I am very happy that sellers cannot leave negatives now. And here is the reason why:
I was recently royally screwed over by a seller. I purchased a long brown leather USN coat with the brown fur collar for £15 - a steal. The auction ended on a Saturday. I did the "checkout" process on the Sunday, informing the seller that i would be sending a personal cheque (an approved payment method stated in the auction).
On the Monday morning i'd received an email from the seller stating that cheque wouldn't work for some reason. So, i sent paypal payment that afternoon (also allowed in the auction terms). The seller refused to accept my payment. This is, recall, just two days after the auction ended. The seller claimed that they were moving house and had packed the jacket away already. Pretty goddamn dumb if you ask me, but OK, i replied, when your house move is over please let me know when you find it. No reply. Weeks pass and the seller won't reply to further emails. So i start an eBay dispute. eBay confirms the seller was in the wrong, but there's nothing to be done about it. eBay is terrible these days about getting rid of useless sellers.
Still no word so i leave a negative feedback. Based upon the email i then got from the seller after doing so, i would imagine that had it been possible they would have dinged me with a retaliatory negative. So, in this admittedly isolated case the inability of useless sellers to leave negative feedback is a good thing. As a good buyer, I dislike the games some sellers used to play. "Give me positive and i'll reciprocate, but if you dare give me negative, even if i'm utterly useless, i'll give you a negative back, just to be a bastard".
bk