My 3rd non payer this year and I'm getting cheesed off

graspthenettle

Here we are, only February, and I have just had to open my 3rd unpaid case since the new year. (prior to that I had 2 in all my selling since I began selling on ebay in 2003).

I'm patient, I give them plenty of time to pay, at least a week, I email them, asking if there is a problem?, do they need longer to pay?, have they just changed their minds? (Nothing really to be served in forcing people to buy things they've decided against) but nothing, no reply, no apology (don't laugh) and I finally give in and open a case.

The thing that has me really cheesed off this time though is that I have just been and looked at the buyers feedback and, out of the 24 remarks, 11 of them are people complaining that they haven't been paid. 11 out of 24! :eek: Where is ebay in all this? Why haven't they stopped her? One of the comments says to beware as she has several ids, so she is obviously just having a laugh and we are paying for it.

All the comments are 'positive' of course, because that is all sellers can leave, so well done again ebay, first for letting her get away with it and secondly, for not letting us warn each other properly.

Sorry, rant over, thanks for listening.

soolin

graspthenettle wrote: »

Here we are, only February, and I have just had to open my 3rd unpaid case since the new year. (prior to that I had 2 in all my selling since I began selling on ebay in 2003).

I'm patient, I give them plenty of time to pay, at least a week, I email them, asking if there is a problem?, do they need longer to pay?, have they just changed their minds? (Nothing really to be served in forcing people to buy things they've decided against) but nothing, no reply, no apology (don't laugh) and I finally give in and open a case.

The thing that has me really cheesed off this time though is that I have just been and looked at the buyers feedback and, out of the 24 remarks, 11 of them are people complaining that they haven't been paid. 11 out of 24! :eek: Where is ebay in all this? Why haven't they stopped her? One of the comments says to beware as she has several ids, so she is obviously just having a laugh and we are paying for it.

All the comments are 'positive' of course, because that is all sellers can leave, so well done again ebay, first for letting her get away with it and secondly, for not letting us warn each other properly.

Sorry, rant over, thanks for listening.

Don't blame eBay, blame the daft sellers who leave positives instead of going through the NPB system. If those sellers had done NPBs and assuming like most sellers you have people with two or more strikes blocked then those time wasters could not have bid.

Whilst sellers continue to reward non payers with a positive they will continue to mess us around.

Also, don't bother contacting buyers, what happens if one does respond and says they've changed their mind? Will you join the other sellers and let them off?

Send an invoice, maybe a reminder invoice but always get that NPB open as soon as you are comfortable to do so. It can be opened as early as day 2 , I usually leave it until day 3 or 4, but it is a personal choice what time frame you use.

bartelbe

soolin wrote: »

Don't blame eBay, blame the daft sellers who leave positives instead of going through the NPB system. If those sellers had done NPBs and assuming like most sellers you have people with two or more strikes blocked then those time wasters could not have bid.

Whilst sellers continue to reward non payers with a positive they will continue to mess us around.

Also, don't bother contacting buyers, what happens if one does respond and says they've changed their mind? Will you join the other sellers and let them off?

Send an invoice, maybe a reminder invoice but always get that NPB open as soon as you are comfortable to do so. It can be opened as early as day 2 , I usually leave it until day 3 or 4, but it is a personal choice what time frame you use.

So what happens if the buyer leaves a neg and low stars? It is all very well saying ebay protect sellers, but most sellers don't believe that.

They take the hit and move on. With ebay's attitude, who can blame them?

soolin

bartelbe wrote: »

So what happens if the buyer leaves a neg and low stars? It is all very well saying ebay protect sellers, but most sellers don't believe that.

They take the hit and move on. With ebay's attitude, who can blame them?

