Non-paying Buyers

[cards305]

Why can't I leave feedback for a non-paying buyer unless I claim my experience is "Positive". As Sellers, buyers have the option to give us negative feedback, although, all the buyers have "100% Positive" feedback, because calling it "Positive" it's the only way you can leave feedback as a Seller. Then if you read the non-paying buyer's feedback, people are writing to "Beware of Buyer"..."Doesn't Pay"....Why is Ebay allowing these people to consistently screw over the sellers? This has happened 4 times to me...

[fab_finds4u]

Who said you had to leave them feedback?

You don't  if they didn't pay. You cancel the transaction citing the buyer didn't  pay..

if It is against policy to leave the buyer a positive rating with a negative comment.

If the buyer reports you it will be removed and you'll get a policy violation.

eBay gives sellers a tool to block buyers that don't  pay. 

[pburn]

August of 2008.

That's when eBay stopped allowing sellers to leave negative feedback for buyer.s 

14 years ago. 

eBay is a buyer-centric platform. Insulting members who are interested in shopping on the platform isn't the very best way to attract customers--for you, as an individual seller, or for any other sellers, as well.

When I look for an item to purchase on eBay, I check the feedback for every potential seller--both the feed back they've received and the feedback they've left for previous customers. I, personally--and speaking strictly for myself--would never make a purchase from a seller who violated eBay policy by leaving a "false positive" or a "soft negative."

Beyond that, IMO, it smacks of schadenfreude.

[pickermall]

Yeah, it's been that way for years... sadly!

[1tuna]

why does ebay allow you to break protocal

doing what you did is just as bad as being a deadbeat

many sellers can identify with the need to do something

I used to leave similar feedback up until about 10 years ago

as far as I am concerned the feedback system is just fine the way it is

its not polite to take potshots with feedback

the best thing to do is to make sure you file for non payers after 96 hours

@cards305 

[luckythewinner]

---

---

Why can't I leave feedback for a non-paying buyer unless I claim my experience is "Positive".

It is against eBay policy to leave negative comments in a "Positive" feedback. You leave positive comments or nothing.

 As Sellers, buyers have the option to give us negative feedback

Correct.

although, all the buyers have "100% Positive" feedback, because calling it "Positive" it's the only way you can leave feedback as a Seller

Correct.

Then if you read the non-paying buyer's feedback, people are writing to "Beware of Buyer"..."Doesn't Pay".

Again, that is against eBay policy.

Why is Ebay allowing these people to consistently screw over the sellers?

IMHO it is because even if you were able to leave negative feedback for a buyers, that buyers would simply take 30 seconds to create a new eBay account and wipe the slate clean.

[donsdetour]

Leaving contradictory feedback as you have: it can be removed;  and you will find your self in trouble with eBay.

The rest has been explained already.

[onefootflipper]

Just block the buyer and move on with your life. If you have a specialty you will find that over time you have less and less troublesome buyers because you have already blocked a large number of them in your specialty. The number of problem customers I had when I first started focusing on one category was like 3 times higher than it is today just because I block each and every person who causes any sort of problem. While there are always new problem customers blocking will help you filter out the frequent problem customers for your category.  If someone doesn't pay once or opens a case for a refund because their item is delayed in the mail by one day then they probably will repeat the feat in the future.

[pickermall]

When thinking about it, I used to have a problem with this change... years ago! But the reality is that I have no real control over who buys my items. I have everything on fixed price with immediate payment required. The only account setting I used to have is no one with a certain amount of negative feedbacks could buy from me.

BUT I have edited my account in that folks with a certain amount of reported strikes can't buy from me.

It's not like the old days when we could kind of pick and choose who we could sell to (in a way).

We do have better tools to deal with "deadbeat" buyers... we can set up immediate payment requirements, we can cancel orders, we can report nonpaying bidders and maybe a few other things that I can't think of at the moment that are more effective than feedback rating.

When I sell something, do I look at their feedback rating? NO! I send the item out and hope they enjoy it. Feedback is a handy tool when I buy something, not when I sell something

[electrola_man]

I wish this could be addressed in a better way.  After 20+ years it remains a problem.  I "sold" 21 items this last weekend.  3 are proving to be non-payers.  You've gotten the advice of what can be done now, and in the minds of a lot of sellers, it isn't enough, but it's what we have.  It's extremely frustrating when someone jumps in at the end and outbids someone else to win, then doesn't pay.  Days later when the deal with the non-payer is officially canceled, the situation is different enough that I don't even bother to offer the next-highest bidder the item.  My experience has been that the person seldom still wants it, and it just further delays the ability to relist.

[johnrj1226]

Nobody wins the battle of neg feedback exchanges* -  but some  people  get a kick out flexing their Internet Muscles - similar to Beer Muscles at the local bar and the bouncer throws them both out.

Simple solution - do 100% fixed price listing forget the best price offering and apply the Immediate Payment Required option.

* If you don believe me don't get married

[soh.maryl]

Not sure how you define "days later", but you do know you can cancel after 4 days of nonpayment, right?

If you are a high volume seller, and even if you are not, you can just set up your listings so that cancellation happens automatically in the set time frame.  

[coolections]

You are a seller and provide a service, buyers give you feedback for your service. Feedback for a buyer is to thank them for their business. If you do not like the way a buyer acted you just do not thank them and move on as you do not grade buyers.

I just read one of the replies and checked your feedback left for a buyer. You can be booted for doing what you did. You cannot give a buyer a false positive. It is against Ebay rules. Hopefully the buyer will not report you.

[ady9701]

Don't bother complaining on here , everyone just gangs up on you pointing out what you have done wrong and how it's all your fault.  Some forum .

[readabouthorses]

---

@onefootflipper wrote:

Just block the buyer and move on with your life.

---

Sometimes blocking isn't enough. I once had a buyer use 7 different IDs trying to bid on something I had on an auction. I was made aware of all her IDs (she was a bad risk for multiple sellers I knew) so I had already blocked all of her IDs but she just wouldn't give up and kept creating new IDs, using IDs of her husband, her children, her brother trying to bid. I think about her sometimes and wonder if she ever got her life together.