@bootedtech
It looks like you are a buyer and an occasional seller from Australia.
Yet you have posted to the Seller Board.
It also looks as if your sales were of mass produced electronica.
So much fun dissecting!
If you are being outbid on your own attempted purchases, then you won't get much sympathy here.
Seller love last minute sniping. It raises prices.
If you constantly lose to last second snipe bids, you are not bidding high enough.
Do some research to see what the actual market price for those items would be.
Keep in mind that as an Australian, you will be paying heavy shipping costs, which a North American buyer does not have to consider and that Australia has high import costs, both duty and sales taxes.
Few Americans have to consider those when placing their bids.
(We Canadians do, but we adjust.)
They can bid higher and still pay less on the bottom line.
In my opinion, given these facts, you would be better to buy Fixed Prince items, preferably those shipped with the Global Shipping Program, which would mean you would see your doorstep costs before you pay, you would always win when you "bid", and you would have five or six times as many listings to choose from, because less than 15% of eBay transactions are Auctions.
If you are complaining as a seller, your location is working against you.
Again you have high shipping, and even your winning bidders will blanche when they consider both the cost and the long delivery period. (For American readers, Australia Post has announced that they are not offering Air Mail service for parcels, only for lettermail during these pandemic times. This means up to three months delay.)
You mentions "0" FB customers.
Those are the ones who will be doing the least research.
They don't notice your location, and don't understand what it means to be buying from overseas.
They don't understand they are bidding in an Auction or that they are in a real contract. They are the customers who when they don't immediately win, shrug and move on to a Fixed Price item in their own country. Maddening, but understandable.
You seem to be dealing in electronics, which is a high value/high fraud category.
You will, no matter what else you do, have a higher rate of scammers than someone like me who sells sewing patterns.
If you want to have more completed sales, you have had a few suggestions already and I have more.
- Forget Auctions. Set your price, even set it a bit high and invite Best Offers. Your listings will be open for 30 days or until they are actually purchased.
- Add Immediate Payment Required. The listing stays open until it is actually PAID.
- Set your Seller Preferences/Buyer Requirements to automatically Block bidders/buyers with Unpaid Item Strikes. Even 0FB bidders may have these since few members ever bother to leave any FB at all.
- Set your shipping parameters to Block bids from countries you do not want to ship to. You can Block entire continents if you want to.
- Monitor your bids, if you stick with Auctions, to cancel and Block, bidders who are in countries you do not ship to or even to manually cancel 0FB buyers.
