Section 2.3. After the Auction | eBay[c] The Missing Manual

2.3. After the Auction

You've bid on a collection of rare Godzilla action figures or a musical cake plate and won your first auction. What happens now? When do you get your stuff? The first step, of course, is paying for it. And the sooner you pay, the sooner your prize will show up on your doorstep.

Note: Most sellers expect payment within three to seven days of the auction's endthis should be spelled out on the auction page. Before you place a bid, always check the seller's terms to find out how long you have to pay.

2.3.1. Paying the Price

When you've won an auction, eBay sends you an email to notify you of your triumph. This email gives you the seller's email address and provides a payment link. You can click the link to go to the checkout, or you can get there by logging in to eBay, going to your My eBay page's Items I've Won section, and clicking the Pay Now button.

Note: If you were watching the item before you won the auction (Section 1.5.1), it appears in two places on your My eBay page: Items I'm Watching and Items I've Won.

If you're signed in, a Pay Now button also appears on the auction page, as shown in Figure 2-7. (To sign in, go to the top of the eBay home page and click the Sign In link).

Figure 2-7. This box appears on the auction page after you've won. Approved payment methods appear on the left; frequently asked questions are on the right. When you're ready to pay, click the Pay Now button. Alternatively, you can email the seller to arrange payment. The seller's email address is in the end-of-auction email eBay sends you.

2.3.1.1 Paying with PayPal

Most (but not all) sellers accept payment through PayPal, a money transfer company owned by eBay. PayPal lets you transfer funds from your credit card or bank account directly to the seller.

Most buyers love PayPal because it's easy and fast: from My eBay or the auction description page, you click the PayPal link and pay for your item within minutes. Information about the auction, including item number, seller, and amount, is already filled in; all you have to do is select the source of your funds (credit/debit card or bank account) and click the Send Money button. That's it: you've paid. No muss, no fussand it's free, too. (Free to buyers, that is; PayPal charges sellers a transaction fee. See Section 5.4.6 to find out more about PayPal's charges for receiving funds. Even with the transaction fee, sellers like eBay because offering it means they don't need a merchant account with a bank in order for buyers to use credit cards to pay them.)

Note: If you pay through PayPal, many of the things you buy on eBay are eligible for up to $1,000 worth of buyer protection coverage (Section 2.4.4). PayPal Buyer Protection doesn't cover motor vehicles: no cars , motorcycles, RVs, or airplanes. Sellers in Live Auctions and the Mature Audience category can't designate PayPal as a payment method, so Buyer Protection excludes those auctions, too.

There's only one catch: you have to register with PayPal before you can use the service. Fortunately, registration is free, easy, and you only have to do it once. The next section shows you how.

UP TO SPEED
A Little PayPal History

In 1998, Stanford graduate Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, a Russian immigrant just a couple of years out of college, started PayPal as a way to beam money transfers securely between wireless devices, like cell phones and PDAs. Consumers didn't show much interest in that idea, and the pair turned their attention to the Internet. At the time, although online purchases were popular, paying for them often presented a problem. Back then, most eBay buyers paid for their items with checks or money ordersand waited a looong time for their merchandise to arrive .

Thiel and Levchin got the idea of transferring money via email, and they went to work on the technology that would become PayPal. All a customer needed was Internet access, an email address, and a credit card or bank account. Their technology could transfer the money to anyone , anywhere , as long as the recipient had an email address. It was fast, simple, and secure. As an added inducement, the company offered a $10 sign-up bonus to new customers in its early days.

The idea took off like a rocket. PayPal opened for business in October 1999 and had 10,000 customers by the end of that year. Just two months later, that number had increased 10 times. Today, there are more than 70 million PayPal accounts in 45 countries around the world.

PayPal was a natural choice for online auctions because it allowed buyers to transfer money quickly and at no added cost, while sellers could receive credit card payments without having to open a merchant account. The speed of its transfers also accelerated business on eBay by opening up the possibility of instantaneous paymentno longer was there any need to wait for checks to arrive in the mail and then wait some more for them to clear at the bank before an item could ship. In July of 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion. It's now the most popular method of payment on eBay and integrated fully into eBay.

