In the early days of eBay, many thought that an on-line auction could never be a success simply because of the level of trust involved. For example; how do you know you will receive your item after you have paid your money? Or what if the item you receive doesn't match the description on-line? Good questions when you consider that the seller is often an anonymous person who could be at the other end of the country or even on the other side of the world.

That is why the invention of the eBay feedback system was a stroke of genius. It immediately and very easily allows potential bidders to check out the reliability of the eBay member selling the item they are interested in - simply click on the member's feedback rating number and read the comments left by previous buyers and sellers. If a seller has been unreliable in the past then it will show in the negative feedback score and the detrimental comments left by others.

And it is not just buyers who benefit from the feedback system; there are people who might place false bids, win an auction and refuse to pay, or send a cheque that later bounces when the seller tries to cash it at the bank.

So it can be seen that both buyers and sellers will be wary of a member with little or no feedback. Buyers can often ignore auctions and sellers may even request further information before selling an item to somebody with little or no feedback. In short, the higher the feedback rating then the more likely it is that somebody will be a trusted eBay member. However, ingenious though it is, the feedback system is not foolproof for more than one reason.

One is that members can be wary of leaving negative feedback out of fear that the recipient will retaliate in kind and leave the innocent party with negative feedback also. It's a 'tit for tat' that unscrupulous sellers can exploit to avoid receiving negative points against them.

Another offender is the fast eBay feedback loophole - a system whereby members can actually buy and sell feedback at very little cost. Of course, the practice is shunned by the powers at eBay and if an auction is seen to be a deliberate abuse of the feedback system then it is ended immediately. But due to the sheer number of members attempting to take advantage of this loophole, and the incredible number of items listed on eBay, it is impossible to track and shut them all down.

Of course, there are genuine reasons for wanting to gain a good eBay feedback rating quickly; not least is that it can be difficult if not impossible to sell anything without at least a rating of 10 points (thereby gaining a yellow star next to your userid). And if the main reason for becoming a member of eBay is to raise some badly wanted cash by selling unwanted items it could be a cheap and easy way to get established.

So it is easy to see why a trustworthy member could use the feedback loophole, but there exist a minority of not so trustworthy members, so becoming aware of some of the tactics they employ can help to save being exploited by them.

One of the ways to avoid being ripped off is when checking a member's feedback. Take a look at the comments they have received from other members, also click on the item descriptions for previous sales and purchases. Above all, don't just rely on the number of feedback points they have when determining a trustworthy eBay member.