Non Paying Bidders

[garrcc]

As a seller, I would like to ba able to indicate on a buyer's feedback if they have failed to pay. I know this subject has been covered heaps of times...however it would be of benefit to be able to leave a coloured dot - eg orange - if a buyer fails to pay ....no need for comments - just a dot would be enough for sellers to see if the buyer has a history of being a non paying bidder.

[davidc4430]

i'd like ebay themselves to take a stand on non paying buyers.

not just the secretive strike but something more tangeable like a symbol next to the buyers feedback for each unpaid item that would last say 6 months if no other unpaid items occur.

they would still have full buying rights but sellers could then decide if they want to risk dealing with the buyer.

or perhaps set a sale to imediate payment for that buyer.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

i'd like ebay themselves to take a stand on non paying buyers.

not just the secretive strike but something more tangeable like a symbol next to the buyers feedback for each unpaid item that would last say 6 months if no other unpaid items occur.

they would still have full buying rights but sellers could then decide if they want to risk dealing with the buyer.

or perhaps set a sale to imediate payment for that buyer.

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With you, the lookers could look, the blockers could block and the game could just let the odds fall where they may

[kopenhagen5]

Kopes you were not even posting here when feedback comments could be mutual.

Incorrect, it was changed in May 08.

I remember the feedback reply battles and we could also message any bidders seeing their ID's.

The old man used to say never keep a fool from exacting and exhibiting their talents and it is even a bigger fool that would argue with them.

And lets not forget the fool not taking action where possible whether it be fight or flight.

David, that could work. And still have the option for members to block as well.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Do you know what would work Kopes???

We could have buyers purchase performance rated as a percentage and block on that basis rather than have a blanket ban that is only triggered by "strikes"

So that those buyers who commited to buy 4 items but only purhased 2 items in 12 months were not necessarily lumped in with those buyers who purchased 40 items but did not pay for 2 items in 12 months or puchased 400 items but did not pay for 2 items in 12 months or bought 4000 items but did not pay for 2 items in 12 months

....trying to think of a good name for this percentage score hmmmm,,,,,,,

How about FEEDBACK???

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Much to the 'pirates' chagrin... now c'mon Dave it's been a while since I copied and pasted this little gem from Matchbox car guy....

Feb 28 10.04 2008

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2008/02/fee_feedback_changes_at_ebay.html

Feedback. You remember. The brilliant idea Pierre had when starting auction web, (Now eBay) - way back when.

It was a system where we could rate our trading partners and they could rate us.

It was simple in the beginning.

You could leave feedback for anyone.

You didn't even have to buy from them or sell to them. A little later on it became transactional.

The comments built a trust between members - (read cu$tomer$.)

Feedback was permanent.

You couldn't change or remove it.

Unless you cussed or mentioned an investigation & a few other things no one I know ever did.

This new feedback thing was an amazing concept.

It made the average Joe or Mary selling stuff from their garage, home or trailer look like a respectable large merchant.

(Think L.L. Bean.) People would talk to other eBayer's in line at the post office.

What's your feedback? 216! Wow, mines only 84...

We would "log on" each day to see if our feedback number changed overnight. It was a source of pride. Feedback - who

would've thought?

Feedback became the backbone this new web phenomenon was built on.

And eBay grew by leaps & bounds.

The feedback system was viewed by some as flawed. Well after all, nothing is perfect.

But Pierre's feedback system was very, very close. Brilliant in concept , execution & yes, even consequence.

Yes, you could leave a negative or a neutral for someone - before trying to work the problem out.

They could neg or neuter you back though.

And both of you kept that red or gray mark back then.

If selling - it could affect your business. When buying, sellers might cancel your bid - if they thought you were a troublemaker.

Well, no one much liked those things to happen to them, so people worked their problems out like adults & not too many bad feedback were left.

There was peace in the community. And after awhile, even the skeptics viewed feedback as sacred....

Then, a couple of years ago, the tinkerers that Pierre hired to run eBay decided they would tinker with the feedback system.

They thought they were smarter than Pierre,

I guess.

No one really knows what brought on this idea to change the feedback system.

It could have been some overcooked Eggs Benedict at an executive brunch, or perhaps something in the air conditioning system.

At any rate they decided change was needed.

Change is always good - right?

Besides, things were different now. Or were they?

They let a new company called Square Trade remove feedback in certain cases. Of course there was a fee.

They tell me eBay didn't get a commission from Square Trade. I suppose that is true...

About the same time eBay instituted a program called "Mutual feedback withdrawal."

Some say this was initiated at the request of larger sellers to give them a means of getting rid of bad feedback, without paying a fee to Square Trade.

I really don't know....

What happened next isn't hard to fathom, knowing human nature.

Negative feedback soon started being exchanged in record numbers.

Sellers, especially some larger ones - became a little bit more difficult to deal with. Customer service? What's that?

Hey, if someone negged you you just negged them back.

After all, you could get a mutual withdrawal. Many sellers had hundreds of mutual withdrawals.

They played this great new feature like a well oiled trombone....And no one at eBay regulated this process - or limited

the numbers.

Soon buyers began to complain about this unfair treatment.

Some left eBay and never came back.

Management seeing all of this, decided the feedback system needed a little more tweaking.

And that brought us to where we are today. More tinkering to try and fix what THEY broke.

You know what I think? It won't work. Sometimes, you need to get back to basics.

Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best.

The Genie however, is out of the bottle, the sacred trust is broken.

Can it be put back, before it's too late?

I really don't know. A smart person would try .....

Posted by: Matchboxcarguy | February 28, 2008 10:04 AM |

[englishrosegardens]

Don't be so sure they can never buy again.  I had one that was showing in my blocked list and the next day someone with a brand new ID bought that same item.  I can't absolutely prove it was the same person but it'd be extremely unlikely that it wasn't.

A few weeks ago I had at least six people on the list that'd been blocked because they had too many strikes (they drop off after 60 days).  At least two of them had feedback scores well over 1000 and the rest were in the hundreds.  I've had very little problem with newbies so I make no attempt to block them.