Sometimes buyers do not deserve positive feedback which is the only option ebay offers.
That is not your only option, though.
Leaving no feedback at all is an option.
Leaving feedback that says "Thanks for your payment" is also an option, assuming the buyer actually pays.
Feedback for a buyer does not need to be a positive character reference, nor should it be relied on as such.
eBay stopped allowing sellers to give negative feedback for buyers in 2008 because when sellers were able to leave negative feedback for buyers, some sellers would use the opportunity to threaten to leave negative feedback for buyers who left well-deserved negative feedback for those sellers, or else sellers could actually leave negatives and then push for mutual withdrawal of feedback comments. Such behavior made it harder for buyers to distinguish between good sellers and bad sellers, which is the whole point of the feedback system where buyers, not sellers, initiate transactions.
Scammers are not deterred by the threat of negative feedback, or even by getting negative feedback.
By the time a seller has an opportunity to read a buyer's feedback, it is often too late for the seller to avoid a buyer-initiated transaction without violating policy and cancelling for a false reason.
If a buyer does not pay, wait four days and cancel for nonpayment. That gives the buyer a strike and prevents feedback from being left. Sellers can preemptively block any user with two or more nonpayment cancellation strikes in the last twelve months -- which is much more effective that leaving feedback.
Regards,
