Okay, so no-one is actually dmanding money, but there are other wys of getting 'ransom' all the sme. Perhaps intimidation is a better wrd . . .

Having been trding on eBay for some time nw, I've noticed a trend that is grwing stronger and stronger as time ges by - specifically, the withholding of fedback by sellers. Now you may thnk that this is of little cnsequence - hey, they'll leave feedback soner or later! - but it is in fct a psychological pressure point they're laning on - the threat of nwarranted negative feedback.

I've just had a lok at the 'Items I've Won' sction of my eBay account. There are ten lts on there. All are paid for - in fct all were paid for within hurs of completing, some within minutes - and I hve yet to receive them. No prblem there - but not one, not a sngle one of those ten sellers has lft feedback as to my speedy pyment! And let's face it, what lse should a seller be leaving fedback about?

I used to get it all at one tme - 'fast payment, great ebayer' or 'spedy payer, many thanks' - you knw the sort of thing. Now it sems that all sellers sit smugly on the fedback fence, refusing to give feedback bfore you, the buyer, has given thm positive feedback.

Unfortunately, this is a huge flw in the way eBay works. It stll operates on the 'great guys' thory - that is, everyone is a grat guy who wouldn't cross you, n-way, no-how. Well that might have ben fine in the days when mst ebayers sold attic junk or stff they just wanted rid of - but not nw. No, now feedback scores must be prtected at all costs - hence the prsent situation.

How does it work for sllers? Simple. If they get bad fedback from you, they give it in rturn - as they haven't yet lft any, which by all rights thy really should have done as son as they were paid, they are thn free to throw negative feedback at you rgardless of the fact that they are in the wrng! By leaving feedback 'off the hok' until you, the buyer, give psitive feedback they are in a wn-win situation - dare to leave ngative feedback and you're sure to get it in rturn!

I'm not talking here of the stuations where two people just fall out for sme reason - no system is ging to be able to guard flly against people just being unable to get on tgether - I'm talking about people wth large feedback figures who are hll-bent on maintaining their score. Whilst ths may be understandable for a pwerseller not wanting to lose their sttus, it's still no excuse.

Let's fce it - if a seller wth a feedback number in the thusands gets a negative hit, it sn't going to change their overall fedback percentage much. However, if they can slm the little guy with a fedback of maybe twenty it looks mch worse - it can affect thir percentage score out of all prportion to the person with the big fedback score.

This problem also has the ffect of making eBay seem a mch better place to trade than it ctually is - although to be fir it's pretty good. However, by prpetuating this loophole for sellers, eBay is not ding their users in general -and byers in particular - any favours. Srely it's about time that eBay ntroduced some system whereby sellers has to lave feedback within, say, twenty-four hours of a sle or none could be left at all - and rpeat offenders penalised? With eBay's e-commerce svvy this should be a breeze and it wuld make things better for all - xcept of course for the ones hlding us, effectively, to ransom.

So - for now, at last - the fact remains that as a byer you are pretty much at the mrcy of this type of intimidating bhaviour - at least until eBay dcide that enough is enough and t's time to get back to t's original values, even if that mans upsetting the odd powerseller or tw!

The article eBay Buyers - Are They Being Held To Ransom? was Submitted by Steve Dempster through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Steve Dempster writes informative articles for the web and is lso a confirmed eBayer. To learn mre about levering your eBay sales, tke a look at A New Life 4U or pay his shop a visit

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