What is the point of a Buyer getting an Unpaid Strike if they simply keep creating new accounts

[nealla30]

Buyer with 0 feedback and clearly obvious fake user name wins auction.

Buyer doesn't pay.

Seller opens Unpaid Item case - waits out the time -  closes case and gets Fees refunded.

Buyer gets an unpaid strike. 

Buyer simply makes new Ebay Account and starts over.

I do understand why Ebay can't let us Block Buyers with 0 feedbacks,  but there has to be something else they can think of? 

This has happened to me so many times I have lost count.  Just a pain in the neck on my end.  Having to wait it out to get the refund and to relist the item only to go another 7 day auction and have the same thing happen again!

Just frustrating and needed to voice that! 

[castlemagicmemories]

How do you know the buyers are opening a new account?  That would be good to know.  

Most use the block to block those with two or more unpaid item strikes in a year to keep them from bidding or buying, so perhaps your buyers had only had one strike.

There is an answer to your dilemma!  Just list fixed price, immediate payment required.  No more no pays.  Over 80% of all listings are fixed price.  

If you insist on auctions, then you know that no pays is the risk you take.

[castlemagicmemories]

I do understand why Ebay can't let us Block Buyers with 0 feedbacks,  but there has to be something else they can think of? 

I don't know what they could do.  What is your suggestion?  They can't force the buyer to pay anymore than they can force a seller to ship.

[gramophone-georg]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

I do understand why Ebay can't let us Block Buyers with 0 feedbacks,  but there has to be something else they can think of? 

I don't know what they could do.  What is your suggestion?  They can't force the buyer to pay anymore than they can force a seller to ship.

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Yes, but the punishments for each are far different. Just try opening a new account as a restricted seller.

What eBay can "think of" is perhaps linking problem buyers to themselves and putting a stop to them as aggressively as they do it with sellers.

[nealla30]

Oh!  I have been selling on ebay for 15 years but just random stuff.   When I first started selling,  Fixed Price actually cost extra!   So I have never looked again to do that!    I absolutely will do that for some things.

But for others -  like used iphones,  the auctions really do bring in better prices and those are the things I am sure where these buyers are doing that.   It is like the user name is  sz33an67cawe  with 0 feedback.

Come on.... you have to figure they are just not caring and creating new user IDs.  

But thank you for the suggestion of doing Fixed Price. 

[gamersbaystore]

I don't know, ebay is now putting new accounts under a lot more scrutiny than they did in the past,  forcing new users to verify their identities in a number of ways, paypal has always done the same. Unless they can change their names, I seriously doubt a banned user could just come back and start buying again.

As for non payers on auctions, that's always been a big problem. From my experience, auction winners almost never pay, so I rarely use that format.

[thenobletuckylife]

Evening,

I think some of the confusion about the "0" feedback buyers you are referring to with strange user ID's are actually guest buyers.

Ebay allows someone to purchase without becoming a member and ebay gives them a random user ID.

Some scammers do take advantage of this and try to eventually get you to ship your goods when they actually haven't paid where most of the rest are just playing the ebay game of being allowed to change their mind after committing to purchase and then decide not to afterwards.

Hope This Helps.

Mr C

[luckythewinner]

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@nealla30 wrote:

Buyer with 0 feedback and clearly obvious fake user name wins auction. 

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What is an "obviously fake" user name? Are you sure this is not just a guest account? 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@nealla30 wrote:

Oh!  I have been selling on ebay for 15 years but just random stuff.   When I first started selling,  Fixed Price actually cost extra!   So I have never looked again to do that!    I absolutely will do that for some things.

But for others -  like used iphones,  the auctions really do bring in better prices and those are the things I am sure where these buyers are doing that.   It is like the user name is  sz33an67cawe  with 0 feedback.

Come on.... you have to figure they are just not caring and creating new user IDs.  

But thank you for the suggestion of doing Fixed Price. 

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I remember those days.  Reserves were only two dollars, and you were charged for each picture.  

Phones can be a problematic thing to sell.  You're right, they may not care.  I know.  It may be just a game to them.  Or they may have no idea that they can't just abandon that which they don't want to pay for, and then they find themselves blocked.  I know that auctions can sometimes bring in good prices, but since you may deal with non paying bidders, that's why many have gone to fixed price.  They just don't want to deal with that, so they list the item fixed price.  

