Can I refuse to sell to an Ebay buyer?

November2

Apologies if this gets posted twice but my message disappeared as I posted it.


I've just upgraded to Business Seller on Ebay and would like to know if I see a pattern of abuse in a buyers feedback, such as consistently claiming lost in post or item damaged etc can I cancel the transaction and refuse to sell to the buyer?


I've just received an hilarious INAD geared towards a refund rather than a return and one look at her feedback shows she constantly makes such claims. I would given the choice never have sold to this person in the first place.


I know from experience Ebay insist on Private Sellers going through with sales even if there is a glaring problem with buyer, but I just wondered if Business Sellers have any extra rights not to go ahead with a sale.

soolin

November2 wrote: »

Apologies if this gets posted twice but my message disappeared as I posted it.


I've just upgraded to Business Seller on Ebay and would like to know if I see a pattern of abuse in a buyers feedback, such as consistently claiming lost in post or item damaged etc can I cancel the transaction and refuse to sell to the buyer?


I've just received an hilarious INAD geared towards a refund rather than a return and one look at her feedback shows she constantly makes such claims. I would given the choice never have sold to this person in the first place.


I know from experience Ebay insist on Private Sellers going through with sales even if there is a glaring problem with buyer, but I just wondered if Business Sellers have any extra rights not to go ahead with a sale.

There are no additional 'rights' for sellers even if they are a business. .

November2

Thanks for taking time to reply. I'd have thought a business seller would have more say in who they sold to.
Another question I'm struggling to find an answer to is regarding distance selling regulation and auctions. I sell all my items BIN so have to offer 14 day returns for change of mind, but I have wondered how that works with auctions.
I recently sold a BIN only to have it cancelled as change of mind couple of hours later as they had bought off another Ebayer a little cheaper (thankfully I was able to cancel the courier before pick up). So with regards to auctions surely it would cause even more problems as it just encourages multi bids on multi auctions as buyer knows they can immediately cancel all purchases they win and just buy the lowest priced one. How does the change of mind distance selling regulation work with auctions?

shaun_from_Africa

The Distance selling regulations no longer apply as they were superseded by the "Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations" earlier this year.

Provided that the item being sold on ebay doesn't fall into one of the exempted categories such as perishable or personalised goods then it doesn't matter if it is sold by auction or BIN, the right of cancellation applies if the seller is a business.

forgotmyname

If a buyer has already made a claim or purchased an item how can you refuse to sell to them? Or is that just based on their feedback after they win but before you send?

Private or Business sellers can refuse to sell to anyone. But expect your feedback to show the fact that you dont sell after buyers win the items.

I bought an item that should have been part of a set. But i only needed the one part. They split it into about 8 auctions.
I won one, Couple of other buyers bought one each. And another bought the rest of the set.
Obviously the buyer wanted the entire set, So the seller made an excuse saying listed in error or didnt have them item to sell.

3 negatives killed the sales. Everything they sold after that had very few buyers and very low prices.

Dont shoot yourself in the foot...If they claim not received send tracked. If its NAD then why are they claiming that?

sequence

As above, you can refuse to sell but it will cost you in feedback. If the buyer seems dubious, sending it tracked is about all you can really do, unless you sell enough that bad feedback won't make a dent.

crazycamper

I am not a business seller but I have had numerous issues with Ebay about buyers claiming that they have not received items. Unless you have a tracking number, Ebay will favour the buyer no matter what & you will have to refund buyer & reclaim through postage channels yourself. Also Ebay will not refund the Final Value fees of any items lost in the post which is really unfair. A recent case, I was suspicious that the buyer had claimed for lost in post & I called Ebay to ask if they could search that person to see if they had made other claims, so Ebay can see but sellers cant. As it happened it appeared genuine so I had to refund because like an idiot, I had sent normal Royal Mail & not signed for or tracked (Lesson learned) I think if you do all auctions BIN you may have a problem stopping people buying. If it was auction, obviously you can see their feedback & cancel bids if you wish. Im fairly sure that you can block people from bidding, maybe there is an option for blocking from buying. However, pretty easy for buyers to get round I guess. Good Luck, Im not a big fan of Ebay as a seller but unfortunately, they have the biggest market so im stuck with them !

soolin

crazycamper wrote: »

I am not a business seller but I have had numerous issues with Ebay about buyers claiming that they have not received items. Unless you have a tracking number, Ebay will favour the buyer no matter what & you will have to refund buyer & reclaim through postage channels yourself. Also Ebay will not refund the Final Value fees of any items lost in the post which is really unfair. A recent case, I was suspicious that the buyer had claimed for lost in post & I called Ebay to ask if they could search that person to see if they had made other claims, so Ebay can see but sellers cant. As it happened it appeared genuine so I had to refund because like an idiot, I had sent normal Royal Mail & not signed for or tracked (Lesson learned) I think if you do all auctions BIN you may have a problem stopping people buying. If it was auction, obviously you can see their feedback & cancel bids if you wish. Im fairly sure that you can block people from bidding, maybe there is an option for blocking from buying. However, pretty easy for buyers to get round I guess. Good Luck, Im not a big fan of Ebay as a seller but unfortunately, they have the biggest market so im stuck with them !

You are not foolish in using standard mail for cheaper items, the only RM tracked service is special and that is very expensive.

I use RM standard 2nd class for the majority of my items as paying extra for tracking would put me out of business and there aren't actually that many scam buyers on eBay, despite what some people say.

Take a look at the sticky postage thread.

RFW

Unless you're selling very high risk items then it really isn't worth the stress of worrying about every customer.
Treat all the buyers equally until they give you cause not to. You shouldn't be able to see in a buyer's feedback whether they are a nuisance or not. I know some will leave false positives and follow ups but it isn't the whole story anyway. One seller's nuisance buyer is another seller's good customer.

Also, a private seller has slightly more options than a business seller as they don't have to adhere as strictly to consumer law.

George_Michael

November2 wrote: »

Thanks for taking time to reply. I'd have thought a business seller would have more say in who they sold to.
Another question I'm struggling to find an answer to is regarding distance selling regulation and auctions. I sell all my items BIN so have to offer 14 day returns for change of mind, but I have wondered how that works with auctions.

Any seller, whether business or private does have the right to refuse to sell to anyone (provided that the refusal isn't because of something such as race, religion etc).
But. once the auction or BIN has been completed, the contract has been formed and ebay expect both parties to complete the transaction. You can block buyers before this point but not afterwards.

As to the auction/BIN question regarding returns.
You now have to accept cancellation requests from buyers provided they are sent within 14 days of them receiving the goods and you must inform your customers that they have this right of cancellation.

campdave

You will encounter far more issues trying to pick and choose who to sell to rather than just getting on with selling.