Types of Feedback
As mentioned before, some sites let you rate other users on a scale from one to five, with five being the best. Most of the other sites offer feedback in three flavors: positive, neutral, and negative. All types of feedback are important to the online auction community, as they provide a handy reference for others.

Positive: If you're happy with the way the person treated you during an auction transaction, then you'll want to leave positive feedback. Any satisfactory transaction warrants positive feedback.

Neutral: Neutral is appropriate in a situation that wasn't good enough to warrant a positive recommendation, but not bad enough to mar someone's record with a negative comment. Cases where an item came much later than expected, or a buyer's payment took forever to arrive, may warrant a neutral comment. The main difference between a neutral and a negative is that with a neutral the transaction eventually was completed, just not in a way you found acceptable.

Not every neutral comment relates to a so-so transaction. Some neutrals used to be positives or negatives, but reverted to neutrals when the author's user ID was revoked. Moreover, eBay used to add a neutral comment to your file when you changed your email address or user ID.

Negative: Negative feedback, or "negs" to seasoned users, is the great "booga booga" of online auctions. Leaving a negative comment is probably the most consequential action you can take as an online auction user. Other users might judge the person based on the amount of negative comments registered, especially recent ones. Reserve negatives for when the transaction does not complete after you've exhausted all other methods of resolution. They're the ultimate cyber-tattoo.

Most sites advise you, right on the feedback page, to try to settle the dispute offline before you post negative feedback about the person. I heartily agree. Offline disputes can be resolved. Negative feedback is there to stay, and could make both of you look bad in the long run. Users with too many negative comments could have their site privileges revoked.

When Negative Feedback Is Necessary
The following are examples of situations where posting negative feedback about a seller or buyer is warranted:

The negative comment should get right to the point. Avoid name-calling or emotional responses. For example, if several weeks pass and a promised payment failed to arrive, a negative comment like this will suffice: "Waited one month and no payment arrived, only promises. Relisted item."

Refrain from any "beware" or "caution" statements. Anyone who later reads the comment can make a judgment based on the facts you provided. (For more on this subject, read our leaving negative feedback tip.)

When Bad Feedback Happens to Good People
Like the first ding in a new car, your first negative feedback usually hurts, especially if you don't deserve it. It's aggravating, even painful when it happens, but don't let one negative comment placed on your record chase you off the site. Keep doing business with stellar practices and the comment will age so far into your file that nobody will care because they won't be able to find it.

Remember that you usually can respond to a negative feedback comment. Your follow-up comment will allow others to assess how you handle such situations. If the negative comment was unwarranted, a follow-up statement such as "This remark is untrue and retaliatory--please check her feedback" will speak for itself. (For more on this subject, read our addressing retaliatory negatives tip.)

Transaction-Related Feedback
Feedback comments are usually restricted to users with whom you did business; otherwise, your comment won't be accepted into the system. Or, depending on which site you use, your comment will appear on the person's feedback page but won't count toward the user's overall rating.

With transaction-related feedback (which is the case on eBay), you know when you review someone's feedback file that each comment represents an actual auction in which the person participated. However, there are certain drawbacks to allowing only transaction-related feedback. For example, if your high bidder backs out of a bid and the next highest bidder buys the item, you can't exchange feedback with that person no matter how well the transaction went. With open feedback (whereby you can leave any type of comment for any other user and all comments will affect the user's overall score), you can.

On the other hand, you won't find a barrage of negative comments in your file entered by some online misanthrope with an attitude.

Special thanks to the user communities at the Online Trader's Web Alliance and CollectorNet.com, both of which provided valuable insight and assistance with this story.

Avoiding the Buy and Switch Leaving Negative Feedback Addressing Retaliatory Negatives