eBay Hacks

Using Prefabricated Feedback

Save time by storing prewritten feedback for future use.

It won’t take you long to get tired of writing feedback comments for the various buyers and sellers with whom you trade. You always end up saying the same thing, so why bother typing it every time?

The solution is simple. Write two generic, all-purpose positive feedback comments, one for buyers and one for sellers, and place them in a plain-text file saved on your hard disk. Remember that each comment can be no longer than 80 characters, including any spaces and punctuation.

Then, when it comes time to leave feedback for someone, open the text file, highlight the appropriate comment, and press Ctrl-C to copy. Then, click the Feedback Review field, and press Ctrl-V to paste.

Tip

Naturally, you can store as many prefabricated feedback comments as you like (variety is the spice of life, after all). Just be careful not to place negative comments too close to positive ones, lest you select the wrong line in haste.

Feedback for Multiple Auctions

Go to My eBay → Feedback → Leave Feedback, and you’ll see a list of all closed auctions for which you have not yet left feedback, as shown in Figure 1-2. Simply go down the list, pasting your prefabricated comments for any deserving transactions.

Figure 1-2. Leave feedback for dozens of auctions at a time without typing a single word

Make sure to choose the corresponding rating (positive, negative, or neutral) for each transaction, and then click Leave Feedback when you’re done.

Right-Click-O-Rama

Users of Windows XP, Me, and 2000 can use their context menus for even quicker access to prefabricated feedback. Start by installing Creative Element Power Tools (http://www.creativelement.com/powertools) and enabling the “Copy file contents to the Clipboard” option.

Next, create at least two plain-text files (one for buyers and one for sellers), each with only a single feedback comment on the first line, and save them to your hard disk. Give each file a name that describes its contents, such as Standard Seller Feedback.txt or Positive Buyer Feedback.txt.

When you’re ready to leave feedback, just right-click one of the files and select Copy File Contents. Then, click the Feedback Review field and press Ctrl-V to paste in the feedback text.

Feedback for International Users

Saving feedback is also handy when you want to have several different prefabricated comments at your fingertips.

For instance, when leaving feedback for an eBay member in another country, you’ll probably want to write in the user’s native language. And every time you go to the trouble of constructing a comment in a foreign language, you might as well save it for future use. Eventually, you’ll have a folder filled with filenames like Positive feedback for Swedish buyers.txt or French feedback comments.txt.

Tip

If you’re not familiar with the member’s native language, use a free online translator to help you out, as described in [Hack #30].

See Also

• Some of the auction management tools discussed in Chapter 7 also have features to leave feedback automatically for buyers who have paid.

• See [Hack #95] for details on using the eBay API to leave feedback for other members.