Should sellers be able to leave negative feedback for non-payments?

[2011emc2]

As a first-time seller, I had a buyer who didn't pay and didn't bother to contact me or respond to my emails. I opened an ‘Unpaid Item’ case, which again got no response, and closed the case today.

Yet the only feedback option available to me was to leave 'Positive' feedback for this buyer.

Really, eBay???

This 'buyer' still has a '100% positive' feedback rating on eBay. How is this honest or fair? Shouldn't a feedback system allow members of a community to comment on their actual dealings with people in that community?

Little wonder some sellers try to sneak in negative comments using the positive feedback option, to try to warn other unsuspecting sellers. Yet eBay deletes these from buyers' profiles.

I think eBay should change its feedback policy in order to allow equal footing for buyers and sellers. So sellers would be allowed to either: (a) leave negative feedback - if only for non-payment; or (b) automaticallly note non-payments into each buyer's feedback profile, so these are clear for all to see.

It's not a problem to demonstrate that a buyer hasn't paid. Why not give sellers the same rights as buyers to leave honest feedback? Wouldn't everyone benefit?

I didn't ship the item because payment never arrived or cleared.  Still, what a negative experience, especially the shocking attitude toward sellers whose fees sustain and enrich eBay.

What is your opinion on eBay's feedback policy for sellers?

(Newbies: FB = feedback, NP = non-payment)

[thecatspjs]

🙂

Indeed a seller can cancel bids at anytime within the last 12 hours.

😉

2 more on the polls ~ but hasn't changed %

]:)

[colic2bullsgirlore]

. Glad to have the space to discuss these issues.

yes me too

'hennessy tennessee toodled the flute"

[leisa2305]

Thank you 2011emc2 for starting this thread on this subject, I am in full support of a system that can give negative feed back against non payers. I have been trading on ebay for the last 10 years and have had very few issues until late.

I have listed the same item twice and have had the buyers forfeit on their obligation to pay, have followed the non payment system and blocked the buyers. However  unfortunately it is like everything else in today's society give these non payers an inch and they take a mile!!!.

There should be a system available so Sellers can see these prolific non payers and have the choice to block them BEFORE they list an item.

The fact that there has been such a response to this issue and this thread is proof that it is an issue that Ebay should take note of as there are now a lot of alternative options for sellers other than Ebay.

[leader-of-the-band]

There should be a system available so Sellers can see these prolific non payers and have the choice to block them BEFORE they list an item.

there is, it is called the Blocked Bidder List where sellers can block bidders/buyers with more than 1 non-paying strike in the last 12 months.  However, this system relies on sellers doing the UnPaid Item thing with strikes being issued to non-payers.  You don't need to see the non-payer IDs to block them before listing, which wouldn't help anyway as you can only manually block up to 5000 members only.  The BBL of non-payers has unlimited number of blocked bidders AND you need do nothing to maintain that list.  Prolific non-payers would be blocked from their pattern behaviour if just two sellers go through the UPI process and all sellers had Blocks for non-payers.  Sellers need to be educated to implement the Non-Payer Block.

On behalf of the sellers that use the Block for non-payers I would like to thank you for going through the UnPaid Item process that issues strikes to non-payers.  I wish all sellers were like you.

[davewil1964]

There should be a system available so Sellers can see these prolific non payers and have the choice to block them BEFORE they list an item.

There is. The NPB strike. 2 of them and they can't buy from prudent sellers. You don't need to see them to block them. Much easier than laboriously going through members' lists to find people to block. As the only other way you would find them is if they bid.

I sell BIN, so the current system suits me fine, rather than the retrogressive one proposed here. And negative buyer feedback wouldn't help with auctions if the bidder snipes.

The fact that there has been such a response to this issue and this thread is proof that it is an issue

Yep, about 400 people in 10 months. Huge % of the millions of members.

[phillip40bx]

Hi, I reckon us seller should be able to report negative or at the very least a Non Payment comment on this persons prpofile and loose their 100% FB score, on a buyer who hasnt paid even after opening a unpaid item case and still no communcation.

This person has so many unpaid items left on their feednback in past 2 months it is mind boggling, yet they have a FB score over 400, because Ebay will not let negative FB to be left, I mean how many unpaid item cases have to be lodge agnist this perosn before Ebay ban them.  Person is still bidding on items even today from their history.on everthing from dvd's, matchbox cars, photo frams etc etc etc etc,

I reported this to Ebay and got no response.

Yes I understand buyers concerns from other posts that is why a non payment option would be better than a negative FB

I wish I could put here who this Ebayer is, so many unpaid items claims lodged it makes you think soemthing is wrong with the person.

[davewil1964]

Hi, I reckon us seller should be able to report negative or at the very least a Non Payment comment on this persons prpofile and loose their 100% FB score, on a buyer who hasnt paid even after opening a unpaid item case and still no communcation.

This person has so many unpaid items left on their feednback in past 2 months it is mind boggling, yet they have a FB score over 400, because Ebay will not let negative FB to be left, I mean how many unpaid item cases have to be lodge agnist this perosn before Ebay ban them.  Person is still bidding on items even today from their history.on everthing from dvd's, matchbox cars, photo frams etc etc etc etc,

I reported this to Ebay and got no response.

Yes I understand buyers concerns from other posts that is why a non payment option would be better than a negative FB

I wish I could put here who this Ebayer is, so many unpaid items claims lodged it makes you think soemthing is wrong with the person.

God it's hard. Read the above. Put your blocks in place. Presumably some sellers have given them strikes instead of adding to their feedback. eBay provide the tools to stop non-payers bidding; it is not their fault if sellers prefer to let them bid, then leave policy violating feedback, then whinge about the prevalence of non-payers.

[***super_nova***]

 I mean how many unpaid item cases have to be lodge agnist this perosn before Ebay ban them

eBay will not ban them, it is up to each seller to block people with strikes.  If sellers do not follow the rules, do not issue strikes and do not block people with strikes, then it is their fault that allows the serial non payers to continue to bid. 

I do not care who your bad bidder is, I have my blocks in place, so if at least 2 of the affected sellers did the right thing, i am protected against them.

But some people here feel better if they put people on their personal BBL, for their benefit you could post the title of the latest  item they did not pay for.  From there people can find who they are 🙂

[thecatspjs]

Gosh some just won't accept different opinions from their own.

The current non-payment strike system has no transparency.

The current buyer feedback system is a very poor joke - all buyers IDs are 100% no matter what they do - lol - even if they are NARU 

[andymacca3121]

So fairly new to ebay as a seller - and it looks like I have my first non contact/paying buyer. The first thing I do is do some forum and google searches and find this debate.

From been a buyer a few years ago I understand the rationale of the no neg feedback for buyers - as a number of times, I felt I had justification to leave neg fb for a seller but was worried about retaliatory feedback .

Have just done a search of my bidder's fb and found some non contact/paying comments listed as positive fb. Yes, if sellers had used the correct process, the buyer would have had strikes however he still would have bid on my item as I had no knowledge of the setting to block non paying bidders.

I suspect for many casual ebayers, selling stuff when moving house etc, this is also true. The option isn't promoted or suggested as good idea and the reality is, that you are only going to do a forum search when you experience the problem yourself. Why isn't this option either promoted more when setting up the account or better yet, AUTOMATICALLY TURNED ON? - and if for some reason, if a seller wanted to risk selling to someone who had defaulted before, they could opt to change the setting.

The business/power sellers are obviously already aware of it from the forum posts I read and it is the casual users who are more prone to get caught out. Can anyone see any negatives if the block was automatically turned on rather than off?