What to do when you can't block a bidder?

[willowsbow]

Hello

I have been a casual seller/buyer for quite a few years. I collect too much shi....stuff so every once in awhile I try to sell what I don't donate or post in a buy/sell nothing group. It seems like my last couple of rounds of selling attempts have been a victim of some sad and lonely individual living in their mom's basement.  

I know the auction format is problematic but I felt it was the best format for collectibles that aren't seen often and have a decent demand. I have caved and am going to switch to all BIN, IPR with no offers accepted.

OK...here is the issue. Some bidder that goes by the ID of ***** bids my auction up the first day it is listed. I see this and and say to myself, "yeah this jerk isn't going to pay." I also notice the name seems kinda familiar. So I wait the whole 7 days for the auction to end. 2 days after no payment, i send an invoice. 4 days go buy and still no payment. I was not surprised, just effing annoyed. I cancelled the order and relisted as a BIN. I tried to block the bidder and got a message the bidder was not a verified user so they couldn't be blocked. This is the second time this has happened and I think it was the same user ID. **** has an account that was supposedly established in 2022. They have a feedback of 6 (isn't that convenient). All 6 of the feedback was given 6 months ago and of course it was all positive. The bidders address is an old strip plaza with a liquor store at one end and a shady looking coffee shop at the other. I also have the name of the individual but since I'm not convinced it is their real name I won't share. 

So if I can't block a bidder because they don't have a verified account or if "no user by that name can be found" how are they able to bid?

I'm not a professional seller/flipper by any  means so I am hoping a more experienced member can help me understand this situation.

TIA

[a_c_green]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I have gotten that same message but when I went back into my BBL, their ID was in my blocked list.

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Ah. I think I can shed a little light on that. 

When you add a new entry to your Blocked Buyer List, it also reevaluates every other entry on your list (basically, it submits your entire current list all over again, in case you are trying to remove someone from your BBL instead of add them), but if any of those older entries are for members who have now been nuked completely (i.e. they are Not a Registered User now), you'll see an error message in red, saying that a username could not be processed (or verified, or something like that).

If you click the link within the red error message for more details, it will show you one or more dead accounts in the form of "[ID_number_here]@deleted," where that string of numbers is how eBay actually keeps track of users on their website. You are "known" to the system by your internal ID number which never changes, not the visible username that you can pick or change anytime.

So when you go to add or remove an ID from your BBL, you might get an error message (about one or more other members), but your latest change (assuming that you typed it or pasted it in correctly) will be processed anyway. Refresh the page and you should see it in its alphabetical location.

eBay used to let the dead account entries ("[ID_number_here]@deleted") pile up at the top of the BBL, but finally automated the cleanup process to weed them out whenever someone updated their BBL. That popup error message is a last vestige of the cleanup, one of those things that confuses rather than enlightens. 🙄

[willowsbow]

I do not assume low feedback buyers are bad. It is coupled with other things. I realize that because someone posts publicly they are open to the judgements and opinions of others. I don't feel like playing today. I do not cancel someone's bid if they are new, or for any reason. I wait the time I need to for them to pay. I simply stated that the non paying bidders I have had, had these traits in common. 

[willowsbow]

Thanks to all who have helped. I have blocked and reported the user. I had added a space where I shouldn't have when entering the the user name in my BBL list. I also appreciate the info regarding sending invoices, I didn't realize it reset the clock. Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

[iamalwaysright]

Good catch. I didn’t know the buyer was referring to this error when they stated they can’t block a user ID. 
@willowsbow , AC is correct here and that’s likely what happened to you. You blocked your buyer successfully and just didn’t know it because of that confusing error.  Admit it caught me too before I realized what that error actually meant. Back then I would just immediately duplicate the steps to adding that buyer to my blocked list and the second time around the error wouldn’t pop up (because all the usernames on my blocked list were already verified on the initial attempt to add that buyer.)

[buyselljack2016]

Stop, or get a sarcasm emoji🙄

Some people will read that thinking it is fact.

[soh.maryl]

Thank you for the clarification. 

[mam98031]

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@willowsbow wrote:

I do not assume low feedback buyers are bad. It is coupled with other things. I realize that because someone posts publicly they are open to the judgements and opinions of others. I don't feel like playing today. I do not cancel someone's bid if they are new, or for any reason. I wait the time I need to for them to pay. I simply stated that the non paying bidders I have had, had these traits in common. 

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@willowsbow 

I am not passing "judgements" on you or anyone else.  I am not "playing" anything.  It seems you may have taken what I said in a way not intended.  On any forum that is written such as this one, the only thing other posters have to go by is what you actually post.  If you intended something different than you actually posted, we have no way of knowing that.