The Zero Feedback Buyer

I haven't looked lately at the guidelines for blocking zero feedback buyers but as i recall a couple of years ago they made it in such a way that you essentially CAN'T block these people.

In a way that makes sense since everyone starts out at that point and SOMEBODY has to sell them their first item.

In the case below it was a double whammy (not yet totally resolved).  See the link below for how it got started, but basically, fellow who has zero feedback and lives in Austrailia, "bought" a buy it now from me and hasn't paid for it yet despite a note I sent him that ..."I have your item packed and ready to ship, just waiting for your payment".  That was four days after his purchase.  Seven days after his purchase I started a "case" with eBay for non-payment and of course that entails waiting another 5 days or so for them to clear it out.

Only happens once in a while, but irritating none-the-less.

http://storageauctionforums.com/ebay/surprise-email-from-ebay/

Yes you are correct you can't block buyers with 0 feedback. i guess reason being exactly what you stated, if you were allowed to everyone would block them and nobody could ever get a start on ebay. I think smeone has to have at least a -1 feedback or 2 unpaid item strikes in a month in order to block them.

This brings up a good point, everyone should check out buyer preferences, it can really help you avoid headaches. For example I had one of my competitors open an account with zero feedback and who was bidding on EVERY SINGLE ONE of my auctions basically just to knock them off and make other people not bid. This was a huge headache, had to open a million didn't pay claims, etc. I finally figured out you can limit people to say you can only buy 5 of my items in a week but also set sub standards up such as if someone has bought from you successfully they are not blocked by those policies. For the most part people probably don't need to do this but if you have a lot of problems with buyers or if you're in aan area where competitors try to get you knocked of its something you maybe want to look into.

So I guess the rating next to someone's username really does mean something.

So I guess the rating next to someone's username really does mean something.

On eBay it DOES make a difference, but to compare that rating system to the karma system here is...well, ludicrous. 

Well bring back the karma! What it good for I have no idea