As an E-bay Seller, there are a few things that I feel the beginner buyer should know or should do prior to making that very first purchase.

First: On the right of the page you will see MEET THE SELLER. To the right of their name is a number, click on that number and a new screen will appear (you can always hit the back button to return to the item you are interested in). This brings you to their feedback page. Top right is the DSR and you can put your cursor over the stars to see what other BUYERS really feel about their item description, handling fees, length of shipping time, and cost of shipping. To the left is an overview of their past 12 months of performance as a seller. Here you will find if any neutral or negative feedback has been left for the seller. Scroll down a tad. Here you will find the actual comments by previous buyers regarding the items they received.

SECOND: Would you purchase something from a person on the street if you walked up to them without questioning them? Talking to them? Perhaps at a garage sale, but more than likely, if you do not know the person or have any form of communication, you would not purchase from them. Before you make a commitment to purchase, use the ASK THE SELLER A QUESTION button. (see example below after reading next paragraph)

Third: Pay close attention to shipping and handling fees established by the seller. Familarize yourself with current postal shipping fees. Does the seller do "combined shipping & handling"?

Example: We sale fabric by the yard. To make a simple shirt a person would need to have a minimum of three yards of fabric. The United States Post Office has a FLAT RATE ENVELOPE that currently ships for $4.60 and arrives within 4 days. Into this envelope we can fit 1-8 yards of fabric. With the e-bay system, each yardage purchase you make, e-bay will add on another shipping fee. 2 yards by e-bay standards would come out to $9.20, three would be 13.80, etc.

If you pay the e-bay invoice immediately, you will be paying exorbitant shipping fee's that may not be refunded back to you. (We always refund these back.) Read the e-bay invoice, on it will be a link that says, "REQUEST INVOICE FROM SELLER". Click on that and the seller can then make shipping & handling adjustments.

With our fabrics, we fit 1-8 yards into the $4.60 envelope and therefore, if you have purchased 8 yards the shipping would show up as $36.80 but our adjustment would bring the shipping and handling down to the exact $4.60.

Too, with fabric there is some deception. When you read the fine print of some sellers, the fabric is actually sold by the half yard for the same amount that many other sellers have it shown for one yard.

So, research your seller, ask them questions, read the fine print, make your purchase, request an invoice for adjustments, then make your payment and wait for your goodies to arrive.

ONCE YOU GET YOUR PRODUCT:  If you have a bad product - WRITE to the Seller FIRST.  The Seller should get back in touch with you within 48 hours.  The Seller should then work towards making the two of you happy enough that you will leave them a good feedback.

FEEDBACK:  First you have your written word regarding feedback.  Secondly, there is the Star rating service.  What you put here, in the star section may determine the future prices that seller may have to charge for their product.  Think carefully before leaving anything less than a 5star: 

ITEM AS DESCRIBED:  Many people do not realize that their own computers need to be updated in many ways.  Your monitor for example, may have need of .dll's or drivers which will allow them to see new color ranges.  Then again, if the seller's eyes are old, such as myself, and sometimes I have tremors, their picture taking capabilities may not be up to par.  If I have taken twenty pictures of an item, I will show all twenty pictures - if the colors still are not quite as rich, bold or beautiful as that which is on the fabric, I always make a note of it within the description.  When a person purchases that specific piece, I always take the time to write to them to let them know that the fabrics colors may be darker, lighter, richer and make certain that this is the fabric color that they want.

COMMUNICATION:  Did you contact the seller prior to purchase?  Did you contact the seller if there were any problems?  Did the seller respond quickly?  Did the seller work with you to resolve the problem in a timely fashion?  Communication is a two way street.  If you post a negative without communicating with the seller then you are at fault too. 

    Example:  In our own feedback is a neutral that has been mutually withdrawn.  Once any seller places items on e-bay, the seller can make changes to the listing UNTIL a person has bid on or purchased from the lot quantity (we list 15 yards and someone purchases 7); then the Seller can no longer make changes to the listing at all.  The person who gave us a "Neutral" stated false advertising.  You can go in and view this order.  The fabric was for $6.00 per yard and was a tossed beading with the LOOK of Native American beadwork.  Ok.  At the top of the page it says with the LOOK and within the description it states "with the LOOK of ".  This person was a relatively new buyer to e-bay and without communication filed that she thought for a mere $6.00 per yard she could get real beadwork fabric.  Through the e-bay system, I was able to get her phone number and spoke with her on the phone.  I provided her with e-bay phone numbers to verify that pages could not be changed and then directed her to the two places on the sell pages where it was stated "with the LOOK of... ".  We then had to go through a mutual withdrawal system.  For her, with exception of communication & reading the pages properly, she had done her job of researching what she wanted and making a prompt payment.  I left her good feedback, which was mutually withdrawn from her.  Lots of work - almost 7 hours of work for one yard of fabric, which she explained she was going to make a vest with.

Shipping Time:  Shipping time should or could be clearly stated on a seller's site.  For us, we normally use the PRIORITY FLAT RATE envelope's and boxes which means that you will receive your item within 4 days of paid purchase, unless your payment was on a Friday or Saturday night.  Then your item will ship first thing Monday morning and you should recieve it by weeks end.

Shipping and handling Charges:  We work with all our customers.  If someone would prefer to use Parcel Post or FEeeral Express, we also provide that as a service or a suggestion when the quantity purchased is more than 30 yards.  When you are purchasing fabric from a person who is selling only 1-4 yards or a precut quantity (all 7 yards yours for only $$) - this fabric is already cut - why would they need a handling fee to stuff into an envelope or box and put postage on it?  We have no handling fee and your shipping is so exact that we leave the shipping price you paid right on the shipping container. 

If all these things were good for you, then you should leave the seller a 5 star rating.  If the seller's DSR or star rating service falls below 4.8, then e-bay will penalize them and then their prices will have to go up.  So please think very hard about NOT filling in those stars.  Smaller stores such as ours will have to pay a severe price or worse yet, would have to increase our prices to cover off the e-bay additional fee's.

Best of luck to you and enjoy a victorious shopping day on e-bay.