Can you have buyer restrictions?

[websight.2020]

I have read the philosophies of many across many Community posts regarding zero-feedback buyers, negative feedback buyer, and  poor-feedback percentage buyers. I understand people have to start somewhere, and that we all started at zero once upon a time, and that honest people make mistakes....while on the other side, there are pranksters & scammers galore. So I am not asking for debate here. I am simply asking about facts.

Is it true that if I state in that I only accept Buy-It-Now's from zero-feedback buyers when they pay immediately, or that I do not accept auction bids from the three groups I listed....is that defensible in eBay's eyes? Have I covered myself? Or will they say you cannot do that?

I assume that there is no way to automatically reject bids if the buyer is not already on your block list, so can you retroactively remove him from winning if he fits into one of these three groups and you have made the above statements in the listings?

[doc-holmes]

Those terms are unenforceable. And if you cancel sales too often ebay will shut you down. 

[wastingtime101]

These are the only buyer blocks you can set. Anything stated in your description over and above these blocks means nothing and can put your account in jeopardy if you do things like cancel orders because of zero FB.

When you run auction-style listings you have options to cancel bids within certain parameters and timeframes. You'll read on that page that having zero feedback is not one of the valid reasons to cancel bids.

Buyers can only receive positive FB so if someone has a low percent then it's because they've sold here.

You can review buyer feedback left for others and if you see what appears to be a pattern of fraud or abuse, you can cancel bids on live auctions. You cannot cancel sales (within policy) for feedback and if you cancel with the only valid (in eBay's eyes) reason which is out of stock, you'll rack up account defects. Just 2 defects will put you in jeopardy of permanent suspension.

[websight.2020]

OK...so not viable after the auction ends. What about enforcement BEFORE the auction ends. Do I have the option of kicking out a bid from someone in these three groups before the auction ends? I do understand that they could snipe at the end, but if the end result afterwards is non-payment by the person you were trying to avoid, at least I would have a much better chance of making a good second-chance offer to someone else.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Sellers are allowed to cancel any bid before the auction ends, and to block any bidder.

Cancel bid: http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CancelBidShow

Block bidder: http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BidderBlockLogin

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@websight.2020 wrote: ... Community posts regarding zero-feedback buyers, negative feedback buyer, and  poor-feedback percentage buyers. ...

---

Sellers have been unable to leave negative or neutral ratings for buyers since 2008. So if a member has a low percentage or a negative rating, it's due to feedback that they got as a seller, not as a buyer.

---

@websight.2020 wrote: ... Is it true that if I state in that I only accept Buy-It-Now's from zero-feedback buyers when they pay immediately ...

---

You can check off "Immediate payment required" so that ALL of your buyers have to pay  immediately.
As noted in the other posts, you cannot enforce random criteria that you have stated in your listing terms.  There is a VERY short list of valid reasons for canceling a transaction.

[doc-holmes]

---

@websight.2020 wrote:

OK...so not viable after the auction ends. What about enforcement BEFORE the auction ends. Do I have the option of kicking out a bid from someone in these three groups before the auction ends? I do understand that they could snipe at the end, but if the end result afterwards is non-payment by the person you were trying to avoid, at least I would have a much better chance of making a good second-chance offer to someone else.

---

You can cancel bids manually before the auction closes. You can also enable "best offer" on a buy it now listing. Most people will then send you an offer and you can vet them before choosing to accept or not. 

[mtgraves7984]

Or will they say you cannot do that?

@websight.2020 

Regarding the three groups you mentioned... they will say you cannot do that.

[mr_lincoln]

@websight.2020 

The facts are clear in this case.  eBay has set up acceptable block settings in the Seller's Buyer Requirement section that Sellers can work with.  eBay also allows Sellers to Cancel any bid they choose through the Cancel bid process.   If you work within those parameters then there is no issue.

I look at EVERY (0) Feedback Buyer as a potential new customer for the entire platform not just me and sell to them on a regular basis.  The scams we have endured over the years (fortunately not too many)  have been from much higher FB count Buyers ... real pros or should I venture to say experienced criminals?!?

Regardless of what statements a Seller puts in their listings if they can not support them with eBay's Policies then they are meaningless and could possibly be counter productive ...

Mr. L

[a_c_green · Accepted solution]

---

@websight.2020 wrote:

I have read the philosophies of many across many Community posts regarding zero-feedback buyers, negative feedback buyer, and  poor-feedback percentage buyers.

---

You're getting a little too hung up on judging bidders or buyers by their feedback. Buyers can only have 100% feedback as it's impossible to leave anything but a green donut for a buyer in a sale. Negative-feedback buyers are practically nonexistent, as the only way to go negative on a feedback count (or to go less than 100% in rating) is to sell on the same account, and have a short-but-disastrous history of seller Negs while doing so.

