eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition

Hacks 1–9

eBay is a community of buyers and sellers, not just a mere web site or piece of software. It’s a complex social system of which you are an active member. Success on eBay depends not only on your ability to master the technical tasks of bidding and selling, but on your ability to communicate with other eBay members and your willingness to contribute to the community in a positive way.

Feedback is the basis of trust on eBay. Each eBay member has his or her own member profile, a public collection of comments left by other eBay members. Each individual feedback comment is tied to a transaction in which the particular member took part. Feedback comments are marked either positive, negative, or neutral, and are added accordingly in the summary that appears at the top of the page.

A member’s feedback score is the number representing the sum of all positive comments, minus the sum of all negative comments. (Note, however, that multiple comments left by a single user will never count more than one point.) This number, shown in parentheses after a member’s user ID, is a useful tool in determining the trustworthiness and experience level of any given eBay member.

Tip

It’s important to note that the feedback score alone does not give you a sufficient picture of any member’s personal history. Before you do business with any other member, make sure to click the member’s feedback score and appraise the profile [Hack #1] as a whole.

Feedback is taken very seriously on eBay, and with good ...