The time taken between making the purchase and being able to leave a review is to give the item the chance to arrive, and also for the item to be used. If it's faulty or poorly made, it might not be evident right away, and that's something that other customers would want to know about, ESPECIALLY if it's a frequent problem.
Yes, I'd like more feedback, too, but no news is good news - if there was a problem, they would let you know. You have to just hope that potential customers realise that.
Having said that, you also have to realise that people don't purchase just because of reviews. I've bought on Etsy COUNTLESS times and only ever looked at feedback first once, and that was because I was buying clothing and I'm very, very picky about it. I ended up buying, even though there were a few negatives. I read them, read the positives as well, saw a pattern in the negatives and decided it wasn't enough to put me off. I was very, very, very happy with the product I received, and made sure to leave feedback saying so, in part BECAUSE of the negatives.
Otherwise I've purchased...good gracious, I've purchased from over fifty sellers on Etsy and only read feedback first once. I don't even think about it. On Etsy, every product should be unique, and as a result people shouldn't have to compare one person's product to another unless they're trying to decide between two different things but can only have one.
We worry too much about feedback, and some foul buyers realise this and try to use it against us, threatening negative feedback if we don't do this, that and the other. At the end of the day we shouldn't be so hung up on it. As long as we do our best and maintain a high standard of service and product, we have nothing to worry about.
I wouldn't ask people for feedback, though; that's one thing on Ebay I despise, and as a result (I realise how bad this is) I never do it. I hate "please leave me 5 star feedback!" slips in with my purchases.
However, I did have a clever way that actually worked. I designed some Mini Moo business cards that simply said 'penny for your thoughts' on one side, and the basic link to feedback on the other (etsy.com/feedback/awaiting - typing that in sends you straight to your purchases page even now) and I'd use double sided tape to stick a real penny on the front, too.
You can see them here:
http://www.ablackbirdsepiphany.co.uk/2012/05/penny-for-your-thoughts-mini-moos.htmlThere used to be a free download link but it's expired, so I'm going to put the images on the blog for download more easily tomorrow ^^
