Member behaviour standards dropping?

[dodge_ute]

A few months ago I decided to have a clutter clearout at home, an annual thing for me so decided to list about a dozen items for sale on Ebay.

My items are always listed at prices well  below what other sellers ask for the same items.

This tactic used to guarantee a quick sale and lots of interest from buyers.

Despite this only half my items have sold and with one exception sold for absurdly low prices, practically free.

Worse still I have received lots of bogus "offers" from members who wanted the more valuable items for maybe 10% of their real value.

And lastly I have experienced a dramatic increase in non paying bidders for the items that did get a bid.

I'd summarise the situation such that the buyers/bidders that are cruising Ebay currently are there to steal and if they can't steal they sabotage auctions with bids they have no intention of honouring

This apalling behaviour on the part of so called buyers goes unchecked by Ebay who at worst issue a slap on the wrist to such deadbeats.

I no longer view Ebay as a useful way to sell anything 😞

[dodge_ute]

Yes you are right about the frustration. I totally lost it after copping my fifth non paying bidder in as many weeks, a dozen insultingly low "offers" and knew that Ebay would do everything it could to protect the reputation of the mongrels concerned.

The  pic you mentioned will be replaced.

My half brother (not a very nice person just ask his two ex wives) keeps reminding me I'm too honest for my own good and for the commercial world I probably am but I have a conscience unfortunately so when I list something for sale the policy is full disclosure.

There is a very good reason I explained why Ikea makes two very similar looking chairs and it has entirely to do with honesty.

Before I list anything for sale I research what other members are selling, what they charge and what they say.

In multiple cases I saw members selling the cheaper Pello chairs like mine but either called them Poang chairs or else didn't mention the model name at all in the hope the buyers would not notice they were the cheaper budget model until after they got them home.

You see I deplore dishonest sellers.

What is to most people "creative marketing" is deceitful behaviour to me.

I'd rather not sell something at all than sell it by "creative marketing" as has been done to me countless times.

Unfortunately "setting buyer requirements" is pointless as Ebay does all in its power to sanitise the reputations of the bad guys.

[gutterpunkz05]

Re the chairs,  you are not going to like this but,   Ditch the first line of your item description from the relist.

That type of comment, only reflects poorly on you as a seller, prospective buyers do not need to know why the item is being relisted  and what you think of the non payer, they do not even need to know the item is being relisted.

Non payers and low offers are a part of life for all sellers, but it is not a general reflection on ebay buyers standards.  While you may perceive an increase in such buyers, I certainly have not, but then again  I no longer list with short term auctions and do not have best offer enabled.

[dodge_ute]

"Ditch the first line of your item description from the relist."

OK line deleted.

I removed "make offer" from each auction as it expired as it only attracts the thieves.

Mind you half of the miserable offers I got from the thieves were illegal messages received over the Ebay message system. Thieves are persistent creatures. If they can't get in through the doors they will try the windows..............

Call it a coincidence if you like but I have had more grief from Ebay "buyers" in recent months than in the previous decade.

[gutterpunkz05]

There is nothing illegal or even wrong with sending a message to a seller, whether that is to make an offer, request bulk discount, etc.   Not enabling best offer, does not eliminate offers but it definately does not invite offers.  Unsolicited offers can be dealt with on there individual merits, accepted, declined, ignored, or if you find it offensive you can simply block the buyer from any possible purchase or additional messages.

Making an offer, ridiculous or not, does not make a prospective buyer a thief, delinquent, mongrel,  etc  etc

This also applies to non payers, in fact how does a non payer, or a member making an offer relate to a thief in any text.

[dodge_ute]

"There is nothing illegal or even wrong with sending a message to a seller, whether that is to make an offer,"

About 12 months ago a "person" sent me an offer using the Ebay message system.

Their  offer was rejected by me however Ebay happened to monitor the conversation as they do randomly and read the riot act to both of us.

Ebay told me it was illegal to use their messaging system to negotiate financial deals outside of the normal bidding process and that if I participated in any similar discussions in future I would be suspended.

