Before you buy from a seller on eBay, you want to be sure that you are dealing with a trustworthy and reliable individual, somebody who is going to send you the goods. eBay is generally a safe place to trade. Most sellers will do their best to ensure a smooth and pleasant transaction. But there are bad apples hanging from the eBay tree. And that’s where the Feedback Profile comes in. Before you buy any item on eBay, take a good look at the seller’s Feedback. The higher the Feedback score and the percentage of positive Feedback, the more likely it is that you are dealing with a reputable seller. Bear in mind, however, that Feedback can be manipulated. So don’t just take a cursory glance through a seller’s Feedback – look to see the sort of items he or she has been buying and selling. A high positive Feedback percentage does not always mean that an eBayer is reputable, just as a low Feedback score does not always mean that a seller is a crook. I recently bought an item from a seller on eBay with a Feedback score of 12, of which 92.3% was positive. When I first looked at the listing and saw the member’s Feedback, my first thought was: Be afraid. Be very afraid! However, after looking through the seller’s Feedback Profile, I saw that she had received 12 positive ratings and one negative. The comments which accompanied the positive ratings were full of praise – the negative rating was from a rather unpleasant buyer who had left a nasty comment about a 99p item which had gone missing in the post. From the comment left by the buyer and the reply left by the seller, I could see that he had received a full refund and an apology, but had decided to leave negative Feedback anyway. I asked the seller a question about the item I was interested in, received a quick and courteous reply, bought the item and received my purchase in record time. As a low positive Feedback percentage does not always equal a poor seller, so a high positive Feedback percentage does not always mean that a seller is one of the good guys. Sometimes, sellers list lots of very cheap items in an attempt to inflate their Feedback score and hide the neutral and negative ratings that they are receiving in abundance. Depending on which eBay site you are using, you should be able to read any neutral and negative Feedback comments that a seller has received within the last 12 months without having to trawl through pages of Feedback, simply by looking at the Recent Category:Home › Other • Pomegranates: A newly discovered superfood • Where did the joke why did the chicken cross the road come from and why is it funny? • Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents? • Spiritual evolution of human consciousness • Tips for getting a college basketball scholarship • Living with Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) • Caring for the caregiver • Technologys impact on society