Why do potential buyers/bidders think sellers care about their circumstances?
So I understand a buyer telling me he can't pay for a few days, or what have you. I'm not concerned for the reason, just want to know when payment will happen. Buyers explain the reasons so that we understand, that makes sense.
But what I don't get... is what happened this week.
Bidder wins an item, sends me a message telling me he wants me to end an auction of an item that's ending the "following Sunday" and sell to him to an agreed price so he can pay for both together and get one shipping. OK, that's fine, he wants to combine shipping. So far so good.
I tell him that I'm willing to wait a week for payment and will invoice him for both items when he wins on Sunday so that he can combine shipping, and I tell him what shipping will cost.
So I get this rant about what a busy person he is and how he might be too busy to bid on my auction next Sunday when it ends, and how I should agree on a fair price with him and he'll buy it right now.
For one, I don't have it set up to accept offers. There were already 5 watchers on the item when he told me what coins they were, and in my experience with auctions that I start at 1.29, watchers usually means people who might place a bid (might not be true with my fixed priced items, but on auctions I tend to get quite a bit of bidding when there are watchers). So I'm already not set up to do this.
And secondly, why do I care how busy he is and what excuse he has for not bidding? If getting the coins is so important, either place your maximum bid sometime before the end of the auction and chance it, or sit and watch it end and try to snipe. What other things he has to do, do not concern me in the least. It's just an excuse to get the coins for whatever his concept of a fair price is and deny the others who are interested from having a chance to win the auction. (And for the record, there's 9 watchers now, it's the most watched item... I'm very curious how this will end).
I'm kind of concerned if I block him now I'm opening the door for retaliation if he really "wanted the item". I wouldn't be surprised if he won.
I still remember the stories I got about how they needed the auction to end right away so they could get the item in time for a gift for someone. I remember that one well, it was when I only shipped on Mondays. It was an auction, he contacted me on Tuesday. I told him it doesn't matter if I end the auction now or Sunday, it's not going out until Monday, and there's zero chance he's going to get it in time. (It was going to Australia). He ended up bidding and winning in the end.
C.
monroe67
·2 years ago"So I get this rant about what a busy person he is and how he might be too busy to bid on my auction next Sunday when it ends, and how I should agree on a fair price with him and he'll buy it right now.
For one, I don't have it set up to accept offers. There were already 5 watchers on the item when he told me what coins they were, and in my experience with auctions that I start at 1.29, watchers usually means people who might place a bid (might not be true with my fixed priced items, but on auctions I tend to get quite a bit of bidding when there are watchers). So I'm already not set up to do this."
Two things are clear from this story, your 10,093 feedback, and your long tenure here in the Selling community:
1. You fully understand the way eBay works, and
2. That potential buyer hasn't a clue about the way eBay works. Not in Canada, not in Australia, not in California nor Alabama. Or anywhere in between.
I once had a bidder ask me (my selling ID) to sell an item to her before the end of the auction -- she was in either Ukraine or Russia. (I can't recall now if it was pre-war or not.) She had placed her bid but there were a couple days left. She sent me a message that was very pleasant on the surface, saying how much she wanted the item and how difficult it is to find this kind of item in her country, AND her birthday was coming up, AND why couldn't I just end the auction now and sell it to her outright? Yadda Yadda.
I responded that eBay's auction format doesn't allow what she wanted and I was not going to go against those policies and procedures. I reminded her that I usually am able to send items out within 24 hours after payment is confirmed, although my handing time is two days. She was the winning bidder at the end so it all worked out for her in the end.
Glad you stood your ground!
sin-n-dex
OP2 years agoI've told people that ending an auction early for a specific bidder isn't fair to everyone else bidding or who might be waiting to place their bid, and when pushed, I comment that eBay can suspend an account for violating their polices (I've had to play that card quite a few times over the years).
If you see my sales history, it's apparent that a suspension of even one day is a very big punishment for breaking a rule. Not worth the risk. Sales in a day could be $50 to $500 at any given time, a three day suspension might cost me $800-$1000 in sales. That's a very steep fine for breaking a rule to make one buyer happy (and a deserved punishment for disappointing several buyers), plus disappointed buyers might not bid on the auctions in future, and I need the bidding so I get enough for my stuff. I start the coin auctions at 1.29 to encourage lots of interest.
C.
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoI pretend I am not around.
Although I do read all emails.
If someone wants it the buyer will bid the highest to bid for it and win.
You are letting the buyer manipulating you.
Can I give you a song and a dance.....in a sale?
In the USA...we...us have the more retire type who get a social security payment once a month.
Coins and stamps...usually the older crowd.
If it was a "repeat buyer" NO questions asked...I have no problem with repeat buyers...my "bread and butter".
I would check on his feedback and such and then make what I would do.
At least you didn't get one asking for a .15 cent discount.....like me.
sin-n-dex
OP2 years agoFB is a few hundred, and I don't know... but guessing it will be a freight forwarder. But might not be. I'll know later.
This buyer hasn't bid/bought before, so I don't know who he is.
C.
baydealz
·2 years agoFeedback over 10000 and this is new to you? My rule #1 for all things Internet, is that too much info is ALWAYS fraud or scam, period. I'll take the risk that I **bleep** off one out of 5000, but glad that I'm safe 99.9999% of the time. Give a valid option as you suggested, any excuse causes END OF DISCUSSION. Period. There's is always another buyer (on ebay, in real life), why do people get trapped into trying to placate, that's what the scammers bank on. Just move on, a real buyer will find a way.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoYou get all kinds in this business. Trying to deal with something like this is so frustrating, though. It's like we have to mind read or prognosticate the future or something.
I've learnt to just continue conducting my business with best practices and let the rest go. When I've been the "Bendover Boutique" it has almost never ended well.
sin-n-dex
OP2 years agoPart of coping is to share my frustrations with these types and get some feedback from other sellers.
Anywhere in customer service there are interesting things that happen. Today I got a call from Cash Money to see if a cheque was good (no, it wasn't, we stopped and reissued it, the customer has had their money for 2 months now). The cheque cashing place asked me what do they do in this case. I said "call the police, it's fraud". (I passed the info on to their case handler that has all the notes and correspondence... should turn out interesting later on).
Anyway, been a bit of a slow week (after auctions were paid for) and I'm trying to get motivated to do some more listings.
C.