Non Paying Bidders

[kicks79]

Ebay is severely broken as a selling tool.

Almost 40% of my listings end with a non paying bidder.

As a seller I can't leave negative feedback and non paid item strikes act as no detternt to these people. Im hard pressed trying to see where these strikes appear on their profiles anyway. Lots of buyers never leave feedback anyway so the whole system is a joke.

Unpaid item cases mean that my item is lost in the void for eight days whilst a case is open. 99% of these end in non payment. 

Im loosing money as by the time the case is resolved. the second highest bidder has usually bought a simlair item somewhere else.

I know Ebay has to look after buyers, but without equal treatment for sellers. There will be no items for anyone to purchase.

[cathyjoyjoy]

Unfortunately, a buyer's 'reputation' (as in how many unpaid item strikes they have) isn't visible.  However, if you have your buyer blocks in place you can see just how many buyers attempt to buy/bid, but not their IDs unfortunately.

In your Account, go to Site Preferences, then have a look under Buyer Requirements, you will get a shock at just how many members attempt to buy if you click on Buyer Requirements Activity Log.

[*tippy*toes*]

I had a look in Watchcount and she is still buying. Mostly low feedback sellers. Some have been relisted, so I'm guessing she didn't pay for them. One she had bid a few times so she was actively watching them. Sadly, those low feedback sellers probably don't know about opening an unpaid dispute. I know I didn't for a while. It was only when I had a spate of them that I put in non paying buyers in the search and realised I could slap them.

As for buyer requirement blocks, it would be nice if eBay added one to block buyers who have left X amount of neutrals or negs in the last 12 months. That would help weed out those serial pests too. I know a lot are legitimate, but a lot aren't, they are just scumbags.

[cathyjoyjoy]

Quite interesting to note the number of buyers who have no "feedback as a seller" and have all these followers !!!  Thanks for the heads up.

[auto2retro]

You all raise a very valid point, In the last month I have a dramatic increase in non payers....I have been going many months without one! Then suddenly..bang! like 8 almost one after the other!

Annoyingly all with very stupid excusses & clearly most don't properly read the listing description. Not that my listing are so complex that it is too hard to get to the crictical stuff. 

I suspect it is a lot to do with the smartphone apps that don't display all of the important information on one screen. I think this is serious problem, if they can't see it on one line then most won't go any further! Obviously the designers behind these apps don't use ebay themselves!

Since ebay stopped sellers being able to leave negative feedback for non paying buyers (around 2008) buyers seem to think there are no repercussions for non payment. A lot of sellers weren't happy at the time but as kicks79 highlights it is a real inconvenience & causes lots of frustration!!

[heihachi_73]

Same thing happening here. Just about every time when it's an auction, I get a single early bidder, no more bids and hardly any views for the rest of the week, and the bidder wins at the lowest price then they completely ignore the fact they have won and don't pay, don't respond or do anything else that involves going anywhere near the eBay website it seems. Open an unpaid item case, close it four days later, still no responses from these people (except one, who decided to respond almost a week after I had already closed the case). The BINs (Buy It Now) trickle through at about 1 item a week no matter what games I get in (I don't sell brand new/latest titles). I suppose I would get more people "buying" if I removed the requirement for immediate payment on BINs, but what's the point?

And yes, I have seen the same thing with a good number of buyers too, no feedback sent or received in over 6 months, or are people with single-digit feedback scores (including some who also had their last feedback from over 6 months ago).

[springyzone]

Cathjoy said:

Unfortunately, a buyer's 'reputation' (as in how many unpaid item strikes they have) isn't visible.

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And therein lies part of the possible solution, if ebay only cared enough.

The number of strikes a person has could easily be placed in brackets (in red) after a person's ID.

I know ebay would say it is not necessary (and let's be honest, they don't want to do anything to turn off a bidder) but making this visible for a set time (maybe 12 months) would send the message to these bidders that there are consequences that can be 'seen' by others.

Or else, a non payment dispute carried through by a seller should automatically result in the loss of one point from that bidder's score.

There is a lot of talk by people on here about how the right to give neg feedback was removed from sellers some years ago & how giving a strike is more effective. I understand all that, I saw how some sellers abused the system back then with FB.

But what has been overlooked in all this by ebay is making buyer activity visible. In the past, if a buyer did the right thing, they got a positive and that boosted their score. But if they did the wrong thing and were given a neg, they lost a point. In other words, their score went backwards.

From memory, you could put blockers in place to stop bidders with zero or neg FB.

Just imagine for a moment if the person tippy toes has on her watched list had one point deducted from her score each time she never paid. That's what would have happened a few years back, for sure, when sellers could give a neg. I suspect it would also happen now if sellers carried through a non paying bidder claim & the buyer lost a point each time. That woman would be in seriously negative figures & everyone who saw her ID would know it.

[*tippy*toes*]

I think the removing a point for non payment is a great idea, but eBay would never do it. After all, buyers can do no wrong. They are to be protected at all costs. Hence why they are anonymous in people's feedback. They don't want other sellers to know if one of the precious can do no wrong buyers has been up to no good.

