An interesting interaction with a buyer

[cereal_shopper]

So, last week I exchanged some interesting messages with a prospective buyer.  This is how it went.

Buyer:  

$*** offer

(60% of listed price)

Me:  after looking at his feedback, shrieking in horror, and blocking

That's too low. Moreover, I see that out of the last 15 feedbacks you left for other sellers 8 were for returns and refunds. 50%+ possibility of a case being opened is way too high for my taste.

Buyer:

I'm reporting you based on the content of your message and your discriminatory practices.

Me:

This only proves my point.

Buyer:

You have been reported to the eBay customer service and safety team.

The end

[luckythewinner]

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@cereal_shopper wrote:

Me:  after looking at his feedback, shrieking in horror, and blocking

That's too low. Moreover, I see that out of the last 15 feedbacks you left for other sellers 8 were for returns and refunds. 50%+ possibility of a case being opened is way too high for my taste.

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This was an interesting exchange indeed!

Knowing that buyers have the ability to inflict financial and other damage on eBay seller accounts, why on earth would provoke a buyer who has a clear history of inflicting financial and other damage on eBay seller accounts?

[cereal_shopper]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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why on earth would provoke a buyer who has a clear history of inflicting financial and other damage on eBay seller accounts?

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Sometimes you simply have to call the people out.

[lovtaco0]

Never say that to a buyer. Block and move on, or block and send a polite message to decline their offer then move on.

This buyer can easily create a guest account to circumvent your block just to cause you financial harm.

Alerting the buyer that you can see their bad feedback history and that's why you blocked them could prompt them to create a new account and never leave feedback so future sellers will have no warning when he sends an offer.

Always stay professional!

[radtech1971]

Let them “report” you to whomever they please. You have the right to choose not to sell to anyone.

[m60driver]

As a seller you should have simply ignored the offer without any response and then blocked the buyer.  Why you would have interacted with this buyer in the manner you did simply for personal entertainment is beyond me.  Why invite troubles?

[pburn]

Perhaps it is customer you've already called out . . .

I recommend you utilize the auto-decline feature.

[little.font.lord.leroy]

"That's too low. Moreover, I see that out of the last 15 feedbacks you left for other sellers 8 were for returns and refunds. 50%+ possibility of a case being opened is way too high for my taste."

Have you stooped to the same level you seem to accuse the buyer of being at?

I am curious as to what the purpose of the above message was (to humiliate the buyer?), and why you chose to share it here (to boast?)

A professional seller would have refused the offer and left a message like, "thank you for your offer but I am unable to lower the price at this time." and then quietly blocked the buyer.

[twnpopcards]

Best move would to have just blocked them and declined the offer.  Getting into verbal exchanges with buyers does nothing for you except to create a buyer who will now probably look for a way to get even with you.  This will probably come from a new account, or one they already have established since Ebay does not automatically block all of their accounts, which they could easily do.  So I would make a note of where the buyer lives (usually in the email) and watch my sales closely to see if I suddenly get a sale on that or another item from that area.  I have used this many times to ferret out potential revenge motivated buyers and have found that to be a very useful tactic, although nothing is perfect with the tools that Ebay gives us.

[city*satins]

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@cereal_shopper wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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why on earth would provoke a buyer who has a clear history of inflicting financial and other damage on eBay seller accounts?

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Sometimes you simply have to call the people out.

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Well, you may feel that way but I think one has to weigh the costs vs benefits.  Personally, I'd not have done that as he has more ability to inflict harm on my business than I have to prevent that harm or even cause him to be caught and punished for it.

For instance, if you were to block him and he purchased from you under a different ID, even if you had 100% proof that he purchased from you to bypass your block, eBay would still tell you to ship to him.  And if he then negged you but wrote something that didn't refer to your earlier dialog, the neg would stay and if he opened a case against you he would prevail.

So what is the benefit when you 'call out' a person like that?

You can't always effect positive change by directly challenging people and making them angry.

[oldwestgold]

I fully understand your frustration and need to throw a gut punch for the low offer to the buyer.  I have found, not only within eBay as a seller but in life, the less said the better.  If I want to feel better about a bad situation I go grab a beer instead of having the last word. Words always seem to come back around even though you may be 100 % correct. What I do with low ballers - totally ignore them. Don't decline, don't do anything. 8 out of 10 chances they will get the hint and come back with a more reasonable offer.  Although in your case after checking their FB, I would have blocked them from bidding also. eBay is getting saturated with scammers and scumbags that waste sellers time. Life is too short to allow them to waste my time.  Just my opinion which is worth dirt. Sell on!