Just wanted to give a heart-felt "thank you" to our wonderful customers for the nearly 5 star rating in each category. It is our pleasure to work with some of the finest eBuyers out there! The kind feedback and ratings keep our listings toward the top of the search results, so we appreciate the help! Thanks again, and we look forward to the next opportunity to work with you.

Best regards,
steve and nikki

Just our thoughts and opinions on the recent changes.

We didn't used to take a second look at someone with 97% feedback or less. Due to a couple factors, we now have to look closer and do a little research. First factor is that neutrals now count against a seller's feedback percentage the same way negatives used to. So someone who previously had 100% positive fb may now have 96% if they picked up a neutral or two. Second factor is that the only feedbacks considered in the percentage are those received in the past 12 months. So you may want to double check that 100% positive you are considering buying from. We do. Chances are he's upfront and trustworthy, but you may also find someone who has a history of shading the truth, but just hasn't sold much in the past year. On the other hand, we've come across more than a few sellers lately with a positive feedback percentage of 96% or 97% who we wouldn't hesitate to buy from after delving into their feedback just a bit.

We have received 1 negative feedback as sellers out of over 500 positive. We've also received a retaliatory one on the buying end. We won't bore you with the details but you can check our feedback if interested. While our kind customers have given us detailed seller ratings of 4.9 in both Item as Described and Communication, our feedback score is only 98.8%. This is a bit troublesome because we would have not felt comfortable buying from someone with less than 99% positive in the past. On the positive side, we have been here for several years and have enjoyed building relationships with some wonderful eBuyers who likely will not be deterred by a lower percentage. All that said, we would really encourage buyers to do a little homework for themselves and check into feedback before buying - whether it's 95% or 100%. Some folks can be slow to ship. If they got a few neutrals for this, but have a great record for honesty in descriptions, you may decide that you don't mind waiting a few days extra for a purchase with 'no surprises'. And the seller's lower feedback percentage will likely result in an even better value for you.

Of course one of the biggest concerns among sellers has been that we can no longer leave neutral or negative feedback for the occasional 'bad apple' that comes along. Anyone that has sold a hundred or so items will probably know the type I am referring to. About 1 in 100 in our experience. While this upset me at first, once I gave it some thought I would have to say that while this new system is nowhere near perfect, it is an improvement. We've seen some sellers dish out negatives for neutral feedback received, and even for positive feedbacks if anything was said that was not complimentary. And if you've been on eBay for any length of time you've seen those sellers whose feedback really should have been lower except that many who they had dealt with underhandedly failed to leave appropriate feedback. Without fear of retaliatory feedback, we can now expect more honest evaluations which should ultimately result in a better experience for everyone. Unfortunately some bad apples will slip through and abuse good sellers. Perhaps eBay is pushing for all of us to adopt McDonald's creedo 'the customer is always right'? While that blanket philosophy works for big business, in the person-to-person dealings which eBay has been built upon, it may be a bit too one-sided. We certainly think it's better than 'the seller is always right'. Absolute fairness is never easily achieved, so we have to lean toward the side which will be more fair for more people. Let's just hope we don't lose a lot of the smaller sellers which are the real fuel to this fire that has been and hopefully will continue to be the great bargain shop of the world.

This dude made quite a run of it there at the end of his eBay career. Just wondered if anyone knows, will the neg he left me come off since he's no longer a registered user? Hasn't come off yet, but I thought that was the policy...

Hey guys,

    Thanks so much for your help with hitting the 100 feedback mark! We're still excited about e-Baying, and enjoying buying and selling out here. Thanks to all who use e-Bay and make it the coolest worldwide market in the world, and especially to our customers who've helped us get this far! Looking forward to many enjoyable years to come.

Best,
Steve and Nikki