Communicating With Your Customers

As an ebay seller, one of the most important things you do is communicate with your buyers. Ebay has done a great job of automating notifications to winning bidders, but it is still up to you to add a personal touch to let your customers know that there’s a caring real person behind those automated messages.

As a buyer, I prefer dealing with sellers who show me the consideration of a brief personal thank-you when I have paid for a purchase. It’s always nice to know that my package has been shipped so that I’ll know when to expect its arrival. The seller who lets me know these things is much more likely to get repeat business from me due to their simple courtesy. As a seller, I like to offer the same to my buyers. When I receive their payment, I make it a rule to drop them a quick reply to let them know I have received their payment and tell them when their item will ship. When I print the mailing label through Paypal, I always put a quick note in the comments section to let them know their package is on its way.

In order to save time writing these little messages, which are usually the same things over and over again, I use a great tool that was recommended to me by some other ebay sellers. The tool is called ShortKeys, a utility that I have on my computer to help save typing time. On my mailing label comments, for instance, if I type, say, ppallbl, my code for the message that goes with my Paypal label, the entire message then appears in its place. I don’t have to remember everything I wanted to say (the package is on its way, thanks, please shop with me again, etc.), and I don’t have to type all that out; ShortKeys takes care of it.

ShortKeys can be used with any application you have on the computer. Use it to set up a variety of signature lines, your name plus any messages or links you include below your name. Then when you write an e-mail, you can just type in the code for the signature that you want that recipient to see. You can probably think of other places you would like to eliminate repetitive typing as well.

ShortKeys Lite is a free version of this software utility and it works just great. The full-blown version includes other features that you might find useful as well and is available for a very reasonable price. You can read all about ShortKeys at the ShortKeys website.

Whether you choose this utility or prefer to do all your typing yourself, in either case be sure to communicate well with your ebay customers. As in the rest of life, treat them the way you would want to be treated.