If a full NPB is done without buying paying then buyer cannot leave any feedback

Collabora

i have the ebay assistant enabled, so if buyers dont pay then NPB is automatically started

soolin

Collabora wrote: »

i have the ebay assistant enabled, so if buyers dont pay then NPB is automatically started

I think that is a good idea, it takes the stress out of it. I rarely do auctions on my business and tend to stick to BINs, but I find when I do have auctions where the buyer hasn't paid I dwell on it, I spend ages checking out their feedback, trying to decide when to open an NPB etc. if it is automatic you just need to let the system take over and not worry.

graspthenettle

soolin wrote: »

I think that is a good idea, it takes the stress out of it. I rarely do auctions on my business and tend to stick to BINs, but I find when I do have auctions where the buyer hasn't paid I dwell on it, I spend ages checking out their feedback, trying to decide when to open an NPB etc. if it is automatic you just need to let the system take over and not worry.

The thing is, I am happy to combine postage on different days - better a wait than a non-sale - so people do get in touch and I delay invoicing for a week, maybe more if they ask nicely, I don't want ebay automatically opening a NPB.

I think we've all bid on something at sometime then thought, oh no, hope, I get outbid (and of course you never do) I always bite the bullet pay immediately then decide what to do with the item afterwards. I would much sooner give my buyers the chance to cancel, less ill feelings, so less likely to leave me a neg out of spite, (there are some strange people out there) plus it gets it back on the market that bit sooner.

By the way, no-one has ever taken me up on the offer. My 1st non-payer this year did email me just saying 'oh, yes, cancel' 10 days after the sale and 3 days after I opened the case. I replied saying that she needed to reply through the case now, she didn't bother and got a mark against her.

No, I don't believe ebay protects its sellers at all, it is all about its buyers. All we sellers get is 'improve, improve, improve' even when this is nothing more that we can do.

RFW

graspthenettle wrote: »

The thing is, I am happy to combine postage on different days - better a wait than a non-sale - so people do get in touch and I delay invoicing for a week, maybe more if they ask nicely, I don't want ebay automatically opening a NPB.

I think we've all bid on something at sometime then thought, oh no, hope, I get outbid (and of course you never do) I always bite the bullet pay immediately then decide what to do with the item afterwards. I would much sooner give my buyers the chance to cancel, less ill feelings, so less likely to leave me a neg out of spite, (there are some strange people out there) plus it gets it back on the market that bit sooner.

By the way, no-one has ever taken me up on the offer. My 1st non-payer this year did email me just saying 'oh, yes, cancel' 10 days after the sale and 3 days after I opened the case. I replied saying that she needed to reply through the case now, she didn't bother and got a mark against her.

No, I don't believe ebay protects its sellers at all, it is all about its buyers. All we sellers get is 'improve, improve, improve' even when this is nothing more that we can do.

If it's that stressful for you, why bother?

Ebay have about as much in place as they are ever likely to to protect against non payers, everyone gets them. Negative feedback never stopped them and false positives has the exact opposite effect. I've no idea why sellers give buyers any kind of feedback, if they need a buyer rating, just make it automatic from payment. I could actually see that change coming in soon enough.

nicholaswitchell

eBay should be fair for buyers AND sellers - and it isn't.

THAT is why it is stressful.

Sellers are playing a system that they CANNOT win.

RFW

nicholaswitchell wrote: »

eBay should be fair for buyers AND sellers - and it isn't.

It's impossible to achieve, that's why. What's fair to a seller won't always be fair to a buyer. There's also a big difference between what some sellers think is fair.
In the case of non payers, what can possibly be done to make it fair to the seller? Even with the best will in the world *stuff* happens and a buyer can't pay. Ebay won't be paying it, so the best we can hope for is to get fees back and try and sell again. Even public flogging a guilty party won't stop a non payer, it happens.

soolin

nicholaswitchell wrote: »

eBay should be fair for buyers AND sellers - and it isn't.

THAT is why it is stressful.

Sellers are playing a system that they CANNOT win.

I know you have an issue with ebay, as can be seen from your posts- but what exactly would you do in this instance then to make it fairer?

Sellers can NPB a buyer and 2 such strikes would mean they were effectively banned from bidding on most sellers auctions. However whilst sellers either let them off as is the case with the OP here, or just don't bother with an NPB and leave positive feedback instead- what do you think is going to happen?

There is a system for non payers, if sellers choose not to use it then we can hardly blame ebay.