So a lot of sellers are very upset about this. To recap, eBay sellers can no longer leave negative feedback. So, some are leaving positive feedback and then writing a negative message. Well, this is against eBay’s policies and will get you suspended.

Now, I get stiffed from time to time on eBay sales. I have dealt with some really bad situations to boot. It does annoy me that there is no way to mark non-paying buyers. But leaving a negative message in a positive feedback is just childish. I am glad eBay is banning people for this.

It’s like the grade school equivalent of sending a pretty red and pink Valentine to the girl you hate because your Mom made you that says, “I hate you. You smell.” It’s not only immature, but unprofessional as well and I would rather sellers who run their business like that are not there to sully my good name by association reputation.

If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. That is basically how the new feedback system works.

While I disagree with a lot of what eBay is doing, I have come to realize that they were right on a few points, one of which is this: No matter how hard a time I give Amazon over a purchase, they will never publicly shame me, which is essentially what negative feedback did. Sure it may make you, the seller, feel better but it sends a bad message all around and especially to future buyers. If you handle it with grace, even buyers that left you negatives in the past sometimes come back for more sales, it has happened to me. But if you burn your bridges just to leave a flame feedback, you are hurting yourself more than anyone.

People say eBay is taking the personality out of the marketplace, but in a lot of ways that is a good thing. If your personality is angry, sour, or vindictive, your business as well as my business benefits if you have to tone it down.