This is old news for most, but new to me. I bought an item off eBay recently and received it in proper condition - as described. So I logged on to submit my feedback today only to be told that buyers cannot receive negative feedback, but buyers can dish out such feedback to sellers. It seems this has been in effect for a few months according to some reports I have read on the net (earliest was Feb 2008).

Itsan awesome situation for buyers because often buyers would feel threatened by leaving bad feedback to sellers, given often retialation negative feedback is common (from sellers).

But it seems this can definitely be misused by buyers. Buyers can be real harsh on giving feedback, and start being really picky about minor details. When buyers do not pay, they can still leave negative feedback to tarnish a seller’s reputation. If this happens, the seller has to go through the eBay process to clear their name. I have done this before, and it takes time and for those that have feedback in the hundreds - it can really affect their percentage rating in the meantime.

One can appreciate where eBay is going with this sort of feedback system, but a feedback system is not true when one can only receive positive feedback (i.e.: buyers). If I was a power seller, I would be spewing. eBay have such market share of the online retail industry, its pretty difficult to go against and win. So most sellers would just suck it up, and make sure they do things as perfect as possible. So you can expect better customer service from eBay sellers now, I guess.  For buyers out there, it gives you added security of exhibiting extra scrutiny on your eBay seller, and be real nitty gritty about things.