Auction winners who don't pay.
Hi. I'm a relatively new seller -- less than 20 items sold so far -- and it looks as if a second auction winner is not going to pay.
Do you experienced folks have any strategies to avoid this? If you do have someone who doesn't pay (and won't even respond to polite questions as to whether they still want the item), do you give negative feedback, or does this risk you getting bad reviews as a seller?
Thanks in advance.
15 comments
deltilogical
·3 years agoEbay needs to close this gap. They need to provide confirmed buyers to the sellers. I should get a credit for the wasted auction. It is not my fault Ebay allows the deadbeats on the platform without fee. There is a great photo online of the shoplifter from Vermont getting arrested at the Nashua Coin show recently. We sellers and buyers need Ebay to do a better job weeding out the deadbeats.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoExperienced sellers have repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly stated that fixed price, immediate payment required is the only way to go.
nashmarkt
·3 years agoSoh.maryl
and repeatedly experienced auction sellers are asking ebay to solve this ( and it is easily solvable).
Please stop making it about the seller not knowing what is the best method.
ebay is leaving a door open for scammers. I want a solution for auction type selling, period.
soh.maryl
·3 years ago"Please stop making it about the seller not knowing what is the best method."
You are addressing that request in the wrong direction. All of us here are experienced eBay buyers and sellers who volunteer our time here to help others when we can.
As such, we're not the ones who can change procedures or rules. We can only caution to make sure the rules are followed or suffer the consequences.
nashmarkt
·3 years agoI know that very well.
enough noise on the right platform and ebay people will start listening.
nashmarkt
·3 years agoeBay is the only large commerce place that allows for scammers to operate like this? Why not introduce a model where users can choose to provide a credit card or bank account and authorize direct payment after auction ends. Then expose this to sellers so sellers can distinguish users with no bank/credit card backing from those who do.
Ebay lack of action is only because eBay profits from these scams. At least it gets to record traffic from these deadbeat bidders.
monroe67
·3 years ago"Do you experienced folks have any strategies to avoid this?" -- that is, non-paying auction winners.
Nope. It is impossible. And frustrating -- even when it is a $15.00 t-shirt (happened to my selling ID last summer). You cannot force a buyer to pay up.
I can only imagine the angst you must have felt if your winning bidder of the 1970 Pete Maravich card didn't pay the $635 he bid. And that recent sale -- $4,000-plus ??? I might need to be sedated until a payment of that amount comes through.
Other posters have already explained that you are not allowed to leave negative feedback for any buyers, whether or not they pay.
I would suggest you try not to worry. It looks like you are doing things right. Good item descriptions and photos. Your own feedback as a seller is 100% positive. If a bidder commits to paying $15.00 or $4,000.00 or more and then doesn't -- that is generally not due to anything you, as the seller, do or don't do.
mister_cellaneous
OP3 years agoThanks for your reply! And just to clarify--the Maravich bidder came through right away. It's the $4000 card that I'm still waiting for payment on several days later. But there was an auction last year on a Curry card where the winning bid was $450, the guy didn't pay, and I ended up getting $275 for the card the second time.
fab_finds4u
·3 years agoYou're not allowed to leave negative feedback or a positive rating with a negative comment.
There's no need to ask the buyer if they still want the item. If they say no, please cancel then you would need to cancel citing buyer requested and that lets the buyer off the hook.
Buyers know they have 4 days to pay. There's no need for communication. If they don't pay then on the 5th day cancel for being unpaid and give the deadbeat a strike.
2 strikes get him blocked from bidding for a year with sellers who block unpaid bidders.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·3 years ago1) You can't give a buyer anything other than a "positive" feedback. There is no option to leave neutral or negative as there is with sellers... now you COULD leave "positive" feedback and write something in the comment section, but it's kinda pointless because there are FEW instances where a seller reads a buyers feedback (seller receives offer from buyer and wants to vet buyer first... or if seller has issue w/ buyer and scopes out said person) so you're not really helping sellers prevent selling to this bad individual in the grand scheme of things. Actually a positive feedback goes towards their score and i just look at scores to do a quick vetting of a buyer to see if they're "experienced" or not and thats about it.
2) Selling Preferences Settings. I believe I have that right. Either way, go to account settings, I believe it's under Selling Preferences... you find a tab marked "Manage Who Buys From Me" or something of the sort. From there you can not only block buyers (add usernames of buyers to your blocked buyers list.... good idea to add non-payers to this list).
