Refer yesterday’s title

I was one of those people who vehemently opposed ebay. It just never made sense to me, and from the demonstrations I had been given by many an eager acquaintance I just couldn’t see how it would be fun. All that waiting around and wondering if the seller was reliable and being outbid – too much hassle! Additionally, when told how cheap things were the stinge within did some searching. Alas, none of the things I may have wanted to buy (namely books about food) really seemed to be cheap enough (once you add the postage costs) to warrant all the fuss with ebay.

Skip ahead 18 months or so and I decide to do a little bit of searching again. Turns out there are some much better deals around than I remember from my previous explorations. So I sign up and make some bids, and win some and it’s great – books that can’t even be purchased from amazon are cheap *and* available (note: cheap and available isn’t just for whores). The first lady I purchase from happens to live nearby and she offers that I pick the books up from her rather than pay postage! Fantastic! Two $40 books for $15 – ebay is great! Before I even get home she has left feedback about what a great purchaser I am. So the ebay thing is looking up – fortunately I am not the get addicted to ebay type – so all is looking good and a bid on some more books, they arrive, I cheer. It’s a loving relationship.

There is however one thing I don’t understand (and I can’t be bothered reading the whole ebay site for some half arsed explanation). Why is it when my duties as the seller are complete (ie, I have made full payment) that the seller doesn’t leave feedback. Why do they get to wait until I leave feedback for them? I think that’s intimidation! Surely when payment is received the seller should be writing ridiculously over the top gushing feedback comments, rather than waiting to see what I write about them first…

I can understand that perhaps it’s to deter wayward purchasers receiving good feedback and then writing untrue nasty things about the seller, but isn’t the point of feedback that it is supposed to indicate whether or not the seller or purchaser is reliable? It all seems to perhaps have turned into a situation where everyone is too scared to leave neutral or negative feedback, even f they should have, due to fear that they may in fact receive bad feedback, tarnishing their ebay record forever! This then seems to defeat the purpose of the whole feedback system (although I can definitely see it has a place).

Do share your ebay experiences and theories!