Bid Retractions and Non-payment

[little_miss_kitty86]

Hi all,

I've had a few issues lately with buyers. Two that have failed to pay/communicate and one bid retraction. One was automatically cancelled due to non-payment so I was unable to leave negative feedback. What's the deal with that? There isn't even a mark against their name for non-payment.
The second issue is bid retraction. eBay guidelines state that if the buyer cancels a bid due to entering the incorrect amount, then they are required to re-bid with the correct amount. Their original bid was $10 above the starting price, so unlikely that they entered the incorrect amount but even then, they did not enter a bid with the corrected amount - do eBay have an algorithm that picks up on this? I can't even report it, because the automated bot keeps telling me that I have no items with current bids, obviously! The bid was retracted 🙄

[countessalmirena · Accepted solution]

@little_miss_kitty86,

It has been many years since eBay changed their Feedback Policy so that sellers could o ly give positive feedback. You cannot give any buyer a negative.

However, if you have set up automatic cancellations for unpaid items within your selling preferences, then the sale is automatically cancelled after 4 calendar days (the default), and the buyer receives an invisible NPB strike. Two of these in 12 months will result in the buyer being blocked from purchasing from any seller who has their blocks set up to stop non paying bidders/buyers from buying their items.

If you cancel manually after 4 business days with the reason “buy didn’t pay” (this option only appears after four business days), the same thing happens.

(Make sure not to send a payment reminder or invoice, as this resets the 4 day period.)

The invisible strike is better than a negative as it impacts the buyer’s ability to buy, as long as sellers have their preferences / blocks set up correctly.

Don't try to leave positive feedback with a negative comment. It’s not only a policy violation, but also the comment will be removed if the buyer asks eBay. Just leave no feedback and let the invisible strike do its work.

The second issue - well, it’s widespread. The buyer is of course supposed to make a bid after retracting with that reason, but there’s little you can do. The only recourse is to report the buyer under the abusive buyer policy (last link below) - specifically “Don't misuse eBay messaging or bidding”. The link includes the report button.

LINKS

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/payment-policies/unpaid-item-policy?id=4271

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/getting-paid/resolving-unpaid-items-buyers?id=4137

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/rules-policies-buyers/invalid-bid-retraction-policy?id=4227

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/rules-policies-buyers/abusive-buyer-policy?id=4374

[repentatleisure1952]

You have received excellent advice as always from the countessa.

So why ignore it?

My question is... why do you regard not being paid as a positive experience?

[sugar249]

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@repentatleisure1952 wrote:

You have received excellent advice as always from the countessa.

So why ignore it?

My question is... why do you regard not being paid as a positive experience?

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I suspect that the positive negative was put their before the  countessa answer, still not justified, but OP may not have ignored it, as it wasnt there yesterday arvo.

But your last question,  it would appear that some people enjoy not being paid and will give positive FB to the buyer as they are so pleased, but also enjoy coming on the forum to complain about it.  Doesnt make sense does it.

[sandypebbles]

You are leaving non payers big green ticks

No use putting 'sellers beware' , nobody else not involved in the transaction can see the ID of the 'buyer'

You are rewarding non payment and encouraging more of it with you false positives

And putting your own account at risk of being pinged by eBay

eBay have only allowed positive feedback or no feedback at all for buyers since 2008

You can't quote eBay guidelines that suit you and then go ahead and break others yourself

[siddieswans]

 "eBay guidelines state that if the buyer cancels a bid due to entering the incorrect amount, then they are required to re-bid with the correct amount" Well that's something I didn't know.

But really what's the alternative? If they're not allowed to retract their bid (for whatever reason) then you end up with a NPB. At least if they withdraw their bid there is a chance for someone else to buy it.

I have had numerous bid retractions over the years for "entered the wrong amount"; I doubt if any of them have ever bid again. Actually if it happens it makes me look at their Feedback and if it looks a bit suss, I add them to my "blocked bidders list" anyway. Who needs time wasters.

[sugar249]

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@siddieswans wrote:

 "eBay guidelines state that if the buyer cancels a bid due to entering the incorrect amount, then they are required to re-bid with the correct amount" Well that's something I didn't know.

But really what's the alternative? If they're not allowed to retract their bid (for whatever reason) then you end up with a NPB. At least if they withdraw their bid there is a chance for someone else to buy it.

I have had numerous bid retractions over the years for "entered the wrong amount"; I doubt if any of them have ever bid again. Actually if it happens it makes me look at their Feedback and if it looks a bit suss, I add them to my "blocked bidders list" anyway. Who needs time wasters.

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Exactly,  the guidelines also say you can ask the seller to cancel the bid.   So if OP decided not to allow them to cancel, I am sure they will get a NPB or negative feedback if forced to proceed.

Like you I would rather have them retract and let someone else have a go, instead of one grumpy buyer.

[siddieswans]

Yep I always cancel a bid if asked; it may be annoying but refusing the request is just asking for trouble IMO. Usually people are very polite and remorseful; if they sound like they think they are entitled to muck me around, on the blocked list they go.

[little_miss_kitty86]

Thanks. Appreciate your response. I have my account set up so non-paying buyers cannot bid. (And I can see that some have been knocked back) But obviously this was their first or second time. 
For whatever reason, I am unable to report the buyer as the item they retracted the bid from does not come up when I try.

The “bidder” never requested to cancel the bid, they just did the bid retraction in the early hours of the morning, right before the cut off. 
I didn’t realise you were no longer allowed to leave honest feedback for buyers anymore. I’ll fix that up. But does that mean that all buyers will just have 100% positive feedback? Seems to defeat the purpose. I began selling back when you could leave honest feedback. 
It seems like everywhere I turn, eBay is unable/unwilling to help me out as a seller. Might just stick to ‘buy it now’. 

[imastawka]

Might just stick to ‘buy it now’. 

With Immediate Payment enabled.