eBay

hubbajubbajoe · ‎08-28-2018

I've listed about 20 items this month and so far I've had to relist 4 because buyers never pay or even contact me back asking if they've changed their mind. 20% unpaid rate is a pretty pathetic and I have blocked buyers set up already.

How about a setting where sellers can specify in the listing how many days the buyer has to pay before it automatically cancels it? Hell, eBay loves fees so just charge for the feature. I'd love to be able to have it say "This listing requires payment within 2 days". That would be clear and concice to the buyer as it would be specified in the listing, and sellers get screwed less having to wait a week or more to close an unpaid case. I don't think this degrades the buyers experience either as eBay primarily focuses on the buyer and not sellers.

Example:

Before someone suggests "Require immediate payment" im talking specifically about auctions.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-05-2018

@michael_atw wrote:
..payment still had not arrived this morning so I took a quick look at the buyer's feedback. On the first two pages alone there were 8 non payments plus other feedback that was not very complimentary (but because of the Feedback setup, all coming under Positive Feedback).

Against the rules. If buyer cared, they could have them all totally removed.

So true. One call to Ebay CS would do it, and the seller would get a violation on their account.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

@ted_200 wrote:
I just don't see how you can mandate communication from anyone. JMO

You can't. But refusing to communicate is the ONLY way you'll ever end up with an Unpaid Item Strike from me. Of course, the Unpaid Strike is utterly useless, so that's not really much incentive to communicate, is it?

If the block is set to block those with two or more unpaid item strikes in a year for a year, they won't be able to buy from thousands of sellers. Are you saying you don't think that works?

I agree that may not work as an incentive for a buyer because they may not know how it works, until they start getting blocked for bidding or buying.

turquoisetulips · ‎09-06-2018

It's because sellers are in the business now on eBay of harassing to no end their buyers to pay immediately. michael atw - unquote --------------------------------------------------

Are you speaking from just personal experience as a buyer or have you completed reliable research that verifies your statment here is true ? I'm just curious how you know that its become common for sellers to be in the business of harrassing their buyers to pay instantly ? Generalized statements as that should at least require some evidence that this is indeed happening overall .I'm also curious at what your definition of harrasment is ? For instance do you feel harrassed when you receive your monthly utility bills ? or upon receiving a bill for a catalog purchase ? or a car repair ? I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this because I don't see much difference between an e bay seller sending an invoice to a buyer and all these previous examples . As for myself I would never try and speak on behalf of what other sellers do. First of all its not my business to do so ,, but just as importantly I simply don't know how they conduct their business , other than from the sellers I directly purchase from. I've been a buyer on e bay since 1996 and I can say with total honesty I've never felt harrassed upon receiving an invoice from a seller . I realize sellers are here to make a living or at least to supplement their income .Since I've made an agreement to purchase from them I fully understand being sent an invoice . I also agree with what has already been mentioned by another poster on this topic . Its about open communication and having enough integrity to let a seller know if payment can not be made right away . It seems to me that this is the best way to avoid feeling harrassed over incoming invoices that have continuously been left un paid . The problem could easily be resolved with just a bit communication and mutual respect - IMO - Tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎09-06-2018

@pens-n-gems wrote:
If Ebay could be proactive about identifying non-payers and do something about it then that might help. Two days ago I accepted a Best Offer (for a £125 item being sold on behalf of a friend), payment still had not arrived this morning so I took a quick look at the buyer's feedback. On the first two pages alone there were 8 non payments plus other feedback that was not very complimentary (but because of the Feedback setup, all coming under Positive Feedback).
This concerned me so I thought I would contact Customer Services to discuss whether I could cancel the order rather than risk a future issue. I spent 15 minutes being sent in circles trying to find a Contact Link that would take me to someone. As it turned out, when I thought I was going through a 'tutorial' on what to do to cancel, I clicked on the 'problem with address' to see what it said, it was not a tutorial but actually cancelled the sale. I then spent another 10 minutes trying to find a working Link to customer services to explain what had happened, but had to give up. There seems to be no email option or live chat available, the only option was to telephone, but when I clicked on that it was outside the PT opening hours (??)
So two things that Ebay could do ..... i) Look at how someone with so many Non-Payments and Negative Feedbacks (which actually at first glance show as being Positive Feedbacks) can continue as an active member, and have some sort of obvious Flag that identifies these members ii) Make it easier to contact Customer Support. pens - unquote

Contrary to some of the opinions expressed by others here I'm sure you've already read . Buyers should be expected to be just as mindful of sellers as sellers are expected to be mindful of their buyers . I don't find anything humorous or fun at keeping sellers in the dark . Just as I wouldn't if a seller accepted a buyers payment and then took an extended length of time to ship or not at all . Tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎09-06-2018

I just don't see how you can mandate communication from anyone. JMO

You can't. But refusing to communicate is the ONLY way you'll ever end up with an Unpaid Item Strike from me. Of course, the Unpaid Strike is utterly useless, so that's not really much incentive to communicate, is it? Ted

Agree ,, we can't mandate communication and I doubt any reasonable person expects that its even possible to . However that doesn't mean that buyers or sellers must put up with game players. Sellers can take turns blocking these types until these types learn there's nobody left that will do business with them. Tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎09-06-2018

@michael_atw wrote:
And why? The old adage is, silence is golden. How I love silence from buyers.

