Although I do notice that some sellers DO leave feedback immediately after receiving payment, the seller practice of waiting to receive feedback from the buyer before leaving feedback themselves has I think increased dramatically since ebay made it impossible for sellers to leave anything but POSITIVE feeback. (ie, they can't leave neutral or neg feedback)
Sellers believe this leaves them vulnerable to unfair feedback without any comeback. Although, most buyers are reasonable and fair with the feedback they leave, it only takes one buyer leaving unfair negative feedback to change a seller's feedback score and profile for a whole 12 months !!!
No matter how unwarranted the seller believes this feeback to be, it is very rare for ebay to remove it. They always tell sellers that feedback is a 'matter of opinion' and therefore not something they will interfere with. That's all very well but it can also lead to painting an inaccurate picture of a seller, just because a buyer is having a bad day and wants to 'vent' !!
I have on occasions had some success as a seller appealing to the buyer to reconsider the neg feedback they have left.
One such instance was when a buyer claimed they had not received their item from me (although they had not bothered prior to leaving feedback to contact me with their concern) and when I used the tracking number to trace the item, I discovered that it was sitting in the buyer's local PO waiting for them to collect it. When I informed the buyer of this, she responded that the PO was her previous place of work and she would find it difficult going there due to some issues she had with her previous colleagues. She insisted that I arrange with her PO to have it delivered to her.According to her, I was supposed to be in control of that aspect of things. I patiently explained that I could send the item to her and make sure that I used a postage option that would ensure, as much as is possible, its safety (ie tracking) but I was not responsible for how she received the item once it was posted. She finally understood that, and revised her feedback.
However, had she not agreed to do that ebay would not have removed it.
Anyway that is just one instance of why sellers feel at times unprotected by the system and they will do what they can to protect themselves in the absence of ebay doing it effectively. One such protection is waiting for buyer feedback to make sure the buyer is happy with the item they have received.
