Who Are The Buyers Giving Defects? My Experience Only.

[the-fab-gift-shop]

This is only from my own personal experience as a seller and may not be the general rule. Our bad buyers are only around 5%, so it would not matter to us in the greater scheme of things, but it certainly does matter to Ebay, so that is why we now have to BLOCK every BUYER who DEFECTS us,even if they do leave POSITIVE feedback. Why keep buying ... and keep defecting us?

Sad to say, ... these are our problem buyers: 

1. People receiving carer's pensions for looking after someone else who is disabled.

2. Disabled or very ill [not the aged] people who are on pensions.

3. Those on pensions for 'mental illness.' [Ebay staff are known to have particular empathy with these buyers. :)]

4. Unemployed.

5. Buyers 1-4 who take revenge using multiple accounts, usually because we refused to allow them to scam us.

6. Sellers who feel that we may be competing with them and feel annoyed. Usually spend 1.25.

In regards to 1-5, they've got time on their hands. They may or may not end up leaving Neg. or even defecting us, but even if they do not do that, they can still be a nuisance. They will usually spend an average of 1.25 and then whine for days about when the item will be arriving, sending "I Haven't Recieved My Item' emails after a couple of days. They will nearly always try to get a refund outside of the Paypal or Ebay system, so their multiple scams, are not left on record, except through their emails to the seller.

And Ebay supports this activity, because sellers are now defected when cases are opened at Paypal by buyers. Am I correct?

Not much we can do about who shops with us, and we would not want to discriminate against the above buyers either because there are good buyers who are in the 1-4 category. But our BLOCKED list grows longer by the day. My experiemce also shows that DEFECTS don't mean anything to other buyers, since our sales are still doing fine. BUT once Ebay hides our inventory again, the DEFECTS will mean something, because our sales will drop. Sometimes we do make mistakes [which we try to rectify], but mostly DEFECTS have nothing to do with who we are as a seller, and everything to do with our REFUSING liars and scammers.

We also now immediately BLOCK BUYERS who send rude, aggressive or idiotic emails when asking a question about an item.

The GOOD NEWS is that 95% of our BUYERS are AWESOME, but Ebay's SYSTEM, means that the 5% can IMPACT our selling.

[pennyforum14]

Glad the feedback I and other sellers leave for non-payers provides the means for you to determine their track record

Actually, not being able to leave feedback is one reason why I don't paint all NPBs with the same brush.  In the old days, the track record was evident in feedback, these days all we have is automatic blocks and I do have them set, that's what I meant by track record.  If someone is able to buy from me, that tells me they don't yet have a track record.  If they then default on me, I follow procedure, but I don't add them to my block list based on this one default, if my item was their second default, they won't be able to buy from me again anyway, and if it was a one off incident and they do come back to shop with me again, I will usually give them a second chance, but only one!

I don't believe in false positives so I don't leave feedback at all for non-payers.  It's not ideal but it's all we have to work with. Call me naive if you like, but I prefer to look at it as treating others as I would like to be treated.  Everyone is entitled to a mistake, we don't know what dramas are going on in people's lives.  Sure, there may be some out there that will turn drama into an art form, but I refuse to let them change my good nature.

[digital*ghost]

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

Call me naive if you like, but I prefer to look at it as treating others as I would like to be treated.  Everyone is entitled to a mistake, we don't know what dramas are going on in people's lives.  Sure, there may be some out there that will turn drama into an art form, but I refuse to let them change my good nature.

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I won't call you naive, believe it or not I take a similar approach, but by the same token I both expect and deserve the same respect and courtesy from buyers.

My standard procedure is one inquiry after 4 days, if no response within 2 days, BBL and UPI, without fail. My reasoning is that, since I only sell BINs, whatever prevented them from paying didn't prevent them from buying, and if there was a very specific reason for not paying, it either wasn't present at time of purchase, or was and they didn't think it worth the effort to let me know.

To me, this is clearly disrespectful and discourteous, as is never replying to any of my messages. That's why I BBL them, not because they bought and didn't pay.

Also, I don't have enough faith in eBay to presume that someone isn't a repeat offender just because they can still buy with my blocks in place, considering the very great ease with which they can be overturned, as well as the fact that most buyers know how to create additional accounts to circumvent such blocks - several have done it to me repeatedly this year. 😕

[pennyforum14]

Fair enough.

[thecatspjs]

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

I don't believe in false positives so I don't leave feedback at all for non-payers.  It's not ideal but it's all we have to work with. Call me naive if you like, but I prefer to look at it as treating others as I would like to be treated.  Everyone is entitled to a mistake, we don't know what dramas are going on in people's lives.  Sure, there may be some out there that will turn drama into an art form, but I refuse to let them change my good nature.