Registering with PayPal . PayPal registration is quick and painless. All you need to get started is an email address and either a credit card or a bank account. You can pay for your first auction as soon as you've signed up.

To register, go to www.paypal.com, and then click the Sign Up Now link. (Or go to the bottom of eBay's home page, then click the PayPal link to pull up the PayPal home page, and then click Sign Up Now.)

Figure 2-8 shows how to get started. Choose which kind of account you want:

A Personal Account lets you send and receive payments. You can't receive payments made by credit card, just direct transfers and eChecks (Section 2.3.1.2) from a bank account. Perfect for eBayers whose main interest is shopping, personal accounts are free.
A Premier Account lets you send and receive payments and also lets you receive credit card payments. For this type of account, PayPal charges a fee when you receive money. You can select this option during the sign-up process for a personal account. If you want to sell on eBay but not to start a full-blown eBay business, a premier account is a good choice, because most buyers want the option to pay with a credit card.
A Business Account offers the benefits of a personal premier account under the name of your business. It also allows multiple logins for larger businesses. This kind of account works well for high-volume and specialized sellers who are running a retail business on eBay.

Figure 2-8. To get started with PayPal, select the country in which you live or where your business is based. If you select a business account, you must provide contact info for customer service and the business owner, in addition to the business itself.

To complete registration, fill in the form asking for your name, address, and phone number; type in your email address and create a password; choose two security questions for password retrieval; and then OK the User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

After you've submitted the form, PayPal sends you an email to confirm your email address. Reply to it, and you're in.

Whenever you send money, PayPal gives you two payment options: a credit card or a bank account. A credit card is the quickest way to get started, and many buyers prefer this method because their credit card offers additional purchase protection.

Tip: Providing your credit or debit card number offers another advantage: PayPal matches up the billing address with your registration address and voil you have a PayPal confirmed address. And that's a very good thing: many eBay sellers ship only to confirmed addresses.

Setting up your bank account to pay for online purchases, which works a lot like a debit card or a check card, requires a little more patience. After you've given PayPal your account number and your bank's routing number, PayPal makes two small deposits in your account. (Nothing to get excited aboutjust a few cents . But you don't have to give them back.) Call your bank to find out the exact amounts, and then log in to PayPal to verify the amount of each deposit. This process proves to PayPal that your account is valid; from then on, you can use your bank account to make PayPal payments.

Confirming a bank account with PayPal makes you a verified PayPal member. Verification proves to other eBayers that you're who you say you are, making others more confident in dealing with you. In addition, PayPal imposes a $2,000 sending limit on nonverified accounts. Once you reach that limit, you can't send any more money until you get verified .

Note: You can use your bank account to pay by direct debit (for an immediate money transfer) or by eCheck , which is an electronic version of a bank check that takes three or four days to clear. Using an eCheck lets you start spending Great-Aunt Gertie's birthday check while you're waiting for it to clear.

Once you have a PayPal account, it's easy to pay for the eBay auctions you win. When there's a PayPal link on the auction page, just follow it. Information about the auction, including item number, seller, and amount, is already filled in. Select your payment method, and then click the Send Money button. That's ityou're done. Now you can start checking the mail for your sad-faced-clown-on-velvet artwork to arrive.

2.3.1.2 Other payment methods

Most sellers accept several forms of paymentand a few don't take PayPal (usually because they don't like PayPal fees). Depending on the individual auction, you have a number of options for forking over the money:

Credit card . Some sellers accept credit cards directly, but this method is relatively rare on eBay.
Money order . Money orders are a popular payment method because a money order, bought with cash up front, clears more quickly than a personal check, and the buyer retains a record that payment was made. If you pay by money order, you have to know where to send it, so you also have a traceable address for the seller.
Note: Some sellers only accept money orders bought through the U.S. Postal Service because they're tough to forge .
Cashier's check . This payment method works similarly to money orders. Some sellers prefer cashier's checks to personal checks because they're less likely to bounceyou have to pay for a cashier's check before the bank will issue it to you. They're like a money order issued by your bank.
Personal check . If you want to pay with a personal check (on the off chance the seller accepts checks), be prepared to be patient. You've got to wait for your check to get to its destination, for the seller to stop by the bank and deposit it, and then 10 days or so for the check to clearall before the seller will ship your item. Not a good method for buyers craving instant gratification.

