Neutral feedback without reaching out

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scarysamcary

scarysamcary

Feedback: +16 / =0 / -0
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Jul 28, 2020
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I recently began selling my knives on here after enjoying the site for quite a bit and learning the craft. Unfortunately it seems like my personal quality control failed me and I sent out a knife that a buyer didn't like. From the sounds of things, I wasn't paying attention and this handle was a little wonky. I take full responsibility for this and am horrified I let this happen. I quit drinking last year, so it's entirely possible I made this piece while my head was still clearing up and that's 100% on me.

The issue is this person never reached out to me, instead went straight to neutral feedback. I would have gladly accepted a return, offered a partial refund, or offered a discount on future knives (Though I'm guessing they won't be interested in my work going further). I would have at least liked to have seen how badly I messed up.

I was wondering what other people thought I should do. Should I eat the feedback and use the grey mark as a reminder to double inspect my work, should I reach out to the customer to try and rectify the situation, should I leave negative feedback and quit knifemaking out of spite? (I obviously won't do that last one, just wanted to leave you all with a joke).
 
scarysamcary said:
I was wondering what other people thought I should do. Should I eat the feedback and use the grey mark as a reminder to double inspect my work, should I reach out to the customer to try and rectify the situation.
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☝️This.

Respectfully - I think you answered your own question.

Keep making knives. We get a chance to learn on daily basis. Do the next right thing.

For what it’s worth , I like the terrifying knives you’ve been listing.

Congratulations on not drinking, I’ve been there. Not easy.
 
scarysamcary said:
I recently began selling my knives on here after enjoying the site for quite a bit and learning the craft. Unfortunately it seems like my personal quality control failed me and I sent out a knife that a buyer didn't like. From the sounds of things, I wasn't paying attention and this handle was a little wonky. I take full responsibility for this and am horrified I let this happen. I quit drinking last year, so it's entirely possible I made this piece while my head was still clearing up and that's 100% on me.

The issue is this person never reached out to me, instead went straight to neutral feedback. I would have gladly accepted a return, offered a partial refund, or offered a discount on future knives (Though I'm guessing they won't be interested in my work going further). I would have at least liked to have seen how badly I messed up.

I was wondering what other people thought I should do. Should I eat the feedback and use the grey mark as a reminder to double inspect my work, should I reach out to the customer to try and rectify the situation, should I leave negative feedback and quit knifemaking out of spite? (I obviously won't do that last one, just wanted to leave you all with a joke).
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I don't know if it would have any bearing on the feedback or not. But if you agree that that piece was not up to par. I would reach out to him and offer him a new knife with no strings attached just to show good faith you want to make it right. And if it's a solid member I think they would see you wanted to make it right and share that information with the forum.

Just one man's opinion. If you know it wasn't up to the standard you want your buyers to receive from you ... I think giving the buyer a new knife of the quality you want to sell would go a long way to start building a real solid base of what buyers can expect from you.

Most businesses have a few growing pains. Those will most times be forgiven if they are made right. I'd definately reach out to the buyer if they haven't reached out to you and attempt to correct any mistake. Hang in there.
 
In this modern world of likes, stars, and “thumbs up”, there seems to be a goal of perfection. While 100% may feel good, putting that expectation on ourselves - or anyone else - eventually does not. Nobody is perfect.

My recommendation would be to take the feedback, apply it, and move on. A customer is not obligated to do any “reaching out” before leaving feedback. They are expressing their opinion, based on their experience.

It’s only failure if you don’t learn from it. Succeed or learn.
 
As a knife buyer and consumer I like all of your proposed options as far as reasonable responses; but I didn't buy the knife. Have you asked the buyer what would be viable to them?

One more note:
scarysamcary said:
I would have at least liked to have seen how badly I messed up.
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I completely understand this and think it speaks volumes about your intentions of creating an exceptional product. Calling myself a "craftsman" is probably a bit generous, but when I make my shitty leather/kydex goods I can't stand to think that the user finds that it doesn't work flawlessly. I would want the knife back to make my own assessment and correction (if necessary).
 
Something that will help buyers know better on what to expect from your work would be better pictures, and more of them. This is important for handmade items since they’re all unique. From looking at the sale thread, there’s one picture of the product that was taken in poor lighting. It’s unknown what’s bothering the buyer but no one can see anything clearly to narrow it down either.

Take some good pictures from several angles in good lighting, using some basic editing and really showcase your hard work! A lot of hours goes into making something from scratch, don’t just take a minute to advertise and sell it, it needs some more appreciation than that!
 
I have reached out to the buyer and offered a free return, a partial refund, or a free knife from my next 6" EDC run, so hopefully they will get back to me. Thank you everyone for the advice, though I will leave this thread open for others to say how they would handle this or to provide updates
 
scarysamcary said:
The customer has accepted my offer of a free 6" EDC. I still don't know exactly what I did wrong with the first knife, so I'm gonna make dang sure this is one of my best pieces before I send it.
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A very kind gesture! I will say that’s a bit of a crappy move on the buyer if he’s going to point out that “something” was off about the knife/handle but not afford you the specifics so that you could potentially fix it, or at least know what to pay attention to for next time.
 
trevitrace said:
They didn't even explicitly say what they were unhappy about?
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They said in their feedback "The handle is lopsided and off. When you hold the handle straight, the blade veers to the left. One side of the scales is much thicker than the other." but I don't have photos showing the specifics or the extent. I certainly would never let a piece out like that intentionally, but I'm more than comfortable remedying the situation, regardless of how it happened or if it was minor.
 
Jsega51 said:
A very kind gesture! I will say that’s a bit of a crappy move on the buyer if he’s going to point out that “something” was off about the knife/handle but not afford you the specifics so that you could potentially fix it, or at least know what to pay attention to for next time.
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I went back and read the full comment under the feedback so I will say the buyer did give specifics about what was wrong. From the sound of it he probably should have just sent it back for an inspection and some TLC.
 
scarysamcary said:
The customer has accepted my offer of a free 6" EDC. I still don't know exactly what I did wrong with the first knife, so I'm gonna make dang sure this is one of my best pieces before I send it.
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I think you've done the right thing here. Hopefully the customer will be satisfied enough to reach out to a mod and have the feedback updated to reflect how you corrected the situation. That said, he's new with little participation outside of the exchange so I don't know. Does he know about this thread?

A bit more advice, for what it's worth, and that ain't much. In that sales thread, you only have the one, poor picture of the knife. Try to post more and better pics. Not just to help the customer decide on if they want the knife, but also in the process of taking pictures you might notice any issues you overlooked before.
 
craytab said:
Try to post more and better pics. Not just to help the customer decide on if they want the knife, but also in the process of taking pictures you might notice any issues you overlooked before.
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This ^
I couldn't tell you how many times I've noticed issues - dings, nicks, rust, etc when reviewing/resizing images for posting (whether in threads or ads).
The camera doesn't lie unless we want it to...
 
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