Though retaliatory feedback is no longer possible, in the past it occurred when one partner in a trading transaction was unhappy enough to leave negative feedback about the other party, often after failing to resolve a dispute amicably. The retaliation occurred as the second party then left negative feedback in return, without regard to their own level satisfaction with the transaction or with their partner's performance in it.
Members that experienced retaliatory feedback often complained that it rendered the eBay feedback system moot, since honest members invariably thought twice before leaving negative feedback about poor trades and some good traders were unfairly underrated, often severely.
The problem was somewhat more nuanced than this, however, because positive feedback was often an important part of trading satisfaction—and thus a negative from a trading partner did often indeed result on its own terms in an unsatisfactory deal.
In practice, before the change retaliatory feedback was often removed after much discussion and eBay customer service interaction once the buyer and seller were able to agree on terms of removal.
Today only buyers are able to choose between positive and negative feedback in a transaction; sellers are able to leave only positive feedback for buyers. This May 2008 change had the effect of making retaliatory feedback impossible, and thus no longer an issue on eBay.