When you cancel their purchase for Non-Payment... it goes against their account. They get an "UnPaid Item Strike" (UPI strike).
In your selling preferences you can set standards for who buys from you. I believe you can set a minimum feedback score as well as a UPI limit. You can set a limit like buyers who have (2-5) + UPI strikes within last (X) time frame (couple months to a year I think) are blocked from buying.
I dont have all the exact details but go there. Basically blocking individuals with a history of non paying. There are habitual offenders. This is how you protect yourself and your interests.
Good Luck to you
soh.maryl
·3 years agoYou could leave positive feedback, but it's kind of pointless? Really?
You are referring to leaving positive FB but negative wording. It's not just pointless, it is against the rules. Have you read about FB rules at all? You cannot require buyers to have a certain # of feedbacks. Sellers can block buyers who have had two nonpayment strikes in twelve months. Since you "don't have all the details", please do not make suggestions that go against the way eBay works. Some hapless new guy is going to take you seriously and find out that, indeed, you don't have all the details.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·3 years ago@soh.maryl
I'll take a partial mea culpa on the feedback thing, because I was completely ambiguous, but I never did say to write anything neutral/negative on the feedback, which would yes be a violation. My sole point was that the sellers would never be reading anything you write in the feedback prior to being stuck with the buyer as a non payer. And to further the point of being "pointless", you're ADDING to their feedback score which HELPS them and is therefore POINTLESS in what he would want to achieve. There are only two parts of feedback for a buyer. The (+1) point and the comment. (+1) Point helps the buyer, and comment will achieve nothing OP may want to achieve (no matter WHAT he wrote) because if his goal is conveying anything to sellers prior to engaging in a transaction with said buyer ...who actually reads it before it's too late!? (Whatever it may or may not say). It has nothing to do with the nature of the comment, it has to do with the existence of a comment. I'm not attempting to encourage a violation, I'm attempting to point out sellers can't do much to stop bad buyers manually. (Hence my point two of the UPI and feedback requirements -- automated).
Now, more importantly...
You can require buyers to have a minimum feedback score of 1-5 (or block buyers without a minimum feedback score of 1-5 .... is your glass half full or half empty)
You can find that info in the exact place I said. Right next to blocking buyers for UPI strikes, and all the other fun criteria you can set for blocking buyers like limiting how much they can buy or be winning from you in a 10 day window or their primary shipping location.
You can preset your UPI strike policy to having as few as 2 and up to as many as 5 (and of course "or more" is just implied), in a time frame as short as the 1 month and as much as 12 months.
"I DON'T HAVE ALL THE DETAILS" means I may have the EXACT name of the tab wrong, but it will be extremely close in name (Selling Preferences, Manage Who Buys From Me). I also don't have the EXACT details on the numerics of UPI strikes and time frame, but the concept remains the same. Guess what! I was pretty darn close! It is 2-5 UPIs and it's in 1-12 months. (I said couple months to year)
So honestly, I'll take the mea cupla for having a vague statement regarding feedback comments, but you have also provided misleading info as you claim the inability to block based on minimum feedback scores.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·3 years ago@soh.maryl
I'll back off for one moment and say this instead ....
If I have been reading this wrong for this past year, I'll shut up immediately. But what the heck does it mean at the bottom of the Buyer Requirements where it says "Only Set This Requirement To Block Buyers With A FeedBack Score:" Followed by a drop menu of 0-5.
That to me, as I read it, is a minimum feedback requirement of 0-5.
Sounds to me like you can block buyers with less than said scores of 0-5. This is the "Buyer Requirements Section" and this clearly is related to Feedback score and has a numerical number next to it.
If this is anything other than what I have described, I'm either a complete idiot or it's the most poorly worded thing ever.
Please advise.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·3 years agoOkay, mea mea mea culpa. Concept is correct, but it is directly related to the purchase of additional items in the above portion regarding multiple purchases in a short time frame. So you can't prevent the first purchase, but you can prevent multiple purchases. You can stop a "new" (low feedback) buyer from going rogue. So you can't prevent the fire but you can prevent it from spreading.
I'm sorry, but that set up on the settings is ridiculously done. A small indentation does not make it apparent to me that it's solely about multiple purchase buyers. I'm only half an idiot. Fine, 3/4 of an idiot is my final offer.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoJust now read your multiple responses to me. Thanks for your reply.