eBay

momcqueen · ‎10-23-2016

The following is a query directed towards those sellers who have employed Buyer Blocks on their listings.

I have the usual ones set up. (Exhibit A)

There is, however, a whole slew. (Exhibit B) Do they actually function? In my four years of selling here, I have seen one (1) blocked buyer due to country location, one (1) due to too many items purchased, and countless due to Unpaid Item Strikes.

Considering buyers with Unpaid Item Strikes are completely irrelevant to sellers whose items are set to Immediate Payment Required, what purpose does it serve? I would even be willing to go so far as to revise a listing to make a listing IPR if it meant a buyer with too many strikes really wanted to purchase it. (Exhibit C) But we aren't allowed to see who that buyer is so it's not like I can tell them that.

The buyers I want to see blocked in the log are the ones that I've personally blocked making repeat attempts to buy from me, as well as the ones who are blocked for Reports of policy violations. I'm skeptical the latter is a legitimate block, to be honest. Has anyone ever seen it put into action in their own log?

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Do you as sellers use these blocks? What results do you see from them?

goldnideas · ‎10-23-2016

I have these blocks. And full list in activity log from buyers without paypal account to Too many Unpaid Item strikes, I can't see their ID's. But I can exempt buyers from countries to which I don't ship, they have visible ID.

Personally I think these blocks save me time and money, last month I had 7 buyers.

Do you know that if buyer will change ebay ID, he/ she can still buy from your store, regardless your block on Block bidder List?

momcqueen · ‎10-23-2016

@goldnideas wrote:

....Do you know that if buyer will change ebay ID, he/ she can still buy from your store, regardless your block on Block bidder List?

I did. Which is the reason I think it's important for sellers like you and me to see the ID of a manual-blocked buyer. Because if three seconds after that block happens in the log you get a purchase made through Guest Checkout or to a brand-new ID located in the same place, and it turns out to be the very same blocked buyer circumventing those blocks, that is supposed to be prohibited by ebay. As the seller, I'd want to know this transaction has extra potential to become troublesome so that I may extra measures to protect myself like tracking or signature confirmation. Forewarned is forearmed.

I know the buyer gets a red message error when trying to place their bid or add to cart but the sellers see nothing logged about the attempt. I don't think that's fair to a seller.

Also, if you or I had our blocks set up to be too stringent, how would we know who's being prevented from buying what they want unless we know via the log each time an actual blocked attempt is made for any reason. Not just certain ones.

To my mind, the Buyer Activity Requirements Log simply isn't as helpful as it could be.

ypdc_dennis · ‎10-23-2016

My usual blocks are: no paypal / 2 unpaid items / policy violations

I don't bother with negative feedback (that went obsolete in 2009 after the 2008 changes that made buyer feedback positive only)

I don't bother with multiple purchases block, I've never had the luck to run into that sort of "problem".

For most of my items I don't block shipping locations (unless it's a local-pickup-only listing).

Results:

Blocked in last 60 days -- 1 buyer who does not have paypal (the item sold to someone who does)

-..-

thestuffofchris · ‎10-23-2016

I use all of the blocks in some way but I only remember seeing a few buyers blocked: one for not having PayPal and a few with too many Unpaid Strikes (one of which is currently on my list from September).

I probably am less lenient on my blocks than I could be, but in my mind I would rather protect myself as best I can with the options available and prevent problems before they happen.

momcqueen · ‎10-23-2016

To the sellers that block users without an active paypal account, may I ask the reason for that? I don't have that block in place and I think it helps my sales to brand-new ebayers. I sell to a great many of those, and perhaps my no-paypal-is-okay rule is the reason.

goldnideas · ‎10-23-2016

I never had "no paypal" block, until somebody from neighbour city made a bid on my item. As you can imagine next step was our meeting, which she was not able to do for couple of days, and then was weekend and then her family she can't leave. In the end (almost after a week) everything went well, but after that I made my decision, no more buyers without paypal. Less stress and again it will save my time.

i.am.vivian · ‎10-23-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
countless due to Unpaid Item Strikes.

Considering buyers with Unpaid Item Strikes are completely irrelevant to sellers whose items are set to Immediate Payment Required, what purpose does it serve? I would even be willing to go so far as to revise a listing to make a listing IPR if it meant a buyer with too many strikes really wanted to purchase it. (Exhibit C) But we aren't allowed to see who that buyer is so it's not like I can tell them that.

It soothes the nervous and paranoid seller. There are still some people who believe anyone without a PayPal account is a scammer. Can't do much about that. What you say is exactly right, if someone has IPR on their listings they don't need to block for hardly anything at all and will sell more if they don't, as you say in your second point.