You're welcome for the suggestion of listing fixed price, immediate payment required.  Be sure to check the box for IPR because it isn't the default, you have to choose it.

[nkpina2014]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

How do you know the buyers are opening a new account?  That would be good to know.  

Most use the block to block those with two or more unpaid item strikes in a year to keep them from bidding or buying, so perhaps your buyers had only had one strike.

There is an answer to your dilemma!  Just list fixed price, immediate payment required.  No more no pays.  Over 80% of all listings are fixed price.  

If you insist on auctions, then you know that no pays is the risk you take.

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I had a buyer do similar to me - except he was KNOWN fraudster. He'd simply do CC chargebacks. It was literally all over his feedback from other sellers. Well, I got taken too. About a week later, he tried it on another account (I know this, because it was the same name and same ship to address). Of course, I immediately cancelled the sale, called Ebay and reported him as using another account to circumvent buyer restrictions. I got the listing cancelled, all good.

About a year later - guess what? SAME GUY tried to buy from me again. Same reason I know it was him; same name, same address. Different Ebay Username, of course! So again, I called Ebay. I told them what I found. I told them under no circumstances do I want to do business with this person and to cancel the sale. They said they'd look into it after I provided them the name/address and the other two accounts (which are still in my banlist today). After two days, I got an email saying the listing was cancelled, my FVF refunded.

So yes, buyers do this. And they get away with it, because Ebay security policies are passive; they wait on reports from buyers/sellers rather than using a proactive system to flag and associate new accounts.

[nkpina2014]

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@nealla30 wrote:

Oh!  I have been selling on ebay for 15 years but just random stuff.   When I first started selling,  Fixed Price actually cost extra!   So I have never looked again to do that!    I absolutely will do that for some things.

But for others -  like used iphones,  the auctions really do bring in better prices and those are the things I am sure where these buyers are doing that.   It is like the user name is  sz33an67cawe  with 0 feedback.

Come on.... you have to figure they are just not caring and creating new user IDs.  

But thank you for the suggestion of doing Fixed Price. 

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Those are actually users that don't create an account. They use the Guest Checkout option. Ebay creates a garbage looking username like that with 0 feedback to complete the sales record.

[twnpopcards]

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@gramophone-georg wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

I do understand why Ebay can't let us Block Buyers with 0 feedbacks,  but there has to be something else they can think of? 

I don't know what they could do.  What is your suggestion?  They can't force the buyer to pay anymore than they can force a seller to ship.

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Yes, but the punishments for each are far different. Just try opening a new account as a restricted seller.

What eBay can "think of" is perhaps linking problem buyers to themselves and putting a stop to them as aggressively as they do it with sellers.

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But blocking a buyer from being able to create new accounts at will would hurt the buyers Ebay experience so we all know that will never happen.  I am always curious when Ebay announces the increase in buyer accounts each quarter just how many are actually just 1 time use scammer accounts that allows Ebay the ability to show growth in the number of buyers they have, when in fact they have probably lost "true" buyers who get tired of losing the auctions to these accounts that are created to either scam or just have fun at the sellers expense.

That would be a very interesting number to have disclosed on the 10Q or 10K sometime.

[hillbillymedia]

Just to make a point....a user that doesn`t pay isn`t a buyer. Having said that, I do understand why we call them buyers though. I have had no problems from new accounts with zero feedback and I get a lot of them, but.....I don`t do auctions.

Way back when I did all auctions and I had many a headache. Once a year, for about 6 weeks, I do auctions on another selling account and the headaches begin again, which is exactly why I do them on another account and why I only run them for a short time.

Just my experience, others may differ.

[around-the-block]

The point is it makes ebay money. Period. Any question you have about why ebay does anything they do it is to make money. Allowing the buyers to be total scumbags makes them more money than making the buyers follow the rules.

[around-the-block]

"Just to make a point....a user that doesn`t pay isn`t a buyer."

Right but the seller still got charged a fee. Not all sellers are diligent and follow up on every single unpaid item to make sure they get their fees back. Ebay is COUNTING on that happening with a certain percentage of sellers. Even if only one out of a 10,000 doesn't get their fees back that is more money for ebay.