BidPay . BidPay, shown in Figure 2-9, was developed by Western Union specifically for online auctions. With BidPay, you can use a credit or debit card to send funds directly to the seller's U.S. checking account, or you can have Bid-Pay mail a money order. This method is convenient because the buyer's part of the transaction takes place onlineif the seller insists on a money order, you don't need to trudge out and stand in line to buy the money order, stick it in an envelope, and drop it in the mail. BidPay's Pounds Sterling Cheque option is also a convenient way to pay U.K. sellers who don't accept PayPal. The drawback is that BidPay charges buyers a service fee; the minimum fee is $1.95.

Note: BidPay doesn't accept MasterCard as a means of payment.

Figure 2-9. BidPay's home page lets buyers calculate the fee for using its service. You can deposit money directly into a U.S. checking account, send a money order by first-class mail, or, for an extra fee, by next- or second-day air. The service isn't cheap; for this sample $30.49 payment ($25.99 winning bid plus $4.50 for shipping), BidPay's fee is $3.95.

Even though their names are similar, don't confuse PayPal and BidPay. With PayPal, the seller pays the transaction feeall the buyer pays for is the item, shipping, and (if it's offered and you want it) insurance. With BidPay, the buyer pays the fee. Why tack on an extra service fee to your total when you have other options?

Escrow . Using an escrow service is the best way to pay for expensive items. If you buy, say, a diamond bracelet for $10,000, you're probably a little leerywith good reasonof writing a five-figure check to someone you don't know. And PayPal only protects purchases up to $1,000. For anything over $1,000, smart buyers use an escrow service . Here's how it works: you send your payment to the escrow service, not directly to the seller. The escrow service notifies the seller that they've received payment, and the seller ships the item to you. After you've received the item, looked it over, and approved it (for that diamond bracelet, you might also get a jeweler's appraisal), you have the escrow service release your payment to the seller.

Escrow.com, shown in Figure 2-10, is the only U.S. escrow service recommended by eBay. (For eBay-approved international escrow sites, see the list at http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html#escrow.) For a fee (a percentage of the purchase price, which is paid by the buyer), Escrow.com holds your money until you've received and inspected the item. If you reject the item, you must return it to the seller, of coursebut you still pay the escrow fee and the return shipping fees.

Figure 2-10. eBay recommends one particular escrow service, Escrow.com, which guarantees protection against fraud. Fees range from 0.89 percent to 6.3 percent, depending on the purchase price and the level of service you want. The pricier Premier Service gives you more payment options and priority support. Escrow.com's minimum fee is $25.

Warning: Some particularly clever scammers have created fake Web sites for phony escrow companies, luring buyers into believing that they were dealing with a reputable escrow service when in fact they were just putting money into the scammers' pockets. To play it safe, stick to Escrow.com. For more on this kind of scam, see Section 4.3.5.

Cash . Would you send cash through the mail to a total stranger? Don't do it for the sake of an eBay auction, either. Too much can go wrong, leaving you with no recourse.
Wire transfer . Companies like Western Union and MoneyGram provide this service. With a wire transfer, you send money to a bank or agent, and the recipient picks up the money in person. Western Union emphasizes that you should use wire transfers to send money only to someone you knowdefinitely not to a complete stranger for an online auction.
Warning: eBay recommends against using instant wire transfers. If something goes wrong, you have no recourse, even if you used a credit card to send the money. In fact, eBay actually prohibits sellers from listing wire transfer as the sole method of payment for an auction. If a seller insists that you pay via instant wire transfer, report that seller to eBay (go to Help Contact Us "Report problems with other eBay members ). A seller who insists on a Western Union payment is usually a seller who's trying to scam you. See Section 4.3 for more on scams.
The exception on wire transfers occurs in European countries, where bank -to- bank wire transfers are a common method of payment. These are different from instant wire transfers, because the money goes into a traceable bank account, rather than being picked up in person by someone who may or may not be who they claim.

