@a1_discount_warehous (A1-Discount-Warehouse) posted a new topic, subject "High Percentage of Negative/Poor Feedback from Asian Buyers/Customers". It read:

   I`m a US seller on Amazon for approx. 2 years &amp; only sell to US customers (due to Delivery Confirmation &amp; which is not available outside US or high International cost) who is a medium sized individual seller (800+ total sales). I have only received 77 total feedbacks (less than 10%). While it`s a fact that most satisfied Amazon buyers don`t leave positive feedback - a much higher percentage of dissatisfied buyers will leave poor feedback (1 &amp; 2 Star ratings) without even contacting the seller first to resolve any issue. Many of these immediate low feedbacks are unfair &amp; come from buyers who didn`t read the full additional seller description, purchased the wrong item/part # which was their research mistake/error, received a package/item that was obviously damaged during shipping, etc. - all reasons being beyond the sellers mistake/control. However, 80% of the 1 & 2 Star feedback I receive comes from Asian buyers (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. - but never Japanese). Like I stated I`m a US seller who only sells US - I`m not trying to be racially profiling my customers but does anyone else have this problem/trend? It`s killing me - now down to a 94% rating.

After which, @harun (Harun) added

    I think his last name was Kaplan or Katzenberg something which made me assume he was white.
    
    I guess he could have been something other than white.

@harun (Harun) replied

    My Asian customers are all doctors or work at tech companies. They all manage to communicate just fine.
    
    I think the product matters a lot in these cases.
    
    I also once did an entire transaction in Spanish with a customer in Venezuela using Google translate. By keeping the English basic and clear, and avoiding idiom, it worked surprisingly great.

After which, @jennifermaryp (jennifermaryp) added

    There are all sorts of things wrong with your post but I'll just address one
    
    "They can also elect insurance and the seller gets reimbursed for insurance. "  
    You do understand that legally (as in according to federal law) it is the sellers responsibility to get items to the buyer and insurance is thus for the protection of the seller? No buyer should be paying for insurance.
    
    I would advise anyone willing to address this seller to look at some of his seller descriptions: since when can you refuse to accept returns?
    
    "I do NOT ship to P.O. Boxes or to APO/FPO's and I do NOT ship to AK, HI, PR, VI etc. - I only ship to the 48 contiguous states and to NO FOREIGN destinations. Refunds are given for receipt damaged or inoperable within 7 days of receipt. Item will be sent signature confirmation. If you are not present to receive the item, a notice will be left and you will be given an address at which to retrieve your item at the nearest U.S. Postal warehouse. If not retrieved in 15 days it will be returned to the sender. There is no refund for “not needed or wanted any longer”, “buyer's error”, or for any perceived incompatibility issues with any hardware, software or computer operating system type or version. "

So @synapse (Zuni) replied

    i haven't seen this, but I have seen a larger incidence of chargebacks with a certain racial demographic…
    
    As for feedback issues, I seem to have that problem with France…I block buyers from France over at the bay…they are ALWAYS a PITA. I'm done with them.

Then @Lake (Lake) said

    We've had problems with some customers who are not native English speakers, did not understand the catalog page, our listing or the process for returning product and receiving a refund. Sometimes it has manifested itself in extreme defensiveness and hostility.
    
    We just try to deal with such situations in an extremely pleasant way.
    
    I can see it might be harder for you since you respond to 4 FBs.
    
    I doubt that your current FB level is affecting your sales, appliance parts seem to be an item whose sellers experience some customer problems.

Then @4c (4C) said

    Way to insult multiple races in 1 short paragraph.
    
    If they are ordering on amazon, they obviously have some idea how things work then going to the local walmart. I think the asian customers might just be as clueless as your white USA customers.
    
    You want to insulate the negatives, increase the feedback. I finally broke down last week and start using that feedback 5 system. I got tired of getting feedback ratio of _3%_ for the past 2 month.
    
    Since i turn it on, feedback has increased quite a bit to almost 5% now. The system is still sending solicitation emails for orders from a month ago. Would i recommend this? Maybe for short term, but for long term this thing is pretty useless and pricey for what it does.

After which, @ceasesmith (ceasesmith) added

    It IS your responsibility to make sure the customer gets what they ordered, in the condition you graded it; if it's damaged during shipment, that, too, is your RESPONSIBILITY. You can, to an extent, control that issue by improving packing.
    
    And when you get a negative, do you write the customer a polite e-mail and tell them you would like to resolve the issue so that they are happy with the transaction, or do you just go on a rather bigoted rampage of vitriolic spite?
    
    And if you don't get an answer to your polite e-mail, do you follow up with a snail-mail letter? Or do you just keep cussing dumb customers who don't answer e-mails?
    
    If you change YOUR attitude, you might IMPROVE your fb score…if you start looking at a negative as an  
    OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE and not just a bad mark on your record,  
    you might be pleasantly surprised.
    
    However, this skill set is way beyond 1,888,888 of the 2,000,000 3p sellers on Amazon.
    
