Good old days of Ebay.... long gone!!

Crowqueen

In circumstances where there is potential in being able to negotiate a bit - like when someone asks for more time to pay or has made a mistake and lets me know very quickly after the EOA - then I normally compromise - eBay is not a joust, and I have made mistakes elsewhere, e.g. on Amazon when I had to order an item that was the subject of an INR or risk not being able to give it as a gift the next week, only for it to have arrived before Amazon managed to dispatch it. Had they actually sent it I would have resold it. Because they hadn't, I asked them to cancel it and they agreed.

In this I disagree with Soolin in that I don't look on people who ask to cancel before I've sent the item as timewasters; but each to their own. Cancelling a transaction means I can relist the item quicker and I want to reward communication, not just make people vaporise. Come next year and the change in DSRs I really think eBay should establish a working buyer-side cancellation request system; there is one there at the moment but I don't think it works properly.

So I'd rather the situation wasn't turned into antagonism where it could possibly be avoided.

However, I am of the opinion that the people who get negs from non-payers or people who have cancelled transactions have often inflamed things beforehand. Pestering for payment before four days are up, for instance, or being too fond of 'principle' or 'I would do this...so you must too' for their own good. Every time I have allowed someone to cancel or raised an NPB it has gone smoothly.

Too many people treat eBay as a confrontation between buyer and seller, where in reality it should be of mutual benefit to both.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

If sellers are too afraid to do an NPB they would surely also be too afraid to leave a neg if the facility was there- so basically they just roll over, pay all their fees and generally think ebay is a bad place.

I applaud each and every fellow seller who has ever done an NPB on a non payer-thank you every one of you. That's one strike closer to getting these idiots banned.

I don't really get why they wouldn't go the NPB route, not doing is throwing money away. I much prefer money to dots on a screen that way I can buy over priced coffee in Starbucks;)

Mintstrel

So I have "An xyz" item for sale on ebay, someone bids and wins then doesn't pay...why the hell should I go through the hassle of NPB's etc...?One lists an item on ebay (in good faith) at a 'fraction' of the new price..buyer bids..buyer wins..buyer doesn't pay (or buyer wins, buyer pays, buyer receives then finds all sorts of discrepancies to defraud seller).

I really can't understand why sellers seem happy to go through the NPB hassle of claiming fees back etc...

As I originally stated...it NEVER used to be like this.

soolin

Mintstrel wrote: »

So I have "An xyz" item for sale on ebay, someone bids and wins then doesn't pay...why the hell should I go through the hassle of NPB's etc...?One lists an item on ebay (in good faith) at a 'fraction' of the new price..buyer bids..buyer wins..buyer doesn't pay (or buyer wins, buyer pays, buyer receives then finds all sorts of discrepancies to defraud seller).

I really can't understand why sellers seem happy to go through the NPB hassle of claiming fees back etc...

As I originally stated...it NEVER used to be like this.

Yes it did, we have always lost our fees unless we did some sort of reclaim. In the 'old' days though we had to wait 7 days before an NPB could be started and another 7 before it could be closed, so it is better now than it used to be.

Items attract a fee when sold, if sellers don't wish to follow a simple procedure to reclaim those fees then they shouldn't moan when they are still charged it. Nor should those sellers moan when they get NPBs as it is probably other lazy sellers that allow them to get away with it so they can keep doing it to others.

Whilst some sellers refuse to do an nPB these time wasters just get away with it, so next time a serial non payers bids and wastes our time, don't blame ebay, blame the lazy sellers who won't do an NPB.

Mintstrel

No it wasn't like this. I'm complaining about useless waste of space buyers that don't follow through with the deal, want the earth, expect absolute total perfection at a millionth of a fraction of the new price, and/or use the ebay/Paypal system to defraud the seller.

If you can see/leave buyer feedback it would/may save all the hassle of NPB, SNAD stuff and give sellers the option of choosing their buyers...LIKE IT USED TO BE!

soolin

Mintstrel wrote: »

No it wasn't like this. I'm complaining about useless waste of space buyers that don't follow through with the deal, want the earth, expect absolute total perfection at a millionth of a fraction of the new price, and/or use the ebay/Paypal system to defraud the seller.

If you can see/leave buyer feedback it would/may save all the hassle of NPB, SNAD stuff and give sellers the option of choosing their buyers...LIKE IT USED TO BE!

I don't choose my buyers though?

Yes i have settings to restrict serial time wasters (those with 2 strikes or more) and the usual country restrictions etc- but I can't otherwise choose who buys from me, and I never could.

Even in the old days you could not restrict buyers just based on negs, as long as they had some positives as well they could bid with inpunity. maybe for tiny little buyers they can sit there with their fingers poised over the 'cancel bid' button on every single auciton they have finishing, but for the rest of us we don't even see the buyers feedback until we have a sale.

Yes it is terirbly frustrating to get non payers, it drives me to distraction, but the ability to leave negs would not make an iota of difference. If sellers will do an NPB then a buyer can only NPB twice, then goodbye buying.

alykatz

Soolin, is there a penalty or option for buyers to report sellers that cancel bids without good cause? I`m sure ive read somewhere that there are only certain instances where sellers should cancel a bid. Or is it something thats not enforced?

Mintstrel

As previously stated, I appreciate everyones feedback and thankyou all. Unfortunately I still think sellers should be protected once again from rogue buyers. I only have to read this forum about NPB's to confirm this.

soolin

alykatz wrote: »

Soolin, is there a penalty or option for buyers to report sellers that cancel bids without good cause? I`m sure ive read somewhere that there are only certain instances where sellers should cancel a bid. Or is it something thats not enforced?

I was under the impression that sellers could cancel any bids they wished, and in fact have done so on many occasions. Whether there is anything in the eBay rules that say we mustn't - I'm not sure. If I feel brave I might risk the frustrating system that is eBay 'help' and take a look.

I cancel bids for a number of reasons, usually though after bidder has contacted me about something and has got my 'worry' radar humming. I cancel bid and block them rather that risk problems later.

soolin

It looks like eBay are a bit 'wooly' on the subject

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html


Cancelling bids
In general, sellers shouldn't cancel bids on their listings. However, there are a few legitimate reasons for doing so:
A bidder contacts you to back out of the bid.
You cannot verify the identity of the bidder after trying all reasonable means of contact.
You end your listing early.
Note: Bids cannot be reinstated after they've been cancelled.
To cancel a bid:
Go to the Cancelling bids placed on your listing page.
Enter the item number, the user ID of the bid you’re cancelling, and the reason you're cancelling the bid.
Click Cancel bid.