2.3.2. Where's My Stuff? Communicating with the Seller

At the mall, some shoppers love to chat; they'll talk about anythingthe weather, their kids , the cat's latest trip to the vetwith just about anyone: the next person in line, the cashier, the bag boy. Others like to pay up and get out.

Same thing goes for the store's staff. Some shopkeepers thrive on the personal touch; they know their customers by name and go out of their way to say thank you. Others prefer to make the sale and move 'em out without so much as a "Have a nice day."

eBay's no different. With so many sellers from all over the worldstay-at-home moms selling outgrown baby outfits, harried employees trying to grow their eBay sales so they can quit their day jobs, full-time eBay powerhouses, and everything in betweenit's impossible to predict how a given seller will close the sale. While after-the-auction communication is a good idea, not everyone takes the same approach. This section tells you what you can do as a buyer to keep the lines of communication open.

2.3.2.1 From buyer to seller: what to say

If you use PayPal, you don't have to do a thing. When you've made a payment, PayPal emails the seller for you, sending a payment notification and your mailing address. You're all set.

Tip: Always save the item number and your trading partner's eBay ID until the transaction is complete. You need these to get contact information or to report a problem. This information appears both in the end-of-auction email eBay sends you and on your My eBay page under Items I've Won (for 60 days or until you delete the auction).

If you're paying by check or money order, it's a good idea to email the seller to say so, and then get in touch again when you've mailed the payment. (eBay's email notification, telling you that you won an auction, contains the seller's email address; you can also use the "Ask seller a question" link from the auction page.)

Tip: You can get full contact information, including a phone number, from the Advanced Search page: Advanced Search

Find Contact Information.

2.3.2.2 From seller to buyer: what to expect if you're the buyer

Will you hear from the seller? Possibly. Keeping customers in the loop is good business practice. Some sellers contact auction winners immediately after the auction; some only get in touch if there's a problem. Many high-volume sellers use software that automatically sends out email to each winner. (You don't need to respond to such an email unless there's a request that you do so.) If you pay with PayPal immediately after an auction, you might not hear from the seller at all until the package arrives at your door. It all depends on that particular seller's way of doing business.

First-time buyers often get nervous if they don't hear from the seller within minutes of the auction's end. Give the seller a little breathing room. The only time you should start to worry is if you've emailed to ask a specific question and you don't get a response within a day or so. (Keep in mind that sellers need an occasional break from work just like the rest of us, so be patient on weekends and holidays.) Otherwise , make your payment and wait a week for your item to arrive. If it hasn't come within seven to ten days, then contact the seller.

Sometimes you just need to pick up the phone and hear the reassurance of a human voice. You can get a seller's telephone number from the Advanced Search page: Advanced Search Find Contact Information. Be sure to have the item number and the sellers eBay ID at hand; eBay won't send you this information unless you're in a transaction with the other party. (Look for item number and seller ID in the Items I've Won section of your My eBay page or in the email eBay sent you at the auction's end.) Clicking Find Contact Information gets you an immediate email with the seller's phone number. At the same time, eBay notifies the seller that you've requested his contact info; that email contains your own contact information.

2.3.3. Having Your Say: How and When to Leave Feedback

Feedback is important for two reasons, and as a smart shopper, you already know one of them. If you've used the Feedback Forum to check out a seller's reputation before you bid, you may already have avoided a costly auction disaster by steering clear of a seller whose Member Profile is brimming over with those little red disks. Thanks to other eBayers who've taken the time to leave feedback, you can buy with confidence. And now that you've completed a purchase, it's time to return the favor.

The other reason feedback is important is that it gives you credibility as a buyer. Perhaps you've come across a few auctions warning, "I'll cancel all bids placed by zero-feedback bidders!" Sellers, just like you, want to be sure they can trust the other party. And, really, why should they trust you ? You know you're an honest buyer, but they can't see who's hiding behind that big$pender321 or shop-til-1-drop eBay ID. (And later, if you decide to sell on eBay, a good feedback score will make other eBayers want to buy from you.) So you need to collect some feedback, reach for that first gold star (see the box on Section 2.1.1), to show the eBay community you mean business.

