Finishing Things Up and Leaving Feedback

You've made your bid, won the auction, paid the seller, and received the merchandise. Now you're doneright?

Wrong.

The very last thing you need to do is leave feedback about the seller. Whether it was a good transaction or a bad one, you need to let your fellow eBay members know how things turned out.

Note

See Chapter 3, "Understanding and Using Feedback," for more advice about the type of feedback to leave in different situations.

To leave feedback, go to the listing page for the item you just bought, click the Leave Feedback to Seller link, and then fill in the resulting form. You can leave positive, negative, or neutral feedback, as well as a one-line comment about the transaction. Make sure you really want to leave the comments you've written, and then click the Leave Comment button. Your feedback will be registered and added to the seller's other feedback comments.

The Absolute Minimum

Here are the key points to remember from this chapter:

• When an auction is over, eBay notifies both you and the seller via email.

• If you're paying by credit card, you can initiate payment directly from the end-of-auction email.

• Paying by credit card (via PayPal) is the fastest and safest option for most buyers.

• Paying by cashier's check or money order is also a good option, although not as fast as paying via credit card.

• Paying by personal check is safer than cashier's check or money order and provides a nice paper trailbut it can slow down shipment of your item by one to two weeks.

• After you receive the merchandise, let the seller know that you're satisfied (or not) and leave feedback on the eBay site.