seller or marketplace, leverage the power if eRated by owning your reputation. Visit www.erated.co to join today.

SideLineSwap: Earn Cash by Cleaning out your Locker

SideLineSwap sellers are now powered by eRated. What about yours?

Like Brendan at SideLineSwap, thousands of people around the world are turning their passions into pastimes and hobbies into jobs by creating online marketplaces. They’re trading what they’re passionate about. They’re selling the products they know and love.

SideLineSwap saw a need and moved to meet that need with a marketplace geared to its users. For Mums looking to sell their kids’ outgrown hockey pads; to grownup athletes whose time on the gridline has been replaced by four walls and fluorescent lights, SideLineSwap is a marketplace for users to sell, buy and trade sporting goods.

By allowing users to create profiles as athletes and fans, their marketplace takes a big step toward building more than a store, but building a community of people with similar interests. This actually helps to build trust, but just as important, it lets people get to know one another. It’s also a place for users who see themselves as small businesses, like people supplying a particular type of gear. The marketplace’s crisp display and flexible platform allows sellers to do justice to their goods and get the sales they want. It’s a community for Mums and merchants, and merchant Mums.

What has eRated done for SideLineSwap? Like many new marketplaces, SideLineSwap was looking to improve their reputation system by making it more flexible and allow users to add more information about themselves. Our widget added value for them right away, letting their users bring in their social media profiles and existing marketplace histories. Since adopting our widget, SideLineSwap has seen conversion rates go up for existing users by up to 40%. New users without a history in SideLineSwap have been able to import their existing reputation elsewhere and get selling in Brendan’s marketplace faster.

Visit SideLineSwap and make the most out of your gear!

Contact eRated if you would like to see the same results as Brendan for your marketplace at [email protected].

Trust in the Sharing Economy: In Conversation with the UK Gov’t

How do we keep users safe? What role should the government play as regulator? Can marketplaces really police themselves?

These were just some of the questions in a free-flowing discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the sharing economy in the months and years ahead. On 17th October, the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills brought together a motley crew of savvy start-up entrepreneurs, passionate activists and keen government staff from a number of departments to talk about one thing: Trust in the sharing economy.

As engaged members of the sharing economy, the British government wanted to know how we envisioned this space in 2025. We dreamed of a perfect world where there were clear laws and regulations from the government; where working systems of redress kicked in when trust breaks down; where the sharing economy is the “new normal”, and where millions of users behaved according to an agreed code of conduct. One cheeky participant asked: Why wait until 2025?

We love lists in the 21st century and, as it turns out, so does the British government. They asked us to list what we thought were the biggest challenges facing the sharing economy. In no particular order, we listed safety, transparency, privacy, verification, insurance and digital inclusion. Can we ever be certain of a person’s identity online? How do we engage pensioners and those from less advantageous economic backgrounds in collaborative consumption? Is it time to rethink consumer rights legislation for the sharing economy?

As a reputation aggregator in the sharing economy, eRated was especially interested in how we can bring together the history and reputation of sharers online to make their lives easier in every marketplace. I was of course delighted to hear one participant ask: Why can’t there be a universal reputation score for every user? Well, that’s what keeps us at eRated up at night!

There was a pretty clear consensus that, for all its risks, collaborative consumers are making the sharing economy a safe place. One insightful comment from a Blablacar staff member noted that drivers are working harder to drive safe in their marketplace because it’s not just the police watching anymore, but thousands of fellow marketplace motorists. Daniel from BIS said his place is never cleaner then when he’s about to AirBnB it! There’s no doubt that intervention from the government can be a positive force, but the people who share are a pretty responsible bunch. We care about our sharing communities.

Turning strangers into friends is something we can all get behind. By strengthening our sharing communities with clearer regulations and codes of conduct, opening new roles for insurance companies, bringing together our various online reputations and protecting our data, we can help make sharing easier, safer and more transparent.

We are delighted to see the sharing economy at the top of the British government’s agenda. This is one sure sign that the sharing economy is far from being a fad and, at least for this small group, is undoubtedly the future.