Exactly what was said to the initiating party is unknown.

If you need to ask why I view an Ebay member who sabotaged my auction, tried to extract an unreasonably low price from me on an item or caused me considerable trouble by ANY means a MONGREL etc etc then you would not understand the answer.

[gutterpunkz05]

You do not seem to be across  ebay policies,  it is ok to send messages, as long as they do not contain

contact details, or attempt to complete  a purchase/sale outside of ebay.  making unsolicited offers is perfectly fine as far as ebay is concerned.

I would suggest familiarising yourself with all the ebay policies as they currently stand.

[dodge_ute]

Your typical Ebay dodgy offer which as of a year ago was sternly advised to me as illegal was of this kind of format, they don't vary much..........

The offer is always low.

They are hoping you are desperate enough to take anything they throw at you.

"G'day mate, I'll give you $XX  cash  for your...(insert item name here).........

You don't need Ebay, cancel the auction, you won't pay any fees....

I can pick it up tomorrow afternoon.........."

I did of course ask Ebay why they threatened me with suspension because somebody else suggested a dodgy deal??

"I rejected their offer what was I supposed to say??"

ANSWER.

"You don't reply. You don't engage with them. Better still report the offence to Ebay"

[gutterpunkz05]

You just do not seem to get it,  as above the style of message you advise, explicitly deals with

completing a sale  outside of ebay, and as such and as by ebay policies, you should not have replied and ebay were correct to issue a warning.  As stated you just do not seem to understand the policies.

Anyone can send you a message and tell you they will  offer  %10 of your asking price, or for that matter 10 x your asking price.  They can not supply contact details or in anyway indicate an intention to complete the sale outside of ebay.

It is really not that hard to understand.

[countessalmirena]

I truly believe you've done the best thing for yourself by removing that relist line.

[countessalmirena]

@dodge_ute, if you are going to auction the chairs, in my view your starting price should be the chairs at the lowest price that you are truly willing to accept.

(Don't bother with a Buy It Now price if you're going to auction the chairs, because the Buy It Now option will completely disappear once someone's placed a bid. Your starting price is your reserve price, and you should never end up selling at a loss, or at a price that will frustrate and annoy you later because you know it was too low.)

If you're going to list them as Buy Now rather than in auction format, set a price that you'd like to get for the chairs and that is reasonable. You might want to think about what price range you'd be willing to accept, so that if someone does make an offer, you'll know instantly whether it's within your price range and you can accept, reject, or make a counter-offer instantly.

If any offer comes through with even a possibility in the wording that it could be interpreted as suggesting an outside-eBay transaction, instantly report the buyer. Read through this eBay Help page - Report an issue with a buyer.

❝When to report a buyer

You should only report a buyer if you think they're violating our policies. Here are a few examples of when to report a buyer:

• The buyer is demanding something that wasn't offered in the original listing
• You believe the buyer is making a false claim
• You believe the buyer is misusing eBay Money Back Guarantee or the returns system
• They've asked you to complete a sale off eBay
• They're abusing the bid retraction process, repeatedly bidding and then retracting bids
• They're messaging you more than what would be considered normal, with no intention of buying the item

How to report a buyer

If you think a buyer is violating our Abusive buyer policy, you can report them to us by selecting the button below.

              ❞

There are pitfalls in selling on eBay, I agree - but there have also been some improvements with the ability to report specific bad behaviour on the part of buyers who are blatantly breaching eBay's policies. Mind you, eBay apply their sanctions and warnings very heavy-handedly, with a tendendy to interpret an innocent communication or a straight-by-the-rules reply to a bad offer as a breach. Before the pandemic hit, you'd have been able to phone eBay CS and sort things out on the phone in a polite and patient conversion. Now... in the midst of the global COVID-19 crisis... we have only Live Chat. It's better than nothing, and as long as you plan what you're going to say in the chat, with point-by-point objectives and the necessary evidence, it can achieve the same outcome.

You should probably also read through eBay's Offering to buy or sell outside of eBay policy page. It goes into a good amount of detail.