12/05/07 UPDATE:

I understand that there are those out there that purposefully try to damage others feedback for fun and then there are those that are just plain vicious and mad at the world and no matter how hard you bend over to make it a great transaction for them nothing will work. I have a very strong Christian faith and I have to constantly remind myself to turn the other cheek, not take it personally and include those people in my prayers. I am only human and sometimes I slip and forget what's most important and getting into disputes or hanging onto bad feelings is so far from what is really important in my life which is my faith in God and trying to live the kind of life he wanted for me. Happy Holidays everyone, especially our many repeat buyers.  

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In my opinion the feedback system used by Ebay is very flawed. Most buyers and sellers won't even leave each other feedback for fear of retaliatory negative feedback in return. I happen to be one of these people. When I first stared on Ebay I was buying and selling under the same account but when I received a few negatives in retaliation for negatives I left for bad sellers I decided to open another account just for buying in order to protect the Catjones selling account. I was feeling proud of my accomplishments on Ebay especially with the fact that we had over 6,000 transactions with only a couple of negatives due to buyers not liking the merchandise. I was especially proud of the fact that I hadn't gotten a negative in over a year. Well today on Halloween I received two negatives, back to back, from the same buyer. I should always remember that pride will bring you down. If anyone is interested in the story behind the negatives, scroll to bottom. However this guide is for buyers especially newbies. Most sellers work darn hard to keep their feedback rating. I, myself, work over 80 hours a week on my Ebay and web site. It's very disheartening when you work those kind of hours and you bend over backwards to make your buyers happy and with no consideration to all the hard work; they undermine your reputation with a thoughtless negative feedbacks. I think if buyers knew exactly how much sellers pay a month in ebay listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, jeweler fees, photo hosting account fees and in our case free postage, insurance and delivery confirmation on buy it now items and free insured registered mail for Canadian buyers with buy it now purchases along with fantastic and secure packaging (and we ship same day or next day) and a free $10 off "cat cash" coupon with each purchase they would realize that we spend a small fortune and go that extra step that you don't find with most sellers. Buyers need to take into account all of this and try to keep an open line of communication with sellers when there is a problem. Buyers need to try and work out a solution, if at all possible, with sellers if they're not happy. Keep in mind that some sellers work really hard to maintain their reputation and buyers should only leave negative feedbacks when all avenues of resolve have been exhausted. Causing harm to a sellers reputation should be thought out and weighed against the offense before recklessly leaving harmful negatives.

12/06: 

Whenever I buy items on ebay I always check the sellers feedback count but I also go the extra step to read the actual reason for the feedbacks so I can make my own decision, based on the wording, whether the negative was deserving or not because there are a lot of people out there that no matter what you do for them or how good you are to them will leave a negative for the heck of it. I think these people are very unhappy people and there is no amount of bending over backwards to please them. Thank goodness that the majority of ebayers are wonderful, just and caring people. I have made many friends on ebay and have met and exchanged emails with hundreds and hundreds of fantastic people. I'll take the opportunity here to say thank you for purchasing from us, thank you for your emails and your sharing of your likes and dislikes and especially your stories about your non-human babies and most of all thank you for making ebay a pleasant experience. Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The case with the two negatives came about because a buyer purchased two rings on a buy it now and once she received the rings she contacted me and stated that the one ring, size 7 1/4 and the other ring size 8, were both the wrong size and that I mislead her and she wanted $25 deposited into her account immediately via paypal and she would get the rings resized. I responded that we didn't do refunds and if she sent the rings back I would get them resized for her and send them back or I would give her store credit. I had already paid the $11 once to send the items insured registered mail and I just could not believe that two rings were the wrong size. One ring maybe, because as humans we can make a mistake but two rings was pushing the realm of belief. I would have paid the $11 again to send them back after resizing because I wanted to see these rings and the supposed wrong sizes for myself since in over 6,000 transactions this had never happened before. Well, the next day, which is today, Halloween, she replied to my email that my options were unacceptable and that she was leaving negative feedback. Before I could even respond to her email she had left the negatives as threatened. I mean, really, I was on the computer when the email came across and she had the negatives posted before I could even finish reading it. This buyer stated in the negatives that the rings were nice and that I had offered to refund but the sizes were wrong. This, in my opinion, is not a reason for a negative especially when you shut down communication without waiting for a response. Needless to say I surely didn't need a negative, much less two of them, going into the Christmas selling season but I also refuse to give into threats and demands when a reasonable solution was offered in return. Some would say that paying the $25 would have been worth keeping a good feedback score but had I been given the chance to respond to the buyers refusal to negotiate I don't know that I would have changed my original options offered.