Pardon me while I vent for a few moments. I am sick and tired of ebay's new feedback policies whereas they are trying to "make it better for the consumer"
Well in my opinion that is "bull s#!t" Ebay is trying to make it better for Ebay!

The fact that they rasied most of the fees (In that sellers are paying more on the bottom line) is bad enough but now the feedback problem has gone and added insult to injury. Sellers can no longer leave negative ore neutral feedback even when a buyer does not pay or creates other problems but a lot of these so called "buyers" can really screw you over just to be mean.

The real problem is that ebay dangles a carrot in front of the sellers stating that we will discount your fees if you meat certain criteria and then make it almost impossible to meat them without "giving away the farm"

The first is how well the item is described which should not be a real problem if you use an actual picture of the item which I always do but my rating is still only a 4.9 ort of 5. Go figure.

The second is communication. Short of "I have your money and your package is in the mail" what more do you want. Again I am rated 4.9 out of 5.

The third has just now started to tick me off. I ship 6 days a week and sometimes 2 times a day. If you pay by paypal your item is shipped the next day if not the same day, depending on time of day your payment comes in. Mind you, if you read my feedbacks most mention the quick turn-a-round, I had been rated 4.9 and just now dropped to 4.8 which cost me a major discount on my fees. I can only suspect that the idiots who sent personal checks instead of postal money orders (all of my listings asked for either paypal or US postal money orders only), were not happy about the fact that it takes time for your check to arrive and then takes time for your check to clear the bank (which is why I don't want them). I sent one check back and highlighted in the listing where it said in bold red letters "sorry no personal checks" which earned me a negative and obviously the lost sale.

The forth and most offensive is shipping charges which I am rated the lowest now at a 4.6 down from 4.7. Granted some dealers overcharge greatly for shipping but not all of us. (it does not cost $19.99 so send 25 keys across the country...a lat rate envelope well packed is only $5.00). The average buyer has no idea what goes into shipping charges all they see is what ever number is on the envelope or package and forget that the box or bubble envelope cost money also, not to mention gas prices (which have finally started to come down....they should never have gone up as high as they did). This one is a double edged sword as it's the one which brings down most sellers and is the hardest to keep up. Mostly because ebay does not get paid on shipping charges. This is why they strive to get sellers to include free shipping. Well "free shipping is not free shipping" the shipping charges usually result in a higher starting price (this way ebay makes more money). Ebay must really think consumers are oblivious to this and I'm sure a lot of them are.

What good is it to say as a buyer "why can't you take my check ? I have 100% positive feedback" when that's all you can possibly have since no one can leave you a negative or neutral when you have been less than good??

My Chrismas wish this year and for next year as well is for some one to start a "Wbay" to compeat with "Ebay" I am quite sure a great number of unhappy dealers would be willing to jump ship in a heartbeat.

Well I'm done for now thanks for reading the rantings of this old man.