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Everything You Should Know About eBay Feedback

The eBay feedback system is constantly changing. There will never be a “How To” or “Instruction” type article written about eBay feedback that will ever last too long. There are, however, certain guidelines, rules, and special tactics you need to think about and use with eBay Feedback.

First off let’s cover the most basic part of the feedback: When to leave positive, negative, and neutral feedback. This article is pretty lengthy (though very informative) so you can skip over this part if you already know these details. Buyers and sellers will be grouped together here.

Leave positive feedback when the transaction is smooth and easy, the shipping is decently on time (even maybe if it’s a little bit late), when the shipping price is appropriate, when the buyer or seller responds in a timely manner to any questions, and when the product is pretty much exactly as described.

Leave neutral feedback if the item isn’t really as described. Maybe it was really used when it was listed as new? Leave Neutral feedback if the person takes a long time to ship the item but everything else was good (do not leave neutral feedback if the shipment is only a couple days late). Another classic case that happens a lot that people use the neutral feedback option for is when someone buys a product, but the seller says that he no longer has the item and he has to issue a refund.

Leave negative feedback on worst case scenarios. Do not be an eBay pest and do it when you do not get your way in every little detail. Leave negative feedback when the shipping is more than a couple weeks late. Leave it when the item is the exact opposite of how it was described. Do not leave it if the person simply does not communicate with you, but that would definitely be a nice add on if one of the other two things that I have mentioned happens along with that. And of course, leave negative feedback if the person was in any way strongly offensive to you – that goes without saying. Do not leave negative feedback just because someone had left negative feedback for you (although sometimes you have the right to). Know when you screwed up and act accordingly.

And that thought brings me to my next topic… Feedback Wars

Feedback wars come in many shapes and sizes and though you may win a couple of the battles, remember that it is up to the fellas over at appeal@eBay.com that actually decide who wins the war. So that is why it is always good to remain honest and fair in your feedback ratings.

Every once in a while you will get the paranoid eBay buyer that is never satisfied. He will want tracking ID, special prices, or other certain “special requirements.” As soon as he doesn’t get what he wants, he gives you a negative feedback with a nice little nasty-gram attached to it. Do not hesitate to leave negative feedback as well, and then appeal right away to eBay.

Sellers will threaten to leave you negative feedback if you leave them negative feedback all the time. Do not let them get away with it. If you feel like they deserve negative feedback, but you are scared that they will leave you negative feedback in return, do it anyways and let the eBay powers that be take care of it. If you are fair and honest, eBay will reward you and negate your negative feedback while punishing the deserving side.

Simple Feedback Rules (or more like laws)

One of the golden rules for eBay sellers is to never leave feedback first. Never. The truth of the matter is that you don’t know the other person. You don’t know what they look like, how they talk, who they are, what kind of moral standings they live by… That person that just bought something off of you may be the craziest nut on eBay for all you know, and you are only one pet peeve away from them leaving you negative feedback. If you leave negative feedback first, they are more than likely going to leave negative feedback as well. If you are a buyer, then it is common courtesy to leave feedback first.

Open up a dispute before making any quick decisions. Many times you’ll notice that an eBay member with very few feedbacks will buy an item, and never pay for it. These buyers are usually people that do not use eBay very often and are on once in a very great while. Leaving negative feedback might not even be worth it in this case, so just open up a dispute and try to get your final value fee back.

Be honest with everything you do. Do not give someone negative feedback that doesn’t deserve it and do not give someone positive feedback that doesn’t deserve it.

Watch out for Feedback Frauds

Not many people know what I’m talking about when I say “feedback fraud.” People that have once had a “successful” eBay business that have been kicked off eBay know the value of good feedback. For that reason there is a loophole in the feedback world. As you may know, there are items on eBay called eBooks - well some of them can range as low in price as 1 single cent. Feedback frauds could buy 10,000 of these items and get 10,000 positive feedbacks within a matter of a day or two so remember to keep a lookout for them.

Feedback is all about honesty and fairness. If you are honest and fair, then it’s more than likely your customer or provider will be. There will always be bad seeds (if you want example of “bad seeds” go to a power sellers feedback profile – every so often they get negative feedback and 50% of the time it’s because of someone abusing the system), but you cant let them affect your decision making when it comes to leaving feedback.