Is a Positive Feedback Contest against Ebay TOS?

[MikeLac]

Not sure what you would call it. It isn't really a contest. But here is what I am planning on doing.

This is about encouraging people to leave Feedback. Mainly the 5 Star kind.

Currently, I have not received a Neutral or a Negative. 450 Positive Feedback. My DSR's are either 4.9 or 5. But if everybody left me a Positive Feedback, I should have a little over 1000 Feedback rating. I quickly ship items. Promptly answer messages from buyers. My Auctions accurately describe the items I am selling. Most of my Auctions have Free Shipping. My Auctions are ranked extremely well and Sales have far exceeded my expectations because of it. I'm thinking that my high DSR rating has something to do with it. I want to do everything I can to keep my DSR ratings high. I'm also a Power Seller.

Lots of Sellers leave Feedback only after the Buyer leaves feedback first. Just because of the high number of Buyers that do not bother leaving Feedback. The idea is to give Buyers an incentive to leave feedback. I tried that and the feedback response did improve, but not nearly as much as I expected. Now I leave Positive Feedback after I mark the items as shipped.

I would like to do a Monthly draw where one of my Customers will win a $50 Ebay Gift Certificate. About 7 days after a Buyer purchases one of my items, they will receive an Email from me about a Chance to Win a $50 Ebay Gift Certificate. To enter the draw, all they would have to do is leave me 5 Star Positive Feedback. If they purchased an item in January and left a positive feedback in February, they would be entered into February's draw. For this Month, I'll randomly pick a User ID from the Positive Feedback comments received during this Month. I would do the draw within the first 7 days of March.

This will be totally legit. One of my Buyers will win. They will be sent a $50 Ebay Gift Certificate. There will be a Web Page on my site announcing the Winner for each Month. The link to this Web Page will be in the Email each Buyer receives.

I will not use the Ebay logo in my Email or on my Web Page. To maintain the Buyers privacy, part of their user name will be blocked out with asterisks when put on my web page. I'll post the feedback comment left, what the buyer purchased, and the date and time the comment was left. This way, anybody could find that transaction in my comments to see that it was an actual transaction.

Is there anything wrong doing this? Any of you guys doing something similar?

When I mention to leave us 5 Star Positive Feedback to enter the draw, I do realize the the DSR's that buyers leave are anonymous and there isn't a way (that I know of) to find out what rating a certain buyer left. But most buyers do not know that, so they would likely leave a 5 star if they were going to leave a 4 just so they can enter the draw.

 

[tjapado]

go and read ebay tos you lazy bastard

 

[MikeLac]

I did read the Ebay TOS you fucking prick. Didn't see anything in there about it.

 

[Mr-excalibur]

i think you should not mention - give me 5 stars- the users might send a copy of your mail to eBay

or worse: they might write - he is asking for 5 stars after purchase.... that will let new customers think that your rating is faked (even because you ask for 5 stars instead of simply ask for feedback)

what you could use is anchor points: if you use adjectives / maybe visual anchors like a logo with 5 stars your customers have 5 yellow stars - use the exact 5 stars eBay uses- in deep consciousness when they give you feedback

maybe a letter when you ship would do better than an email...

or (if possible) a letter with qr code to the ranking page... might work better than retyping long or shortened urls

 

[MikeLac]

i think you should not mention - give me 5 stars- the users might send a copy of your mail to eBay

or worse: they might write - he is asking for 5 stars after purchase.... that will let new customers think that your rating is faked (even because you ask for 5 stars instead of simply ask for feedback)

what you could use is anchor points: if you use adjectives / maybe visual anchors like a logo with 5 stars your customers have 5 yellow stars - use the exact 5 stars eBay uses- in deep consciousness when they give you feedback

maybe a letter when you ship would do better than an email...

or (if possible) a letter with qr code to the ranking page... might work better than retyping long or shortened urls

Good points. I always send a Sales Receipt with every purchase. Probably is better just mentioning it in the receipt. That way, I know the customer will see it. With Emails, it could go into Spam filters or the customer just never opens it.

Maybe on the webpage, I'll just use an image of leaving a Positive Feedback comment with the positive feedback box checked and the words "Enter your Comment here for a chance to win" and the ratings all selected at 5 star. But I won't mention 5 star at all.

 

[dannym954]

It is against eBay TOS, but i just include a flyer in the parcel reminding the buyer to leave feedback, imo telling buyers to sign up for your newsletter to enter a competition is going to work out better for you

 

[Numbuh362]

It's better to remind them to leave feed back instead of telling them to leave 5 stars. Make a little card that says "If you're satisfied with our service don't forget to leave feedback, it's greatly appreciated."

 

[MikeLac]

It is against eBay TOS, but i just include a flyer in the parcel reminding the buyer to leave feedback, imo telling buyers to sign up for your newsletter to enter a competition is going to work out better for you

Ok, thanks for the info. Guess I will not do it. I do include a receipt with each order reminding the buyer to leave feedback. Just thought that this would be a good way to get more people to leave feedback.