eBay[c] The Missing Manual

When you're trying to figure out whether a deal really is as good as it looks, studying the auction page (Section 1.2.3.5) is a great place to start. But smart buyers dig deeperand eBay's Feedback Forum lets you do just that. If the software that keeps auctions running 24/7 is eBay's heart, feedback is its soul.

After all, why are zillions of sellers, scattered all over the globe, willing to hand over their jet skis and their grandmother's fine china to someone they wouldn't know from Adam? And why are zillions of buyers comfortable forking over money based on a couple of 2 x 3" photos and a three-line description?

In a word, trust. And on eBay, that trust is established through feedback .

In the Feedback Forum, both buyer and seller take a minute after their transaction is complete to rate their level of satisfaction. Through ratings and comments, they tell the world how it was to deal with their trading partner: wonderful ("My black-light Kiss posters arrived fast and in perfect condition"), so-so ("Can't complain"), horrible ("The &^*(%@! bum never paid!"). Feedback paints a picture of an eBayer's moral character, affecting whether a buyer will buy from a seller and whether a seller will accept a prospective buyer's bid.

So spending a few minutes in the Feedback Forum to read and understand a seller's feedback can help you avoid getting ripped off. For example, a feedback score of 90, or a string of comments like, "The 'perfect' Cabbage Patch doll I paid for was missing both arms," suggests that you should reconsider doing business with a seller. (The box on Section 2.1.1 tells you how to interpret feedback scores.)

Here's how feedback works. After each auction, eBay asks the buyer and the seller to leave comments about how smoothly (or how horribly) the transaction went. Comments are positive, negative, or neutral and can be no longer than 80 characters . You can leave feedback only for actual, completed transactions, which helps keep feedback accurate. A seller's friends can't pad his feedback with phony compliments about items they never bought, and his competition can't shoot him down with bogus complaints.

Feedback is voluntary, but most eBayers participate. After all, most people use the Feedback Forum themselves to separate the sheep from the wolves , so they know their opinion countsand will help smart eBayers (like you) know whom to trust. (See Section 2.3.3 for a discussion of why you should leave feedback, when, and how.)

To see a seller's feedback from the auction page (Figure 2-1), click the seller's ID, the number in parentheses that follows the ID, or the "Read feedback comments" link.

Any of these links takes you to the Member Profile for that eBayer, shown in Figure 2-2. The Member Profile page is where you read feedbackthe good, the bad, and the ugly.

Tip: eBay lets you change your ID. If you want to see other IDs the eBayer has had in the past, click ID History on the right-hand side of the page. Feedback travels with a new ID, though, so a seller can't dump bad feedback merely by changing the name on her account.

The feedback score reflects how many trading partners have been happy with their transactions with this eBayer. For every positive comment, you get one point. Each negative comment subtracts one point from your feedback score. Neutrals don't affect your feedback rating one way or the other. The box below explains how to deconstruct feedback scores like a pro.

Beneath the Member Profile box, you can read actual comments. Give these a quick scan, even if a seller's feedback score looks good. (You might find a few neutrals, which don't affect the feedback score but often express a complaint.) Each comment shows who wrote it, when the person left it, and the item number of the transaction. Click any linkID, feedback score, or item numberfor more information about the transaction the comment applies to.

2.1.1. Tips for Interpreting Feedback

Don't just glance at the Member Profile and rush back to the auction page to bid. Read some comments. You might be surprised at what you find, like a comment marked positive that says, "Seller sent book but charged $15 for media mail!!!" or "Photo showed accessories not included in auction. Read carefully ." Take a few minutes to understand the information the profile offers. Here are some suggestions:

• From Buyers . When you want to get the lowdown on a prospective seller, From Buyers is the tab to click. Here you see whether other buyers have been happy with their purchases and customer service. Look for mentions of any problems with communication or shipping (either speed or packing) and whether the item met expectations. Sometimes a complaint appears buried in a comment marked as positive, such as "Great CD. Took two weeks to ship," or "Check shipping cost before you bid." Keep an eye out for such comments. A pattern might indicate a problem you'd rather not deal with.

  Warning: If you're about to bid on an item listed by someone who has no feedback on the From Buyers tab, you're probably just dealing with an eBayer who's new to selling. However, if the auction is for an expensive item at a ridiculously low pricesuch as a car, motorcycle, ATV, digital camera, computer, and so on, going for a fraction of what you know it's worthand the seller has no feedback from other buyers, you may be looking at a hijacked account . In other words, a thief has stolen someone's eBay account and is using it to list items with no intention of selling them. Be careful. Check for the other red flags described on Section 4.3. If in doubt, don't bid. Better to miss out on a bargain than to kiss your hard-earned cash goodbye .

