Can you refuse to sell to an abusive Ebayer?

RedBlue

Long story short, I sold an item a week ago but the buyer didn't pay. My eBay settings are such that after seven days of non-payment the Unpaid Item Dispute kicks in automatically. This happened last night.

This morning all I have had is tons of really abusive and threatening messages so I told the buyer not to pay and that I will cancel the transaction so they don't get a unpaid item strike and I get my fees back. This doesnt go down well and I get more abusive messages.

The buyer then pays me so I say I will post it out on Saturday (next available date I can) which results in more abuse and a request for a refund.

Fifteen minutes later I get another email saying they want the item and will wait.

An hour later I get a notification from Paypal to say she has been refunded. I didnt authorise the refund so I contact her to see if she did a chargeback or something. Que more abuse calling me a liar and saying that I didnt get enough for the item which is why I am refusing to sell.

I then contact eBay who are investigating. She then leaves me negative feedback saying I refused to sell to her.

Now, my question is - is it right to refuse to sell to someone who sends you abusive messages and threatens you will negative feedback before they have even paid? Also what are the chances that eBay will remove the feedback - it is absolutely not that I did not get enough money for the item (I actually got more than I expected) so what she has written is untrue.

halibut2209

If they threatened negative feedback, then that is feedback extortion and should be removed by eBay,

Sounds like a delightful person! You have my sympathies.

EDIT: Plus they requested a refund. You shouldn't have much trouble getting it removed

2sides2everystory

Sounds to me like the OP is insufficiently in control of the train of ebay processes the chosen settings have unfortunately set in motion.

As a buyer predominantly, I can advise that it is often rather annoying to receive an automatic "pay up or else type message" apparently from the seller when it is actually ebay sending it after an arbitrary period the seller may have forgotten about. If the buyer doesn't understand why the message comes out of the blue then it is understandable why they should be annoyed with the seller about it. There are more polite ways of dealing with customers than threats of unpaid item strikes.

The OP says the buyer actually paid at one point. Surely that is a sign of good intention. Why did any abuse occur after that?

And threatening to leave negative feedback is not automatically extortion, it is just that ebay make it easy for sellers to claim that it is "extortion" by their own ridiculous definitions.

Ebay is brim-full of fraudsters and bad sellers yet ebay still wants them.

No sympathy from me I am afraid. If you sell on ebay and want to be sure your customers are happy, you need to communicate with customers by personal messages not rely on automatic ebay produced ones, and you also need to put yourself in their shoes from time to time, not just sit back mute and expect no hassle.

diesel_dog

It makes you wonder why they didn't pay after the auction ended and couldn't pay within a reasonable timescale of one day or two days max. I'd of told them to poke it and get one from somewhere else with that attitude.

The worse thing Ebay EVER did was to stop allowing sellers to leave bad feedback!

RedBlue

2sides2everystory wrote: »

Sounds to me like the OP is insufficiently in control of the train of ebay processes the chosen settings have unfortunately set in motion.

As a buyer predominantly, I can advise that it is often rather annoying to receive an automatic "pay up or else type message" apparently from the seller when it is actually ebay sending it after an arbitrary period the seller may have forgotten about. If the buyer doesn't understand why the message comes out of the blue then it is understandable why they should be annoyed with the seller about it. There are more polite ways of dealing with customers than threats of unpaid item strikes.

The OP says the buyer actually paid at one point. Surely that is a sign of good intention. Why did any abuse occur after that?

And threatening to leave negative feedback is not automatically extortion, it is just that ebay make it easy for sellers to claim that it is "extortion" by their own ridiculous definitions.

Ebay is brim-full of fraudsters and bad sellers yet ebay still wants them.

No sympathy from me I am afraid. If you sell on ebay and want to be sure your customers are happy, you need to communicate with customers by personal messages not rely on automatic ebay produced ones, and you also need to put yourself in their shoes from time to time, not just sit back mute and expect no hassle.

I actually did email them a couple of times asking for payment but just kept being told they would pay that afternoon or the next day, etc. It's not like I didn't contact them and waited for the automatic reporting to kick it.

cootuk

Maybe the buyer should be aware they actually should pay for an item rather than wait for a seller to prompt them they haven't paid after a very generous week, though the seller should really have sent an extra invoice after a few days.
No need for buyers to get abusive though.
There are lots of buyers on Ebay who win but never pay, then pay under duress so they don't get a strike, then raise a dispute once they have the 'unwanted' item.

pinkshoes

How did you contact email? If you didn't phone them, do it!

soolin

2sides2everystory wrote: »

Sounds to me like the OP is insufficiently in control of the train of ebay processes the chosen settings have unfortunately set in motion.

As a buyer predominantly, I can advise that it is often rather annoying to receive an automatic "pay up or else type message" apparently from the seller when it is actually ebay sending it after an arbitrary period the seller may have forgotten about. If the buyer doesn't understand why the message comes out of the blue then it is understandable why they should be annoyed with the seller about it. There are more polite ways of dealing with customers than threats of unpaid item strikes.

The OP says the buyer actually paid at one point. Surely that is a sign of good intention. Why did any abuse occur after that?

And threatening to leave negative feedback is not automatically extortion, it is just that ebay make it easy for sellers to claim that it is "extortion" by their own ridiculous definitions.

Ebay is brim-full of fraudsters and bad sellers yet ebay still wants them.

No sympathy from me I am afraid. If you sell on ebay and want to be sure your customers are happy, you need to communicate with customers by personal messages not rely on automatic ebay produced ones, and you also need to put yourself in their shoes from time to time, not just sit back mute and expect no hassle.

I could not possibly support the view that buyers are so stupid that they need to be nursed through the very simple process of 'you buy you pay'. What next, support workers in Tesco persuading people to get their cash out to pay for the goods that have been rung up.

If buyers were truly that stupid I could not possibly sell on eBay as I have a bit of a short fuse .

forgotmyname

I wouldnt send the item. Sounds like they will be a PITA and leave negative anyway.

I would say its posted and when they say its not arrived refund them instantly.

RedBlue

I spoke to eBay last night and they can't/won't remove the negative feedback as it doesn't fall in to the criteria upon which they will remove.

Apparently despite the fact she left feedback which is completely untrue and was purely left out of spite - as she hasn't swore, contains links or made threats - it's fine.

All I can do is leave her positive feedback with a negative comment but that is hardly the same. Essentially, eBay allow buyers like her to ruin peoples feedback and get away with it.

Danni-R

Dont leave a positive with a negative message. It'll get removed.

I did the same and it was removed and I got a warning. Its not worth it.

Someone on here will be able to advise of what will and what wont get through but a positive with 'bad seller, abusive' will get deleted.