Have eBay email you or send a text message to your cell phone whenever someone leaves feedback for you.
You can leave feedback for someone as long as you’ve taken part in a listing that completed successfully within the past 90 days. Among other things, this means that someone else can do the same for you.
Most of the time—and provided you’ve been good—the other person will leave a positive feedback comment for you, at which point you can leave reciprocal feedback [Hack #6] or even post a reply [Hack #5] whenever you happen to get around to it. But if someone leaves a complaint, you’ll want to know right away (especially if it has been 89½ days since the listing closed).
By slightly misusing an eBay notification feature intended for cell phones, you can receive an email whenever someone leaves feedback for you. Here’s how to set it up:
Start by going to My eBay → eBay Preferences.
Find the “Notification preferences” entry at the top of the page, and click the View/Change link to the right.
Click the “Add or change notification services” link.
Click the Subscribe link for the “eBay Wireless Email” service.
Choose the “Send wireless email alerts to the address below” and then enter your email address in the box.
Tip
This feature is intended for use by cell phones and pagers, most of which have email addresses associated with them (e.g., 123456789@somewirelessprovider.com). If you’d like to receive notifications on your cell phone, contact your wireless provider to determine your cell phone’s email address.
Click Save Changes when you’re done.
At this point, you should be returned to the “Change Your Notification Preferences” page. Scroll down to the “Feedback notification” section, and turn on the “Receive Wireless Email” option underneath it.
Warning
If the “Receive Wireless Email” checkbox doesn’t appear under “Feedback notification,” you’ve stumbled upon an eBay bug. In some cases, eBay doesn’t properly rebuild this page when you’ve changed your wireless notification settings; if this happens to you, try coming back in a few hours. If the problem isn’t resolved, contact eBay for assistance.
Click Save Changes when you’re done.
From now on, you’ll receive a brief email every time someone leaves you feedback, and your reputation will never be marred without your knowledge.
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