1st negative feedback

[thereallygoodbookshop]

Hello everyone,  first time discussion board post for me.  I have been selling on Ebay for a short time although I have been a buyer for a number of years and thought I was getting the hang of it.  I have run a bricks and mortar shop for 10 years but after trying some small amount of online selling some years ago and then stopping I finally decided to commit to selling online more here and other places recently.

Well I haven't had a selling problem on ebay until I had a buyer 10 days ago buy 2 quite expensive books and checkout using bank deposit.  Bank deposit had not been received after 5 days and I sent a courteous reminder to which the buyer requested my bank details again which I provided again. Yesterday the buyer replied with a short curt reply stating that they could buy the items way cheaper elsewhere and to cancel the order.  No please or apologies.   I then opened an unpaid item case thinking that was following ebay policy for non-payers and the buyer gave negative feedback on one item and neutral feeback on the other item.  The unpaid item case hasn't even been closed yet and I naively thought that buyers couldn't give feedback under these circumstances.  Obviously I was wrong on that count.

I would like to find out from the experienced sellers here what they do and if there is anything else I can do to manage non paying buyers better.  Or is this just something that I have to accept will happen?

I have put in a request for ebay to remove the feedback but do you think that is something they will consider?

The buyer has 0 feedback but has been a member of ebay for a couple of years and has changed their username several times over that period.  Is there any chance that a competitor would try to sabotage me by using another userid or am I just being overly suspicious?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Regards,

Wendy

[saarzi]

Just wait til the unpaid item case times out to show the buyer hasnt paid... as long as its open, they still have an opportunity to pay.

Then CALL Ebay and request the feedback be removed. If they give you issues, insist on speaking with a supervisor.

If there was no sale then there should be no feedback... others have had the same issue and successfully had the feedback removed.

Also add the buyer to your block list.

I send a reminder to pay after 2 days, then open a non paying buyer case four days after the sale. That gives them over a week to pay - plenty of time. You dont need to wait so long.

[trident-direct-online]

Yes it is strange.  When you have unpaid items its best to try and get payment from the buyer and if they have bought by mistake or found it cheaper elsewhere then it would be best to cancel the order rather then opening a an unpaid case.

Also there is also a way to get the Negative feedback changed by asking the buyer to do so.  Under Ebay help center search for Negative Feedback and there is help on how to request the feedback changed.

[thereallygoodbookshop]

Thankyou Saarzi, I will take that advice on board.  Thankyou for taking the time to reply.

[thereallygoodbookshop]

Thankyou trident-direct-deco I will take your advice on board too.  So, if I dont open an unpaid item case and just cancel the sale, does that prevent the buyer from leaving any feedback?

[ausbargainbasement]

Used to be nice to customers and cancel sales but found was getting defects for that, so no longer mr. niceguy, go straight for the UPIC nowadays.

[kopenhagen5]

Cancellation, buyer can leave feedback.

UIC, neither parties can leave feedback once case closed.

If it's left before case is closed, contact eBay for it's removal.

[thereallygoodbookshop]

Thanks for the reply ausbargainbasement, but how do you stop them from giving you negative feedback or have you had it successfully removed if they do?

[thereallygoodbookshop]

Thankyou for replying kopenhagen5.  So ebay will remove feedback under those circumstances.  I have asked for the feedback to be removed but I wasn't sure if they would do it or not.  I am hopeful now that ebay will help with it now.  I just haven't heard back from them yet.  This all happened today so I expect it will take them a couple of days to get to it.

[saarzi]

Yeah, cancellation is bad advice. So is asking the buyer to change the feedback when a sale isnt made - pointless when it can be removed anyway.

Use cancelations for those buyers who have a genuine reason to cancel the sale, or who are nice!  ALWAYS use the "buyer changed mind / address issues" option when you do.

However, in this case, I wouldnt cancel. It opens you up to neg feedback that will remain, AND the buyer gets away with it, and can continue to do it to other sellers.

If you open an item not paid case, feedback can be removed (as Ive already said, AFTER the case closes), and the buyer gets a strike (not you).