Has anyone noticed that buyers are not leaving feedback recently?

[tonyf7652]

I've noticed lately that many buyers are not leaving feedback so now I'll be waiting until they do before leaving mine (as a seller). Is this OK?

[i-love-my-sheep]

Feedback is optional and some buyers don't feel the need to leave it. Like you, I used to always leave feedback after posting, but stopped. I still get the same amount of feedback by waiting for the buyer to leave it first.

Sending a reminder can make some buyers dig their heels in. EBay sends a reminder to them after so long anyway, to prompt them. I used to let it get to me, but these days I'd rather get no feedback than a negative, or a positive and a low star rating.

I always leave feedback for sellers. Mostly because the sellers I buy from, I buy quite a few items in one go. By leaving feedback, I get to check off that everything I ordered arrived.

[chameleon54]

lise112003 - First, welcome to the boards. As others have already mentioned feedback is voluntary. Many people just come to ebay to sell stuff. Others come here simply to buy stuff. Sorry if this sounds harsh but many people do not feel the need to play ebays little games and give / recieve smiley stamps. Feedback is a good indication of how well a seller performs, but is a complete waste of time for buyers as sellers can only leave positive feedback with postive comments. Sellers are not allowed to mention if the buyer took two weeks to pay for the item, six months to pick it up, or didnt pay at all. This has devalued the system greatly and made many people cynical and reluctant to take part in the system. I think the many changes ebay management have implemented in the last two years has also contributed to the breakdown of the community spirit ebay once had. Unscrupulous buyers and sellers are often given a free run to go around ripping people off. Major stores are encouraged at the expense of small sellers and if they recieve too much negative feedback, ebay simply wipes the slate clean for them, with the defects magically disappearing. Buyers are pitted against sellers rather than being encouraged to work together. The list goes on. This has resulted in the breakdown in ebays social structure and resulted in many people having a very low care factor for the feedback system.