It’s an extra, completely optional, step for someone to leave feedback. A lot of sellers wait until they have quite a few transactions to sit down and do a group at a time. Most leave feedback for transactions that were average or better, most don’t leave negative feedback unless there is something truly wrong on your part. So if there was a small problem with the transaction, say you took 3–4 days to pay, they just won’t leave feedback. Others just never get around to it.

I’d think writing them certainly wouldn’t make it more likely for them to leave feedback.

Think of it just like you think of lurve here, it’s not required, not every question or answer will get a positive review, but keep doing your part and things will average out.

but then if people dont leave feedback how are others supposed to know i am a good buyer .
all my items were paid on time real fast
and am sure its ebay code to leave feedback so other ebayers can tell if someone is good or bad where as here its not really an issue

Numerous emails are not polite.
Some people don’t care, move on.

It’s not a rule that you must leave feedback, it’s an option. One that is helpful, but unnecessary.

I find the feedback so laden with superlatives that it seems fake. The lack of feedback doesn’t hamper people from selling to you. Bid, win, pay promptly, move on to the next item.

Like those folks ^up there^ said, feedback is optional. When I was selling off some old books on eBay, sometimes buyers didn’t leave feedback for me, either. It’s like, “Oh well, move on.”

There are times when the buyer/seller isn’t necessarily the best, such as when they take a few days to get around to paying, or don’t provide details (like where to mail the thing) promptly, send too much email or not enough, or take a while to get to the mailbox with what I bought. These are weird-feeling situations. If it were an obviously bad situation (didn’t pay, didn’t send item) one can leave bad feedback, but there are times when the item or payment still made it and you can’t really say anything bad, can’t really say anything good. Sometimes the kindest thing to do is say nothing at all.

And then, like @funkdaddy said, sellers are busy people too. Sometimes I’d sit down and do all my feedback at the end of a week or something, rather than one at a time.

Yes, people probably should leave feedback all the time, just like we should call our Moms now and then and donate to the hungry. :) But sometimes, people just don’t. I don’t know why. But as you buy and sell more, you will have other chances for feedback. It’ll be OK.

eBay has gone downhill in the past few years. Now it seems it is fully geared for the buyer in terms of protection, burden of feedback, etc, instead of being there to support the seller as well. The eBay of today is nothing like the eBay of 2000, and is so skewed now that I will never sell anything on it.

@dynamicduo – I agree, actually. When I did my selling, it was back in 02–04. I’d lean more toward half.com for books nowadays, and etsy for things I make.

I never got feedback from a buyer, and I was upset because it had gone so smoothly (a return) But, I’m not losing sleep over it. It is optional. I always try to leave feedback.

When I pay for an item right away, I expect feedback after that item arrives and I leave my positive rating. When people don’t leave me feedback at all after the fact. I simply go on my alternative ebay account and buy 5–8 auctions of theirs, then leave nothing but negatives. Thus making possible buyers weary to buy from them, I even space them out. Feedback shows sellers how experienced you are, and also can allow the seller to see how likely you are to notify them of issues before leaving negs, like low feedback rating people usually do. If I spend $300US on a item, I damn well expect feedback. If I spent $1.50, then no big deal. “I find the feedback so laden with superlatives that it seems fake. The lack of feedback doesn’t hamper people from selling to you. Bid, win, pay promptly, move on to the next item.” It does if you have bought 15 items but only received 7 of the feedbacks, some sellers won’t sell to anyone under 10. It does hinder people. So basically, the way I look at it is. If you are the buyer and paid promptly and never received feedback after leaving yours, prove to these sellers how important the feedback system is and drop their score with a bunch of negatives. They’ll jump right on issues after that. :-D

That sounds pretty passive-aggressive of you. If their service in sending you the item is fine, there’s no need to mar them with false negatives just because they may have overlooked, forgotten, gotten busy, or simply decided to not leave you feedback because their mother told them not to say anything at all if they couldn’t say anything nice.

I suppose, though, that they appreciate the money for the sales that their lack of feedback is giving them. You do pay for the items, yes?