@outback_blends wrote:How about buyers HAVE to contact a seller first before they can leave a neg.
Just speaking personally, I think this is one of those ideas that sounds good in theory, but wouldn't work so well in practice.
Let's say, for example, the option to leave a neut or neg does not become available until the buyer sends an enquiry to the seller... Not only do more than half of the (current) messaging options actually result in an MBG request being opened, but what's the bet sellers would start receiving obligatory messages with one word or two just so a buyer could then go and leave their FB.
It would also increase the "before I leave a negative...." kinds of messages, which has a long history of p***ing off sellers and putting them off-side 
(Most sellers will suck it up and respond as if that phrase wasn't in there, but some can not ignore it and so will respond to that rather than respond to the problem, which in turn would escalate things rather than resolve them).
What they would actually have to do, in order to mitigate all of these issues, is implement a dispute resolution system that's a pre-cursor to a formal request, and which needs to be resolved or escalated before the option to leave bad feedback becomes available, which systemises commuication and resolution options, something I'm not very fond of, and could mean the end result would be less encouraging of buyers and sellers communicating amicably with each other than what would be intended by this idea (JMHO), so I would be reluctant for eBay to introduce anything like that.
What they have done, though, is eliminate all negative effects of receiving neutral and negative feedback, in terms of account standing at least. It's not a defect anymore, and a feedback rating of 99% or even 75% etc won't get you suspended or result in having selling privileges affected. I get that it's a tarnish to someone's reputation, and easy to take personally - lord knows I've had some interesting reactions when I've seen a red dot on my profile - but I think in the long run they're a completely ineffective measure on all counts these days, and should be regarded the same way as any other situation where one receives criticism - if it's valid, take it on board, if it's not, respond and move on.
