So you were on the bad end of a deal on EBay. The other party clearly deserves a poor evaluation for their poor behavior. But if you tell it like it really is, they’re sure to give you a black mark in return purely out of revenge. There you are, performing a public service to warn the rest of EBay-land, and you get a smack-down in appreciation of your efforts. Sure, it’s the right thing to do and anyone who would take the time to compare your prior record to theirs will see you’re likely in the right. But in reality, the only lasting effect will be a negative tarnishing your statistics forever. It’s a common situation but not a good place to be. In fact, I know that a lot of EBayers completely refrain from feeding back negatively solely to protect their own good name. So, how do I avoid certain retribution?
As with most things, you can make it pretty easy if you think ahead and plan a little bit. EBay locks and stores their old data on finished auctions after ninety days. After that, nothing can be changed and more importantly for us, no more feedback can be added. So, if you give the negative feedback at close to the end of ninety days, it’s almost certain the other party won’t notice in time to return the favor. I use the free email reminders (like MemoToMe.com) to remind me when the time comes to bring my terrible retribution (and also to figure out when the ninetieth day is). I try to wait until the last hour of the last day but anytime on the last day or two should get you through. Feedback is one of those things that everybody only checks once in a while. So, unless that person just happens to check in the final few hours, then you’ll have dropped your bomb and gotten back across from enemy lines unscathed. Ebay has changed its policy recently to say that more feedback may be possible after the 90th day (but not from the feed back screen, you’d have do a search for that specific item and then leave the feedback). I’m sure what they’re referring to is if the 90th day falls on a holiday, they may not archive until the 91st day. Like I said, I’ve done this several times and still have a perfect feedback record. No Muss, No Fuss, All Wuss!
EBay is GREAT, except when the seller sucks (c’mon, all a winning buyer has to do is freakin’ pay). When the seller sucks and really deserves that negative feedback, just wait a couple of months and get that sweet sweet revenge. The best part is just imagining how mad the guy will be when he realizes he can’t tag you back for it. Revenge can’t possibly be served any colder. Good Luck.
