That Permanent Record Thing
In most cases, all feedback that you enter for others becomes part of your permanent online auction record. Some sites let you search for comments that users have left others. If the site doesn't provide the function, plenty of auction support Web sites offer search tools that do.

Some sellers don't want to go on record as someone capable of muddying another user's feedback file, so they enter only positive comments. Not good either.

Feedback Extortion
If someone wants you to operate outside the scope of the auction transaction and threatens you with negative feedback if you don't, this is feedback extortion.

Retaliatory Feedback
A user with a genuine need to enter a negative comment does so, only to receive a totally unwarranted negative comment--usually a complete lie--in return. Unfortunately, that's one risk of leaving a negative comment. Until the auction sites find a way to prevent or regulate retaliatory feedback, many users won't enter negative feedback to caution others.

Will that retaliatory neg really tarnish your record that much? Not according to one user: "I've bid on items from sellers with bad feedback comments, and had a few winning bidders with negs. When I read their file, it doesn't take a lot to see which feedback is justified, and which isn't."

Some users are steadfast in their reluctance to leave negative feedback. "This might be selfish," says another seller, "but why should I risk a neg in my account? Until eBay prevents a bidder from posting any feedback after a nonpaying bidder refund request is filed, I'll continue with this process. Ask eBay to provide this feature, and you'll see an explosion of justified negs."

For more on this subject, read our tip on addressing retaliatory negatives.

Making It Private
Hiding your feedback could signal that there's something in your file that you don't want the world to see. However, there are other uses for keeping your feedback hidden, some of which deter misuse.

For instance, someone could harvest a spam list from your feedback page and inundate your customers with junk email. To prevent this, you can make your feedback private to protect customers from spam.

Then there are privacy issues such as when someone includes a phone number or address in the feedback comment. Until the auction site can remove it, a user might opt to hide the feedback to protect his or her privacy.

In many cases, even if a user's feedback is private, you can still see the number of positive, neutral, or negative comments and how recent they are. "You can still make decisions based on information you do have," one user says. "I've seen sellers with a lot of positive feedback and only one or two negs go private for various reasons. I'd still buy from them."

Does the Feedback System Work?
Allowing only transaction-specific feedback is one way that online auction sites are cracking down on feedback misuse. Alternately, some sites, such as eBay, won't let you enter any feedback until the fifth day after you opened your account. That's usually the minimum amount of time it takes an auction to progress to the feedback stage.

There are simply no exceptions: For the feedback system to work as intended, everyone must use it--not misuse it.

Report It
If feedback misuse happens to you, report the offending user to the auction site. Abusing any function of the site, including feedback, is usually against the venue's terms and conditions.

Be sure to save all email correspondence associated with these types of situations and send it to the site with your complaint.

(Special thanks to the user community at the Online Trader's Web Alliance, which provided valuable insight and assistance with this story.)

Understanding Feedback Spotting a Shill Creating an About Me