IRRESPONSIBLE BIDDING PRACTICES

[irishhensman]

I am a long time ebay member. I have not been active in community postings. I don't always read the ever-changing rules, policies, guidelines, etc., as I practice common sense and personal responsibility, so my question may seem naive. I am coming from the position of an independent seller; someone who is grateful to ebay for the opportunity to buy and sell used and new items with others who do the same. I also understand that the sheer volume of commerce that goes through ebay makes this irrelevant to owners/stockholders. Have bidding guidelines changed?  I have noticed a distinct change in bidder practices the past several years, and I wonder if others find this problematic as a seller. It seems a bid is no longer a contract(in spirit), and has little responsibility inherent in it any longer. I have had multiple items sell which bidders decline to pay for. Bidders have acknowledged having multiple bids on the same item from other sellers. Bidders have acknowledged purchasing from other sellers after they have won an auction or in the position of "highest bidder." I no longer see a way to leave warranted negative feedback. This served both as a protective device for sellers, and a corrective device to change or inhibit irresponsible bidding/selling. If a bid no longer carries an obligation; How is a seller able to have confidence in this process? How do bidders restrain themselves from unethical practices? It seems a simple step towards restoring some integrity might be to make it mandatory  that a bidder must contact a seller, and request a bid to be cancelled within a reasonable time frame before that auction ends. It seems also that bidders should not be able to place a bid on a similar item, or buy a similar item, without initiating that process. Is this resonating with anyone as a seller? 

[reallynicestamps]

Buyers don't like auctions.

Why wait seven days to be sniped at the last second?

There are more Unpaid auctions than Fixed Price although less than 15% of transactions are auctions.

Basically you are applying 20th century thinking to the 21st century internet.

You may be happier selling Fixed Price/Immediate Payment Required, which leaves your product available for 30 days or until someone actually pays.  And if no one does, the listing will automatically renew with no effort on your part.

[soh.maryl]

Some of the rules have been in place for many years, so cannot really be categorized as "ever changing".

The rule about sellers not being able to leave negative FB for buyers has been in place for at least 10-15 years, maybe longer.

When a buyer has not paid within 4 days past the end of the listing/auction, the seller simply cancels, citing as the reason "buyer did not pay".  Transaction cancelled, FVF refunded and buyer has a strike.  Two in twelve months mean that most smart sellers have set their listings so they do not have to deal with him.  eBay has no way to force a buyer to pay nor a seller to ship.

It seems like reading the rules and guidelines along with any changes would go a long way to protect you in a lot of cases.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Bidding guidelines have not changed.   eBay has never been able to force buyers to pay for auctions, but perhaps the problem of non-paying auction winners has gotten worse

Sellers have been unable to leave negative or neutral feedback ratings for buyers since May 20, 2008.

eBay no longer has a "3 strikes and you're out" policy for non-paying buyers. That disappeared shortly after eBay introduced the site preferences option that sellers can use to block bidders/buyers based on the nonpayment strikes that they have received.

[fashunu4eeuh]

There are a few tools eBay has provided to deal with non-payers. In Buyer Requirements, sellers can set their requirements to block serial non-payers. Mine are set to block any buyer with two or more non-payment strikes in a 12 month period, which is the strictest setting. 

In addition to BR, eBay has enabled sellers to set their listings to Immediate Payment Required. This is for fixed price currently, but we have heard eBay may be considering such a setting for use with Best Offer as well. It doesn’t extend to auctions, as a buyer would need to be present for the end of an auction listing.

Feedback is no longer the center of one’s eBay reputation as it was in the early days. Giving a buyer a negative feedback wouldn't control the non-paying problem as most sellers don’t know who their buyer will be until the last few seconds of an auction or when the shopper clicks on Buy It Now. Plus, sellers cannot cancel transactions after the sale without risk to their accounts, as seller-initiated cancellations can carry heavy penalties. It is the #1 cardinal sin on eBay.

So consulting feedback as a way of controlling non-payers becomes a moot point. Giving a non-paying buyer a strike is far more effective in dealing with the issue than leaving negative feedback that few sellers will see or investigate prior to a sale.

Ebay halted the practice of sellers leaving negative feedback after the process suffered widespread abuse by bad sellers. They would leave retaliatory negatives for buyers who left justified negatives for them. Buyers would leave the platform for good after such an experience. 

As it is now, feedback is subjective, making it possibly an unreliable measure of one’s desirability as a trading partner. (This is why feedback is no longer a part of a seller’s metrics.) Therefore the issue of non-payment is a complex issue that has no easy answer. But in my opinion, it couldn’t be adequately deterred through going back to negative feedback for buyers.