Do you sell online? If so, READ THIS

Like more than 100 million people, you sell in online marketplaces. Whether its shoes or technology, what’s in the back of your closest or in the top drawer of your chest, you want to make money and help buyers meet their needs.

At eRated, we have been meeting with online sellers to find out what makes you tick. We want to hear from you. You can earn money just by telling us what would make you a better online seller. Please get in touch with us at erated.co.

So what can make you a better seller? Here are some insights from our interviews with sellers:

Join a community. In the Sharing Economy, like-minded sellers and buyers are joining communities online and in person. By becoming a member of the community, you’ll gain the trust of other members. There is one, indisputable fact of online sales: When more people trust you, the more you will sell. If you want to sell that whole wardrobe instead just a few pairs of heels, join a community or get looped into a small online marketplace like SnobSwap.
Look to the Stars. Almost every online marketplace has a means for you to track your transaction history and view your reputation. Normally, it’s summed up by the number of stars you have, in addition to verbal feedback from buyers. Your reputation determines, more than anything else, the amount you sell. Never overlook your reputation. If you don’t have the reputation you want, be more responsive, make sure you deliver everything as soon as possible and ensure your stuff is the same quality as advertised.You are your reputation – own it.
Get to know your buyers. When most people make a sale, that’s usually the end of their relationship with a buyer. Do yourself a favour, get to know them. Send them a follow-up message to get more info. Why did they buy from you and not someone else? What else are they looking for? Can they suggest ways for you to improve your profile and up your sales? Advice is often free, but sadly just as often ignored. Seek advice from your buyers.
Try new marketplaces. 90% of all sellers are selling in more than one platform. There’s no secret, the more platforms you use, the more you’ll sell. In particular, seek out niche marketplaces for those special products. If you sell on eBay, don’t be afraid to use Bonanaza or amazon … be more visible on the internet.
Use social media. Research shows the vast majority of people buying and selling online also have multiple social media accounts. Social media users and e-commerce buyers are the same people. Using social media is another way to connect to buyers. Use your account to promote your sales and get to know product and service communities. It’s free!
Join eRated. Of course, we have to stick in a shameless plug. eRated is free for sellers and has proven to increase conversion rates 10-30%. It’s so easy to adopt and use. There’s just no way we can’t help you.If you would like to get paid to tell us what it’s like to be a seller, get in touch now: [email protected]. We can help you help yourself.

eRated: A More Human Way to Trade

Want to be a part of the sharing economy? Start by joining eRated.

For centuries, sellers and buyers wouldn’t dream of buying or selling products, or using services they couldn’t see, touch and smell. Fish was smelled, fruit was squeezed and services were provided by the people you knew, almost always in the same town market. Trust between sellers was built on familiarity, rather than on a brand or corporate emblem.

This changed in the 20^th century when the vast majority of goods and services purchased by the average consumer came with a corporate tag. The “marketplace” narrowed to the consumer and a small collection of corporate providers. You bought from “trusted brands”. Brands were trusted because they came with history, a history of quality and the confidence that comes with scale.

In the 21^st century, we’re harkening back. Collaborative consumption is returning consumers and sellers to marketplaces again. The difference now is we’re not confined by geography, as in the past, but by the anonymity that comes with the online marketplace. We can’t touch our goods and we don’t know our sellers. Additionally, individuals and small enterprises don’t come with global corporate brands. So, in the shared economy, where does trust come from?

Trust can only be built in one way: Reputation. eRated is the world’s first tool built to bring the trust of town marketplaces to the global, online shared economy. eRated spans the divide between hundreds of marketplaces, large and small. It works for first-time sellers and large-scale buyers. eRated is free because it’s filling a crucial need: The need to establish trust between tens of millions of sellers who don’t live in the same town and don’t shop in the same marketplaces. It’s the friend of a friend who told you, “You can trust this woman because I’ve bought from her before.”

Collaborative consumption is returning us to the way exchange should be – between people who care about their products and a marketplace where quality is guaranteed by reputation, not by a corporate brand. eRated is offering the world a more human way to trade.

Be a part of the collaborative consumption movement by telling your friends about eRated:

Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erated.co?fref=ts

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Visit us our website: erated.co