Questions from the audience

If you have questions please email me at koala@koalacomics.com.au
If several people ask the same question then I will put that question (and it's answer) here.

Q. I have bought an item and received it with no problems; but the seller has told me that I need to leave feedback first before they will.  Who should go first?
A. The seller.  I'm a Powerseller and I always go first.
In my opinion once the buyer has paid for the item then they have successfully done their part of the transaction so positive feedback should be left as soon as the money is received (and cleared) by the seller.
Note that you are under no obligation to leave any feedback (positive, neutral or negative), so if they tell you to leave it first then they are misleading you.
I have had 2,800 transactions on ebay and feedback has only been reciprocated for 2,300 of those.  So not everyone leaves feedback.

Q. Would you buy a $1500 LCD tv from a seller with 0 feedback?
A. Only if I could do a pick up and pay them when I was happy with the product.  Also, remember that we all started with 0 feedback :)

Q. I've had a bad experience and want to leave negative, but I'm scared that I will be given a negative out of revenge.  What do I do?
A. Leave the computer alone for 24 hours and then ask yourself 'Was the transaction actually that bad?'.  Was the shipping time as stated in the description, did the item take 7 days to arrive yet the description said please allow 10 days to arrive? Parcels from one side of Australia to the other can take up to 10 days via post.
As for leaving negatives - if the experience warrants a negative then leave a negative, but be very careful in your wording - you are allowed 80 characters in the description so use it with FACTS.  If the item took 3 months to arrive then say that; don't use it for personal attacks.
As for them giving you a negative, you do have the right to reply.  Again, use this 'right of reply' to state the facts.  When someone looks through your feedback and reads your facts then they will understand.

Please note - my wife and I were about to buy a very expensive vase from a seller, it was a lot of money so we checked their feedback and decided not to buy it based on what we read -


This is just an example of their feedback, they had a lot more.
In both cases the buyer had legitimate reasons for leaving negative feedback, and in both cases the seller left personal (offensive) remarks about the buyers, which begs the question 'Are all of their customers treated this way?'

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