posted by zer0:
I like this site but the feedback model is completely outdated and risky to yourself. What if I leave negative feedback and claim the guy scammed me. Ebay had to get rid of 'negative feedback' because of legal threats. The seller can launch legal action against you with a few lawyer forms from some fly by night Florida internet lawyer and sue you for defamation of character for the negative feedback.
This is inaccurate. A few years ago eBay got rid of negative feedback from
sellers towards buyers, thus giving buyers one more opportunity to fuck over independent sellers on eBay (who do not generally have the resources or margins to coddle problem child buyers.) This change was heralded (by eBay) as a huge step forward in consumer protection, and that no longer would eBay buyers have to be afraid to leave negative feedback when they got ripped off or were otherwise disappointed. The eBay selling community kind of shook its collective head and said, "Wait, what?" But aside from that, the practical response was that eBay sellers started suing buyers over feedback -- cases have been few and far between, but you can find them via a Google search, and the unifying feature among the cases is that they seem to have all come about since feedback from sellers to buyers was eliminated.
Frank
