Repeated Questions from potential buyer

[jrkirk]

Just spent hours responding to a new buyer, who apparently has 23 of my items in his shopping cart, negotiating on price and shipping terms, who then says he/she wants to wait to buy until April 8th (today is March 19/20).  I count 14 different questions from this 'buyer', and hours spent responding, but in the end, zero sales. This raises questions, such as, can someone else buy while these items are in buyers shopping carts? How long do items remain in buyers shopping cart? What are the terms for items which remain in shopping carts? I sent offers on all of these items, and buyer then wants to further negotiate terms on shipping, etc, and eBay then refuses my attempts to send any further offers. Does eBay screen these buyers at all? Or can anyone ask seller a question? Such a waste of my time.

[jrkirk]

OP here, just for the record, this potential 'buyer' had never bought from us before, was rather new with a fb of 20, and was at times having trouble understanding the language..............so we tried to help. He/she never requested delaying payment, but did want to delay purchasing, apparently waiting on some funds that were coming in April (which we only learned after the 10-11th message). As to being desperate for sales, no way, and if that were true, why sell here? I can and will wait for sales, and for us, this is a very slow time of the year.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@inhawaii wrote:

@albertabrightalberta 

That option is only there if your blocking someone who has already bought X amount of items from you.

You can't just block any/all  bidders/buyers with a feedback score below X amount. 

It would be nice but it's just not possible. 

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I think both of @albertabrightalberta  's posts made it clear that the minimum number of purchases that you can limit a buyer to is one, not zero.

[soh.maryl]

Yes, I knew that, but evidently I misinterpreted the message, thinking you meant the seller could refuse a buyer with no or low feedback.  Sorry.  

[this*old*attic]

Why not try honesty?

Welcome to Ebay, and I see you’re sincere…

But I’m unable to hold items even for a potentially large sale.

Please feel free to let me know when you are able to complete an order.

[this*old*attic]

There really are people who aren’t internet savvy in this day and age. Some of the goofiest behavior and questions might just be that.

[jrkirk]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

Why not try honesty?

Welcome to Ebay, and I see you’re sincere…

But I’m unable to hold items even for a potentially large sale.

Please feel free to let me know when you are able to complete an order.

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Of course, but after the fact; one did not know then what one knows now. The first several responses were just negotiating terms. I had no idea that he/she was going to delay the purchase until several messages into the conversation.

[downunder-61]

I would be pulling the pin.

1. If a buyer is this much of a PIA now, then you can pretty much expect that to continue on throughout a transaction

2. The issue with the cart is - yes, any other buyer can purchase those items, so what happens when little ms/mr I wanna buy later finds some of the items in the cart sold out from under them?

Can you hazard a guess who will cop the flak for that?

[jrkirk]

OP here again. We blocked this buyer, like the posts here recommended, after the messages kept coming, without sales, and after many hours lost due to time spent unproductively. But the buyer persisted, got a new identity with zero feedback, and changed their approach by asking for new offers, which we gave them, and then bought immediately this time, with immediate payment. Both their persistence, and our patience (?), was rewarded. We now have a new $200+ sale. Just hope we can just avoid any problems.