The fact is, eBay feedback IS important. Actually, it's vital for your success, and although the system has its weaknesses and flaws, overall it accomplishes what it set out to do. What's that? To protect users from individuals who abuse their standing as a buyer or seller.



A quick reminder of how it works ? in each transaction both the buyer and seller can rate each other with a choice of a positive, neutral or negative rating. Notice I said ?can'. It's not required or compulsory to leave feedback, but most eBayers do, because they like to receive as many positive ratings as possible.

The vast majority of transactions go well and each party awards the positive rating to each other.

Something that's very important to understand about eBay feedback is that you ONLY receive ONE feedback point for a transaction with another user ? be they buyer or seller. Let me give you an example. If you bought 3 items from the same seller, you'll only receive one feedback point. So the number in brackets after the user ID is the number of unique eBayers you've transacted with, but the actual number of transactions is probably a lot higher.

From what we've already discussed about feedback, you can probably see that it's a topic that generates a lot of buzz among eBay members. Here's how I handle feedback. I set up Selling Manager Pro to automatically reciprocate positive feedback. That's it. So if someone gives me a positive rating, the system will automatically return the compliment. Beyond that, I don't touch the feedback system. Why? Because it can be VERY time consuming to generate and leave feedback. Remember, we're running a business, and we want to do that efficiently. Do people occasionally insist that they want me to leave feedback first? Yes, of course. Do I? No! For one thing it's too time consuming to do it manually, and there's no guarantee that they'll reciprocate.

Unlike most eBayer's, I haven't fallen into the trap of believing that you can never have too many feedback ratings. I'm convinced that you can reach a point where having thousands of ratings makes you look unapproachable to buyers ? like a big, impersonal business.

If you're sensible there's no reason why you'd ever accumulate more than a couple of undeserved negative feedbacks. ALWAYS check a sellers feedback before buying from them to avoid problems down the line, and ALWAYS block users with less than 0 feedback, which is a definite warning sign. That's easy to do within the ?my eBay' control panel settings in your account. Go to ?my account' then ?preferences' then click on the ?buyer requirements' option under the selling preferences tab. It looks like this:

You'll also notice that in this example, anyone that's received 2 unpaid item strikes within the last 30 days is blocked from buying. That's a sensible option to leave on as a default setting.

If you do find yourself the recipient of a negative feedback, regardless of the circumstances, always try to resolve the matter and encourage the other person to agree to ?mutual feedback withdrawal' through the eBay system.

The number one key to acquiring automatic positive feedback is to communicate well with your customers. Above all else, that will gain you friends on eBay. Nothing frustrates buyers and sellers more than someone who can't be contacted.