Buyer not paying (not the only one affected)

[stealthmeister07]

Hello there,

recently I sold several items in the model trains category, and one particular user won 7 of my auctions. I sent a discounted postage price and invoice via the ebay invoice feature, thought great, should get payment within a couple of days. Nope. couple of days pass, I send a reminder, nothing. 5 days pass I open unpaid items claims as there hasn't even been a sorry email from the user. Tonight I closed the cases after 10 days, still no reply from the user.

reading his/her feedback several sellers have been stung and left positive feedback with a negative message. I've emailed a couple of them to verify it and they have similar stories to me.

the 3 strike system seems floored as this person has at least 15 "bad feedbacks" left but is still able to stuff users around!! I would LOVE to be able to leave negative feedback. I've reported this user to ebay, lets see if they ban them.

is there anything else I can do, that I may have missed?

[kopenhagen5]

I know MB, it's the old post conservatively so as to not give anyone an inch.

I think we will need to continue the cryptic messages.

On occasion ebay are quick to remove members and then no reaction on obvious others.

[iainlouden]

The situation is:

*We are not allowed to leave negative (but true) comments when we give feedback to a buyer.

*That feedback can only be positive regardless of how bad or dishonest the buyer may be.

*All Buyers have 100% positive feedback which it totally meaningless to any seller...it is simply a feel good, pat on the back for buyers.

*We can choose to not leave feedback for bad buyers... but that will not identify those who we wish to avoid.

*The strike system seems not to work in some cases and sellers have to put up with &#@* when that happens.

*Buyers can see sellers feedback before entering into a contract to buy but sellers are in the dark when entering into a contract to sell.

So:

I have seen the word "Neutral" in feedback for some buyers ...Neutral is not a negative term..it is not positive or negative ..it is simply what it is...Neutral .

If I see more than one instance of "Neutral" in feedback comments that buyer is on my BBL..I'm not on Ebay to deal with nuff nuffs.

Thanks to all who manage to report a bad buyer on this board by whatever means they do it...regardless of ebay rules...they save me the potential headaches of dealing with those particular crooks and loonies.

When you mention a bad experience with a buyer I check the feedback you have given recently and can often identify the culprit from the tone of your comments.

I've only just started selling again so have had no problem buyers yet ...but I know it will happen eventually and I will comment on any such experience on this selling board and my feedback comment will be a simple "Neutral experience".

My feedback left for buyers will show who the buyer was.

If Ebay bans the use of that word in feedback left for buyers then there are plenty of others to replace it...such as "Interesting"

Cheers and don't let the mongrels grind you down...it is a beautiful world away from the computer and Ebay.

[cathyjoyjoy]

Classic situation of most sellers not knowing how the "unpaid item" works and the inability to leave negative or neutral feedback for a non-payer.  I had no idea myself until I came to these discussion boards.

[springyzone]

From what i can make out, all those sellers leaving positive feedback with negative comments are only achieving one thing-boosting the 'positive appearance' of the buyer. Making the person look better than he/she is.

It is surprising some of the buyers have not gone along with an unpaid item dispute but as cathy says, a lot of sellers don't seem to know about the option. My own daughter has been on ebay casually for years, has occasionally sold a few things here and there but was totally flummoxed when one buyer didn't pay, didn't communicate after winning. I had to tell her the option was there to give the buyer a strike & get her fees back. She had no idea.

I know others on here might say that is her fault and I suppose it is, she should read terms and conditions, but I suspect a lot of casual sellers aren't up to speed with it all.

[mbselections00]

Absolutely agree with you & cathy.  Another angle too is some sellers start off small and casual (and I for one am not into reading pages and pages of convoluted jargon) and therefore don't study up on all the rules & how the system supposedly works.  Even if you do, much of it doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you're new.  As you grow, that's when you need the knowledge, and I for one remember on many occasions thinking to myself - mmm, I read about that somewhere  . . . . . . . . . . . and of course, specific information is often then hard to find.  Plus by nature, I think most people are reluctant to cause trouble for others

Just my two bobs worth  . . .