Buyer from Hell

[the-casemaker]

I've been an Ebay seller and user for 6 years. I have 100% feedback, numerous return customers, and operate in the higher echelon area of my chosen field - collectible books and custom slipcases.

   I am authoring this post - my first ever - due to the nightmare I have just been through in the last 24 hours. A nightmare  perpetrated by a 'customer' who seemed to literally circumvent or break every rule in the Ebay user agreement during that period.

  Yesterday this person started sending me 'offers' on an item that had already been heavily discounted. Not wishing to have any more of my time wasted after the second low-ball offer, and also informing them that the item has already been discounted 50%, I simply placed them on my block list . As we all do with disrespectful or time wasting buyers.

   Later that evening, I get an order for the item concerned from a different user ID. Upon examining the order, its is clear that its the same person I had placed on my block list less then 2 hours previously. I contacted Ebay to see if there had been a mistake. How could a buyer on my Block List purchase an item? And if they had, what could I do? Ebay rep Brittany (great job by the way) advised me to cancel the order, place the second user Id on my block list, report the buyer for circumventing my block list by using multiple User IDs, and get back in touch if there were any other issues. So that's what I did.

 I wake up this morning to find that during the night, the buyer has gone and done the same thing again, this time with ANOTHER user ID. He has also added a threatening and abusive message with the order just for good measure, warning me that if I don't process the order he will report me to Ebay. No joke. This now is two fraudulent orders, two circumvention of my buyer requirement and management page, and some abuse just for good measure.

   Not surprisingly, I cancelled the second order and let him know that this is not acceptable behavior, that I do not do business with abusive buyers who break Ebay's terms of service, and that he has also been reported to Ebay for the continued infractions. I even gave him Brittany's name and the call log number. I was thinking at this point that he would have got the message and gone away. Not likely.

   Next I get TWO more messages, full of more threats and more abuse, closely followed by a full paragraph  negative  feedback, questioning my sanity and calling me yet more abusive names. Lovely.

  So in summary - so far we have two fraudulent transactions, both made by circumventing Ebay's own buyer management page, three abuse and threat filled messages sent via the Ebay message system, and one malicious negative feedback specifically designed to harm my business. In six years, I have never encountered anything even remotely like it.

   Now the good news. After calling Ebay to report this person for the third time, the feedback was removed within the hour and his account is currently under investigation by Ebay Trust & Safety. What I would like to know please from my fellow long suffering sellers, is there anywhere else that this buyer's user ID's - all three of them - can be posted or shared with other sellers to ensure they do not suffer the same treatment?

Thanks for your time

Joshua

The Casemaker

[the-casemaker]

Don't think I was harsh. Merely pointing out that allowing abuse or criminal behavior to go unchallenged does nothing but allow it to continue. I was told to move along, I returned the compliment.

[gurlcat]

For what it's worth, I appreciate that you would like to warn fellow sellers about this person; if you were allowed to share their handle I would definitely like the heads up and add them to my BBL.  Another selling platform I'm on has a whole sub forum for sharing blocks, and you can write about what they did and all that.  Of course, just like on Ebay a person can start as many new accounts as they want, but a seller there can set their account to reject anyone with fewer than ___ positive feedbacks, and you can even give buyers negative/neutral feedback!  This is all possible only because it's a very small, 'niche' platform (aquarium fish) run mainly by ONE guy, and selling there is 100% free but there's a feature to send him donations and I hear he does pretty well that way, so he has no incentive to protect scammers and harassers just to keep them buying there.  

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@gurlcat wrote:

For what it's worth, I appreciate that you would like to warn fellow sellers about this person; if you were allowed to share their handle I would definitely like the heads up and add them to my BBL.  Another selling platform I'm on has a whole sub forum for sharing blocks, and you can write about what they did and all that.  Of course, just like on Ebay a person can start as many new accounts as they want, but a seller there can set their account to reject anyone with fewer than ___ positive feedbacks, and you can even give buyers negative/neutral feedback!  This is all possible only because it's a very small, 'niche' platform (aquarium fish) run mainly by ONE guy, and selling there is 100% free but there's a feature to send him donations and I hear he does pretty well that way, so he has no incentive to protect scammers and harassers just to keep them buying there.  

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That's actually the one type of forum where it CAN be useful.  I'm on such a forum too, though with much broader scope & sharing our BBL's on there, can & does help.   Just sharing them on one of the myriad of BBL lists on the internet is not useful to me, as you have a limited number of blocks, so I prefer to use them on people who buy what I sell, not randos who buy auto parts or fishing gear.  So, OP if you are on any book-specific forums, that's where you get the most bang for your buck as far as BBL lists. 

[gurlcat]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

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   So, OP if you are on any book-specific forums, that's where you get the most bang for your buck as far as BBL lists. 

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YES, THAT!  I'm on a few vintage category groups on Facebook where the admins allow block recommendations.  Definitely helpful to ban only buyers that might actually look at the specific things you sell.  
BTW do you happen to know what the limit is for blocked buyers?  Mine's starting to look like a big paragraph and I've often wondered if I can add as many as I want. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@gurlcat wrote:

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

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   So, OP if you are on any book-specific forums, that's where you get the most bang for your buck as far as BBL lists. 

