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Before the Auction: Understanding Feedback

by Nancy L. Hix

There's no better way to judge someone's online auction practices than by user testimony. That's where feedback--the tool by which buyers and sellers rate each other--comes in. Read on for an overview of feedback--what it means, how it works, how to leave it, and more.

A User's Rating
Feedback helps you determine a user's reliability based on past performance, although there's no guarantee that a positive rating means you won't have any problems with a particular user. For example, a person could have a positive rating as a buyer, yet operate poorly as a seller.

For such an important process, rating your fellow auction users is very simple. When you conduct business with another buyer or seller, you enter a brief summary of how the transaction went. Each feedback accumulates in the person's overall feedback rating (either up or down), which usually appears in parentheses next to the user ID.

Not all sites employ the same feedback system. Amazon.com Auctions uses an overall rating number and a series of stars. Yahoo Auctions has a one-to-five rating system, while other sites, such as eBay, simply have you declare your experience as positive, neutral, or negative. At LiveAuctionOnline, you'll see all feedback, including multiple entries by the same user, shown as a three-part figure. For example, "25/0/1" means that the user received 25 positives, zero neutrals, and one negative.

When browsing an auction, clicking on the user's feedback number will take you to the page with that person's specific feedback comments. Some people merely look at the number, but it's a good idea to spend some time reading the actual feedback. While many folks are leery of sellers or bidders with no feedback, most remember that everyone started with a feedback rating of zero. (For more on this subject, read our building feedback tip.)

Lastly, leaving feedback is not required. However, it is an acknowledged common courtesy, much like tipping a waiter or waitress.

Entering Feedback
At some auction sites, finding the feedback-entry page can be an adventure. At the major sites, however, locating it usually is easy. Yahoo Auctions, eBay, and Amazon.com Auctions all offer a direct path to feedback entry once an auction closes. At eBay and Amazon.com Auctions, your user ID will appear along with feedback you enter. At Yahoo Auctions, it's optional.

The feedback comment itself should get right to the point and be specific. For example: "Excellent seller, item arrived well packed, would buy from again." You'll be limited as to the number of characters you can enter (which can produce comments that will appear incomplete and seem to not make sense). Yahoo Auctions is a bit more generous with space than other sites, allowing users the freedom to elaborate.

Both Yahoo Auctions and eBay allow users to respond to comments left for them. The person who posted the original comment then can enter a response to the response, allowing for some public dialogue about the situation. This is particularly helpful and illuminating in cases where negative feedback has been left.

Once you enter feedback, it's usually there to stay. Gold's Auction allows the removal or editing of feedback comments, but only under extreme circumstances will the site intervene and remove feedback. Because almost all online auction sites have a privacy policy, though, most of them will let you make your feedback private. (You'll read more about hidden feedback later.)

The Rules
All online auction sites have rules for using their feedback systems. Here are some examples:

You can't post positive feedback for yourself from another site ID.

You can't leave negative feedback if a user fails to perform some action outside the scope of the auction.

You can't post private information such as an address and phone number, or use obscenities, racial slurs, or threats of violence. The site administrators usually remove these types of comments at the user's request.

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