Note: Feedback appears on individual eBayers' Member Profile pages (Figure 2-2).

In fact, if you think of eBay as a community, you can also think of leaving feedback as your civic duty. You do your bit to spread the word about good and bad sellers. In return, you get a reliable way to tell the good guys from the scammers. And, when someone leaves you positive feedback, not only does it increase your standing in the community, it just plain feels good.

Note: Don't use feedback to communicate with the seller. You get one chance to leave feedback per auction; don't waste it on something you should be handling in email. Sellers will get justifiably annoyed with you if you leave a neutral feedback saying something like "Just wondering if you've sent my iPod yet"you've lost them a feedback point. Communicate with your trading partner through email, not through the Feedback Forum. If email doesn't seem to be getting through, you can get the seller's phone number from eBay (as long as you're involved in an active transaction with the seller). Go to Advanced Search

Find Contact Information and fill in the item number and sellers eBay ID.

TROUBLESHOOTING MOMENT
Buyer Activity Limits

Here's one more reason to build up your feedback score. eBay places buyer activity limits , which can restrict your bidding and buying, on low-feedback accounts. You'll know if eBay has slapped a buyer activity limit on you because you won't be able to bid.

eBay is a little cagey about exactly what buyer activity limits are and exactly who might get slapped with restrictions. In fact, eBay refuses to publish the actual rules. But if you're new to the site (or even if you've been around for a while but you have fewer than, say, five feedbacks), here are some activities that might restrict your ability to bid:

A whole bunch of winning bids in current auctionsand no, eBay won't say exactly what constitutes "a whole bunch."
An unusually high number of auctions won in a short timeagain, eBay doesn't define these terms.
A high dollar amount being bid on a bunch of auctions at once.
A lot of items that you've won but haven't paid for yet.

For example, if you've got three feedbacks so far and you've won auctions worth, say, $5,000 in a couple of days and you're currently winning another $3,500 worth of auctions, eBay might limit your ability to bid on anything else.

eBay is keeping mum about exactly what buyer activity limits are and exactly when they apply because it's caught between a rock and a hard place on this issue. On the one hand, half of all Unpaid Item (UPI) complaints are against bidders with a feedback score below five, and eBay wants to protect sellers from clueless bidders. On the other hand, everyone started out with a feedback score of zero, and eBay wants to encourage new buyers to spend as much money as they can stand to spend on the site.

To avoid buyer activity limits, build up your feedback score by buying a few items at a time. Don't go crazy and spend your whole paycheck the first afternoon you shop on eBay.

2.3.3.1 How to leave feedback

The time to leave feedback is after the money and the goods have changed hands, after you've resolved any problems, or when it's clear that you won't be able to resolve those problemsin other words, when the transaction is absolutely positively over and done with. If you receive your item in a reasonable amount of time and are happy with it, leave positive feedback for the seller. You may or may not receive feedback in return. Some sellers wait until the buyer has left feedback first to show that they're happy with their purchase. Other sellers (usually high-volume sellers) leave feedback in batches every couple of weeks.

Tip: If you're new to eBay and you need to boost your feedback score, a good way to determine whether an eBayer is likely to leave you feedback is to check his or her Member Profile and read the feedback left for others. If there's nothing there, don't expect to get any feedback. Look for sellers who've left more feedback than they've receiveda good sign that they know the importance of feedback.

To leave feedback, go to My eBay (Section 1.5). On your My eBay page, under Items I've Won, find the auction you want to leave feedback for and click the Leave Feedback link. This link takes you to the Feedback Forum: Leave Feedback page. eBay automatically fills in the eBay ID and item number for which you're leaving feedback.

Alternatively, you can look on the left side of your My eBay page for My eBay Views, and then click the Feedback link there. The page that opens shows recent feedback you've received and any auctions you haven't left feedback for. Click the Leave Feedback button to go to the Feedback Forum, shown in Figure 2-11.

