So much for "3 strikes and you're out!"

[gabrielle255]

Wow, the feedback system doesn't  t seem to work!

I've been pretty lucky over the years with buyers, but of late, have been cursed with bad buyers.

The latest non payer emailed soon after purchase and brightly advised, "I'll pay Friday!" (4 days post sale)

I responded politely, Friday came and went....on reviewing this buyer's feedback, she had 31 "positive" comments stating non payment, time waster, reported to eBay, etc.

It certainly made me wonder how many other purchases she had failed to pay for, where sellers like me followed the rules and didn't leave negative feedback dressed up as positive. Of course, I opened a non payment case and I also reported in detail to eBay her 31 listed cases, also asking why eBay had not addressed this.

my understanding was that eBay had a policy banning buyers once 3 cases were lodged against them.

in any case, I received a response from eBay, patting my head and assuring me how seriously they were taking my report and how assiduously they were investigating it. 

As of today, she's merrily continuing her time wasting romp on eBay. 

[lyndal1838]

Sorry, but your undertanding is wrong....there is not and never has been a 3 strikes policy.

[enigmabear]

I wish !

Nope, non payers will just keep on not paying. Ebay won't stop them

[gabrielle255]

Ah well, I'm sure you're right.

But even in the absence of such a policy, one would think there would be some policy on repeat non payers.

Most of the time, I grit my teeth and move on, but the novelty has kind of worn off!

[kopenhagen5 · Accepted solution]

There is.

It's possible those sellers did not open UIC's.

Also have you put your blocks in place ? (2+ non pays within 12 months)

Have you added this buyer to your blocked list.

2 or more strikes disables a buying from buying from sellers with blocks.

And your right, the feedback system doesn't always work, but the strike system does.

However it relies on sellers knowing the system.

[stickerswa]

Its been said many times - put your blocks in place. If you had blocked buyers with 3 or more strikes they would not have been able to buy from you in the first place.

Buyers are a protect spieces and ebay wont do anything. They have however given sellers at least something to protect themselves in the form of blocks. 

[gabrielle255]

Thanks all.

I've been a victim of my own "not bothering" to put blocks on, mainly because I've been reasonably fortunate with buyers.

Lesson learned! 

I actually didn't realize you could put a general block on - I thought you could only block specific buyers once the damage was done. Have given self a smack and read the options properly and now have a block in place as suggested.

still, it amazes me that people can be so dishonest! My favorite case recently was a buyer who didn't pay, ignored my multiple pleasant reminder emails and the unpaid case I eventually opened....then a month later sent me an email complaining that she hadn't received her parcel yet and damn, why was I such a slow poster? 

[jellybirddesigns]

Making your items "Buy It Now" with "Immediate Payment Required" will eliminate non-payers 100% of the time.

I did this a few years ago and never looked back.

[springyzone]

You post struck a chord as I also remember, probably when i first joined ebay as a buyer about 15 years ago or so, hearing that there was a 3 strike policy too.

I never checked & maybe there never was such a rule, but it was a well established rumour anyway.

Once we started to sell, we found we could put certain blocks in place. Not the modern strike blocks, but we could limit people according to feedback numbers & other things.

If I were selling these days I would certainly put all the blocks in place.

Back in the days we were selling, sellers could give neg FB & what that did was it took one number off a buyer's 'score'. The result was a buyer of the type you had would most likely be down to a very low score, maybe even a negative score, and that's how the blocks worked back then, by blocking low score buyers.

These days a seller can only give a positive but I think sellers who do that & leave a neg comment are doing themselves a disservice as it just makes a buyer look better at first glance.

What should happen is if a seller opens and wins an unpaid item case, ebay should not only issue a strike but deduct one point from the FB score.

[audistarelectronics]

And that is the only reason a seller will win a case these days by the looks of it, that being a non payment case. All other reasons for a sellers claim will be simply swept under the carpet with the seller being made to look like a criminal, what ever the reason. Best for sellers to either not bother defending cases opened against them, just refund and move on. With ebay unable to physically inspect an item, it is open to all sorts of lies and fraud. They are a law in their own court, when you sell, you are really leaving yourself a sitting duck.