Can't even report a serial bad buyer anymore?

[anjie234]

I have a situation with a buyer and would appreciate any input you may have as

to what to do next. This person made an offer on an item, and I accepted it.

They immediately requested to cancel saying she "made a mistake".  That's fine,

except they made this SAME EXACT offer before on the exact same item, and

requested the same thing! How can one mistakenly do that?

Anyway, I messaged them and just explained eBay policy about offers, and asked

them how this is happening. They got SOOO inflamed! And several nasty messages

followed.

When I looked at her feedback, she has 100% positive...   However when I looked closer,

I saw that some sellers (unable to leave negative feedback) chose to reveal in the

comments that this person habitually does this like some kind of a game!

I figured I'll just let it go, in which case eBay automatically cancels the sale and gives them

an 'Unpaid Item strike'.  

The sale has not yet been canceled and is in "Awaiting Payment", But today I received a few more nasty messages from them. And NOW they have given me a NEGATIVE feedback!!! When I click on "Report this buyer", the options are so specific and there isn't one that would be correct!  At the top it says "If your buyer hasn't paid, please open an unpaid item case."  When I click on that, I'm taken to the normal Cancel an Item page where the only reasonable option is "Buyer requested a cancellation".  It's NOT going to give her an unpaid item strike!!  They buyer just gets their way, and nobody will know what they are really up to. AND I have a tarnished feedback rating!!!       What can I do?

[ittybitnot]

 This buyer did NOT open a request to cancel. I did not receive anything from ebay.

@anjie234 

Since I have been posting to this discussion, I perhaps misunderstood that the "buyer did not request to cancel"....Perhaps due to this: 

They immediately requested to cancel saying she "made a mistake".  That's fine,

except they made this SAME EXACT offer before on the exact same item, and

requested the same thing! How can one mistakenly do that?

It is has been my understanding (perhaps not correct) that the buyer can  either ASK THE SELLER TO CANCEL  or  fill out some cancellation request form which the seller can accept or deny.  It will be interesting to see if you can indeed file for non-payment  after the 96 hours and award the buyer a strike.  Your neg from a non-paying buyer should be removed automatically, but you may have to "work for it " anyway.   

Please update so we can help others. 

[wastingtime101]

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@anjie234 wrote:

I do have it set for automatic. AND I had it set for 7 days! (which I have now changed to 4)

Good to hear it's resolved, canceled, and you can move past it.

For future reference on the above quoted portion: if you didn't cancel as buyer-requested and relied on the unpaid automatic settings, I believe changing it to 4 days would only apply go-forward. In other words, transactions that took place while the 7 day setting was active (like the one in question) would still take 7 days to cancel.

[anjie234]

Okay....  yes, yes, got it!  Thanks much!

[anjie234]

If you handle unpaid items manually then you can cancel after 4 full calendar days (after midnight tonight).

If you have system preferences to handle automatically, system will cancel 96 hours after the sale (if that's the time frame you chose).

Thank you very much for your response. I have it set to automatically cancel, but I had it set for 7 days!

Idk why I did that, but I've changed it now.

Also, this situation has been resolved (see my other post for specifics), but the buyer retracted the

negative and apologized profusely for the trouble they caused! So, YAY!

They, once again, won't be reported for abuse of policy, which is a shame.

[anjie234]

THIS SITUATION HAS BEEN RESOLVED!  (in an unconventional way that could have backfired), but

the buyer retracted / revised the negative feedback. I cancelled the order (with the reason "buyer requested"). Then added them to blocked buyers.   And I have, of course, learned a lesson.

Sadly, they will continue to get away with their abuse of policy and continue to do this.

Lastly, I would like to extend a heartfelt THANKS to all of you who responded.

I greatly appreciate you!

Anjie

[femmefan1946]

Sadly, they will continue to get away with their abuse of policy and continue to do this.

