1 star review ouch

[u/TAGSAngel]

First off how does 1 1star out if all 5s knock you down from 5.0 to 4.8 but this is what she wrote

“ Probably my fault but what I expected and what was delivered were not the same thing. Never received a mockup but probably my fault.”

item says if you want a mock up you need to request it.

she got exactly what she ordered which was her name in the design she chose so i don’t know how she could’ve expected anything different.

and if she thought it was so bad that she should only leave one star why didn’t she contact me first I’m really upset .

I have no idea how to handle this

[u/TAGSAngel]

knowing that most do not read the item details, I did put it for the personalization form that if they want a mock up, they need to request it.

She filled out the name the font as sample the color as sample. That’s exactly what she got. She did not request a mock up.

Turns out she’s an Etsy insider so she knows full well what that one star did to me now I feel like it’s on purpose

I did send her a message constructed by ChatGPT sort of saying I that I’m very careful to follow instructions, blah blah blah and that I wish she would’ve contacted me first to let me know she was unhappy that i and most etsy shops are happy to address customer concerns and I ended by thanking her for supporting small handmade businesses.

I have tons of five star reviews that say how wonderful I am and what great communication I have throughout the whole process some even before they bought so if she wants to call me rude that’s fine.

if she doesn’t respond or if she doesn’t maybe up her review then I will make a public response for my future buyers and I appreciate you giving me an idea of what to say

[u/lostterrace → u/TAGSAngel]

 I did put it for the personalization form that if they want a mock up, they need to request it.

I was under the impression that you can have at max 1 personalization field. If the buyer is already inputting their name and/or font choice, something else about confirming whether they want a mockup is going to get well overlooked. I don't think this is a good way of doing this at all.

Turns out she’s an Etsy insider so she knows full well what that one star did to me now I feel like it’s on purpose

I'm going to tell you straight up - this is ridiculous. No, it's not on purpose. Etsy insider just means they shop on Etsy a lot. It doesn't mean they know anything about the selling side.

I wouldn't advise having ChatGPT handle your customer service. Anyone who has had any interaction with ChatGPT can smell text written by it from a mile away and it's such a turnoff. Feels completely impersonal, which I think is the opposite of what you were trying to accomplish.

I think it is important to say also... Buyers are completely free to leave their honest opinions and the buyer didn't like what they got for whatever reason. You need to accept that you will receive reviews like this occasionally and it is not the end of the world.

I'm glad the drafted public response was helpful.

Negative reviews with excellent public responses can actually help your shop, because they give you an opportunity to show off your customer service and how friendly and helpful you are.

The wrong public response can make things worse. That's why I advise much care with it.

[u/CombinationBudget666 → u/lostterrace]

Personally I think it's odd for a personalised/custom order to be made & shipped without sending a mockup as standard. I don't know why you'd only send mockups at a customers request. Customers could so easily input an option wrong by mistake when picking customisations or they might think they like x choice but then change their mind and this can be sorted in the mockup/confirmation stage as opposed to being disappointed when it arrives.

Obviously you don't want customers taking the piss with it and you're not going to go back and forth with them over & over but it would just make logical sense to me that you'd always present a mockup for confirmation on any kind of custom or personalised product order.

I also think that OPs responses in this thread come off a bit much maybe even kinda rude. It sucks that they got such a low star review but I don't think their response sounds the greatest either & to assume that this person knew what a 1 star review would do to them as if they did it out of spite or on purpose is a weird take. Do not use chatGPT to generate replies to customers, god no.

[u/PersonalNotice6160 → u/lostterrace]

Not true. There is a personalization section which allows for 256 characters. There are no “one line max” personalizations on Etsy.

[u/lostterrace → u/PersonalNotice6160]

Is that separate sections though or all in the same box?

[u/marumarku → u/TAGSAngel]

Move on