Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

NRF Ranks eBay Customer Service in the Top 20

According to the fourth annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey, eBay is ranked #14 overall for customer service in 2008 (down 1 from #13 in 2007).

The NRF is the same organization that back in September claimed that selling on the Internet is so addictive, people are getting hooked and satisfying their addiction by entering a life of organized Internet crime; pretty much equating eBay sellers to drug-addicted criminals. Well, apparently these same sellers are providing great customer service while they’re at it.

All joking aside, it’s no secret that eBay and the NRF have disagreed on a number of key issues in the past, including Price Fixing, so it’s great to see that the voice of the consumer counts above all else.

The survey, which polled 8,167 consumers, was conducted by consumer marketing intelligence firm BIGresearch from September 2-9, 2008. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent. Consumers answered the open ended question, “Thinking of all the different retail formats (store, catalog, internet, or home shopping), which retailer delivers the best customer service?”

This top 20 ranking comes on the heels of eBay receiving a #2 overall rank for most trusted companies for privacy. However, given the above criteria for the survey, I feel it is the individual sellers on the eBay marketplace that should be commended for achieving this award. After all, they’re the ones providing the customer service to consumers on a daily basis.

Cheers,
RBH

Tagged: award, customer service, ebay, ecommerce, National Retail Federation, NRF, online awards, online marketplace

(11) Comments

11 Responses on this post. Click to add yours.

Larry PhillipsOn January 13, 2009 at 5:55 pm Said:

I believe this rating is more a testament to the outstanding service provided by eBay sellers. This survey appears to be customers rating the buying experience, and customers buy from eBay sellers, not from eBay.

So let’s give the kudos where they appropriately belong; the sellers of eBay! Great job sellers!

just askingOn January 14, 2009 at 8:40 am Said:

Did you even read the post, or just the headline? The entire post puts the commendation on the sellers, not on eBay.

blarney_stoneOn January 14, 2009 at 9:51 am Said:

Sellers have to stoop to meet Any request of ANY buyer to avoid being held hostage for feedback. Most sellers are Awesome and Upstanding citizens. A few are not.

This reference does not refer to customer service at eBay company. There is none, as both Buyers and sellers are their customers, (more so the sellers, as they are the ones paying eBay), and you cannot even speak to a human for customer service at the company.

MarcOn January 14, 2009 at 10:08 am Said:

@ Just Asking

Someone looks angry. why?

MarcOn January 14, 2009 at 10:26 am Said:

I now see why you are upset Richard. I didn’t see your twitter post at the top of the screen. The first post didn’t make sense since it didn’t appear to be a reply to anyone. You must have deleted that post out of frustration.

Good luck. Ebay.com is a very negative place. Not just here on Ink.

Consignment Pal Resale DirectoryOn January 14, 2009 at 10:35 am Said:

Richard,

You’re correct about the award belonging to the eBay sellers.

The headline should be corrected to read:

“NRF Ranks eBay SELLER Customer Service in the Top 20″

AmberOn January 14, 2009 at 11:11 am Said:

Yep–ebay sellers provide customer service. Ebay does not sell anything at all.

I’m sure, based on that survey question, that it is the buying experience being evaluated since few if any buyers ever need to actually contact Ebay about anything.

If they did, they’d probably be a lot less happy.

Perhaps a survey of ebay SELLERS’ satisfaction about ebay’s customer service would show the horrendous CS available to us.

…we’re still waiting for that expose re: customer service…

And yes, Richard, people should read the entire post (not just the intro shown in the headline area) before commenting. Thanks for the kudos.

Larry PhillipsOn January 14, 2009 at 11:41 am Said:

Yes, I apologize to RBH. Between discussion boards, blogs, Twitter, etc, there’s a lot to read out there, and only so much time to read it. So I only read the first one-sentence paragraph, and then clicked right over to the survey. Later in the post, he acknowledged that the award was earned by the sellers of eBay, not eBay the corporation, although the title and first sentence did not mention the sellers of eBay.

Sorry Richard.

DaveyOn January 14, 2009 at 2:34 pm Said:

I guarantee the rating was for the sellers, not ebay corporate, which I have found from experience to have the worst Customer Service in the world, with only Buy (.com) as a distant second. Granted, this is from a survey sample of 1 (me), but as an exemplary seller, I get treated just like everyone else–dirt. I get the usual 3 or 4 rounds of incorrect autobot responses, then the inevitable response that says my issue was “investigated” but the correct action is not taken to correct it. This happened to me again just yesterday with an issue so simple it boggled the mind. The infamous Uncle Griff finally slapped a bot hard enough it recognized and took care of the problem (Thanks!).

Bill Cobb recognized the service problem a couple years ago and promised a fix–not forthcoming.

Heaven help us if a new buyer has to deal with ebay support. Or, a new seller (such as when they discover they are the subject of a 21 day hold). They won’t be back.

Ebay would do well to learn from cellular phone companies, who used to be the bottom of the barrel, on how to treat paying customers in order to retain them.

HenriettaOn January 19, 2009 at 12:20 pm Said:

eBay sellers know that good titling is vital to success. There is a lesson here, again.

The article is almost a nice change from the increasingly PR puff character of this blog. Good that at least one person at eBay acknowledges the role sellers play in keeping the boat afloat.

Thank you.