Ebay Feedback

[ironlord1963]

     I had a comment in a thread earlier, about Feedback on Ebay. Guess it was not to clear of a point, and figured this question need it own Thread.   

As for the comment on leaving negative feedback to a buyer, yes it only allows you to select postive, but you still leave a comment.  Not that this is a good or bad thing, or even pray I never have to but it is a way.   

The real reason I made my comment about this is actually about Leaving Feedback in general.  Alot of buyers don't even leave feedback at all, and I have noticed that many buyers now will only leave the buyer a feedback if the leave one.  This is the only techinque I was refering to changing this week.   I have been Leaving feedback as soon as payment is made.   I had several buyer who waited beyond three day to pay, no big deal.  But felt I would wait to leave feedback if they do.  One espically who has 0 feedback and has been less then perfect buyer lets say.  As a new seller to ebay I like to get my feedback.  I have had a few bad sales thus far, I always have done what I could to please the customer, and then not get my feedback can be somewhat annoying.  Is it fair to wait for the buyer to give feedback, before the seller does?   

[sapphire]

Personally I have always (with this one exception) left feedback as soon as I received an item.  If I was a seller I would want to know the customer was satisfied or any problem rectified, before making a comment.  As buyer I think it only fair that a customer respond as soon as possible after receiving their item, again provided all was satisfactory.  This way the seller isn't left hanging wondering if the transaction was completed and the customer happy. As feedback is a gauge which most buyers rely on, a satisfied customer should feel obligated to contribute to the sellers score.

[waywardangler]

It is tough to get anybody to do anything let alone get them to give feedback.  I think alot depends on what you are selling, the length of time someone has been on eBay, and whether or not you leave feedback first.  I have not sold/listed much on eBay recently but have usually waited for the buyer to leave feedback before I as a seller do.  My line of thinking is "why leave feedback to the buyer if the buyer does not leave me feedback?"  It seems new eBay buyers are rather lax leaving feedback but eBay users that have been on there a long time, usually do.  I agree Ironlord that a seller can always leave a less than stellar comment even if the feedback left must be positive.  The only problem is comments do not count and few people read the comments but just look at the + or - column, especially the red - dot.  I personally would not want to leave a positive feedback with a negative comment for a negative buyer.  I would leave a response comment under a negative feedback from a buyer (if received). 
As a buyer I always leave feedback for the seller as soon as I receive the item and am satisified with everything.  I do not always receive feedback back.  I think eBay is or will be sending out emails reminding users to leave feedback on an item rather than just that little notation on My EBay.
I have only left one negative feedback for a seller and this was on halfdotcom on a college book and only after contacting the seller for an explanation.  The book was for my daughter and the condition listed did not match the condition received by a long shot.  I wanted a price reduction. The seller's response was "I am just a college student and only sell books to make money."  My negative feedback brought her total feedback score down to 85% because she had so few sales.  I did not see any more sales posted by her so she either graduated or quit selling.

[talesofthesevenseas]

I always leave feedback, regardless of if it is left for me or not. I like the feedback system because it does motivate the sellers to respond quickly and ship quickly. I am finding that most of the time I get better service from Ebay sellers than I do from regular businesses on-line. It's not perfect, but in the long haul I think it has had a good effect on the market.

[CollectorsOnlineMall]

We always ship next day and pack carefully, but I do not leave feedback until it's left for me.  I feel it's common courtesy for the buyer to leave it first.   I also feel it encourages them to contact me before leaving feedback, should there be a problem.