    But one that can be learned.
    
    cease
    
    (And, no, I don't have this problem; and I have shipped to China, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan without one single negative fb in 4 years, to people with obviously Oriental names. Believe me, dumb is no respecter of  
    color or national origin – it crosses all lines.)
    
    Edited by: ceasesmith on Aug 20, 2012 8:22 AM

@bookmaggot (bookmaggot) replied

    Right on.

After which, @red_tailed_hawk_musi (Red-tailed Hawk Music and More) added

    You go, CS!

Then @books_online_1107 (Books-Online) said

    I can't find the _Like_ button

To which @OCDBooksales (OCDBooksales) replied

    (intentionally left blank)

To which @flyinghouse (flyinghouse) replied

    No, I have not had this problem.
    
    For buyers who actually read the feedback page, your replies are far more damaging than anything the buyers wrote. Those are what will cost you business. I certainly would not purchase from a seller who would say “not my problem” and even call me a liar if my order arrived damaged.
    
    Of course the seller is responsible for in-transit damage.
    
    Barb

@harun (Harun) replied

    It could be random chance. You do not have a huge sample.
    
    I will note that I find some trends from my customers:
    
      1. Asians and other minorities make up a fair amount of my customer base for various reasons. I have not received any negative feedback from them so far…and maybe not much feedback in general.
    
      2. I also receive a lot of orders from the upper Midwest - Dakotas, Montana, etc. I figure Amazon must be like the old Sears catalog for them.
    
      3. Lots of orders from the CA bay area - tech savvy buyers - they might also skew more ethnic. I don't care what color their skin is as long as their cash is good.
    
      4. Lots of orders from Miami area - I think some of my home items must work well with the decor taste there.
    
      5. For some specific items there seems to be ethnic interest. I also get lots of orders from Persian Gulf freight forwarders for these items. I know this because I wondered why some Arab male in an industrial warehouse in Ohio was repeat ordering girly items. Turns out it was a freight forwarder.
    
    
    
    
    My worst feedback came from a white guy from New York who complained about calling our customer service line and being told incorrect information about our product. Ummmm, we do not have a customer service line, and it turned out he called a competitor's. Emailed him about removal but you could tell the NY attitude meant no feedback deletion was in the cards. Of course, he re-ordered two months later. I guess that's the important feedback.

@The_Lunatick_Fire_an (The Lunatick Fire and EMS Store) replied

    Lake:
    
    > We've had problems with some customers who are not native English speakers, did not understand the catalog page, our listing or the process for returning product and receiving a refund. Sometimes it has manifested itself in extreme defensiveness and hostility.
    
    .  
    BINGO!
    
    quite a bit of our negative feedback comes either from this or just people in general not reading the description, refund policy, return policy etc… and assuming what the product is.

@synapse (Zuni) replied

    +My worst feedback came from a white guy from New York who complained about calling our customer service line and being told incorrect information about our product. Ummmm, we do not have a customer service line, and it turned out he called a competitor's. Emailed him about removal but you could tell the NY attitude meant no feedback deletion was in the cards. Of course, he re-ordered two months later. I guess that's the important feedback.+
    
    Nice try. Unfortunately, I am calling BS on this as I am sure you didn't know what color this buyer was.

Then @bouledoux (bouledoux) said

    I was thinking I was the only private seller who had noticed the same thing. I cringe when I see an Asian or other obviously foreign name on the order because I also have had a disproportionate amount of problems with persons for whom English is not their primary skill set shall we say ? If your remark was on Facebook I would have given your post a “Like”. They either don't read MY condition description or don't understand what they read and are looking all over the screen - ending up thinking they are getting a brand new item with all the accessories etc. shown at the top of the page rather than the carefully described notes in my condition description. Then the messages start and anything you reply to them seems to anger them. I'm almost to the point of saying the item is no longer in stock if I see a foreign name. Are they this dumb or is this a gimmick they use with other buyers to get items for free ?
    
    My other outstanding gripe is being constantly screwed out of the extra postage it costs me to ship items across the Country when the allowed postage was half or less the actual cost to do so. I don't know why Amazon cannot use the same postage calculator App Ebay uses to calculate postage on their auction / sale sites and set it up so that the seller can recover the actual costs instead of the generally absurdly and obviously low given shipping costs Amazon forces sellers to have to abide by and get screwed by. On Ebay, The customer is immediately aware of the estimated shipping costs to their zip from my zip and nobody gets surprised or has a thing to complain about. They can also elect insurance and the seller gets reimbursed for insurance.
    
    Thirdly, Amazon should not allow a new buyer to buy unless and until they have completed the financial verification - avoiding tying up an item on a seller's inventory for as much as a week and then finding out they don't meet the requirements to buy after all. In he meantime, you might have had a qualified seller eager to buy the exact item who didn't see it because Amazon was hiding it.
    
    Common sense, fairness equally to sellers as well as buyers. I'm all for happy buyers but keep in mind Sellers are Amazon customers too and sellers need to be treated with the exact, same respect and courtesy as Amazon purports it shows to buyers.

Then @system (system) said

    


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