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I also prefer to treat others as I would like to be treated.

If ever I didn't or was unable to pay for goods I purchased, I would contact the seller. 

I refuse to let anyone change my fabulousness as a seller generally.

[5kazam]

I am really sorry I read your post.  But having read it once, I had to keep reading it - couldn't believe what I was reading.  I find your comments insulting, disparaging and derogatory to say the least.  If there was a blocked Sellers list, you would be my first cab off the rank. 

I also had a look at your negs – I don’t think pulling the religious response is a smart idea – just comes over as being ‘smart’.

“In regards to 1-5, they've got time on their hands”   Not necessarily a correct assumption, and rather presumptive.  Unless you have personal experience - bad choice of words.

As far as 6 is concerned - . “Sellers who feel that we may be competing with them and feel annoyed. Usually spend 1.25”.  From what I saw of your items, not really anything for other sellers of cheap goods to be annoyed about.

“They will nearly always try to get a refund outside of the Paypal or Ebay system…” It looks like only ONE of your negs went that direction.  Also it wouldn’t have been a significant financial loss to you.

“Not much we can do about who shops with us, and we would not want to discriminate against the above buyers either because there are good buyers who are in the 1-4 category.”  And just what would you call your BBL list of 1-4?

“ My experiemce also shows that DEFECTS don't mean anything to other buyers, since our sales are still doing fine. BUT once Ebay hides our inventory again, the DEFECTS will mean something, because our sales will drop.”  What makes you state that eBay are hiding your inventory?  Strange comment.

I agree with van_kerkhoven (kudo given), how do you know who is bidding before the end of the auction. Do you get your buyers financial status before you allow them to spend $1.25 + $2.00 postage?

Posted by a Card Carrying Disability Pensioner, who also gets a Carers Allowance for a Disabled Person.

* Apologies to other members - but this really made me angry.  I'm sure I'll cop a lot of flak...whatever, I really don't care.  

[thecatspjs]

Holy Moly OP you sure as heck leave some negs and neutrals yourself

I count 25+ red and grey dots left in the past 6 months

http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=fabulous-gift-emporium&Dirn=Left+by

Spoiler

[digital*ghost]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

Spoiler

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Everytime I see that now, I hear a Spiderman-esque theme song in my head.   

kazam, no flak - in my experience age, circumstance, financial situation etc, doesn't make anyone more or less likely to defect a transaction on eBay. 

[phorum_junkie*]

Being an old age, disabled pensioner with time on my hands I do not spend it handing out defects, unless they are deserved, but neither do I spend it using symbols etc to create extremely childish feedback comments

[i-love-my-sheep]

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@van_werkhoven wrote:

Wait, how do you know your problem buyers are on pensions or unemployed etc? I couldn't tell you whether my buyers are doctors or disabled pensioners. Do you ask your buyers if they are on a pension when they purchase? How do you know ebay takes sympathy on mental health patients, have you had a couple dozen cases in which this has occured?

This sounds more like assumptions about certain people groups than any sort of fact. 

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I received a message from a disgruntled buyer about 3 weeks ago. She sent it using the "I received an item that wasn't as described" option. I can understand why she was upset, but the initial message was full of anger. I apologised profusely and explained that I didn't know the items were man made, not real and offered her a full refund, including cost of return postage if she wanted to send them back. I also said I would be happy to give her a partial refund if she wanted to keep them.

The reply I got was "ok you seem fair dinkum cant be bothered going to trouble of going into town to return but biggest rip off in a long time not good for anyone let alone a carer pensioner".

Yes, I can fully understand why she was upset, but there is absolutely no reason why she felt the need to throw in the bit about being a carer on a pension. She doesn't know my circumstances, I didn't know hers. I felt she was trying to tell me I had tried to rip her off because she is on a pension.

Sellers like the OP know that these people are who s/he says they are because they feel the need to drop that information into messages, which serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever.

I gave my buyer a partial refund, I heard no more, so I assume she was happy with that. I didn't have a case opened against me and at this stage, she has chosen not to leave feedback. For that I am grateful.

She has a long buying history, so despite being a carer, yes, she does have plenty of time to buy....and even occasionally sell some things.

While my buyer doesn't fall into the 'problem' buyer category, I still don't understand why she felt the need to mention she was on a pension when it was completely irrelevant to the transaction.

It's not the first time I have had a buyer mention being on a pension of some sort, purely through conversations about an item they are enquiring about.

[thecatspjs]

The OP only has to look at their own feedback that they have left sellers and then look in the mirror to see the "type" of buyer that gives defects.

The OP has dished out a very significant number of negs & neutrals and no doubt trashed stars as well. The follow ups from sellers are also worth reading.