• From Sellers . Leopards rarely change their spots; someone who won't pay up when she's the buyer probably won't deal square when she's the seller. You can find out whether a potential seller has a history of honoring obligations by clicking this tab. (And when you get the selling bug yourself, From Sellers is the most important tab on a Member Profile page.)

  UP TO SPEED Star Light, Star Bright

  The stars that appear with some eBayers' feedback ratings show how active that eBayer has been on the site. They have nothing to do with an eBayer's feedback score itself. Each feedback point counts toward a star. After you've received 10 feedback points, you get your first stara gold one, just like in school. As you accumulate more feedback, the color of the star changes: Gold star: 10 to 49 points. Blue star: 50 to 99 points. Turquoise star: 100 to 499 points. Purple star: 1,000 to 4,999 points. Green star: 5,000 to 9,999 points. When your feedback rating hits 10,000, you're in a whole new league. You get a shooting star: Gold shooting star: 10,000 to 24,999 points. Turquoise shooting star: 25,000 to 49,999 points. Purple shooting star: 50,000 to 99,999 points. Red shooting star: 100,000 or more points.

• Left for Others . It's always a good idea to see what kind of feedback the seller has left for others; the Left for Others tab shows you at a glance. Feedback should be professional in tone. After all, eBay auctions are business transactions. If an eBayer leaves only nasty feedback or starts calling names like "idiot" or "thief" when a transaction runs into problems, is this someone you want to do business with? Similarly, an eBayer who never bothers to leave feedback is unlikely to leave any for you, so be aware that the auction probably won't help your feedback score.

  Tip: Check out the number at the top of the Left for Others tab, which tells you how many feedbacks that eBayer has left. When you're new to the site and trying to build up your feedback score, a seller who's left as much feedback as she's received (or even more) will probably add a precious point to your climbing score.

• From . This column lets you click the ID or feedback rating of the comment writer to view the comment writer's Member Profile. You might be able to get a glimpse into the other side of the story or discover that the comment writer has been involved in lots of conflicts with others. Occasionally, you might even find that the comment writer, for whatever reason, just lives to leave negative feedback.

• Item # . The item number is in the far right column of the comments. Item number links remain active for 90 days after someone leaves feedback. Click this link to see what else a seller has been selling. If a seller who's been auctioning nothing but scrapbook supplies suddenly lists several SUVs or other expensive out-of-specialty items, be extremely careful. It could be a clue that a scammer has hijacked a legitimate seller's account.

• Mutual Feedback Withdrawal (MFW) . Above the actual comments is a line that indicates the total amount of feedback and how many comments (if any) have been mutually withdrawn (Section 2.3.3.5). A lot of MFWs could point to a seller who leaves retaliatory negative feedback negative feedback left purely in revenge for having received it. The seller then uses the retaliatory neg as leverage to get the buyer to go through the MFW processwhen feedback is withdrawn, the comment remains but the negative strike against the feedback score disappears. Really good sellers do not leave feedback without thinking it through, so a seller who has a lot of MFWs is usually someone to avoid.

• Responses . If you see a negative comment or two, don't panic. As in all areas of life, things do go wrong. Every eBayer has the right to respond to received feedback. This response shows up right below the comment itself. Sometimes, illness or a personal crisis might lead to a flurry of negative comments. Other times, a single transaction didn't work out, thanks to a shipping problem or communication snafu. In any case, many sellers will take the time to explain what went wrong, as shown in Figure 2-3. Feedback is an eBayer's reputation on the site, so most eBayers take great care to protect theirs. See Section 2.3.3.4 to learn how to respond to feedback.

• Contact Member . If you want an explanation of something in the Member Profile before you bid, click the Contact Member button on the right-hand side of the page (Figure 2-3). Just remember to keep your question short, courteous, and professional. "Are you really 'a thieving sociopath who'd rip off his own grandmother' like it says in your feedback?" isn't going to reflect well on you.

• Private feedback . Any eBayer can choose to hide her feedback from public consumption. You can still view the feedback score, percentage of positive feedback, and numbers of positive, neutral, and negative comments left in the past month to the past year. You just can't see the comments themselves. Figure 2-4 shows what a Member Profile looks like for someone who's chosen to hide his feedback.

So why would anyone want to hide her feedback from other eBayers? The obvious reason is the one you should be wary of: a seller with private feedback and a positive feedback score of less than about 98 percent is waving a bedsheet- sized red flag at you. You might want to look for another auction or email the seller to find out what the story is.

On the other hand, occasionally an honest seller has a good reason to hide feedback. If another eBayer left feedback that violates eBay's policies by posting obscenities or personal information about someone, the seller who received that feedback might hide all comments (you can't hide just one) while waiting to get the offending comment removed (see Section 2.3.3.5 for more about the kinds of feedback eBay will remove). Email the seller to find out what the deal is.