Barry... I have been selling on ebay for about 2 years. I always leave feedback when i receive payment. Never had a problem. I do put some faith in the feedback system. Is it perfect? No. But if I see a person that has a long term account and "feedback trail" I will have confidence that they are OK to deal with. I would not put much faith in 10 positive feedbacks in only a couple weeks of activity, but if a bad person has been ripping off on a consistant basis, someone will have left a negative feedback for them. I am also on the lookout and a little more suspicious of people that have changed their identity, and have the little "glasses" logo by their name.

A good long term positive feedback record is an advantage. Just this week I bought some western boots for my wife. She wanted them for a certain function that was coming up before we could have made a normal transaction. I asked the seller to check my feedback, and consider mailing the boots before payment was received. He agreed to and put the boots in the mail the same day that I put the check in the mail to him. That was a couple weeks ago, I got the boots, he got the payment, and everyone is happy. I posted great feedback for him and he did for me also. Without my 100+ feedback spanning a long time, without a single negative, I never would have been able to convince him to send a pair of $80 boots halfway across the country to a total stranger, and trust me that a "check is in the mail"!

So.. is the feedback system perfect. No, but it is not too bad, and a lot better than nothing!