eBay

newlook87 · ‎12-03-2023

As it says above.

I had an auction close on November 25th. There were 24 bids, so definitely interest in the item.

The winning bidder bid on the item several times, winning the item at $62.

However, as soon as the auction closed, the buyer sent me this message:

"Hi, I don't get paid until the 30th;-}"

I responded that was unacceptable, the buyer has a requirement to be able to pay for the items won at auction and that I would be cancelling the order. I cancelled the order within minutes.

The buyer proceeded to send me dozens of messages, said they had paid for the order, please relist, etc. I responded to the first couple messages, then went out for the evening. I never received payment, so the 10-15 messages badgering me for "their money back" I suggested would be resolved through eBay.

Next, the non-paying buyer was allowed to leave me a negative review! I've appealed, but no response thus far.

Sales have immediately stopped, at the most important time of year.

How do I get this nonsense negative review overturned?

What is eBay's expected course of action for a seller?

1. Wait 5 days after auction closes and hope the deadbeat buyer actually pays (and doesn't try additional games to get a better deal, make more excuses to stall payment, etc)?

2. Cancel the order and just accept the negative feedback?

3. Beg the buyer to actually pay for the item they won at auction?

4. Other?

I sell on other platforms and the standard operating procedure for non-paying/deadbeat buyers is to cancel the order and ban them from buture bidding. We also have the ability as sellers to leave them a negative review and a reason, so that deadbeat/non-paying buyers will either pay like they are supposed to or completely kicked off the platform. It works great for sellers.

I sell on various platforms and frankly, I'm prepared to delete all of our stores (we have several) over this and move the entirety of our business to HiBid, where sales have handily eclipsed our eBay sales. Selling is hard enough and this is an unreasonable position to put sellers into.

Why are sellers even put into this situation, when it is so easily preventable? just put in a simple escrow system that enqures that bidders ACTUALLY HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY FOR THE ITEMS THEY ARE BIDDING ON.

Example - before bidding on an auction, funds are held in escrow up to a certain amount of money. If you're trying to buy a more expensive item, say $300, then you need to have a min of $500 in escrow. This isn't hard folks, do it and make this platform actually relevant again.

This functionality is basic and has been around for decades, yet still isn't on eBAY.

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-03-2023

This probably isn't what you want to hear but ebay allows 4 days for a buyer to pay. After that 4 days you can cancel the transaction using buyer didn't pay as the reason and buyer will get an unpaid item strike and any feedback left would be removed. Because the buyer didn't actually ask to cancel and because you didn't wait the 4 days, I don't know if eBay will

remove the feedback but you can try by reporting the buyer here......

https://spd.ebay.ca/RBASellerHub

To be honest, I do agree that the buyer should have asked if you were willing to wait for payment before they did. But in this case I probably would have waited the 5 days as it would have been only 1 day longer than we are supposed to wait anyways.

In your buyer requirements you can also block buyers who have had unpaid item strikes in the last year. I block buyers with 2 strikes in 12 months. EBay is testing an option on .com that requires some buyers to list a payment method before they bid and if they win they are charged right away but I don't know when or if it will be set up on .ca.

newlook87 · ‎12-03-2023

Buyer informed me had no intention of paying for at least 5 days.

I'm not accepting this as a solution

newlook87 · ‎12-03-2023

In 2023, why does the buyer have 4 days to pay for an item that was won at auction? And why are there no repurcussions for buyers that win auctions and do not pay?

I paid eBay fees to promote this auction too.

A simple escrow system for payment and repurcussions for non paying bidders would make this platform relevant again.

I do not accept that I should accept a negative review from a non-paying/deadbeat buyer that told me they won't have the ability to pay for at least 5 days.

You should try selling on other platforms, Shopify, HiBid, etc. Easy to ban deadbeat buyers AND they are the ones that receive the negative review for non-payment, NOT the seller.

rosscd57 · ‎12-03-2023

In the future you might seriously consider using - Buy it Now - as immediate payment is required.

Most of us have quit acutions years ago. I stopped at least ten years ago and would never go back to auctions. As long as you items and descriptions are good and your price is compedative you will likley do much better anyway.

__________________________________________________________

Old enough to know better. Young enough to do it again. Crazy enough to try

newlook87 · ‎12-03-2023

Thank you, i understand the Buy it Now function.

I have over 300 listings on this account and ran two auctions. One buyer paid, one deadbeat.

Several stores on eBay, over 10,000 listings, over 99% Buy it Now.

I regularly run auctions on other platforms and non-payment is not a big issue.

But this question was posted on how to remove negative review from a deadbeat buyer, so if we could stay on topic, that would be helpful.

msau4301 · ‎12-03-2023

You can try to contact eBay to have negative feedback removed if you explain situation. I had feedback left buy a buyer saying "Still don't have item" one day after it was sold (and they were in the US!) I called in and the feedback was removed immediately. Yours is a different situation of course but worth trying to have it removed. In the meantime you can leave a "reply" below the negative feedback so at least anyone who looks can see your explanation - even though you're angry try and leave it short and sweet explaining your side. To add a reply to feedback you have to go to the extended version and hit "Show all", along with the feedback you should see "reply" at least you can have an explanation there.

flipistics · ‎12-03-2023

@newlook87 wrote:

But this question was posted on how to remove negative review from a deadbeat buyer, so if we could stay on topic, that would be helpful.