Figure 2-11. The cardinal rule of feedback: be professional. Focus on the facts and don't indulge in name-calling or personal digs. If you use obscenities or publicize personal information or Web addresses in the Feedback Forum, eBay might remove your feedback. You can't retract feedback after you click that Leave Feedback button, so choose your words with care.

Tip: Here's yet another way to get to the Feedback Forum: from your My eBay page, under Items I've Won, click an auction's title to go to the auction page and then click the Leave Feedback button. Taking this route lets you review the auction page and make sure you're leaving feedback for the right transaction.

Below the ID and the item number is where you leave feedback. You can rate a transaction as positive, negative, or neutral. Your comment can be 80 characters , maximum.

On the Feedback Forum page, eBay reminds you of a few things:

Say what you mean . You can't change or delete feedback once you've left it.
Make every effort to resolve disputes before heading for the Feedback Forum . You have about 90 days (sometimes a little longer) to leave feedback.
Stick to the facts of the transaction . Don't let things get personalavoid name-calling and your keyboard's Caps Lock key (using all capital letters looks like you're yelling).

Note: Always double-check that the auction you're about to leave feedback for is the one you intend. Because feedback is so crucial to the eBay community, you don't want to accidentally leave negative feedback for a flawless transaction or positive feedback for a disaster.

WORKAROUND WORKSHOP
How to Leave Feedback More than 90 Days After the Auction Has Ended

Many eBayers don't realize that it's possible to leave feedback beyond the 60 days that the auction appears on your My eBay page or the 90 days that an auction link stays live in your Member Profile.

To leave late feedback, you must have the other person's eBay ID and the item number at hand, so be sure to hang on to these; they're in the email eBay sends you when you've won an auction.

From your My eBay page, click Feedback Leave Feedback Single Transaction Form. On the page that opens, type in the eBay ID and the item number, then fill out the feedback form as usual.

2.3.3.2 How to rate a transaction

When you leave feedback, you have to choose one of three ratings: positive, negative, or neutral. For every positive comment, eBay adds one point to the recipient's feedback rating. Each negative comment subtracts one point. Neutrals don't affect a feedback rating one way or the other.

Once you've left feedback (positive or otherwise), most sellers consider the transaction final. So don't leave a negative and then expect the seller to give you a refund. Try to work out any problems firstleaving feedback should be your very last step in a transaction.

Here are some examples of when it's appropriate to give positive, neutral, or negative feedback. Some of them might surprise you:

Positive . You're satisfied with how the auction went. If you're the buyer, the item was as described on the auction page and arrived well packed and in a reasonable amount of time. If you're the seller, the buyer paid in good time.
Positive . The item was not as described on the auction page or arrived damaged, but the seller agreed to replace it or to refund your money. That's good customer service, and it deserves praise.
Positive . You didn't read the auction page carefully , and the seller is charging shipping and handling fees you think are too high, or else the item arrived with scratches or scuffs described in the auction that you missed when you glanced at the item description. You're the one at faultnot the sellerif you didn't scrutinize the terms and the item description. Bidding on an auction means that you agree to all terms set forth on the auction page.
Positive . If you're the seller and a buyer's personal check bounced, but the buyer made up for it by paying promptly via another method.
Neutral . It's hard to know when to give neutral feedback. eBay's own Help section doesn't offer any guidelines about leaving a neutral. If your transaction partner was rude or difficult to deal with but the transaction did take place, a neutral might be in order. Similarly, if you had to file a report with eBay to push the other person to complete the transaction, but they did complete it, you might consider a neutral.
Warning: Many eBayers consider a neutral almost as bad as a negative, and some will leave a retaliatory negative if you give them a neutral rating. It's not fair, it's not professional, but it happens. When you're tempted to give a neutral, consider not leaving any feedback at all instead.
Negative . Your trading partner refuses to complete the transaction. If this happens, you should allow a reasonable amount of time to pass and file the appropriate report with eBay (see Section 2.4.3.2 for an item you didn't receive or Section 5.7.2.1 for a winning bidder who wouldn't pay). Sometimes, all a "forgetful" trading partner needs is a little reminder from the eBay powers-that-be. If such a reminder doesn't work, though, leaving a negative feedback will warn other eBayers about doing business with this person.

