Leaving feedback for unpaid item

[jvdv]

Winning bidder made numerous bids for a coat I listed, outbidding others but failed to pay. Went through the "unpaid item" preocess and received a final value credit.

eBay states that "If a winning bidder doesn't complete a transaction, you can still leave feedback for them" however on the feedback page the only options are either "Positive" or "Report a Problem".

After reporting the problem what's the point of leaving Positive feedback - sure you can add a comment but it doesn't effect their rating.

[kopenhagen5]

Only for a cancallation can feedback still be left.

After an unpaid has been closed, feedback can't be left by either party.

[collect247]

Sellers can only leave positive feedback or no feedback at all.

Don't leave a negative positive feedback as the buyer can complain to ebay and have it removed.

[chameleon54]

Some sellers leave a green dot with comments such as, " Buyer did not pay and refused to complete the transaction ". Most of the time these comments stay there to warn others, but they DO breach ebay policy and you could potentially recieve a slap on the wrist if you do this.

THE CORRECT PROCEDURE -

By opening an unpaid item dispute the buyer recieved a strike against their account in ebay systems. Two or more of those in twelve months and they will not be able to buy anything from sellers who have their blocks in place in their account settings. One of my accounts sells items vulnerable to non payers and has these blocks in place. You can view how many people have been blocked by looking in your account settings and in my case there is usually a full page of blocked buyers, spilling over to a second page.

There is also another box in account settings to check which stops blocked buyers from contacting you.

[closer326]

I agree.  I have had a marked increase in UPIs lately, and there really is no sanction for this.  I do use the block function at its strictest level, but still get them.  I think ebay should show the UPIs a person has had in the last 12 months in the same bracket attached to their user name as their star rating, so you can see immediately when they bid. Otherwise, you cannot know unless you go through the feedback exhaustively for each bidder - something most sellers don't have time for.  Over a certain number of UPIs and the star rating should be decreased as penalty.  Also agree with three strikes and out suggestion. 

I don't agree with some posts that there are many 'legitimate' reasons for not paying - bidding and winning items on ebay takes time and attention - it isn't an impulse.  Also - if someone has made a genuine mistake they will contact the seller and resolve it without the need for an unpaid item case (this has happened to me as both buyer and seller). 

I think some of the increase in UPIs has to do with the rise of online shopping generally, and particularly with the no questions asked returns policy.  With most big retail sites, people can buy and pay (or afterpay, or use credit card, so the full amount isn't necessarily in play) but the transaction is never really completed until they receive the item and decide not to return it, so people don't feel obliged anymore when they win an item.  If they change their mind it isn't a big deal and they just don't go through with it.  I think people see bidding as equal to putting things into their 'cart' - no big deal if they decide not to buy.

@jvdv

[springyzone]

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@closer326 wrote:

. 

I don't agree with some posts that there are many 'legitimate' reasons for not paying - bidding and winning items on ebay takes time and attention - it isn't an impulse.  Also - if someone has made a genuine mistake they will contact the seller and resolve it without the need for an unpaid item case (this has happened to me as both buyer and seller). 

I think some of the increase in UPIs has to do with the rise of online shopping generally, and particularly with the no questions asked returns policy.  With most big retail sites, people can buy and pay (or afterpay, or use credit card, so the full amount isn't necessarily in play) but the transaction is never really completed until they receive the item and decide not to return it, so people don't feel obliged anymore when they win an item.  If they change their mind it isn't a big deal and they just don't go through with it.  I think people see bidding as equal to putting things into their 'cart' - no big deal if they decide not to buy.

@jvdv

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I think occasionally there can be a reason for an item being unpaid. Some time ago now I went to pick up an item & found it most definitely was not as described-it was listed as folding compactly for storage & it in fact did not fold at all in any way.

The people who showed it to me said no need to take it if it wasn't suitable (and it wasn't) but the actual owner was overseas & she opened an unpaid item claim. I had the strike removed but I guess she also got her fees back & that is fair enough.

But I did feel if something has been falsely described then I should not feel honour bound to take it, even though i had bid on it.

On your other topic, about how people may feel they are putting things in a cart, no big deal if they don't buy. I am sure some buyers do feel like that, even though they have clicked a 'commit to buy' tag.

I suspect in time ebay might have something in place for the majority of items that are buy it now and might demand instant payment or else they literally will be 'just in the basket' and not really bought till paid for. Obviously it is not suited to every sale eg pick up items & auctions.

I used to wonder why ebay was dragging its heels as most of your run of the mill tyhings are buy it now. So easy to make instant payment a requirement like most sites. But I bet they aren't as keen as they get commission on sales & quite a few sellers probably don't carry through with UPI to get small amounts back. Multiply that by thousands of sellers and its a free windfall for ebay.

[*tippy*toes*]

Why would you want a number to show how many UPI a buyer has? You say you have blocks in place at the highest level. If a buyer has 2 or more strikes, they shouldn't be able to buy from you anyway, so it would be pointless being able to see a number. You won't know they have tried to buy.

I do believe there should be more punishments than just strikes for the serial pests. I've seen feedback where the buyer had over 800 false positives saying they didn't pay. One would have to assume at least half those people would have opened an UPI dispute. Strikes only stop them buying from sellers with blocks. Not everyone knows about blocks so the pests are have no trouble continuing to buy.

There are rare occasions where a buy can't pay. One incident was a buyer had bought a few things, paid as soon as they were invoiced. Bought more things, paid as soon as invoiced. That happened several times. Bought more things and didn't pay. I thought it strange. Normally I'd open a dispute on day 4, but as he'd bought before I left it a few more days. I had planned to open the dispute on day 10. On day 9 I got a very apologetic message. He had had an accident and ended up quite badly injured in hospital. He even went so far as to send a photo, with him holding an note apologising for not paying (I assume to show he didn't just grab a photo off the net).

All was good. He paid and I posted. Most of the time, the buyer just doesn't give a toss, but occasionally, there is a legitimate reason. 

[springyzone]

That amazed me that anyone could have 800 false positives about them not paying. If there were that many, there must have been a lot of sellers who never gave any feedback at all so the non paying incidents must have gone into the thousands, you would think.

I agree that serial non payers should have some penalty & it probably should be that they are blocked from buying from all sellers for a period of time, blocks or no blocks. Maybe if they get 3 or 4 non payment strikes within a shortish period, something like that.

But I can't see ebay doing that, they want people to 'buy' & they don't want to turn any potential customer away completely. Even the bidder who is blocked by some sellers can still find others they can bid with. And I suppose if even only 100 of those people who left false positives were sellers who weren't sure how to get their commission back and their feedback was their only form of revenge, then ebay still did okay out of it.