Filing a Non Paying Buyer instead of mutual cancellation! For timewasters on eBay!

eBayRipOff

I am wondering if I am being unfairly strict with a time waster of a "customer"!

To be honest I have not done much buying on eBay myself, much selling, and now with the 12% fees for me, I get hit hard every time a deadbeat makes buy now on some of my items.

Now recently I had 2, one gave me fees of £650 and the last of £360, of course I get this returned, however if it stays on my eBay account at my next billing cycle, I still have to advance all this money for nothing! To get it returned next month.

Now my previous advice from my account manager at eBay (from old days), was to always open NPB, and not do the mutual cancellation, as this leaves the seller exposed for BS buyers who will not confirm the cancellation.

Now my last case cost me temporary £360, because apparantely the husband pressed "Buy it Now" by mistake, sometimes they say that the dog, baby toddler or step-mother, by error when searching on eBay pushed a "Buy it Now"

Now for me these stories start to get old and boring, as I believed at least it is a 2 step process to make a "Buy it Now", however I have not bought anything for long time, so I might be wrong.

Than you have those people who say their accounts have been hacked, but they don't bother to report it to eBay, if they did, eBay would cancel the transaction themselves.

Now I feel on all the above cases compelled to open a NPB case, and as I can't leave Negative Feedback, and to prevent them from leaving any negative unfounded comments, this is the only way to make sure no negative comment is left by the buyers. (Who are not buyers)

Of course there can be cases where there are genuine reason to make mutual cancellation, but I feel most of these deserves the Non Paying punishment, for doing these "mistakes"

theonlywayisup

Personally I take each case on an individual basis.

was to always open NPB, and not do the mutual cancellation, as this leaves the seller exposed for BS buyers who will not confirm the cancellation

With a mutual, the buyer can either ignore, decline or accept the cancellation. In all cases they can leave feedback for you the seller. If they ignore it, it times out after 7 days and you can close it for a FVF refund. If they decline, you don't get fees back. If they accept, it closes when they accept and your fees are refunded. So it isn't just a case of them having to confirm it or not.

With a NPB, they can either pay or not. If they don't then they get the strike and they cannot leave feedback.

So it's a personal choice.

Crowqueen

There is a legal requirement for some sellers to allow cancellation (currently BINs from business sellers, on all business sales from next year(2013)). I know this is contentious, but my view is that should be handled via a mutual cancellation rather than an NPB dispute as a buyer should not be sanctioned for exercising a statutory right.

Amazon allow you to cancel a transaction even after most of a day - I know, I've tried, bought a replacement for something lost in the post while at uni and came home to find the original INR had been delivered eventually.

If handled well, feedback will probably not be damaging.

There also appears to be a new procedure for cancelling a transaction from the buyer's end, though have not yet explored it because I don't want to muck any of my current (or future) sellers around. Which is good, because it allows a buyer to exercise their right to cancel without fear of repercussions. I think eBay should make this more prominent as it might solve the issue of having to ask the seller to cancel a transaction.

I don't think the situation is ever black and white. I'm not saying the above because I'm scared of my buyers - rather that this is a commercial transaction and I prefer to do what I feel is the right thing. Done correctly, it shouldn't be any more inconvenient than an NPB strike; it also rewards contact, non-contact being the most frustrating thing about NPB disputes because then they drag on. It also allows me to relist an item quicker than an NPB dispute allows.

Obviously, no contact would always equal NPB.

Oliver14

Crowqueen wrote: »

There is a legal requirement for some sellers to allow cancellation (currently BINs from business sellers, on all business sales from next year(2013)). I know this is contentious, but my view is that should be handled via a mutual cancellation rather than an NPB dispute as a buyer should not be sanctioned for exercising a statutory right.

All the legal responsibility says is that the buyer should not be financially disadvantaged. A NPB dispute does not financial disadvantage them but gives the seller some financial protection because as you know if a buyer refuses a mutual a NPB cannot be opened so all fees are lost.

I always open a NPB not that I get many.

eBayRipOff

The way I see it, I mainly want to get my fees back asp., as with sufficient people like this, it can amount to a considerable amount.

If there was an option where the Buyer made a cancellation request, and all I needed to do was to confirm this, and my fees would be refunded instantly, I would be happy with this.

But because of the potential issues with mutual cancellation, if the buyer can not even be sure how to avoid the Buy it Now process, how can I trust that he/she will be able to confirm the cancellation process?

It is annoying when you have to pay £1000 - £1500 in fees, just because some people don't understand what happens when they Click the Buy it Now button.

Of course if somebody contact me straight away, and give me a plausible excuse, and they seem they are reasonable enlightened of what is going on, I might be more positive!

I did once do a mutual cancellation, and due to pure incompetence the buyer clicked the wrong option, and it ended up with me needing to take phone calls and emails to eBay to sort out, to get my FVF returned.

hermum

I do think that it's about time ebay should give the buyers the option of sending a cancellation through to the seller.
As buyers have the right to cancel, the onus should be on them to initiate the process & too many of them ebay could then look into whether they're competent enough to remain an ebay user.
Just my opinion.

soolin

hermum wrote: »

I do think that it's about time ebay should give the buyers the option of sending a cancellation through to the seller.
As buyers have the right to cancel, the onus should be on them to initiate the process & too many of them ebay could then look into whether they're competent enough to remain an ebay user.
Just my opinion.

I think that would be an excellent idea.

OP, I tend to always go to a full NPB and if buyer complains I basically just say ebay told me I needed to do it to recover my fees and leave it at that.

I am fed up of 'my dog bid, my dead aunt bid' stories. If a buyer is that dim then please get them off ebay and away from my auctions.

D_Dickenson

eBayRipOff wrote: »

It is annoying when you have to pay £1000 - £1500 in fees, just because some people don't understand what happens when they Click the Buy it Now button.

Can someone clarify why you would have to pay £1000 in fees. Does this mean the item in question costs £10,000?

brettcta

I've put an NPB 2 days ago and messaged the buyer this morning to ask if they're likely to pay and got back the usual 'my 4 year old son bid on the item'

Talented 4 year old - the sale was after 2 negotiations through 'best offer' over the course of an hour

eBayRipOff

2 items sold, one was £350 in fees, the other + £650.

12 % in fees by eBay, works out like that.

D_Dickenson wrote: »

Can someone clarify why you would have to pay £1000 in fees. Does this mean the item in question costs £10,000?

lovinituk

eBayRipOff wrote: »

The way I see it, I mainly want to get my fees back asp., as with sufficient people like this, it can amount to a considerable amount.

As long as the buyer doesn't deny a cancellation its actually at worst a day quicker than doing an NPB. An ignored cancellation can be closed after 7 days whereas a NPB is 8 days in total. Of course if the buyer agrees to the cancellation it can be within minutes so even quicker.

eBayRipOff wrote: »

I did once do a mutual cancellation, and due to pure incompetence the buyer clicked the wrong option, and it ended up with me needing to take phone calls and emails to eBay to sort out, to get my FVF returned.

I always do the cancellation if someone requests it but I'm not looking at the same amount in fees as you so I'm happy in taking the risk they might deny it. If I was in your position with those sorts of figures I think I would probably go with NPB as the risk is much higher financially.

Which category is 12%? Thats shocking! I thought 10% was the highest.