Fair use of Ebay Feedback

Give eBay buyers what they deserve!

I have been using ebay for a while now, although I don't buy and sell as much as a lot of people. I have begun noticing something that has really started to bother me. When I purchase an item, I always pay the seller as soon as the auction ends. Because of this, I expect to have positive feedback left right away. Afterall, feedback gives other potential buyers and sellers information about MY ebay transaction reputation. When selling my items on ebay, I ALWAYS leave feedback as soon as payment is sent to me. Many times I have not even begun to package the item before I leave feedback for the buyer.

The more that I buy, the more that I see many sellers NOT leaving feedback after payment is received. I usually leave feedback for the seller when the item arrives, regardless of whether or not they have given me feedback. I am getting a little sick of this. I REFUSE to leave feedback for any seller that has not yet left feedback for me.

Last Friday, I purchased an item via Buy it now. I made my payment right away and left a message to the seller to please contact me when the item has shipped. I didn't hear anything until today when I finally emailed them to find out the status of my order (5 days later). The seller then sends me an email letting me know that the item shipped. At the end of the email, I read something that I thought to be extremely appalling!

The messages read as follows:

"We will leave you positive feedback immediately upon receipt of your positive feedback to us."

I know many others agree with me when I say that this was about the most absurd comment I have yet to receive while eBaying. Is it because I emailed them to find out why they hadn't contacted me? Were they scared that I was going to leave negative feedback? If I did leave negative feedback, would they have left the same for me eventhough I fulfilled my end of the deal by making my payment at the time of purchase and not DAYS later?

I have heard MANY similar complaints from people who use ebay. I feel that something should be done about this. Perhaps it should be required for the seller to leave feedback before the option is available for the buyer? Of course, this would cause problems with buyers who need to leave negative feedback and the seller has not left feedback. So, after a week if no feedback is left by the seller, take away the option and automatically give the seller a negative feedback rating. This would of course increase the amount of feedback ratings for the buyer, as well as the seller.

Because I'm just a little person, I probably won't be heard by the big corporate ebay heads. I need to bring in some support to help out the fellow ebay buyers.

If you agree with me, please sign the following petition. I will then send this off to ebay. Hopefully we can make a change in the way that feedback ratings work.

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To learn more about the authors of this petition, visit: http://www.womensden.com