Every time I look at seller feedback left by previous buyers, whether on Ebay or other similar online sites, it is usually something similar to the following:
Excellent! Item arrived exactly as described! Very good seller! AAAAAA++++++++++++++
Why does a transaction where nothing extraordinary happened deserve such a glowing review? If I went into a coffee shop, and I ordered a cappuccino, and five minutes later, received it, I wouldn't go onto Yelp and write a review saying how great the coffee shop is because I got what I ordered.
It is really service above and beyond the ordinary that merits a glowing review. For example, my wife took her car to Acura of Bellevue for routine service, and they gave her a free rental (many dealerships do this), but then they moved all her stuff into the rental, and even transferred our son's car seat (which is not a quick or easy task) for her, which was a nice thing to do, and is not something you would ordinarily expect. When she forgot something and drove back to get it, they jogged out to the car to hand it to her so that she wouldn't have to park, get our son back out of his seat, and go inside the dealership.
This is the sort of "going above and beyond" service I feel merits a positive review. They recognized that dropping your car off for service while dealing with an infant can be troublesome, and they went out of their way to make it as easy as possible. When Acura corporate contacted us to ask how our recent service at the dealership went, we let them know that that dealer is keeping us happy and building trust and respect for the Acura brand. I would not have had the same positive things to say if they simply performed the service and gave our car back.
Recently, I ordered an air conditioner mounting bracket online. They shipped the part, and it arrived. A few days later, I received an e-mail from them asking me to go write a positive review for them. For what? What did they do to deserve a positive review? Not steal my money or bungle a fairly simple transaction? Sorry, you have to do better than the minimum to earn a positive review. Of course, I'm not going to write a negative review either, but I'm not going out of my way to tell other people that this company can complete transactions in an adequate fashion.
