I'm looking for some advice. From time to time I have people buying stuff from me on eBay and then not paying and not replying to messages. I've wanted to give such buyers a negative feedback but the EBAY options available for feedback are either (a) Positive or (b) I'll leave feedback later. So the deadbeat buyer walks away and probably burns a succession of sellers in the same way. What to do?
Thanks for the advice so far. How can sellers be alerted to the deadbeat buyers if the seller cannot give any negative feedback?
Didn't you know? ebay says buyers are 100% these days.
The system is stuffed and one sided. Buyers can't do wrong, all sellers are villains.
Used to be that we could leave appropriate feedback, then that went it was replaced by applying "strikes" via NPB disputes and buyers got 3 strikes, they're out.
Now? Well, anything goes…….for buyers that is.
They don't. You don't get to choose your buyer… anyone can buy from you. A person who is a repeat offender, could in theory, evade blacklists by simply creating a new account, with a new IP address.
You can block certain buyers and also put certain ebay members into your 'ban list'.
http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#bl…
Here's a list of blocking criterias that you can filter:
Don't have a PayPal account
Have unpaid items recorded on their account
Are registered in countries to which you don't post
Have reportedly violated eBay policies
Have a negative Feedback score
Are currently winning or have bought a large number of your items in the last 10 days
BTW, scrimshaw, did you know that "three strikes and you're out" went out the window?
I had no idea. I don't use eBay all that much anymore. Not after they raised the fees to 9.9%, that basically turned me off from selling online now.
The whole thing fell apart when Australian "customer support" was transferred to Philippines.
This was one aspect we brought up at PeSA this year. (as well as many others!!!)
eBay had customer support!!?!? I've been using it for over a decade and never had a human reply to an email…
To try and prevent non-paying buyers in the future, you can go to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences and scroll down to "Buyer Requirements" and select the following criteria to block buyers:
I've selected Buyers with Unpaid Item strikes, Buyers who haven't gone through phone verification and haven't had issues.
Select what you wish, then tick the "Apply above settings to active and future listings" box and click Submit.
Or to make this a little easier, here's the link: http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerBlockPreferen…
I had a lot less idiots since doing these requirements!
And of course report them.
The more sellers that report them the less likely they will buy again.
I leave positive feedback with a negative comment, but sometimes ebay will remove these comments. It's all for the buyer! But if you put in a dispute, your fees are refunded, so only your time is wasted.
Why not wait until you receive the money before supplying the items to the buyer. That would be my solution
Not the same subject but shows how ebay (don't) think these days http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/11/ebay-buyer-comp…
The part that pisses me of most is that eBay make it almost impossible to get the seller's fee back on Non payer
They lock it in as sellers fee credit
But I only sell something once a year
As a buyer -not a seller my stories are from the other side of the fence. I have recently bid & won on 4 pairs of ladies boots - all from different sellers. Postage paid & obviously payment has been completed for each purchase through paypal as soon as purchase had been won. In all cases postage was stipulated to be received by me ( the purchaser ) by 10/07 but I have only this far received one pair. The other 3 pairs from different sellers are still god knows where. In addition I often ask questions from sellers regarding a product advertised & don't even receive the courtesy of an answer. So please don't put all the onus on us purchasers - it's a 2 way street.
In all cases postage was stipulated to be received by me ( the purchaser ) by 10/07
I think those estimated receival dates are provided by ebay, not the actual seller.
That is true and often so way out they are ridiculous.
Had a couple of things listed on ebay, all local cash on pick up only, written in the postage section and in the description in bold, yet still get dumbass buyers from interstate buying.
These are probably people on the mobile version of eBay and cannot read descriptions until they clicked a link further in and can read what you typed.
Its best to specify in the title [PICKUP ONLY]
People still sell on eBay? Even with the 12% fees?
eBay is horrible, but do you have a better alternative…?
Yikes, I didn't know it was 3 strikes you're out. Thankfully they remove the first and second strikes after a year of non indiscretion
You've been scamming buyers out of their time by buying things and then not paying? WTF.
All you can do is to raise an unpaid item case so that atleast you get the ebay fees. Also, it gives an "unpaid" strike on the buyer.
You can then update your buyer requirements like the one I have below next time you list your items:
Add other details
Buyer requirements
Block buyers who:
Have received 2 unpaid item strike(s) within 12 month(s)
Have a primary postage address in countries that I don't post to
Have 4 policy violation report(s) within 6 month(s)
You can also block specific buyers so that they cannot bid on your items ever again. :)
On side note, comparing with B&M store; they also loose time and money, where people spend half an hour looking and enquiring for things and leaving without purchase.
I know it is not same thing in above discussion but isn't change of mind a part of business. May not be good for seller, this is always factored in the operational cost.
On eBay people do not have much choice to enquire and have to make quick decisions during bidding. So changing mind later on should be considered as part of the operational cost. Not justifying buyers but a different prospective.
I've been on eBay for over 15 years and rarely experienced a deadbeat buyer, until recently. The buyer was a fresh user and after winning my auction and promising to pay, emailed me a day later to say he didn't have the money. Being nice, I responded no problem, I'll just launch an 'unpaid auction' despite with eBay, which the buyer then clicks and approves and it's done. He gets a hit to his account, but everyone has one free 'no payment' shot and he had a new account anyway so could create another.
During the following week I got a message every day from the buyer begging me to cancel the auction. He sounded almost hysterical as he kept posting irrelevant links to me on how to do it. I responded there's only one way to get my auction fees back, and he just has to follow my instructions. Eventually I closed the despite (with a black mark against his name) after the required waiting time as the buyer was simply uncooperative with extremely basic instructions. You get that sometimes with eBayers.
Unpaid items — policy
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/unpaid-item.html
Appealing unpaid items (this is for buyers)
http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/appeal-unpaid-item.html
Unpaid item assistant
http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/unpaid-item-assistant.htm…
eBay doesn't let sellers give buyers negative feedback, the only thing sellers can do is to open up a dispute. They use a 'three strikes and you're out' system.
This has happened to me probably a dozen times already, a lot of people will compete at the end of the auction and end up bidding way more than they're prepared to pay, and decide they don't want it afterwords. This wastes a week of my time since most of my stuff is listed for 7 days.
If they don't pay within 2 days, I send them an invoice with a slightly lower shipping charge to encourage them to pay up. If they still don't want it, I report them to ebay.