[bashort]

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@irishhensman wrote:

I am a long time ebay member. I have not been active in community postings. I don't always read the ever-changing rules, policies, guidelines, etc., as I practice common sense and personal responsibility, so my question may seem naive. I am coming from the position of an independent seller; someone who is grateful to ebay for the opportunity to buy and sell used and new items with others who do the same. I also understand that the sheer volume of commerce that goes through ebay makes this irrelevant to owners/stockholders. Have bidding guidelines changed?  I have noticed a distinct change in bidder practices the past several years, and I wonder if others find this problematic as a seller. It seems a bid is no longer a contract(in spirit), and has little responsibility inherent in it any longer. I have had multiple items sell which bidders decline to pay for. Bidders have acknowledged having multiple bids on the same item from other sellers. Bidders have acknowledged purchasing from other sellers after they have won an auction or in the position of "highest bidder." I no longer see a way to leave warranted negative feedback. This served both as a protective device for sellers, and a corrective device to change or inhibit irresponsible bidding/selling. If a bid no longer carries an obligation; How is a seller able to have confidence in this process? How do bidders restrain themselves from unethical practices? It seems a simple step towards restoring some integrity might be to make it mandatory  that a bidder must contact a seller, and request a bid to be cancelled within a reasonable time frame before that auction ends. It seems also that bidders should not be able to place a bid on a similar item, or buy a similar item, without initiating that process. Is this resonating with anyone as a seller? 

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I always wondered  why when a bidder wins a auction the payment is not made immediately at the end of the auction? Or when a buyer makes a offer and the seller accepts it the transaction is not completed? 

[bashort]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Buyers don't like auctions.

Why wait seven days to be sniped at the last second?

There are more Unpaid auctions than Fixed Price although less than 15% of transactions are auctions.

Basically you are applying 20th century thinking to the 21st century internet.

You may be happier selling Fixed Price/Immediate Payment Required, which leaves your product available for 30 days or until someone actually pays.  And if no one does, the listing will automatically renew with no effort on your part.

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I love auctions as a buyer but never sell using them, It is not near as good as it used to be but I have made a lot of money buying industrial items on auctions and reselling  them BIN because industrial buyers do not want to waste time with auctions. 

[dr.dodge]

 drdodge i agree,i too  am a seller and . have had 2  buy it now's cancelled because people are not paying attention to the description. Why do  we have protocols if not enforced ? I thought a bid was a binding contract ?

[reallynicestamps]

I always wondered why when a bidder wins a auction the payment is not made immediately at the end of the auction?

With an auction, the buyer may not be around when the auction closes. 

DH used to electronically snipe auctions in Australia which closed when he was fast asleep at 3am EST.

Or when a buyer makes a offer and the seller accepts it the transaction is not completed?

Sellers may not be around when the offer is made and buyers may not be around when the offer is accepted.

It is possible to set parameters on Best Offers that automatically accept Offers over a certain amount. The buyer can pay those immediately, because of the immediate acceptance.

If the bid is too low or if there is a counter-offer/haggle this may not be possible.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Winning Bidders are NOT allowed to NOT pay.

They get a 'ding' and after just 2 in a year, they can be withheld from bidding on any other sellers that has that check marked in their buyer parameters. 

[onlinecentral]

The buyers are paying the Final Value and Managed Payment fees, ultimately.

Shown those fees as a separate line item when the customer places a bid or clicks on Buy-It-Now. Make those fees non refundable. Would that reduce non paying bidders and cancellations? Pass along part or all of the fees to the sellers to compensate them for their time in dealing with Unpaid Items and Cancellations.

It would be nice to not take a loss on those $0.30 swipe fees.

[luckythewinner]

If a bid no longer carries an obligation; How is a seller able to have confidence in this process?

The sellers who don't have a problem with auctions probably have confidence in auctions. The sellers who have a problem with auctions probably don't. 

I have noticed a distinct change in bidder practices the past several years

What you may not have noticed is that sellers have largely abandoned the auction format because it is a poor fit when you are selling what are essentially commodity items with established values. 

Most sellers who have struggle with non-payment for auctions have switched to fixed price listings with immediate payment required. 

[downunder-61]

I always wondered  why when a bidder wins a auction the payment is not made immediately at the end of the auction?

Because auctions can end in the middle of the night/while you are at work etc as eBay is a world wide site

Or when a buyer makes a offer and the seller accepts it the transaction is not completed? 

eBay are trialing a system where an offer made to a seller requires the buyer to upload the payment source details, that will be auto charged if the offer is accepted. 

This in the very early stages I beleive, and some sellers love it, others hate it, so time will tell as to whether this becomes the norm.