Do you mean ''silence'' as in non payment ? If so,, then I would truly wonder why . I doubt that there are too many e bay sellers that are wealthy people . As a matter of fact just personally speaking there have been a few times in the past that my e bay sales have got me through the week ,, up until then I had been extremely worried on how I was going to pay my bills or even buy groceries . Thats a fact . I doubt I'm the only seller that has faced that as well . I would even bet there are many who have . You might want to consider this possibilty the next time a worried seller wants to communicate with you over payment or better yet ,, just pay what you owe within a reasonable amount of time . Tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎09-06-2018

I'd rather get paid, and relists almost never get as much money Ted - unquote -----------------------------

Or any money at all even . I've had things listed at a BIN or best offer for 30 days that generated anywhere from 5 to 11 watchers over that time only to go unsold then relisted without even so much as a dozen views the next go round . E bay is a peculiar place at times . Tulips

ted_200 · ‎09-06-2018

If the block is set to block those with two or more unpaid item strikes in a year for a year, they won't be able to buy from thousands of sellers. Are you saying you don't think that works?

I don't see any evidence it works. I took it off, my unpaid items did not increase at all. That seems to confirm my idea that having it on was doing more to cause items to sell for less money than it was preventing unpaid items. Fixed price will sell to someone else eventually, for the same money, anyhow. For an Auction, a blocked bid means it still sells, but I get paid less.

I agree that may not work as an incentive for a buyer because they may not know how it works, until they start getting blocked for bidding or buying.

Or they just didn't care. They could just bid with a new ID anyhow. A red donut for non-payment was probably a better deterrent.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-06-2018

Interesting.

Thanks, Ted.

turquoisetulips · ‎09-07-2018

@dilo-8873 wrote:
Michael,
I truly do understand your pain. But sometimes if it weren’t for buyers who do not pay, never pay, causing the seller to ask for payment, causing the “poor buyer” to feel harassed - I guess it could work both ways!
So sorry you had to go through this! dilo to Michael - unquote ------------------------------------------

True , if it weren't for buyers who ignore invoices , ignore requests for communication from their sellers and simply will not pay regardless of the time set by the seller or e bay then the need for sellers to send second or third invoices wouldn't be happening . In the real world we are expected to pay debts within a reasonable time frame and this occurs with ANY bill we receive by any company we do business with or else face the consequences . Concerning your correspondent here,,, I don't suspect he is privy to private buying and selling transactions of other e bayers to be able to make such generalized statement that its become COMMON for sellers to harrass their buyers for payment . I think in reality he's simply speaking from personal experience and not from a generalized knowledge . If someone is creating the need for their sellers to send invoices over and over again which does seem to be the isolated case here then perhaps they shouldn't feel harrassed and instead just go ahead and pay the bill . Tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎09-07-2018

It's annoying as all, it creates a bad experience, and for those like me who used to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars, I have reduced my purchases. It's an endless ordeal with nearly every seller now. Harassed for Michael -atv unquote

Its understandable that a reduction in purchases would occur if a buyer had been blocked by sellers they used to do business with . Tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎09-07-2018

@michael_atw wrote:
That's it, though, it may be that nothing can be done to inspire that communication or facilitate it if the buyer chooses to be uncommunicative.

Only thing funnier than demanding payment is demanding communication. I intentionally ignore excessive or otherwise pointless messages from sellers. It's fun because once in a while one will drive their own self ballistic; four messages blast you and an hour later they cancel the transaction (this being perhaps 48 hours after the purchase was made). You hear about the ways to spot trouble buyers; well, these are ways to spot trouble sellers. michael atw

There are also very clear indicators of troubled buyers as well . Tulips

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎09-07-2018

The block wasn’t a good deterrent because they could get a new ID but yet a red donut would be? How does that make any sense?

Red donuts were a deterrent all right, to good buyers who cared about their reputation and got them undeservedly. It deterred them from buying on EBay.

castlemagicmemories · ‎09-07-2018

@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:
The block wasn’t a good deterrent because they could get a new ID but yet a red donut would be? How does that make any sense?

Red donuts were a deterrent all right, to good buyers who cared about their reputation and got them undeservedly. It deterred them from buying on EBay.

Absolutely. Yet if a buyer leaves a well deserve neg, seller may call incessantly to get it removed whether there are grounds for removal or not. At least now a retaliatory false neg can't be posted on the buyer.

turquoisetulips · ‎09-08-2018

t's annoying as all, it creates a bad experience, and for those like me who used to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars, I have reduced my purchases. It's an endless ordeal with nearly every seller now. Harassed for Michael -atv unquote - -----------------------------------------------------------

Have you noticed the '' it must be everybody else is at fault and not me '' suggestion here ? tulips

I am very skeptical of that. I can say that I have waited weeks for a payment. I have waited a month for payment at least once. That is the manifestation of "patience", IMHO. I doubt you would hold your position if these were true. micheal atv to Ted - unquote

I'm not sure what you're saying there, it soulds like you're suggesting I'm lying? I'm not. Ted reply . unquote ------

For whats its worth ,, I didn't get the impressive you were lying in that post as its been hinted at . However I am very skeptical of the assertions that others do make at times ,, neither do I have a problem with calling it as I see it when it does happen. Tulips