Who knows why someone has UI strikes. If they are willing to pay for your item does it matter? There are just as many scammers with PP Accs and high feedback scores who know exactly how to manipulate the system. I think those ones are more troublesome than a new user who just needs a brief and friendly "Your item is on its way and Canada Post is slow" message.

If a seller does NOT use IPR then I think it is a good idea to block for UI strikes. Peoples opinions vary and some categories are going to be a lot worse for attracting thrill bidders who don't pay. Also if a seller has had a problem with one person it is useful to block temporarily at least against people without a PP Acc because if the seller suddenly has a bunch of fake IDs buying up all the items just for spite. That is extremely rare but I have seen on the .COM boards where this has happened to some.

I block for UI strikes but not for no PP because there are too many people using credit cards. To stay competitive with sites that don't make the user get a PP Acc you pretty much have to be flexible. Someone might want to buy a hand-made thing for their grandbaby's christening and that's it. If I block, they buy from someone who doesn't.

If they "buy" but don't pay I try to be as nice as possible, let them off the hook right away, and relist without waiting for that 8 days to pass. 8 days is too long, imo. It all depends on the buyer's response too.

i.am.vivian · ‎10-23-2016

I meant to add that if you are wondering if a person who would pay for your item if there was not UI strike block on, maybe you could put a line in the listing like

If you are having trouble purchasing this item or completing the transaction, it may be another system glitch so please contact me with a message and I will try to help sort it out.

Then you can go from there. If it is someone from your BBL or else you have the Block Contact option set up then they won't even be able to do that. I block, but leave contact open just in case someone is sincere about wanting something.

cumos55 · ‎10-24-2016

My only blocks....

(1) If an item is bought but not paid.... Buyer is blocked.

(2) If buyer buys and pays and then subsequently makes a claim after item has been shipped...... then buyer is blocked

(3) Buyer leaves neutral or negative feedback... buyer gets blocked..

What many buyers forget is that if they buy and cause trouble... they get blocked... and cannot buy again... never. again...

and you may have the very inventory they want....

Their ID is known... and they are in trouble if they get a new account, or if they have someone buy for them.....

.....There has been atleast once when a potential buyer realized he was blocked.... He did buy ... friend's ID as he explained....but my input was... Treat it as a totally new purchase.... Buyer was an angel

...... Did have a buyer that bought and did not pay... He then came back with a very good explanation ... and was allowed to buy.....with no problems subsequently...

There was a local buyer who wanted to buy... but not on eBay.... If it is listed on eBay it sells on eBay... this potential buyer was blocked... and was livid because I would not sell off eBay.

A local buyer is not given my address until item is purchased...

ricarmic · ‎10-24-2016

What I do is virtually the same as Cumos... (ie I have no automagic blocks either)

Only adjustments I make to Cumos 3 for me are:

If a buyer pays and makes an unrealistic claim after item has been shipped they are blocked. (1 & 3 are same for me)

And I have an added one:

If a buyer creates a late shipping defect, normally the buyer will be blocked.

ypdc_dennis · ‎10-24-2016

@ricarmic wrote:
.... If a buyer creates a late shipping defect, normally the buyer will be blocked.

A good idea, I may borrow it. Although the buyer is usually not responsible for the problem, eBay's unrealistic delivery times for that particular address can be (in my case, parts of Australia).

-..-

ricarmic · ‎10-24-2016

Hi ypdc!

Yep despite the fact its not really the buyers fault, I'm not going to repeatedly get defects from addresses in slow delivery countries (the last two I placed were for buyers in Israel and Singapore, so far Australia has been ok for me).

I am hopeful that the surveying ebay has done and ebays enthusiasm for us to ship everywhere will lead them to customize the defects to lessen the impact of slow shipping to traditionally slow delivery countries.... time will tell!

rose-dee · ‎10-24-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I have the usual ones set up. (Exhibit A)
There is, however, a whole slew. (Exhibit B) Do they actually function? In my four years of selling here, I have seen one (1) blocked buyer due to country location, one (1) due to too many items purchased, and countless due to Unpaid Item Strikes.
Do you as sellers use these blocks? What results do you see from them?

I've used all of the blocks in your Exhibit B for several years (the Paypal one more recently), with some customized settings attuned to my particular buyer base.

I block buyers without Paypal accounts because Paypal is free for buyers to use, easy to set up, secure for both parties, and because I really can't think of any good reason for a buyer not to use it. All my listings show payment by Paypal only, so it's clear to interested buyers from the start.

Country location blocks act as a backup to my exclusion list, mainly to prevent people from problematic areas of the world purchasing a $20 or $30 item that I can't afford to send with tracking, and then giving me a late delivery defect (similar to 'ricarmic's' reason).