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YES, THAT!  I'm on a few vintage category groups on Facebook where the admins allow block recommendations.  Definitely helpful to ban only buyers that might actually look at the specific things you sell.  
BTW do you happen to know what the limit is for blocked buyers?  Mine's starting to look like a big paragraph and I've often wondered if I can add as many as I want. 

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I Believe it's 5000 ID's, though you could easily look it up.  

[gurlcat]

OH if it's anywhere near that many, I'm good, ha.    If I had to guess I'd say I have 100 or so.  

[vintagecraze50]

Correct-avoid conflict on this website as much as you can.

[fashunu4eeuh]

” …Not wishing to have any more of my time wasted after the second low-ball offer, and also informing them that the item has already been discounted 50%, I simply placed them on my block list . As we all do with disrespectful or time wasting buyers.”

Having some patience and tolerance for buyers who haggle can benefit the selling process. In some parts of the world, haggling is the polite way to conduct a transaction. In these cultures, the shopping experience revolves around it, and is expected. Being that we are a nation built on cultural diversity, eBay sellers may encounter such buyers.

Since my reason for being on a global marketplace is to sell to as broad a buying population as possible, i would not have blocked a buyer after only the second exchange. Nor would i have considered the buyer a time-waster nor disrespectful at that junction. It was merely the opening of negotiations.

Perhaps in the future it would be helpful to re-think the strategy of accepting Best Offer on a heavily discounted item.

It sounds like you may have had a serious buyer who really wanted the item, and you were perhaps too quick to withdraw from the process. In addition, since sellers cannot know for certain that a second buyer is a previously blocked user, canceling such a sale may instead upset an innocent buyer unrelated to the first situation. 

Things could have gone differently in this situation, but i recognize the bottom line —that every seller has a right to not do business with any buyer at their discretion.

[the-casemaker]

The buyer lives in the US and this wasn't haggling. He's left 15 negative feedbacks for other sellers in the last 6 months alone. Vindictive and malicious comments designed to hurt those seller's business. Not a serious buyer at all, just a lowballing nasty problem waiting to happen in fact.

You also can't remove the Best Offer function if/when having sale. The buyer was informed CLEARLY AND POLITELY that the item had already been discounted. I really don't needs advice on customer service and if you read my post, I didn't ask for it either. But thanks for your input, as way off base as it is.

Clearly your idea of respect and acceptable behavior and mine are very different. In over 20 years of online sales I have NEVER encountered someone who behaved in this fashion, which was precisely why I was asking for advice on warning others.

[the-casemaker]

Update - The buyer concerned has now been suspended by Ebay and his multiple accounts will be deleted after a 30 day period. 

For those of you who believe and who have posted that sellers should 'move along' or "Ebay will do nothing", I have to disagree.  If you don't do anything then nothing will change. There is a system for reporting buyers and sellers who break the Ebay Terms of Service and when it happens it should be used. It makes the site safer for everyone.

 He was reported Sunday morning,  that report was followed up on. His feedback was removed within the day, and within another 3 days they had identified repeat abusive and malicious behavior and have removed his ability to purchase or sell on this site again. 

Thanks Ebay Trust & Safety 🙂

[the-casemaker]

You've quoted one small portion of my post completely out of context. Please explain to me where "haggling" comes into circumventing a seller's buying requirements on multiple occasions, using multiple user ID's , sending abuse filled offensive messages, and leaving malicious feedback designed to harm a seller's business? This guy has left FIFTEEN negative feedbacks for other sellers in the past 6 months alone. I can see them when  I click on his 'Feedback left for others' link on his user profile page. I suppose that was about haggling too was it? 

This has NOTHING to do with cultural diversity. Its got to do with a 'buyer' who was warned repeatedly that his behavior was in breach on eBay's terms of service and who continued, despite those warnings, to behave in an offensive and fraudulent manner because he has no respect for other users and thinks he can get away with it.

[the_fancy_fox]

Let us know when ebay deletes his other accounts. I see no logical reason they are allowing them to stay 30 days before deleting them. 

[itsjustasprain]

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

Let us know when ebay deletes his other accounts. I see no logical reason they are allowing them to stay 30 days before deleting them. 

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I am surprised that Ebay would explain their future plans about another user.

[the-casemaker]

The 30 day period is in order to allow any current transactions and/or shipping concerning that user to be completed. And actually yes they do inform you under any circumstances whereby 1. When there has been more than one user file a report. 2. When the reason for the suspension and account deletion involves fraudulent or criminal activity. 

People really should check there info before publicly doubting a person's integrity or word. Bit like social media on here and I'm actually quite sorry now I posted any of this, and won't be posting here again. Some really disturbing replies and inferences.

Best of luck with all your businesses. I'm done.

[the-casemaker]

The 30 day period is in order to allow any current transactions and/or shipping concerning that user to be completed. And actually yes they do inform you under any circumstances whereby 1. When there has been more than one user file a report. 2. When the reason for the suspension and account deletion involves fraudulent or criminal activity. 

People really should check there info before publicly doubting a person's integrity or word. Bit like social media on here and I'm actually quite sorry now I posted any of this, and won't be posting here again. Some really disturbing replies and inferences.

Best of luck with all your businesses. I'm done.