non payer on phone (3rd time)

[cyansmiles]

I am not sure why, I have listed this phone (item 182788428779) 3 times now, and every time, I am getting buyers with 1 and 0 rating buying it and not paying. It is as if they are buying it intentionally with fake accounts just so to make sure someone does not buy it. Maybe it is some kind of new scam.

I have been buying and selling on eBay for over 17 years, and I have a 100% rating (one bad review in over 1200 transactions). I mostly buy, and only about 30-50 are selling. I have never sold a mobile device and I am wondering if this is common on these kinds of items.

Also, does eBay have any kind of option when I list an item to preview people from bidding that don't have a minimum rating level? That would solve this issue.

Nathan

[emerald40 · Accepted solution]

You can block those with -1 and with 2 or more unpaid strikes.

Next time you list do fixed price immediate payment only.  And if it were me US only as well.

IPhones are a scam magnet.

[missjen831]

Just list it as a fixed price listing with immediate payment required. Cellphones are one of the worst things you could see on ebay. Sport bidders are extremely common amongst other issues you can/will face when selling phones.

You can't block zero feedback buyers. Imagine if you could.......how much lower sales would be because there wouldn't be that many new buyers......if sellers blocked 0 feedback buyers, those buyers wouldn't be able to buy anything! 

[cyansmiles]

I was just thinking, buy it now is a good solution, but then it is not an auction. The whole 2nd chance offer is too late, buy the time I wait to resolve the non-payment.

As far as requiring a minimum rating, I thought that did that with high dollar items anyways. This is not a high dollar item.

I may hurt final price, but people can always buy other items ... only certain items would have these restrictions and it would be up to the seller if they wanted to do it. I don't worry people could find plenty of items to buy even with restrictions on some items.

Obviously, if I was selling my one-of-a-kind Picasso on eBay for over $1,000,000, I would want those kinds of limits on buyers (as they do on art auctions elsewhere).  On some sites, you have to "pre-qualify" yourself.  The more I think about it, I am kind of shocked there is no option for this. Again, it is not there wouldn't still be plenty of other items for people to buy without these restrictions on "some" items to protect sellers.

I understand without buyers, there are no sellers.

But I also understand, without protecting sellers, there is no eBay.

Nathan

[goodluckselling]

Non Payers for phones is fairly common and eBay is working on a solution.  What is happening they bid on several phones at one time and pick the one they like the best at the end and leave the rest. 

I am not a phone seller but you can research the average selling price of your phone by doing a basic search using the keywords for your phone then look down toward the bottom of the left side bar and review the sold and the completed options.

Once you have the average price as already suggested just list it as a buy it now and use immediate payment required.  Even if some one puts it in there cart as a sort of holding place it will still be available to all buyers until an actual payment is made against it.

I hope that helps.

Good Luck Selling!

[partial*eclipse]

---

@cyansmiles wrote:

I was just thinking, buy it now is a good solution, but then it is not an auction....

---

Auction format is appropriate  when you list an item for which you cannot reasonably anticipate a selling price.  Your phone, OTOH, is a common item and is very well-suited to fixed price format.  

I agree with the others: List it in fixed price format, and use the Advanced version of the listing form so you can check off Immediate Payment Required.  There's no point in arguing: Auction format already has 3 strikes, and you are not going to successfully sell the phone that way.

[thatsallfolks]

Yes, they're scam attempts; no, it's not a new type of scam.

There's no need to auction a phone; it's just like thousands of others. Save yourself some grief and just set a price.

[castlemagicmemories]

List fixed price, immediate payment required.  Just decide what you want to get for the item, remembering to figure in your fees.

No more worries.

Block those with 2 unpaid item strikes.

[partial*eclipse]

---

castlemagicmemories wrote: ... Block those with 2 unpaid item strikes.

Not necessary when listing with IPR.

[d-k_treasures]

---

@missjen316 wrote:

Just list it as a fixed price listing with immediate payment required. Cellphones are one of the worst things you could see on ebay. Sport bidders are extremely common amongst other issues you can/will face when selling phones.

You can't block zero feedback buyers. Imagine if you could.......how much lower sales would be because there wouldn't be that many new buyers......if sellers blocked 0 feedback buyers, those buyers wouldn't be able to buy anything! 

---

And ebay does enough of that by blocking bids on auctions from new buyers.

Which I find unconscionable.

[tellmemama]

At this point you don't even have to research completed similar phones to get an idea how to price it.  If this is the third time you've listed it, you pretty much know what it could/would/should sell for. 

Pick one of those ending prices and set it up as a BIN/IPR as mentioned upthread.

[partial*eclipse]

The ending prices were from the sport bidders.  A more realistic strtegy would be to average out the highest bid that each auction received from a non-zero-feedback bidder.

[mr_lincoln]

@cyansmiles  wrote:  " ... Also, does eBay have any kind of option when I list an item to preview people from bidding that don't have a minimum rating level? That would solve this issue."

_____________________________________________________-

I guess by now you know (0) Members can not be blocked ... some of my best sales have been from (0) Members and we have been scammed by Buyers with much higher counts ...

Will we eventually be scammed by a (0) Member?  Not sure.  When I see that low number I take extra care to insure that my part of the deal is done quickly and professionally ... that (0) Member may wind up being a very good Buyer to someone and I certainly don't want to mess that up ...

[thatsallfolks]

---

@partial*eclipse wrote:

---

castlemagicmemories wrote: ... Block those with 2 unpaid item strikes.

Not necessary when listing with IPR.

---

OMO, people irresponsible enough to have two strikes are more likely to cause other problems, so I still block them.

[luckythewinner]

---

---

But I also understand, without protecting sellers, there is no eBay.

 eBay has never protected sellers, and there are currently a billion items for sale here.  While your conjecture makes a nice theory, it is simply does not work that way in the real world.  

I was just thinking, buy it now is a good solution, but then it is not an auction. I may hurt final price. 

Cell phones are commodities. You have three failed sales on this item of $110, $130, and $140.  That information, plus a search of the other 500+ similar phones that have sold in the past three months should give you some sort of clue what price you should choose.  And you might actually get more money from a buyer who is willing to pay a fixed price now rather than wait a week to see if he won what is actually a very common item. 

On some sites, you have to "pre-qualify" yourself.  The more I think about it, I am kind of shocked there is no option for this.

First, eBay is in the business of making it easier for people to buy things, not make them jump through hoops. Second, the eBay site does not process buyer payments. They has no agreement that allows them to take money from buyers.