Non payers

[eclecticas7]

Good morning,

I'm fairly new to selling on eBay, disposing of a huge collection of watches collected over many years but I seem to be plagued by non payers, two in the last week, one of which eventually got in touch with me and was very rude.

I was wondering if the more experienced sellers have any tips on miminising these non payers, it seems the worst they get is a black mark against them whatever that means.

Help greatly appreciated.

thank you for your time.

Bob

[myboardid]

First, eBay cannot force buyers to pay, but they do give them a "strike" against their accounts.   eBay has a setting, which you and IMO every seller should use, which prevents buyers from bidding/buying if they have 2 or more strikes within the past 12 months.  You can find it on your Buyer Requirements. 

The other thing you can do is list your items as fixed price, Immediate Payment Required.  That is a box you check off when using the Advanced Listing Form, not just a note you put in your description.  When that requirement is on your listing, the buyer cannot buy until they pay, and the item remains active and available to other buyers until they send payment. 

Understand that buyers can still change their minds.  They can ask for cancellation, or they can get the item, then make a claim that it is not as described, in which case you will be required to accept a return and to pay the return shipping cost. 

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

Your best bet is to forget the dying Auction option in favour of the Fixed Price listings used in 85% of transactions.

As an experienced collector I assume you have a pretty good idea of what price you would accept for your watches.

Then add the Immediate Payment Required option. This means that your listing remains open until someone actually pays for it.

it seems the worst they get is a black mark against them whatever that means.

It's called a Strike.

You can go to your Seller Preferences and put an automatic Block on buyers who have two or more Strikes in the past 12 months.

EBay also monitors those deadbeat Strikes and, while they are cagey about how many can be accumulated, they do close buying accounts with "too many" Strikes.

(It's more than three, since the very first Strike a buyer gets can be removed, as a learning experience.)

You can also add unwanted buyers to your Blocked Bidder List.

If you are shipping internationally, and with watches there is a strong international market, you should be signing up for the Global Shipping Program, which is a Seller Protection program.

You only have to ship domestically tothe GSP plant in Kentucky. The GSP takes care of the rest.

If GSP won't ship to a country, you shouldn't either.

You can also Block certain countries and even continents. I Block Russia, Israel and India, but I don't sell watches. (I'd certainly be blocking Russia in any case, though.)

Just noticed you are in the UK. The GSP is still available to you, but you are shipping to a UK address.

You may also want to ask this question on the UK boards since they will understand your particular problems better than the Americans on this one.

[eclecticas7]

Dear Sir,

I am most grateful for your detailed and most informative reply.

This advice will help hugely.

once again my thanks

bob

[eclecticas7]

Thank you so much! I’m very grateful for your advice.
Regards
Bob

[bigdeals.etc]

The sad part about buyer payment strikes, is that if they know just a bit of ebay rules there is no reason any buyer should end up with a payment strike. With ebay trying to get everyone to offer free returns, as well as the obvious filing a not as described case... any buyer in danger of not paying for the item can just pay for it and end up filing either of what I mentioned above after receiving the item to get their full refund back. Payment strike avoided. So sad.

[myboardid]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

The sad part about buyer payment strikes, is that if they know just a bit of ebay rules there is no reason any buyer should end up with a payment strike. With ebay trying to get everyone to offer free returns, as well as the obvious filing a not as described case... any buyer in danger of not paying for the item can just pay for it and end up filing either of what I mentioned above after receiving the item to get their full refund back. Payment strike avoided. So sad.

---

Actually, all they have to do is open a new account for buying until they run up a couple strikes on that one.  Then they open another new one - ad infinitum. 

[eclecticas7]

Thank you so much,

This is very sad indeed. The last non payer I had just a few days ago almost revelled in the fact he was a non payer once he replied and was so incredibly rude! 

I'm at a bit of a loss here, I'm only a collector selling a rather large collection, yet the  awful messages I get coupled with the non payers makes one think if I'm doing the right thing? 

Not quite sure how to respond as evidently eBay need their fees and these problems are minuti compared to the overall profitability, sense a Facebook saga soon perhaps?

god bless

bob

[treegrate]

I understand why the feedback was removed for sellers but if you have a buyer who does not pay and you do exactly what you should do and they still don’t pay, then sellers should be given the option to leave a negative. Even if it is in the form of a canned “Buyer did not pay” statement. In the age of the new eBay where they continually ask sellers to do more they should also be expecting more from their buyers. Seems fair

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Why would you need a visual nobody will see when there's a perfectly good automatic block available?

Since most sellers never see the buyer coming, the only reason for a visual is a spanking. Ebay knows that buyer may go on to pay thousands of other sellers with no problem. They're not going to send away a cash cow for the sake of one seller's inconvenience.

[reallynicestamps]

The automatic Block on bidders with Strikes is a community list of proven deadbeats.

For people you personally don't want to deal with, you have your own Blocked Bidder List, which prevents that person from bidding on your listings, but not on anyone elses.

Use them together.

And while it is possible to open a new account to circumvent a Block, there are two controls on this.

The first is that eBay requires a different credit card for every account, although all accounts can use the same Paypal account.

The second is that buying the item, receiving it, filing a Not As Described dispute, getting a Return Shipping Label*, waiting for Confirmation of Delivery, and finally getting a refund, is a lot of work for not much reward, during which time the buyer's payment is tied up.

*And yes, even if the seller has a No Returns policy, she is still allowed to demand the return** of the purchase before refunding.

** The seller may be required to pay for the Return Shipping.