eBay

jeni1pts · ‎05-27-2018

Is there a way to block an entire zip code from bidding??

7606dennis · ‎05-28-2018

@reallynicestamps wrote:
@pburn

make sure I'm clear on this: you want the seller to cancel a transaction based on "problem with address" because the seller has prejudged that the buyer

Nope.
I think it's a dumb idea.
But if the OP wants to do it....

How big are zip codes anyway?
Our Canadian postal codes can include a whole rural village or (like my own) about a city block of single family homes. Each is considered a 'postal walk' and a carrier might do five or six in a shift. More if some are high rise apartments.

@7606dennis
Cancelling winning Auction bids immediately if they are unacceptable for any reason.

...
How can he cancel winning bids without getting defect points on his account?

Poor word choice, he could cancel any bid before the end of the auction without giving a reason.
Or he could cancel the winning bid with 'problem with address'.
And yes, it would be a lie. Would eBay actually do anything.

Actually, he would have to cancel the transaction since the winning bidder would no longer be a bidder but rather a buyer.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

nobody*s_perfect · ‎05-28-2018

@reallynicestamps wrote: ... How big are zip codes anyway?
Our Canadian postal codes can include a whole rural village or (like my own) about a city block of single family homes. Each is considered a 'postal walk' and a carrier might do five or six in a shift. More if some are high rise apartments.....

A US ZIP Code is much bigger than that. I currently live in a city of nearly 100,000 people, that has 3 ZIP Codes. I grew up in a city of 60,000 people that had 4 of them.

USPS does have a "ZIP plus 4" program that extends the 5-digit ZIP Code to 9 digits; that can be as small as a city block or a neighborhood and a postal carrier's route might include several of them, but I expect that most US residents don't know their own "plus 4" digits for their home.

bill11223 · ‎05-28-2018

Blocking IP address's is far different than blocking Zip codes. A IP address belongs to one computer which could be located anywhere. A Zip code is a geographic location of several thousand people and business's. Why not ban acity, county or state?

I'm feeling funny about a unknown bidder. I know I'll just refuse to accept bids from California.

a_c_green · ‎05-28-2018

Unless or until the Original Poster returns to explain their reason for blocking a certain ZIP code, I'm going to guess that they're hoping to block some specific reshipper. That's a shaky strategy to begin with, and if the bidder/buyer registered with eBay under their own address instead of that of the reshipper, the target ZIP code won't appear until after payment is made anyway.

@jeni1pts: please give us some more details on what your situation is

jeni1pts · ‎05-28-2018

I listed an item for auction with buy it now price. The buyer, within 10 minutes, bought and paid for the item. It turns out that the buyer is someone who I had a very nasty problem with a sale on a FB forum. I then cancelled the sale because, I assume, the buyer would do the same thing with this ebay sale. I have since banned him from my sales but, as we all know, people have many buyer accounts.

I thought banning a few zip codes in the buyers city might ban other accounts that the buyer may have. I know I could lose sales but that's better than losing the item and issueing a refund.

goodluckselling · ‎05-28-2018

@jeni1pts wrote:
I listed an item for auction with buy it now price. The buyer, within 10 minutes, bought and paid for the item. It turns out that the buyer is someone who I had a very nasty problem with a sale on a FB forum. I then cancelled the sale because, I assume, the buyer would do the same thing with this ebay sale. I have since banned him from my sales but, as we all know, people have many buyer accounts.

I thought banning a few zip codes in the buyers city might ban other accounts that the buyer may have. I know I could lose sales but that's better than losing the item and issueing a refund.

eBay money back guarantee does not work like your FB page. Buyers are not allowed to get refunds and keep the product unless you (the seller) do not respond correctly to any case that might come up. Then the buyer also has to respond in a timely manner (5 business days or 7 days total) or you the seller can cancel the return.

You also do not want to just cancel transactions on eBay. To many of those and you will see lost visibility in search and maybe restrictions or suspensions to your account.

If you think a buyer is circumventing your block buyer list you can call and report it and let the team at eBay handle the finer details.

Good Luck Selling!

berserkerplanet · ‎05-28-2018

Your only options are the blocked bidder list and shipping rate tables, and as you said, new accounts get around the BBL, and as others said, Rate Tables are not granular enough to target a city in most cases, and don't block just set shipping costs.

Rate tables apply to either entire states, or at best to 4 areas in the bigger states (CA, NY, TX). For some of those, one of the choices is a single large city or region (Houston, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles area. NY City, etc)

So if your problem buyer is in one of those and you are willing to lose all sales to that city or large area, or state or half state, you can create a Rate Table Rule and set the shipping to a very high amount to discourage buyers. That won't block the buyer, but might be enough.

Cancelling transactions you don't like may destroy your ability to sell here - it isn't an option.

jeni1pts · ‎05-28-2018

Thanks for the overview on how Ebay would handle this. I understand the problems that could be created by consistant cancallations of winning auctions, I don't plan on doing that. This buyer has over 4500 feedbacks so he is in very good standing . I don't have a lot of trust....