They have proved that buyers are protected at all costs because that buyer on my follow list, at least half those sellers would have opened an UPI dispute. That's 400 strikes, yet she is still allowed to continue to "buy". They say they can put restrictions on accounts for serial offenders, but clearly that's all just lip service. I know quite a few people who have reported this person, yet she is still allowed to "buy" with impunity. No way are they ever going to stop people like her because for the other half that didn't open an UPI, eBay got to keep the fees. People like her are cash cows.

[joethenuts]

springy i think you are correct in giving buyers who dont  pay a strike in one way , but only on non-payers.  as all other parts of feedback, has too many meanings.  like postage , or nad , havent got the parcel and so. ala whos telling the truth  mmmm

people read postings here and lots of posters put that seller or buyer on there lists too. on the word of an [op] again truth or not.

we had a buyer not long ago complaining about buying something and the seller not selling it to her ,prob price too low.  how maqny posters blocked that seller , at the end a regular poster brought something from the seller , and was happy as larry , and explained he was a new ebayer and the little daughter wrote the adds,   [should that seller be blocked] because of 1  opening posters comment..

whats gives anybody the right to judge a seller or buyer with there 1 off experience. my opinion feedback ratings is rubbish.

i once got a red dot , reason buyer said color was not write , i said no problems just bring it back for anoter 1  or money back, he messaged me that he has been painting all week and used all of the 15 litre can, now for anybody not sure what 15 litres covers  1 coat of a whole house aprox. so i said on which day of the week did you notice that the color in your mind was wrong , and after your first wall or room , why did you not stop painting , with in your mind the wrong color  ,did not recieve a message back.

reminded me of the chap you went to the restaurant  and orded a 5 cource meal and after he finished it all , said i am not paying  as  the food was off .mmmm

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@joethenuts wrote:

springy i think you are correct in giving buyers who dont  pay a strike in one way , but only on non-payers.  as all other parts of feedback, has too many meanings.  like postage , or nad , havent got the parcel and so. ala whos telling the truth  mmmm

people read postings here and lots of posters put that seller or buyer on there lists too. on the word of an [op] again truth or not.

we had a buyer not long ago complaining about buying something and the seller not selling it to her ,prob price too low.  how maqny posters blocked that seller , at the end a regular poster brought something from the seller , and was happy as larry , and explained he was a new ebayer and the little daughter wrote the adds,   [should that seller be blocked] because of 1  opening posters comment..

whats gives anybody the right to judge a seller or buyer with there 1 off experience. my opinion feedback ratings is rubbish.

i once got a red dot , reason buyer said color was not write , i said no problems just bring it back for anoter 1  or money back, he messaged me that he has been painting all week and used all of the 15 litre can, now for anybody not sure what 15 litres covers  1 coat of a whole house aprox. so i said on which day of the week did you notice that the color in your mind was wrong , and after your first wall or room , why did you not stop painting , with in your mind the wrong color  ,did not recieve a message back.

reminded me of the chap you went to the restaurant  and orded a 5 cource meal and after he finished it all , said i am not paying  as  the food was off .mmmm

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hello joe,

     how maqny posters blocked that seller

Members who are only buyers do not need to add sellers to blocked lists, they just need not buy from those sellers.  No need to maintain a list, although there are those who might have an OCD surrounding lists.  I mean, if you had a list for each possible scenario then the sky is the limit!

     [should that seller be blocked] because of 1  opening posters comment

As for members blocking others on the say so of OPs, I think we can all make our on judgement based on more than just the OP.  That is where outside sites and feedback do come in handy. 

     my opinion feedback ratings is rubbish

(can I quote you on this on future threads? You seem to get pre-occupied with feedback of posters here on a regular basis, can't have it both ways and sit on the fence.  Just kidding joe . . . LOL)  Seriously though, the feedback that I find most revealing for sellers who read here is the feedback that buyers leave for others.  Buyers who regularly leave negs or neuts would easily make it onto my block list.  *tippy* also highlighted buyer feedback that would see buyers occupy a little space on my BBL based on the number of false negs they have received. 

     i once got a red dot

A buyer using all 15 litres, 2 coats on approx 120 square metres surface area, that's not right.

[springyzone]

Joe said:

springy i think you are correct in giving buyers who dont  pay a strike in one way , but only on non-payers.  as all other parts of feedback, has too many meanings.  like postage , or nad , havent got the parcel and so. ala whos telling the truth  mmmm

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That is exactly what I meant, Joe. I wasn't suggesting for a moment that sellers should give feedback, simply that if a seller is not paid for an item and opens a dispute that is resolved in their favour (ie ebay agrees the buyer has not paid and refunds commission fees etc), that that buyer has a point deducted off their score.

To me, that would be fair. They bid, they didn't pay, they lose one of their 'good' scores. The numbers after a name are meant to indicate satisfactory transactions. Sellers can no longer give a neg to indicate an unsatisfactory transaction (and I think that is okay) so taking off one point off for unsatisfactory transactions would go part of the way to giving  a balanced view of a person's overall performance.

Tippy toes is probably right though, it won't happen.