We may be hurting our own sales as normal is no longer normal...

[montana_echoes]

We all set our selling preferences as we want them. Alot (including me) have it set to block all buyers with more than X number of unpaid items in X months. Mine was set on 2 unpaids in 6 months... and my block means they can't buy.

But we have to think beyond what we considered reasonable years ago. I had a someone write to me that they wanted to buy my items but they seemed to be blocked and couldn't even email me to ask me about it. They are a seller but do their buying on another account, a sensible precaution.  And, because of the covid crash of incoming money for some or all of us, they had a situation where they could not purchase some items they won on bid. 

I went into my preferences and changed it to NOT block any buyers for previous non-payment issues.

Jezz, I have my own buying account, and I've had one non-payment as my sales on this account crashed last spring and with no money I couldn't buy it. That seller kindly cancelled the sale for me, but in this time, you may well be killing what sales you can get if you have buyers blocked for previous non-payment of purchases from any sellers. 

Its the new normal. Many people have now had things they thought they could buy and then COVID hit... with that in mind, possibly some may want to rethink that kind of block on available buyers.  Just a consideration, folks. 

[flashtone]

I've never blocked someone for non payment.  Makes no sense. Just relist in a few days and move on.

[calntom]

I don't use auctions and did away with those type of blocks years ago. I think you are right on about opening it up to most buyers.

[evry1nositswindy]

I just did the same thing.  I had a buyer trying to buy something but he couldn't because of two strikes.  I changed the setting so he could bid.  He paid immediately.  I will leave the setting at a larger number.  My activity log had several others that tried to bid in the weeks prior.  Wish I could contact them.

[coolections]

Very true. Some come here complaining they hardly get any sales then when you read about their history they block hundreds of people. LOL, if you sell in specific categories you could be block up to 50% of your potential buyers. That's OK though, it gives me less competition so I like when people put hundreds of buyers on their BBL.

With what you said some buyers actually purchase hundreds of items a year. Two non payments is very low for a 6 month period.

[mam98031]

I have mine set to the strictest possible which is 2 in the past 12 months.  Sales doesn't do you any good if you can't get them to pay for what they purchase.

Besides this isn't something you need to guess at.  In the same area of the Site Preferences where you set the Buyer's requirements is a report you can view that shows you how many buyers were blocked in the past 90 days due to your Buyer Requirements.

Like I said, I have mine set to the strictest setting possible for UIDs and I haven't blocked ANY buyers in the last 90 days.

[mam98031]

---

@calntom wrote:

I don't use auctions and did away with those type of blocks years ago. I think you are right on about opening it up to most buyers.

---

Do you then do IPR on all your BINs?

I don't do that because I have buyers that like to purchase multiple items.  So IPR doesn't work well for that.

[montana_echoes]

Well, mam98031, I usually agree with you on all your posts here, but I have to differ. In these Covid-19 times, the rules are different. And if you pull up the record of how many buyers were blocked tomorrow or next week... and find 2 buyers, you have no way to contact them, no way to reverse it and, as you said, most people buy mulitples from you. That could be an unknown loss of income.  (as another poster said, they wish they could contact the ones who got blocked) 

I understand your stance, but these are not normal times. And really, if you block a non-payer, is that a certain voluntary blindness to the issues we all face now? The non-payment that I had on an item (and the seller cancelled for me) was the first I've ever done, but these times have left hundreds of thousands of people in bad places for months or even since march.

I've actually had 3 sales in the last 2 weeks that requested to cancel on me. Since I sell craft supplies, there is no point in making an enemy by ignoring their request and forcing a non-payment strike on them, things may be great for them in 2 months -- and they'll remember me and come back. 

And keep in mind, if you send a buyer a 'best offer" because you've sent everyone who's watching an auction an best offer... if they accept -- it then won't let them buy it. And that won't show up on your list of bidders you blocked. 

[jewelbiz]

I blocked someone who EBay said was a suspicious buyer after they bought something & eBay voided, deleted Vanished cancelled the sale.

She turned out to be a vindictive unrelenting Psycho however when she first was blocked she immediately called me on the telephone saying my phone number was Openly published Printed on an eBay page for all the world to see!
I’ve been selling here decades and didn’t know that yet she was only here on eBay a few months & knew every rotten Crooked trick in the scammer playbook!

[bargainnation]

I agree with you to a certain extent. Covid 19 has changed a lot of things and otherwise responsible  people/buyers have found themselves in unexpected situations due to no fault of their own. However, we have to remember that some people/buyers got their non-payment strikes against their account before Covid 19 was a household word and its effect on the economy. They too could have found themselves in an unexpected financial situation due to no fault of their own.

A few people are irresponsible and don't care about the consequences of not paying for something they have agreed to buy. I can tell you that trying to help other people and be nice don't always work out. Without realizing it you might be enabling their "I don't care" irresponsible behavior because they know there are plenty of sellers that will sell to them with their multiple non-payment strikes and they are right. I do not fault any seller who choose to sell to buyers regardless of if they have non-payment strikes against their account or none at all. It is the seller's business and they are free to run it as they please.

I feel you have to look at buyers who have non-payment strikes against their account on a case-by-case basis if they're interested in buying from you rather than just excusing everyone who has non-payment strikes on their account.

[gracieallen01]

Just curious, but how is one losing sales by blocking the non-paying buyer that does it for fun or because they find a better deal or whatever versus the buyer that has fallen on hard times and doesn't have the money to pay? 

It would seem to me that a responsible person would have the money to pay before they 'bought' something especially since most sellers are expecting payment right away.

[objectsofmydesire]

I completely agree with you. Ebay today is not the ebay from olden times. Every sale matters. A lot of newer ebay members equate bidding on an auction to putting something in their cart. Or they forget to pay when it ends because they are busy. Auctions don't always work so well with crazy busy lives these days. Customer service also matters. Buyers that have good experiences tend to be repeat buyers because most people don't have good customer service anymore. Buyers who start by being angry are mostly just frustrated and expecting a bad response because that seems very common right now. Or they're just really stressed and taking it out on you. A quick response with an apologetic tone, even if it's not your fault, usually turns things around and may lead to more sales. I don't block anyone unless they refuse to be reasonable after a polite email conversation.

[dirk12955]

Tagging on.

The left side of my brain says,    "Everybody I've ever blocked did something to deserve it"

The right side of my brain says,    "These boards are full of sellers inventing reasons to not make a sale"

[1tuna]

.............general reply.............

I do not think standards shoud be lowered for deadbeat bidders at all.This is not time to go soft at all. I feel its an ebayers duty to report all NPB.  I had a former bidder try to get me to let him bid,would not work,then he said, set it up as a buyt it now.He finally shows me the message from ebay thay says he has 5 NPB and is blocked from bidding.He should have been kicked off.  

[byrd69er]

snip.....     you may well be killing what sales you can get if you have buyers blocked for previous non-payment of purchases from any sellers.

My blocks stand as long as they can. I don't need the business from any of the IDs on the list.