The only way to stop a serial deadbeat is to refuse cancellation on request-> go to the Unpaid Item Cancellation-> give the deadbeat a Strike-> use the automatic Block on deadbeats with Strikes.

Generally when the cancellation request is a one off, it's best to agree cancel and both members go their way.

But.

When there is a track record of cancellations, the seller would be irresponsible to allow a requested cancellation.

Because while it may work for this instance, it does nothing to protect the seller community.

The UID "cancellation" and the Strikes do protect our fellow sellers.

The "track record" might be those false positives, but the Strikes work even when the deadbeat is trying to bid and is turned away.

It can be interesting to see how many bids the Strike system has turned away, but it's not something most sellers ever bother to look at.

[downunder-61]

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@ebooksdiva wrote:

Why are you not canceling when the buyer requested it?  Now you can cancel for nonpayment add the buyer to your blocked buyer list and ignore and delete any messages.

You should have placed that buyer in your blocked buyer list when you had your first encounter with them, if you did, you wouldn’t be dealing with this now. 
 ETA:All buyers have positive feedback. eBay removed the option of negative and neutral feedback for sellers to give buyers in 2008.

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And the OP has added to the positives by leaving false green dots, smh.

[mam98031]

@anjie234 

You are trying to play a game with this buyer that you simply can't win on Ebay.  I understand the feeling and why you have done what you did, but you can't win.

You can rarely tell anything about a buyer from their FB page.  Go to their FB left for sellers.  See what they write about their sellers they deal with.  That is what is the most telling about the buyer.  You got a little lucky here that some sellers were willing to break the rules and leave some negative comments.

As you have already found out that negative FB went away.  And that is how it should be.

Now once you have this transaction Cancelled due to buyer request.  Now begins the reporting of the buyer.  Always wait until you have completed the transaction.

I'm sure somewhere on this thread you have been advice to get this buyer on your BBL.  

You should now Report the Buyer.

Now you also want to report those outrageous messages they sent you.

Member-to-member contact policy | eBay

In my personal opinion, your buyer is so out of line on so many levels, I would get in contact with Ebay via Social Media.  Have everything ready.  All their emails, any notes on things you want to make sure you tell the CSR, the behavior of this buyer with your listings, all that stuff.  I'm so sorry you had to endure this.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.

https://twitter.com/askebay?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/


If when you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant, type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.

https://www.ebay.com/help/contact_us?id=4002&st=10

[anjie234]

Yes, I'm smh, too!

What?!

[anjie234]

thank you!

[buyselljack2016]

Yup, grousing about how buyers have 100% positive ratings, and has passed out 4 of those, "basically free", positives in the past month. SMH as well.

[bendel23]

What do you do when you’ve blocked a buyer for buying items, then never pays habitual, I’ve blocked 4 diff names all buying the same item and doing the same antics! What is the point of blocking we have no representation from eBay it’s disgusting 

[mam98031]

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@bendel23 wrote:

What do you do when you’ve blocked a buyer for buying items, then never pays habitual, I’ve blocked 4 diff names all buying the same item and doing the same antics! What is the point of blocking we have no representation from eBay it’s disgusting 

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This is an OLD thread.  You may want to start a new one or find a more current thread.

How is a block buyer purchasing from you?

[dryophelia]

@bendel23 

Start a new thread. This one will be locked because of age. 

If you have a blocked user who opens new accounts to get around this block, you can report them. 
Im not sure if eBay takes any action, but at least you’ve done what you can do. 

You can also set your listings to buy it now and require immediate payment. That way, the item doesn’t sell until it’s paid for. 

[mam98031]

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@bendel23 wrote:

What do you do when you’ve blocked a buyer for buying items, then never pays habitual, I’ve blocked 4 diff names all buying the same item and doing the same antics! What is the point of blocking we have no representation from eBay it’s disgusting 

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On each Ebay page there is a link to contact Customer Service at the top of the page and again at the bottom of the page.

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

https://www.ebay.com/help/home