2.3.3.3 Leaving feedback comments

Comments let you tell what really happened during an exchange. A positive rating is all well and good, but a comment like, "Knock-out customer serviceand they hid salt-water taffy in the packaging!" paints a useful picture of your experience.

In your feedback comments, consider naming the item that changed hands. That way, even after the link to the auction page disappears, other eBayers reading feedback will know what the auction was for. "Great egg boiler!" is much more specific than "great item!" Knowing what you bought or sold can be helpful to eBayers involved in similar transactions. Wouldn't you think twice about buying a pricey pickup truck from someone who's sold nothing but patented egg boilers for the past year?

It takes a little time to get a feel for what kind of feedback is appropriate. If you're researching sellers by reading their feedback, you'll soon learn how typical feedback readsand what sticks out like a sore thumb. Inappropriate feedback reflects more poorly on the giver than the receiver.

Note: There are a few things you can't say in feedback: no obscenity, no personal information or links to Web pages, no references to any official investigation (by eBay, PayPal, or law enforcement). For more details, including how to get eBay-forbidden feedback removed, see the box on Section 2.3.3.5.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
Negging vs. Reporting

Why should I file a report if there's a problem? Won't someone with a lot of bad feedback get kicked off eBay ?

Negative feedback is a last resort, not a way to solve a problem. If someone refuses to follow through on a transaction, report that person to eBay. Reporting eBayers who misuse the site is far more important than leaving negative feedback; eBay doesn't monitor the comments in the Feedback Forum, so the only way to make your complaint known to eBay itself is to file a report (pages 71 and 184).

If you do, eBay may designate the culprit "No longer a registered user" (NARU), which is eBay-speak for getting kicked off the site. A nonpaying bidder who has several Unpaid Item (UPI) disputes reported by different sellers in a short time will be NARU'd. Similarly, sellers who break the ruleslike not sending an item you paid for or trying to lure you off eBay to complete a saleface penalties that range from warnings to getting NARU'd.

eBay does automatically NARU eBayers whose overall feedback score drops to -4. But for a high-volume seller with thousands of sales each month, it's possible to do terrible business and still stay in business; as long as the seller gets a few more positives than negatives , his feedback score will never drop all the way to -4. eBay will never know that there's a problem unless burned buyers send in a report.

2.3.3.4 Responding to feedback

As a buyer, you get to leave feedback for the seller. But the seller also gets to leave feedback for you and every once in a while, you might be surprised by a negative comment that appears to come out of left field.

It used to be that whoever left you feedback had the last word. You could leave that person feedback in return, of course, but your comments would be over on their Member Profile. Anyone reading feedback left for you wouldn't get your side of the story unless they looked for it. You didn't get a chance to explain.

eBay fixed this problem by allowing follow-ups to feedback. For every feedback you receive, you have the option of posting a response. The person who left you feedback can follow up their original comment with a second one. Those are the limits, though: one response from the receiver and one follow-up from the giver. eBay doesn't want feedback turning into a discussion board with long back-and-forth threads. Figure 2-12 shows you what a response and follow-up look like.

To respond to a feedback comment, go to My eBay Feedback "View all feedback "Reply to feedback received to see your feedback. In the far-right column of the comment you want to reply to, there's a Reply link. Click it, and then type your reply into the text box. Replies can be a maximum of 80 characters, so make each one count.

Figure 2-12. If you get negative feedback, don't panic. Just respond to it, explaining what happened, so other eBayers can see both sides of the story. A calm, factual response looks a lot better than accusations hurled in all caps. Even though this eBayer got a negative, the response and follow-up reveal who's being unreasonable here.

2.3.3.5 Agreeing to disagree : mutual feedback withdrawal

Sometimes eBayers (but not you!) post negative feedback in the heat of the moment and then manage to resolve the dispute that prompted it, leaving them wishing they hadn't been so quick to slam the other person in the Feedback Forum. You can't take back feedback you've left, but if you have a change of heart, eBay gives you the option of mutual feedback withdrawal ( MFW ), which means that the rating disappears from the comment and no longer affects the feedback score, but the comment itself remains. It's mutual because both parties must agree, and both parties get their feedback withdrawn. Here's how to do it:

Contact the other person .

