As of this writing, my feedback score is 584, with 4 negatives on my record, none from buyers, so I may not be the voice of authority, but I do have some experience. I'm both a buyer and a seller on Ebay, and these are my policies as far as feedback etiquette: The most important rule is not to resort to negative feedback for problems with a seller before first attempting to communicate via email.  You'll be suprised as the generally good responses you'll get from most sellers when you let them know there's a problem with the sale.  I've had shipping costs refunded, and many, many, partial refunds just by letting a seller know that I'm displeased with something involving the sale.  Negative feedback should only be used as a last resort, when all other forms of communication have failed, and even then, consider carefully if it's worth the hassle of risking a retaliatory feedback from the other party.  The only time I leave a negative is when every other form of attempting to straighten out a problem has failed, and I feel I need to warn my fellow Ebayers about an unscrupulous user.  The second most important rule, is to leave feedback on every transaction, thereby helping honest people to establish a good reputation.  Your feedback IS your reputation on Ebay, and knowledgable Ebayers examine it to judge whether you're worth dealing with or not.  It's not a perfect system, and you have to learn to read between the lines.  There are so called power sellers out there with hundreds of negatives, yet their feedback score is still over 99% because of the sheer volume of sales. Unfortunately Ebay ignores complaints about them, because of the big fees they pay. Too many people get scammed by them, and it's a shame that Ebay allows them to continue operating and cheating!!  I give you  coin*deals*4u as an example.  This seller sells cleaned coins and viciously retaliates on any honest feedback received.  Years ago, I bought a Walking Liberty from this seller, actually left seller a POSITIVE, but noted that coin "appears cleaned" yet I'm still satisfied because the price was right.  Needless to say, they gave me a NEGATIVE, even though I paid immediately via Paypal, and they had no cause for that.  I only had 28 feedbacks at the time, so you can imagine how that negative affected my feedback.  In any case, my policy as a seller is to leave the buyer a positive feedback as soon as I receive cleared funds, because I believe that the buyers job is completed by paying, and I have enough confidence in what I sell, (plus a money back guarantee), so that I don't have to worry too much about anyone but a real loony leaving me a negative.  This does not work for everyone, but it works for me. By the same token, if a seller waits for my feedback before posting his, I refuse to leave that seller feedback the majority of the time. Sometimes I will let them know about my policy, and most sellers will then leave me feedback, and I'll reciprocate. As I said, it's not a perfect system, but it is very important, and I encourage everyone to be involved in the feedback process. If this guide has been helpful, please don't forget to vote on it. It warms my heart to know that people have read it. God bless. Larry