You can cancel any bids you like while your auction is running, but once it ends with a winning bidder, you should plan to ship once payment is received, and the buyer has 4 days (96 hours) to do so. If no payment has been received on Day 5 following the time of sale, you can cancel with the reason of "Buyer did not pay," and the deadbeat will get an Unpaid slap. (Before Day 5, you cannot cancel for nonpayment, only for limited other reasons.)

You might want to consider listing items as Fixed Price, no Make Offer, and with the Immediate Payment Required option selected. There's no need for an auction if selling items with a generally accepted known value.

Your Blocked Buyer List is here: https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock?

Your Unpaid Purchases page for automatically closing Unpaid items and giving deadbeats an Unpaid slap is here: https://www.ebay.com/Cancel/Preference/UnpaidPurchase

(There is also an exception list maintained on that page if you want to exclude buyers whom you're allowing to pay late.)

Your Buyer Management page for screening buyers with Unpaid slaps in their history is here: https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

You can view the results of your screening for Unpaid buyers on your Buyer Requirements Activity Log here: https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/blockedbuyeractivities

[websight.2020]

Thanks A.C. (I hope you are as successful as the better-known A.C. Green!)

When I stopped selling in 2007, buyers COULD get negative feedback. I was a buyer as much as a seller, and frankly, having feedback be able to go both ways really helped Buyer & Seller talk to one another more. I experienced sensible resolution as both. So I tend to forget that negative feedbacks will not emanate from someone being a buyer.

I will probably not do the immediate payment most of the time, especially in smaller dollar items, because I am a proponent of combined shipping. I think it benefits both seller & buyer. But if I find that is more trouble than it is worth, I may change my approach.

I had seen some of the links you provided, but not all. That was very helpful as well.

[coolections]

---

@websight.2020 wrote:

zero-feedback buyers,

negative feedback buyer,

poor-feedback percentage buyers.

---

So you are saying you do not want to sell to someone who gave a seller a negative when receiving something not as described. You do not want to sell to someone who had never bought on Ebay before. Also there is no such thing as poor feedback percentage buyers. Sorry but you cannot pick and choose buyers. You can choose to not allow buyers who do not pay though. I hate selling to buyers with green hair but Ebay does not allow me to stop them.

[websight.2020]

Hey cool....

See message 11. I mentioned that I do forget the no negative buyer feedback at times. When I finished selling before (2007), we could do that.

Also, I tried to express by my original opening statement that I have read the pros & cons from a number of different posts about zero-feedback sellers and the like and conceded your point regarding those who have never bought on eBay before. But surely you also recognize that eBay has an epidemic of people who create an account, win listings, and then never pay or communicate thereafter. For me, the jury is still out on my approach. If I have too many of the latter kind of buyers, then the legit ones might not be buying my stuff as much. In summary, I am gathering as much information and input from the Community on this and several other subjects so that I can run my biz as smoothly for all, as profitable for me, and with consideration for the buyer by trying to save him as much as possible on shipping, and to keep the lines of communication open.

[reallynicestamps]

You can set up an automatic Block on bidders with Strikes in the past year.

• These bidders will have had those Strikes imposed by the actions (disputes) of other sellers.

You can cancel any bid (and separately Block the bidder) during the Auction, but not after.

You can set up Immediate Payment Required on any Fixed Price listing.

• The IPR does not kick in if you accept a Best Offer.

You can set up an automatic Block on members with negative feedback.

• These will be Sellers with unhappy buyers since only sellers can get negative feedback.

You can cancel purchases at Buyer Request.

• Sometimes you may have to ask if the buyer wants to cancel because: whatever. For example a buyer may ask for cheaper shipping and you refuse because "cheaper" will be "untracked".

You can cancel purchases for Problem with Address.

• This is very flexible, and sellers have used it to cancel purchases from overseas buyers using US -based freight forwarders (which is silly since those are the second safest delivery addresses)  or when the buyer asks that their purchase be shipped to a different address (a common set up for fraud).

You can opt for eBay's new automatic Unpaid Item Cancellation after 96 hours on the listing page.

If you want to have fewer Unpaid Items, just stop using Auctions.

EBay defaults newbies into auction listings because that supports their brand as the premier online auction site.

But less than 15% of listings are Auctions, and most of those include either Buy It Now or Best Offer, which end the auction before it closes.

[janet9988]

Members with higher feedback could also be scammers..or the account could be hacked.

  When good members see you cancelling bids they will think YOU are scamming someone.

Members can receive the a item after paying and ask for a return if the they feel the item is not as described... they can even lie about it.

NONE of the above would even  be a zero feedback member.