Feedback withdrawal has to be mutual, so it's a good idea to let the other person know you're starting the process before you do anything on the eBay site. If you both agree to withdraw the feedback, the other steps are easy. But if the other person refuses to withdraw feedback, the other steps are pointless.
Find the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal form .

From your My eBay page, choose Feedback "Go to Feedback Forum "Feedback disputes "mutual feedback withdrawal."
Explain why you want to withdraw the feedback .

The page that opens shows you the feedback given and received (if any) for this transaction. Make sure the auction is the right one. Then type a message into the text box, explaining to the other person why you want to withdraw the feedback you left. Click Continue.
Let eBay do its stuff .

eBay contacts the other person, who must agree to withdraw the feedback. If eBay receives the other person's consent within 30 days after the posting of the comment or 90 days after the end of the auction (whichever is later), eBay withdraws the feedback.

TROUBLESHOOTING MOMENT
Feedback Is Foreveror Is It?

In general, feedback that you leave or get is part of your permanent record on eBay. Even if you change your eBay ID, your feedback carries over from the old ID to the new one. You can hide your feedback, but even private feedback isn't all that private to someone who knows how to ferret out the comments. And mutual withdrawal doesn't remove a commentjust that comment's effect on your feedback score.

Are there any circumstances under which eBay will remove feedback? A few. If a comment violates eBay's feedback policy, you can petition eBay to have it removed. But eBay's conditions are strict; they'll remove only the following kinds of feedback:

Feedback with language that's obscene or racist. (Most garden-variety name-calling, from "liar" to " thief " to "scam artist," does not fall under this category.)
Feedback that contains a link or reference to a non-eBay Web site.
Feedback that reveals personal information about another eBayer, such as the person's real name, street address, phone number, or email address.
Feedback that refers to an investigation by eBay, PayPal, or a law enforcement agency.
Feedback that was left for one eBayer when another was intended, but only if identical feedback has already been left for the correct eBayer.
Feedback that was left by someone ineligible to use eBay or whose contact information is invalid.
Feedback that was left by someone who bid on an item not to buy it, but solely to be able to leave negative feedback.
Feedback that is considered libelous or slanderous by the courtsaccompanied by a court order to prove it.

If you'd like to remove feedback that meets one or more of these conditions, go to Help Contact Us "Report problems with other eBay members Feedback Concerns, and choose the type of feedback problem youre having. Click Continue, and then click the Email link. Fill out the form, giving all the information eBay requests , such as the other eBayer's ID and the item number of the auction. (You can get both of these things from the actual feedback comment.) You can speed up your request if you copy and paste in the rule that the feedback violates.

If the feedback meets eBay's criteria, eBay will remove it. But be aware that eBay's definition of what's vulgar or harassing might not match yours.

When eBay withdraws feedback, it adds a note to the comments in the affected Membership Profiles, saying that the rating was mutually withdrawn, and the positive, negative, or neutral symbol disappears.

Note: You can request no more than five MFW requests per 30 days. (And if you need more than this, there's something wrong with your approach to feedback. Go back and read the guidelines to feedback ratings on Section 2.3.3.2.)

Occasionally, you might go through the mutual-feedback-withdrawal process for an auction where only one party has left feedback. For example, perhaps your check really did get lost in the mail, and a seller left you negative feedback. Then your check shows up, with postmarks from Kankakee to Kokomo, and the seller realizes you were telling the truth and wants to cancel the neg. You haven't left feedback yet, but the only way to withdraw the neg is to go through the MFW process. After you've gone through that process, the case is closedon both sides. You can't leave feedback for the seller.

Note: You might hear that an organization called Square Trade can get feedback removed. This isn't true. Square Trade is a mediation service recommended by eBay for settling disputes. It's free if you use Square Trade to facilitate direct negotiation, but if you decide to bring in a professional mediator, you pay a fee. And since February 9, 2004, Square Trade can only get feedback comments withdrawn , not removed.