Buyer leaves excessive poor feedback - should I communicate why I won't sell to them?

[resting_kitsch_face]

Recently a buyer made an offer of a little over 50% off of one of my items. My spidey senses were tingling so I checked the feedback they've left for others. Out of the 12 feedback they've left, 6 were negative, neutral, or cases of feedback misuse where they left a positive feedback score but wrote a complaint in the message. A lot of the complaints were about shipping being too high, and one of the neutral feedback was left simply because of this. I assume they knew what shipping would cost before agreeing to the sales. I'm thinking about declining their offer along with a politely-worded message communicating why I don't feel comfortable selling to them.  Any thoughts?

[fern*wood]

If I did not want to take the offer, I would just decline.  I personally wouldn't go into their feedback or your feelings.

[evry1nositswindy]

You don't owe an explanation.  BLOCK them first.  Then go to the offer, write a note in the offer "no thank you but thanks for messaging me", and then decline it.

[luckythewinner]

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@resting_kitsch_face wrote:

 I'm thinking about declining their offer along with a politely-worded message communicating why I don't feel comfortable selling to them.  Any thoughts?

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What in the world would that accomplish?

On a platform where a buyer has the power to damage a seller's finances and reputation, there is no way I would provoke a buyer unnecessarily.

[moldy5]

I would just click on decline offer with no counteroffer. Unless the decline already took place due to your preset choice to decline. then block. no need to engage them. they for sure know the offer was pretty rude!

[wastingtime101]

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@fern*wood wrote:

If I did not want to take the offer, I would just decline.  I personally wouldn't go into their feedback or your feelings.

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Exactly. Why pick a fight? Or tip the buyer off so they stop leaving FB and sellers no longer have the red warning flag?

[bennotbill]

Best not to poke the bear. Just decline.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Don't send any message. Just decline.

And before you decline, put them on your blocked bidder list so they can't decide to purchase it at full price (potentially just to neg you because you didn't accept their offer).

[albertabrightalberta]

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@resting_kitsch_face wrote:

Recently a buyer made an offer of a little over 50% off of one of my items. My spidey senses were tingling so I checked the feedback they've left for others. Out of the 12 feedback they've left, 6 were negative, neutral, or cases of feedback misuse where they left a positive feedback score but wrote a complaint in the message. A lot of the complaints were about shipping being too high, and one of the neutral feedback was left simply because of this. I assume they knew what shipping would cost before agreeing to the sales. I'm thinking about declining their offer along with a politely-worded message communicating why I don't feel comfortable selling to them.  Any thoughts?

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Being able to look at a prospective buyer's feedback (left for others) is the best thing about having a b.o. option and I can't count the number of bullets I've dodged because of it. 

But I never let someone know that their feedback history is why I decline or ignore their offer. I just add them to my BBL. I also don't remove anyone from my BBL. Even if I don't remember when or why I blocked them, I did it for a reason and they remain blocked.

On the one-time rare occasion that a wannabe buyer (with whom I'd personally never done business) contacted me to ask why she was blocked (based on the message that popped up when she tried to buy), I did tell the truth as gently as I could. Her subsequent rant and threats to report me to ebay told me that my block was valid. (BTW, if she reported me to ebay as she'd promised to do, it never went anywhere!)

[resting_kitsch_face]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I guess my reason for doing this is the hope that the buyer would realize that sellers do look at their feedback given, and that their offers are being declined because no one wants to deal with them. It's probably unrealistic to believe that they'd change their behavior, but my hope was that I could stop them from doing this to future sellers who didn't happen to check feedback. I'll definitely be adding them to my BBL, and will do so before taking any action.

[chicka8618]

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Being able to look at a prospective buyer's feedback (left for others) is the best thing about having a b.o. option and I can't count the number of bullets I've dodged because of it.

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Its kind of a Catch 22 though isn't it. You have the advantage of being able to screen some buyers, but those types wouldnt even come around if you just have it set to Buy it Now. Most low ball types only really come for the Best Offers to see how cheap they can get it. 

[12345jamesstamps]

I always read a buyer's feedback. It's about the only protection a seller has these days.

This buyer has not a good standing of feedback.

My own opinion...and no one else's....I would immediately block this buyer from purchases and not send any emails out to them. I get enough of drama in real life and don't need a buyer adding to it. Just my own opinion.

[epowerbargains]

Smart suggestion to block first then decline! I learned that the hard way. I received a lowball offer and declined it without comment. Then received a second lowball offer and declined it and then went to block as the offers were both way below 50% off.......and I had looked at the feedback and this was a buyer who - to put it politely was not easily satisfied and the majority of feedback was negative or "false" positives.  As I was doing the block well you guessed it the item sold for full price to my about to be blocked lowballer who immediately paid - so I packed and shipped ....and waited. Sure enough 15 days after delivery I received a return request - oddly it was "changed mind".  As soon as I received the return I immediately refunded. The buyer became extremely upset because shipping was not refunded as she checked "changed mind." She then stated that the item - a brooch was defective (it was perfect) and contacted eBay and to make her happy eBay refunded her shipping as a courtesy to the buyer.  The item sold 2 weeks later to a buyer who loved it. Somehow it felt like Karma - and as a bonus I learned a valuable lesson. 

[lonebuck-books]

Block and decline.  It's pretty easy to do and no communication is necessary.  I do it from time to time.  If you are really worried about them buying on a different account, jack up the price for a while and then drop it once you think they have moved on.

[adkhighker]

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@resting_kitsch_face wrote:

Recently a buyer made an offer of a little over 50% off of one of my items. My spidey senses were tingling so I checked the feedback they've left for others. Out of the 12 feedback they've left, 6 were negative, neutral, or cases of feedback misuse where they left a positive feedback score but wrote a complaint in the message. A lot of the complaints were about shipping being too high, and one of the neutral feedback was left simply because of this. I assume they knew what shipping would cost before agreeing to the sales. I'm thinking about declining their offer along with a politely-worded message communicating why I don't feel comfortable selling to them.  Any thoughts?

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Some buyers only leave feedbacks when they're not happy with their purchase, while leaving no feedback for the greater majority of their purchases that they are satisfied with.  Did you check to see approximately how many transactions they've had by looking at their "All received feedback" numbers? Was the total number of feedbacks they received only 12?  If so, then yes, that buyer could mean trouble. OTOH, if the number of bad feedbacks they left is just a very small fraction of the number of total transactions they have had in their FB, then you should have little to worry about when dealing with them as long as you do a good job with your description, photos, and packaging.  I once had a buyer who only left negative feedbacks, something like 8 red apples and no positives, but when I checked their "All received feedback" I could see that they had over 300 transactions at the time. I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn't get any feedback from that buyer.