I don't use IPR on any of my listings, hence the Item Strikes block. I've seen the occasional activity log report on that aspect, so I'm glad I have the block in place. As an aside, I've had experiences with IPR not being compatible with the .com cart, and upsetting or confusing buyers, so I've avoided it completely (I'm listing primarily on .com these days). I also really don't mind waiting a couple of days to get paid if my buyer gives me notice.

I've left the negative FB score block in place at -1, although it's completely moot now that sellers can no longer leave negative FB for buyers.

As for results, I get very few during any given year, mainly because I'm not selling in a category that is particularly troublesome. I'm sure if you're selling branded consumer goods or electronics, these blocks are much more important.

rose-dee · ‎10-24-2016

As an afterthought, it seems clear to me that if a seller is finding they're getting too many activity reports in the log for a particular block, it might be prudent to revise the parameters of the block, rethink the block completely, or indeed review selling strategies, pricing and items offered.

This is what consider to be the main usefulness of the activity log itself.

momcqueen · ‎10-24-2016

That's the thing: mine seem all to be UI strikes. Which makes me again wonder if I'd be smarter to move to IPR and dump local pick-up. I guess I'll need to do the math in a year and see which would earn me better sales. Would it be selling to UI-strike buyers by IPR? Or locals using pickup? Although that's flawed because it only shows you who hit buy it now, not whether they actually would have paid for it.

The only part of the new seller standards I value is the ability to see who left a defect. It never made sense to me that a buyer could leave low DSRs and then come back ten times more and do that each time in secrecy.

rose-dee · ‎10-24-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
That's the thing: mine seem all to be UI strikes. Which makes me again wonder if I'd be smarter to move to IPR and dump local pick-up. I guess I'll need to do the math in a year and see which would earn me better sales. Would it be selling to UI-strike buyers by IPR? Or locals using pickup? Although that's flawed because it only shows you who hit buy it now, not whether they actually would have paid for it.

What percentage of your sales are represented by local pick-up? How much time do you spend on them? If you don't have buyers come to your home (which I presume you don't), how much gas do you spend driving to and from the pick-up point(s) as a proportion of those net sales each month? Could those sales not be handled by online purchases with reduced (or free) shipping to local addresses, say within a 60km radius of your location?

Would it matter to sell to UI-strike buyers as long as they pay? Do you mean you don't want to take their money out of principle because they've been bad to other sellers in the past? IPR was originally introduced for the very reason of ensuring buyers who choose would be buyers who paid (and perhaps reforming previous naughty buyers).

One note of caution though: If I recall correctly, IPR obviates the use of the cart. In other words, it discourages browser-shopping. I dumped it from my listings for that reason, but as I said, my buyers are generally good.

The other factor to consider is whether the UI strikes you see on your log are more or less evenly distributed over the year, or in a clump during a particular period. If the latter, there may be another, underlying reason for all the log activity that is beyond your direct control. I expect you're also in a category that is more susceptible to non-payers than mine. If the UI-strike log reports occurred after a time when you listed a particular type or group of items, that might also be a clue.

Knowing the ID of the blocked buyer doesn't help either, if you don't know the reason for why they didn't pay -- or why they felt they didn't have to pay. People have many reasons for non-payment, not the least of which can be simple over-reaching on a budget, especially if it's a shiny new toy they're after.

pjcdn2005 · ‎10-24-2016

One note of caution though: If I recall correctly, IPR obviates the use of the cart. In other words, it discourages browser-shopping. I dumped it from my listings for that reason, but as I said, my buyers are generally good.

I don't use ipr But I don't see how it obviates the use of the cart. If anything, it encourages people who don't want to pay right away to use the cart and to keep browsing.

A seller that requires PP will also prevent purchases from buyers who don't have their eBay and PP accounts

inked. I haven't ever required it and haven't had any problems because of that. I've never understand why people do use that block.

i.am.vivian · ‎10-24-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
One note of caution though: If I recall correctly, IPR obviates the use of the cart. In other words, it discourages browser-shopping. I dumped it from my listings for that reason, but as I said, my buyers are generally good.

When a seller has Immediate Payment on their listings buyers can still add these items to their cart because the items are not "bought" yet. Its just that another buyer somewhere can come along and pay for the item because it still shows in the seller's listings. It is then gone from the first person's cart.

i.am.vivian · ‎10-24-2016

Forgot to add that what buyers putting IPR items into their cart can NOT do is "Request total from seller". If they want 6 items at a reduced shipping fee they have to contact the seller and work something out, like the seller taking IPR off those items. That's because using "Request total" is the same as "Commit to buy" and IPR basically says "Pay first, Ask questions later".