All my auctions state personal check or money order only, no international orders and payment to be received within 7-10 days of auction close.

Out of the 22 auctions, 3 went to Hong Kong, 1 went to Italy, 1 changed her mind and decided she didn't want the item, another kept saying the check is in the mail (relisted), 1 is no longer a registered user (relisted) and 2 remain unpaid after 15 days. So, out of 22... 9 paid NO attention to the terms of agreement. This is a 41% failure rate. The 2 items that were chip related had a 50% failure rate. Regretfully, I collect and upgrade a lot of items I collect so the items I list are varied.

... As a sidenote... does anyone think I should have left any of the above 9 a neutral or negative comment... would you have? what is your risk assessment? what if you left 4 neutral or negatives and 3 were understanding... you still would receive 1 negative. That's 12 a year. I've been eBay'ing for 7 years now and frequent all their chat and discussion boards. The advice you receive on eBay's own chat/discussion boards is to maintain a list on a sticky pad and post it on your monitor or wait until the auction closed 90 days ago (the last day you can leave feedback) and then post a negative (this will NOT prevent the other party from responding to your feedback!!!!!)