Ebay Non-Paying

I've had pretty good luck for 10 years on eBay with only an occasional non-paying buyer, but in the last four weeks I've had one test instrument (new) sell THREE times because the 3 buyers haven't paid and I had to open cases.

Each of the three had less than 4 feedback (what a surprise !). One had zero, one had 1 and one had 3 feedback.

Ten years ago when this happened you could see the feedback on these d*bags go down say from 3 to 2 or from 0 to -1, but in their WISDOM eBay doesn't even do this anymore, and a seller CAN'T block buyers who have zero feedback. That probably makes sense as everyone has to start somewhere when buying, but these flakes who have 10 or less feedback should somehow be SHAMED in the community. Buyers need protection too.

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A non-paying buyer ties up the selling process for 3 days minimum and if a case if filed by the seller it takes another 4 days before the item can legitimately be relisted and final value fees returned.

Yes, the seller can just cancel the sale, but I think the final value fees are not returned if that happens. On a $150 item (as mine is) this amounts to a few bucks, so I just ride out the total 7 day wait and relist. Of course these people go on the "bad buyer's list" which prevents them from bidding on my items again.

eBay...love it, hate it.

One of the three bad buyers I mentioned in the post above had 1 feedback and I looked it up.

It was a postive that said (essentially)...this is a non-paying buyer !  Beware, don't sell to him.

I love it when a negative remark is made in an eBay "positive" feedback. These slip through unless the bad buyer lets eBay know about it, in which case they are deleted by eBay.

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eBay only has it's self to thank for that as THEY stopped allowing sellers to leave negative feedback.
If I remember correctly that was when Meg Whitman was chairperson of eBay.  Thanks Meg if you had any part of that...enjoy spending your millions while we try to make a buck on a used item.

Edit: The word in red above is now correct.

When ebay quit letting the sellers (I'm pretty sure that is what you meant) leave bad feedback, it was all downhill from there.  I still sell hundreds of items on there a year, but I have an employee do it for me now....I can't stand all the crap that goes on there.......all the stupid people and gamers of the system.  I just had a guy buy a new holster.....all dimensions and the pistols it would fit were listed in the ad....he buys it for something else not listed because he "thought it might work" and then of course he doesn't so he returns it and I'm out shipping because it was a "buy it now" with free shipping.  Yes indeed.....Love/Hate for sure....but where else can you get that kind of exposure for the price?

Yeah really nothing we can do about non payers besides block them after a bad experience. This is kind of why I do exclusively buy it now listings. Even if people pay because of the volume I have if someone buys and doesn't pay for 3 day its now like 5 pages deep in my paypal account and I have to remember to pack up stuff from days ago, I like to get stuff out as soon as it comes in and be done with it.

Buyers know they can buy something and if they decide they don't want it, find a cheaper price, etc they can just not pay and as long as they don't exceed 3x a month no consequences really.

I would recommend you guys charge restocking fees. People will be less likely to buy something they "maybe" want or want to "try". Also if you do get returns you make 20% which should cover your shipping and time and you get to resell the item win win. I actually put up a post about this the other day...

http://onlinestorageauctions.com/forum/ebay/do-you-charge-a-re-stocking-fee-on-returns/

I have a store so I get to use the "require immediate payment" option. As soon as it's bought they have to pay for it or the sale doesn't go through.

cou can block some of them in your buyer requirements, i have everyone blocked that has more than 2 non payments in 6 months i believe

When ebay quit letting the sellers (I'm pretty sure that is what you meant) leave bad feedback...

Thanks Teacher...that is what I meant and I'll go back and change it.

Yep, nothing compares to eBay for coverage of a huge audience of potential buyers. Imagine trying to sell a hundred or more of some unique, separate items each year over a 10 year period before eBay was ever around.

If you lived in a smaller community your reach would REALLY be limited.  So, eBay is the love part...some of their "rules" are the hate part !

cou can block some of them in your buyer requirements, i have everyone blocked that has more than 2 non payments in 6 months i believe

Whatever the max allowed by eBay is what I have engaged, but those are very slim.  The guy I am dealing with now got his "positive"...negative feedback a year or more ago, and I suspect that's when his one non-payment took place.

Someone who has been a buyer on eBay for "years" let's say and has just a very small feedback number is always a red flag for me, and when I get a bid from someone with a long history but a small feedback number I make a decision on whether to shut them out or let it ride to the end.

Someone who has been a buyer on eBay for "years" let's say and has just a very small feedback number is always a red flag for me, and when I get a bid from someone with a long history but a small feedback number I make a decision on whether to shut them out or let it ride to the end.

You do realize that any feedback you see is only a year old? Ebay drops feedback that is older than a year. So someone could have 10,000 positive feedbacks, but if they were for over a year ago you wouldn't see them.

You do realize that any feedback you see is only a year old? Ebay drops feedback that is older than a year. So someone could have 10,000 positive feedbacks, but if they were for over a year ago you wouldn't see them.

1) This guy only had 1 feedback showing in the parentheses after his eBay name.
2) That feedback was around a year or so old and was showing.
3) Any buyer or seller I have ever looked up has feedback showing going back years.
    There are page numbers at the bottom of their feedback listing that let you look through all
     of them. At least that's how it works for me.

4) There are "outside" eBay sources which data-mine eBay and will show negatives that go back years
    and years.  When I look myself up on those it shows one negative feedback I got in year one (of 10
    10 years on eBay) and one I got a year ago.

You do realize that any feedback you see is only a year old? Ebay drops feedback that is older than a year. So someone could have 10,000 positive feedbacks, but if they were for over a year ago you wouldn't see them.

Here’s an example of looking at feedback as it works for me.

I am looking at a person who has 6,575 feed back. He joined eBay in Feb, 1998.

At the bottom of his first feedback page there is the ability to look at 295 pages of his feedback.

I went to page 295 and there was a feedback from March, 1998, one month after he started on eBay.

*****

Using an outside eBay source I can type in this seller’s name and it will data-mine eBay and show all the neutrals and negatives he has gotten during the 16 years HE has been a member. This saves looking through 295 pages of feedback just to find neutral or negative feedback from years past.

His over 6K feedback beats my over 1K feedback and he has made a lot of money on eBay but his negative numbers are also higher of course due to his volume.

Okay yes you can view all of the feedback if you go digging. I was talking about the initial view with the little positive, neutral, and negative word graph called the "Recent Feedback ratings". That only goes back 12 months on what it shows you.

Okay yes you can view all of the feedback if you go digging. I was talking about the initial view with the little positive, neutral, and negative word graph called the "Recent Feedback ratings". That only goes back 12 months on what it shows you.

Yep it does, but if you want to go further back the page options at the bottom work but take some effort to get far enough back and you might have to look at a lot of pages.

The best bet for looking at solely neutral and negative feedback is the externally available services.

I have a store so I get to use the "require immediate payment" option. As soon as it's bought they have to pay for it or the sale doesn't go through.

I could be wrong but I don't think you have to have a store to require immediate payment, I think just buy it now listings and not auctions

cou can block some of them in your buyer requirements, i have everyone blocked that has more than 2 non payments in 6 months i believe

I always set blocks on my ebay stuff but the blocks are pretty weak. I thougth it was 2 non payments in a month not 6 months you were allowed to block. IF thats the case 2 in a month is a pretty deadbeat ebayer already so doesn't help much. The other blocks agian help but not that much ebay tries to help people starting out and wants people buying because they amke money off every sale so they dont go allow too much stuff to be blocked