Do You Have To Leave Feedback On Ebay?

I look atit from the point of view that, if the buyer or seller did everything required of them, then they'll get a postive feedback from me. What other people do is entirely up to them. It may be discourteous but its they're call.

I usually leave it: feedback is a means of identifying genuine buyers/sellers. It isn't perfect, but it's better than nothing - in my opinion.
A dealer that I often buy from always leaves positive feedback as soon as payment is made: he reckons that paying is all that a buyer can do, and once that's done the paying buyer is entitled to a plus.

Not true at all, you are only looking at it from a buyer's perspective. I could set up an auction, describe the coin accurately, ship the coin in a timely manner yet the buyer could still give me a NEG because they did not read the auction properly and they thought they would be receiving a completely different coin. I have a term for buyers like that- bidiots. I will quit ebay before I give Pos FB to a bidiot. If you don't think it can happen, try selling on ebay and it will happen to you eventually. Part of your responsibility as a buyer is to read the auction properly. I never leave FB for a buyer until I know that the buyer is satisfied with the item. How can I know they are satisfied before they even receive the item?

"Being satisfied" isn't required of a buyer.

I agree with biokemist also. I do not leave feedback as a seller until the buyer leaves feedback for me.

RMAN4443: I agree completely. Perhaps I was misunderstood. My point is that a buyer can complete his end of the deal and still have every right to be not satisfied. (i.e., read my comment in context of the earlier posts)

Others: I also agree that "bidiots" are a nightmare. Every business has to deal with idiots, and this is much worse due to the anonymity. Personally, as a buyer, I have a very low standard for what to expect from E-Bay, and consequently I'm nearly always satisfied enough to leave positive feedback. (the one exception being when I didn't receive my $4 coin, and likewise for other buyers, leading me to wonder if the seller died... a sad footnote.)

But it irks me that sellers wait for my satisfaction before simply stating that I paid promptly... as though whether I paid promptly somehow changes with my dis-satisfaction. Come on! I wish they would read how buyers are supposed to be rated. I never get positive feedback to this effect:

A+++++ buyer. He was satisfied!

I always leave feedback if the buyer pays right away when the auction ends. I appreciate the quick payment and thus leave feedback. If they don't pay until the next few days, then I leave feedback after I get feedback hearing they received their item and are happy.
Kind of a quirky system but that is how I do it. Either way I think feedback is flawed, but that is how it is done at this point I guess. I have never had an issue, but I have bought and sold only on a small scale on ebay.