Blacklist of Buyers
Summary: ulfesharpe expressed frustration over a transaction on an online marketplace where a buyer received a refund for a delayed item, which eventually arrived. They lost $250 plus the item and questioned if sellers could share lists of bad buyers. inhawaii offered their blocked buyers list, while annadryl argued against public blacklists, highlighting the potential for unfair labeling. christworks shared experiences of issues shipping to certain regions and the impracticality of such lists. Other participants, like fullers_uk, suggested relying on instincts and the block list feature, and 12345jamesstamps recommended blocking problematic countries based on seller experiences. Overall, the discussion reflected differing opinions on managing difficult transactions and buyer blocks.
Is there a blacklist sellers can share between themselves with bad buyers?
Ebay just sided with a buyer in South America who asked for a refund for item not received. Anyone living on this planet knows that items sometimes take months to arrive in countries like Chile, Brasil, etc. So buyer got the full refund but the item arrived a week later. I applied for a revision but Ebay decided the ETA had been crossed and kept the decision even though I didn't set the ETA, they did. So I lost the item, the money and Ebay even pushed it's shitty taxes and fees on me and I ended up with - 45€ for that transaction. So it was the item (a pen worth $200), the money and minus 45€. I contacted the buyer asking him to return the pen but no response. Ebay cleaned everything and it is now impossible for me to do anything else about this. Unless I threaten the man via his instagram which I incidentally found via his address ... I'm not going to do that, obviously, I have much better things to do than to go after a nobody in a third world country, but I want him blacklisted and people to know about "respectable" scammers — buyers with 100% positive feedback who nevertheless pull their tricks when they can. $250 loss + item lost is enough to make me have to ask money from friends to get to the end of the month, so I consider this a serious offence to me, when I did nothing wrong.
luckythewinner
·3 weeks agoSuch a list would quickly become useless, because unscrupulous sellers would report their BEST buyers to trick other sellers into blocking them, thus reducing competition.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 weeks agoThey only allow 'up to 5000' names and there are probably 15,000,000 that should be on it...so any list you 'collect' will be like a grain of sand......
tobaccocardyahoo
·3 weeks agoEvery Ebay seller should know that the Ebay Money Back Guarantee put limits on when a claim for INR may be filed.
It is the sellers responsibility to ship via a method which results in on time delivery.
I refused to export for many years and only resumed exporting when Ebay offered its Ebay Global Shipping and Ebay International Shipping programs.
If Ebay is not offering one of those programs in Portugal, you might consider limiting or eliminating international sales.
12345jamesstamps
·3 weeks agoSome won't like what I say but some South American countries need to be blocked depending on what you sell. It's best to block certain countries so this doesn't happen again. And even though you block certain countries...these buyers can still purchase from you using a 'freight forward' address of the USA.
It's always best to check the feedback of a buyer and their eBay ID country as to what a seller should do. I usually call out the buyer and tell them the item might take longer to arrive to their country...I also photo the package with postage on it and send that as well. Communication is important even though the buyer might not be able to read English...thus the package with postage on it sent as a photo to the buyer. I am usually lucky with international buyers but I have blocked a few countries from there because of past experiences a long time ago.
Sometimes looking at other sellers blocked countries might give a little incite to which countries to block.
Does this help?...It doesn't hurt.
onefootflipper
·3 weeks agoThere are plenty of lists out there. However they are useless for the average seller. All they are going to do is max out your block list with accounts that are largely no longer active and are never likely to attempt to purchase anything for you.
Shared lists are only good between sellers who have a focused specialty. You would need to get a list from someone else who only sold expensive pens and pencils. My list would be worthless to you.
bashort
·Jul 12, 2026 at 11:58 AMThere are several "lists" of bad ebay buyers outside ebay, they are easy to find and worthless
.
fullers_uk
·Jul 12, 2026 at 8:56 AMNo there isn’t, although ebay has heavily integrated artificial intelligence its no help when they need to be working on artificial instincts as they are not, we need to use our own instincts, if we sense something is wrong use the block bidders list, and if there’s the slightest thing wrong the address issue is always handy for a reason to bump an order off.
christworks
·Jul 12, 2026 at 2:54 AM · EditedTwo things: I'm not surprised you had that issue given that part of the world. In three years I've never not had a problem when shipping to that part of the world. It isn't necessarily even the buyer's fault. There is so much corruption I'm sure you have people stealing packages and mail every day, but I'm not going to be the fall guy for it. They can order through EIS if they want something bad enough and want buyer protection.
I have no issues shipping to a freight forwarder, but I also send the buyer a message and let them know straight up that they lose eBay buyer protection when using a freight forwarder, and once it is scanned delivered at the freight forwarder, my responsibility will end. I don't play any games with them.
Second thing: Such lists do exist, but you won't find them here as they are against the rules. However, as @annadryl alluded to, I don't know how practical it is to add random people from such a list when you don't know both sides of the stoy. You can only block 5000 people. Let me tell you, there many, many more than that that circulating around as bad buyers.
I would never share my block buyer's list with anybody. I've had people priviate message asking for the user names of certain buyers I've talked about here. I don't honor such requests. I respect the rules, even in priviate. Simply because someone is a bad buyer for me, doesn't mean they are a bad buyer for you. I block people simply for asking stupid questions or people I view as time wasters. In fact, I am getting ready to block one now.
Just as an example: I sent an offer tonight on some DVDs. They wrote back asking if I had another one that is part of the series. I let them know I don't. They said they were going to buy mine, so I'm like great. Then, an hour later, they write asking if the DVDs are in good condition and whether they skip. I send the auto AI reponse to them that restates what is in the listing. Then they write, "Great, I will buy them some time tomorrow."
What the heck? This buyer is a time waster. They have no intention of buying, and if they do they will likely be a problem. So tonight I'll end the listing to break the offer, relist, and block them.
Just becuase I don't want to deal with this person, doesn't mean I'm right about what will happen if they buy from me. It also doesn't mean they won't be a fine buyer for someone else.
annadryl
·Jul 12, 2026 at 2:34 AMI am sorry your transaction went wrong, but a public blacklist of "scammers" is a terrible idea. Who would create these lists and who would they pass them to? What if a single buyer of yours was unhappy with just one transaction, whoever's fault, and added you to a public "scam sellers" list?
Blacklists have always been against the rules in most forums. They are usually just opinions and should not condemn anyone.
ulfesharpe
OPJul 12, 2026 at 8:41 AMYou have a point there
inhawaii
·Jul 12, 2026 at 2:32 AMYou're welcome to have my list of blocked buyers.