Lots of non paying buyers lately, cant give bad feedback

[phantomchris1984]

I came back to ebay about late august this year to start selling again to clear out my room of the piles of games, movies i never play or watch often. I have sold on ebay before and it has been fine with no troubles.

Now that im back selling again I have noticed some people bidding and winning and then simply not paying. since august i have had 6 non payments, possibly 7, waiting to see if the buyer responds yet or had possibly died of a heart attack at their computer screen, unclear yet.

What is going on. In all my many years of selling i have only had about one non payment. Now im back selling and i have seven in about four months.

These people not paying just simply dont respond, checking their feedback other sellers leave feedback saying they have no payment or response either.

What makes it difficult is that i cant give bad feedback like i could before. All these non payers have all this positive feedback with comments saying they have not payed.

I feel like this is some sort of scam.

Did ebay do this to not scare away customer by having bad feedback. whats the deal. Does ebay ever get rid of these ebayers that occasionally buy but mostly dont pay to get more positive feedback. I doubt ebay would get rid of customer even if they do not pay some times, they want the fees.

I have opened unpaid cases for all these items, wasting my time because the buyers have nothing to fear anymore because there is no bad feedback anymore.

Anyone else notice an increase of non payments recently?.

[springyzone]

I can totally understand why ebay got rid of negative seller feedback as I saw it used in really unfair ways at times.

But perhaps there could be a case for a seller being able to give negative feedback in specific, defined circumstances eg if they have put in an unpaid items dispute that has been upheld, and can demonstrate there has been no response and no payment by the buyer.

Or, if that is not workable, how about for each unpaid items dispute where ebay finds in favour of the seller, that ebay itself automatically generates a negative and a -1 to the score. The computer generated statement could be something factual eg unpaid item number such and such.

[thecatspjs]

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@springyzone wrote:

I realise sellers can no longer give negative feedback but I am not sure it is worth any other seller giving a poitive so they can give a warning as the feedback already there says it all.

All sellers would be doing now is giving her a better looking score.

But her account should have been terminated about 20 purchases ago in my opinion.

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I think that is important to leave honest comment that is not sufficiently negative to warrant removal for non payers - and I also very much appreciate other sellers alterting me to this type of buyer so I can take preventative action.  

IMO this makes the feedback system more transparent and the reveals the depth of the non-payment problem - I'd be interested to know too - at what point is a buyer ever restricted ?? Never it seems. 

I am not sure I understand your comment regarding a "better looking score" for buyers - what difference does it make if a buyer has 10 feedback or 10,000 ??  I think all sellers are happy to get a sale and prompt payment, regardless of feedback of score. Can you perhaps enlighten me as to the difference it makes, as I am at a loss to understand what "better looking" score means for you?

[springyzone]

Okay, you asked what a good looking score means to me.

Now, I am mainly a buyer, & when I see something I like, I tend to look at the seller's score.

If their score is in the hundreds, I tend to think-good, this is someone who has been around ebay a while and looks reliable. Maybe  a private seller.

If their score is in the thousands, I tend to think... a big business,mass produced, maybe their stuff is not good quality, better check it out carefully. I admit that is prejudiced and it doesn't stop me buying and some of those sellers are great, but it does make me check, depending on the type of item. I'm a bit wary of some overseas items eg wedding dresses from China.

If their score is low or zero, I think, hmm, I wonder how this will go.

After their score, I look at the rating, but I don't always look at the feedback. In fact quite often I might not look at feedback. I look at the rating.

So... let's say we have Little Miss Never Pay who has bid on heaps of things but rarely followed through, but has received positive feedback from lots of people-or more specifically, a positive score. let's say she decides to sell a few things.

there she is, maybe with a score of about 100 or more, 100% positive feedback.

Unless someone looks at the specific feedback, they're going to think she is a reasonable bet.

And yes, I know probably people should go in to check specific feedback, but I suspect not every buyer does, there could be plenty like myself who look at the total score and the % and go ahead.

[springyzone]

Probably should add-I can't say I have been let down by sellers very often, I find most sellers are great. The only times I have had disappointing experiences lately have been once with a seller with a very low score and at the opposite end, a seller with a high score, who told me he couldn't keep up with his turnover.

[thecatspjs]

Whilst some non-payers may sell too - most I have seen that are serial non-payers don't - for obvious reasons surely -  so I still don't understand why you think that the number of feedback received by a buyer should be meaningful to a seller.

[davewil1964]

I agree.

I would go further and state, from my point of view, any buyer feedback is irrelevant.

[foxette-in-sox]

Cats,I'm reading Springy as simply meaning that sellers giving a non payer a positive with a negative comment is simply increasing their feedback.JMO & I could be wrong lol

[thecatspjs]

thanks foxy, thought I might be missing something ?? but was not sure. 

[digital*ghost]

Near as I can tell, springyzone is talking about first impressions, and that some people don't look beyond that without being prompted by something else, as well as the fact the higer the number in relation to a 100% positive feedback score, the better that first impression is, since it's taken for granted that say 2000 FB with 100% positive = 2000 successful transactions, thus perhaps the later it becomes for someone to be prompted to look in depth. Perhaps some never will look further. 

Just an observation, but I've heard a lot about why sellers choose to leave a comment about NPB's, but I'm yet to hear about how it's helped a seller in a way that really counts, and I'm not talking about getting the opportunity to add them to a BBL after they've been brought to the attention of the forum - I've only ever heard "the buyer hasn't paid, and then when I looked at their FB there were other comments about non-payment", but they're still asking what to do about the situation, or what else will happen.

Doesn't sound like knowing the buyer has done it to other sellers is of much benefit at all, I guess a bit like knowing the buyer has paid for other items isn't much help to a seller, either. 

[thecatspjs]

Its helped me. Off the top of my head...

I have a very, very, very long bbl. 

I have cancelled bids on auctions and blocked buyers.

I have blocked buyers from buying more than one item.

I have relisted items before the end of a dispute, where the buyer appears to have never ever paid for a single purchase.