what are fridays good for if not getting a good rant off your chest? this is something that's been bothering me for a while, and i find that i frequently write it in e-mails, so i figure i can write it once here, and in the future when i need it i can simply point folks to this entry.

i purchased my first ebay item back in october of 1998 (if memory serves, it was for a furby). been using it for a while. while i've sold a few items on ebay, i'm primarily a buyer. as a buyer, nothing torques me off more than this:

when you receive your item, please leave feedback for me and then i'll do the same for you.

that's just nerve. as the buyer, i assume 99.9% of the risk. i'm buying an item that i've never seen. i'm trusting that the item is as described. i'm sending money to a person that i've never met. i'm trusting that i'm even going to receive an item (and then hoping it's as described). in spite of these risks, i make my payment immediately via paypal after the auction ends. at that point, as the buyer, i've fulfilled my obligation. as far as i'm concerned, it's at that point that i should receive a (positive) feedback.

as mentioned, i've sold a few items over the years. as soon as i get payment, i leave a positive feedback. that's the right thing to do. the buyer has done what's expected of them. now the ball's in my court. why do other sellers think they have the right to hold the feedback "hostage", as it were?

a few years back i was in the market for a new digital camera. i saw one seller in particular that sold HUGE volumes of cameras at fairly cheap prices. i assume they were what's referred to as "gray-market" cameras. they had a ton of feedbacks, many of which were negative. shipping took too long, or the item was refurbished but wasn't described as such, or the item was missing parts, etc. all valid feedbacks. and in response, this seller left the buyer "revenge" negative feedbacks, generally consisting of nothing more than the statement "NEVER AGAIN!". why? why did the buyer deserve a negative feedback? they purchased an item in good faith, made prompt payment and in return received an item that was not as described. to add insult to injury, they got a negative feedback for their troubles.

this is the *only* reason i can see that a seller would pull the "i'll leave feedback for you after you leave feedback for me" routine. so that they can mitigate the 0.1% risk that they assume in the transaction. hey, sellers... don't screw people over and i think you'll find more often than not that you'll get good feedback.

i've seen some auctions where the sellers actually state this in the auction. i don't bid on these. when i do bid on an item (and win), and receive an email from the seller stating that they're going to withhold feedback until i leave mine, i just generally don't even bother.

what torqued me off today and prompted this is that i purchased an item about a month ago. i got the "please leave feedback for me and i'll do the same for you" email. i got the item and everything was fine. i expected that it would end there. however, today i got an email from the seller stating the following:

I'm sorry to bother you with this email. I was just wondering if you would be so kind enough to leave me a good feedback? I noticed the order has been successfully delivered to your address. I will leave you a feedback as well.

and that's what got me riled. i feel better now. thanks for listening.