Can I refuse to sell to an Ebay buyer?

JethroUK

November2 wrote: »

....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?....

Well the law says you dont have to sell to anyone (make a contract with anyone) you dont want to - for whatever reason you like

which makes perfect sense

but since when have ebay acknowledged sense or law

Ebay would do better to monitor buyer behaviours better and let sellers exclude certain negative behaviours from buying/bidding

RFW

JethroUK wrote: »

Well the law says you dont have to sell to anyone (make a contract with anyone) you dont want to - for whatever reason you like

Not quite, there are actually laws stopping business from discriminating against customers. It's a fool's errand to try and start blocking customers unless you either know they will cause you harm (in a business sense) or they already have.

PDC

You can filter/block or stop bidders from bidding/buying your items on eBay but this needs to be set up before a sale.

So if people have received x number of poor feedbacks recently or have not paid for items in the past then you can set things up so they can't buy. You can also block user IDs.

Info on set up here http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/buyer-requirements.html

In this case all it seems you can maybe do is contact eBay and point out what you have noticed.

JethroUK

RFW wrote: »

Not quite, there are actually laws stopping business from discriminating against customers. ...

OK - Apart from breeching Equality Act 2010 you do not have to enter a contract with anyone you dont like for whatever reason you like

martindow

JethroUK wrote: »

OK - Apart from breeching Equality Act 2010 you do not have to enter a contract with anyone you dont like for whatever reason you like

True, but once you have agreed to a contract there can be repercussions if you choose not to fulfil with it. If you sell on Ebay it is normal to send items to people who have bid and paid.

RFW

PDC wrote: »

So if people have received x number of poor feedbacks recently or have not paid for items in the past then you can set things up so they can't buy.

It may be being pedantic but there is no bad feedback for buyers that can be blocked. The only bad feedback that could be left for buyers are positives and that wouldn't be picked up by automated system.
Sellers need to use non paying/report buyer options and stop worrying about feedback, that way the problem buyers should end up blocked/suspended anyway.

Apart from my own website, where I have no options to block buyers, I only sell on Amazon now. Amazon do not give an option to block buyers or leave feedback for them, I can only think of one problem buyer on Amazon on thousands of transactions.

If you're selling you will always get the odd nuisance customer, factor it in and be prepared to handle it when it happens.

GabbaGabbaHey

sequence wrote: »

As above, you can refuse to sell but it will cost you in feedback.

And in Stars. And possibly in a Non Performing Seller strike.

bxboards

I block buyers or potential buyers without hesitation.

A recent example was a buyer who bought and paid for an item, then sent 17 post sale questions over the course of a day, including trying to get me to write a fraudulent customs declaration - and argued with me again when I said that as this was EU to EU there was is no customs declaration to make..

After mail 18, I refunded, cancelled the order, reported and blocked him.

Sellers are entitled to sell to who they want, as are physical shop owners or pubs who are free to bar entry to certain customers. As a seller I trust my spider sense, and if I don't want to deal with someone, I don't.

buglawton

sequence wrote: »

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.

I once refused to sell to a buyer who looked suspicious. made worse by all their feedback being private. Got stinking feedback (even though I'd immediately refunded the payment and reversed the sale) but appealed to Ebay and had it removed. Had to lead the Ebay helpdesk person by the nose through the message log with this buyer though, so that Ebay could see the point.