I recently made a purchase of a table on Ebay and the advertisement for the item stated ‘picture does not do it justice’. After winning the bid and having had someone pick it up, I discovered it has a hole drilled at the top of the table and is damaged and broken behind. This certainly brought new meaning to the word ‘picture does not do it justice’.
In Ebay there is a 60 day time limit on sorting things out before giving bad feedback. After contacting the seller and after much reflection I gave it negative feedback. In Ebay there are three different forms of feedback we can give; Positive, Neutral and Negative. It is interesting as to how easy it is to give positive feedback but negative feedback is sometimes very difficult to give. At times I have avoided giving a negative feedback even though it may be well deserved. It seems a common thing to avoid giving negative feedback.
I have talked to quite a few Ebayers and they have said they often prefer to say nothing rather than give negative feedback. What is it about the negative that holds such power? Why can we not talk about the negative when it is the negative which may also need to be addressed? Some have said they fear retaliation by sellers (or something karmic), whether imagined or real and some feel sorry for the seller (even though they as a buyer may have suffered the most out of the transaction). Ebay is an auction site but there is still a notion that material advertised has to be an accurate description of the article being sold. The description of the article was to me inaccurate and since then I have noted the seller does not add that in their advertisements. The focus has now changed and has moved.
Depression also has a negative focus and this pervades all aspects of their lives. Depression brings out ‘negative feedback’ in everything that is done or acted upon. It is then the move to the ‘positive’ or even ‘neutral’ would be useful. Power to work in either the negative or positive is to be able to look at your own thoughts and be able to manage them wherever they may go. So next time you think as to giving feedback in Ebay or in any other aspect of your life, the power is in being able to go across the range of feedback available; positive, neutral or negative, then to use what is most appropriate rather then what is most easy for you to do. The feedback we give in life has long-term effects and the journey of a thousand steps starts with the very first honest feedback (Positive,Negative or Neutral) of every day of our lives.
©2010 Yaz
Dr Yaz Headley 
It used to be that sellers were allowed to leave tit for tat negative feedback, but ebay have tightened the rules over the years, but as you say people are still concerned about leaving negative feedback.
You really do have to use your own judgement with this – could the item have been damaged in the post, and therefore not a negative action on behalf of the seller, but just one of those things.
Or (has happened to me once) was a photo taken at just the right angle as to hide any potential damage, and therefore help a seller get rid of an item at full price even when it is not worth it.
Even checking through a sellers feedback history cannot prevent all cons (I was scammed by a seller with a long term history of perfect sales, who suddenly decided to con loads of people and disappear of ebay!), but this is the safe route to take.
After that people should just give credit were it due, or in this the exact opposite where its due!