Aggressive eBay Buyers

TripleH

I sold a collection only item to  someone who paid straight away. They got really shirty with me when I refused to post it as it was impractical to send.

I was told to just post it to them and they'd send me the money once they received it (item was less than postage fees). I cancelled the sale.

I had another asking that I send an item by post as it was blah blah blah (some waffle I wasn't going to read). Again item was collection only and stated as such because I didn't have a suitable box to safely post the item in (and had explained that in the advert). Think they were after a discount too?

GDB2222

I have sold a few vintage furniture items, as we are down-sizing, and the buyers have all been very polite / pleasant / knowledgeable. They have also accepted that some things can't be posted. 

Pollycat

I'd be really clear about 'collection only'.
In capitals. In bold.
And add that there is no way you are going to post/courier the item so if they can't collect, please don't bid.

kalsha

Pollycat said:

And add that there is no way you are going to post/courier the item so if they can't collect, please don't bid.

Be careful how you word about not bidding.
Long time ago, for my collection only items I used to write "please do not bid if you can't collect".
I got a message from Ebay saying I could not say that - the offending words being "do not bid".

So I changed it to " Please bid only if you are able to collect from -----   (giving first half of postcode only).  Ebay seems to be happy with that as I have not had any further messages.

Pollycat

kalsha said:

Pollycat said:

And add that there is no way you are going to post/courier the item so if they can't collect, please don't bid.

Be careful how you word about not bidding.
Long time ago, for my collection only items I used to write "please do not bid if you can't collect".
I got a message from Ebay saying I could not say that - the offending words being "do not bid".

So I changed it to " Please bid only if you are able to collect from -----   (giving first half of postcode only).  Ebay seems to be happy with that as I have not had any further messages.

I don't see why you can't say that you should not bid if you can't follow the terms of the offer you are listing.
I think I might argue the toss on that with eBay.
Would be interesting to hear what Soolin says.

I've seen lots of listings saying 'don't bid if...'

soolin

Pollycat said:

kalsha said:

Pollycat said:

And add that there is no way you are going to post/courier the item so if they can't collect, please don't bid.

Be careful how you word about not bidding.
Long time ago, for my collection only items I used to write "please do not bid if you can't collect".
I got a message from Ebay saying I could not say that - the offending words being "do not bid".

So I changed it to " Please bid only if you are able to collect from -----   (giving first half of postcode only).  Ebay seems to be happy with that as I have not had any further messages.

I don't see why you can't say that you should not bid if you can't follow the terms of the offer you are listing.
I think I might argue the toss on that with eBay.
Would be interesting to hear what Soolin says.

I've seen lots of listings saying 'don't bid if...'

It's just the wording that is the issue as ebay is policed by 'bots' in most instances. 'Do not bid' can be seen as a euphemism for 'contact me and we'll deal outside ebay'.

Saying the same thing in a different format would get past any automatic flag by a bot.  

Pollycat

soolin said:

Pollycat said:

kalsha said:

Pollycat said:

And add that there is no way you are going to post/courier the item so if they can't collect, please don't bid.

Be careful how you word about not bidding.
Long time ago, for my collection only items I used to write "please do not bid if you can't collect".
I got a message from Ebay saying I could not say that - the offending words being "do not bid".

So I changed it to " Please bid only if you are able to collect from -----   (giving first half of postcode only).  Ebay seems to be happy with that as I have not had any further messages.

I don't see why you can't say that you should not bid if you can't follow the terms of the offer you are listing.
I think I might argue the toss on that with eBay.
Would be interesting to hear what Soolin says.

I've seen lots of listings saying 'don't bid if...'

It's just the wording that is the issue as ebay is policed by 'bots' in most instances. 'Do not bid' can be seen as a euphemism for 'contact me and we'll deal outside ebay'.

Saying the same thing in a different format would get past any automatic flag by a bot.  

I think I'd take it back to eBay and point out that I was only making it crystal clear that I would not accept bids/offers unless collection only was adhered to.

Having said that, I don't do collection only listings. All my stuff is small enough to be posted. 

discat11

I must admit I agree with pretty much all of the above comments. I've been ebaying for over 20 years and buyers have become far more 'assertive' whilst at the same time being less able to actually read descriptions!
That being said I now generally use a cut & paste 'terms' list on each, it at least lays out that if it says 'no offers' and the auction doesn't allow it then I won't reply to such etc.

I did get surprised recently however with a seller's behaviour!
Bidding highest on an item, above reserve & about 90 minutes to go suddenly they started cancelling bids stating the bidder had retracted ( I hadn't), they then blocked me from bidding again.
Apparently, eBay doesn't see that sort of behaviour as reportable, which is odd since the seller was doing them out of FVF too.

I treat buyers/sellers as I expect to get treated but have to conclude that few aren't at my level!

vacheron

I quite like it when entitled (and often inexperienced) buyers make me stupid lowball offers on my items. I never set an auto reject as this doesn't happen very often, so I like to run out the offers clock by moving very slowly towards their price in tiny increments until their 3 attempts run out. Then I wait for the inevitable ebay message asking why they can't send offers any more and how much they really wanted the item! 

My reply is then "I'm afraid you have no option but to buy it at its listed price", and quite a few (begrudgingly) have.



I did have someone (I believe he was an older gentleman) give me quite a lot of detail on how to pack an item. I told him to take a look through some of my 1500+ feedback comments to see how many of them were positive in relation to the packaging as I am quite festidious in this regard which seemed to reassure him. 

He later left feedback stating it was the best packaging he had EVER encountered which left a nice warm fuzzy feeling. 

Also everyone who has came to collect my albeit rare number of collection only items have been absolutely lovely. So it's not all bad.

zackary71

vacheron said:

I quite like it when entitled (and often inexperienced) buyers make me stupid lowball offers on my items. I never set an auto reject as this doesn't happen very often, so I like to run out the offers clock by moving very slowly towards their price in tiny increments until their 3 attempts run out. Then I wait for the inevitable ebay message asking why they can't send offers any more and how much they really wanted the item! 

My reply is then "I'm afraid you have no option but to buy it at its listed price", and quite a few (begrudgingly) have.



  

I have to say, that is positively genius. I might use that one the next time someone either a) goes low-ball, or b) forgets the Kingsman adage "manners maketh the man" 😉