Curtis, here's the way I see it:
When I win an ebay auction, I'm sending my money off to a person who I don't know, and trusting that he'll be an honest seller who will send me the advertised item in the advertised condition, and he'll acknowlege that I fulfilled my financial obligation by giving me feedback- I'm taking all the risks. I find it insulting to be told that even though I have taken the risks and trusted the seller, he won't trust me to give him a lousy one-line feedback. Again, nothing personal Curtis, but unless you have something listed that I just can't live without, I will not bid on your auctions- I'll just go on to the next guy's- there are very few truly unique items on ebay. You can say that you don't care about my bid, but you'll never know how many other potential bidders you've lost, or how high their bids might have gone if you hadn't taken your attitude. I'll say this too- I'll never give feedback to a seller who doesn't give it to me first
On the other hand, when I sell something, the only risk I'm taking is whether the buyer will pay up. If he doesn't, I still have my item, ebay will refund my listing fees, and I will have the option of posting negative feedback. I will lose nothing but a little time. Therefore, once I receive full payment, the buyer has completely fulfilled his end of the deal and there is no reason for me to withhold positive feedback. If the buyer doesn't reciprocate, well, that's just too bad.
I have found that it's better to assume that my potential customers are honest and upright, rather than tell them that I don't trust them.
steve
curtis said:
As for why I put in the "when I get mine, you'll get yours" I was selling stuff, posting positive feedback to the buyer and they'd never reciprocate. Several people I've dealt with as a buyer have started doing the same thing for the exact same reason....