I doubt you're going to get it removed, but contact eBay for Business on Facebook and try that way. They're your best hope. Make it very clear that the buyer lied and that they DID NOT pay for the item as they stated. Also, in the future, DO NOT reply to feedback you want to get removed. I believe doing so prevents customer support from being able to remove it.

The correct way to handle this situation is to wait the required number of days for the buyer to not pay. They'll get a strike against their account and any feedback they leave (if they can at all) should be removed. You relist the item and move on. I know it sucks, especially this time of year, but that's part of selling. What you did broke eBay's rules. You cancelled a transaction for a reason you're not allowed to cancel for. It's very likely you also got a strike on your account for doing so.

byto253 · ‎12-03-2023

What is the status right now? Has the 4 day payment window passed? Have you cancelled for non-payment? If that is the case then I would think you have a basis for the neg reversal, as it was cancelled and refunded for non-payment.

I don't think a reversal will occur until the system timeframes have passed.

As a sidebar, not having payment automatically done when the auction finished is archaic for online auctions.

aproudparent2010 · ‎12-03-2023

@newlook87 wrote:
In 2023, why does the buyer have 4 days to pay for an item that was won at auction? And why are there no repurcussions for buyers that win auctions and do not pay?

I paid eBay fees to promote this auction too.

A simple escrow system for payment and repurcussions for non paying bidders would make this platform relevant again.

I do not accept that I should accept a negative review from a non-paying/deadbeat buyer that told me they won't have the ability to pay for at least 5 days.

You should try selling on other platforms, Shopify, HiBid, etc. Easy to ban deadbeat buyers AND they are the ones that receive the negative review for non-payment, NOT the seller.

There would have been a repercussion if you had waited the 4 days and closed this out as not paid for.

Then they couldn't have left feedback and and got a nonpaying strike.

aproudparent2010 · ‎12-03-2023

@newlook87 wrote:
Thank you, i understand the Buy it Now function.

I have over 300 listings on this account and ran two auctions. One buyer paid, one deadbeat.

Several stores on eBay, over 10,000 listings, over 99% Buy it Now.

I regularly run auctions on other platforms and non-payment is not a big issue.

But this question was posted on how to remove negative review from a deadbeat buyer, so if we could stay on topic, that would be helpful.

You can't.

You cancelled without buyer asking you to so you got a negative, next time wait the 4 days and clos eit out as non paying and they would have been blocked from feedback.

newlook87 · ‎12-03-2023

Very stupid technicality and one that I will use every avenue to appeal

reallynicestamps · ‎12-04-2023

why does the buyer have 4 days to pay for an item that was won at auction?

Because not every buyer, especially with auctions, is hanging over their keyboard waiting for the results.

Some even forget that they bid until they are billed by eBay.

And some don't have a good enough credit rating to qualify for a credit card, which would allow them to pay immediately.

You were willing to wait seven days for your Auction to close.

If your bidders were willing to be that patient, can't you offer the same courtesy?
If you want immediate payment, you can for the same price as an Auction use Fixed Price/Immediate Payment Required and your listing will be visible for up to 30 days or until someone actually pays.

Auctions make up less than 15% of eBay transactions and even those few often have either Buy It Now or Best Offer options to end the auction sooner.

newlook87 · ‎12-04-2023

Sorry, this is a very bad answer on every level. Why accept such mediocrity?

There is this thing called escrow or in layman's terms, pre-approval. A buyer's credit rating should never enter this discussion and is exactly why immediate payment is required, so that sellers aren't stuck waiting on deadbeat buyers to scrape together the funds for the items they purchased at auction.

in a properly functioning selling platform, a buyer has to have funds set aside in escrow BEFORE bidding. Every major selling platform does this now, to avoid schill bidders, thrill bidders, deadbeats, etc.

And if you actually read my initial post, you would see that the bidder contacted me immediately after the acution ended, so by your definition they were "hanging over the keyboard waiting for results".

Payment after auction should not be a separate negiation after sale between buyer and seller. That's pathetic and unacceptble.

Waiting 4 days after an auction ends to receive payment isn't "extending a courtesy", as you put it. It's giving deadbeat bidders/non-payers the opportunity to renogiate terms of the auction, or simply change their mind and not pay (and with no repurcussions). Not a good business practice.

byto253 · ‎12-04-2023

Have to agree to disagree on this one!

If it is auto payment upon win, no need to hang over the keyboard. Just like with pretty well any other online auction, you need a payment method registered in order to bid and when the hammer drops payment is processed. eBay is a big outlier in running online auctions like this and it is archaic.

I see no reason that this consideraton is given to all auctions, but Buy It Now can require Immediate Payment. People do what the system motivates them to do, and not auto-paying auction wins motivates a casual and not serious approach to bidding by some folks. Luckily I have not had many issues with deadbeat auction buyers, but there have been a few.

Some have stretched payment out for 3-4 days and are clearly re-sellers looking to flip it on whatever platform before paying. Some buyers also find it is PITA to have to go back and submit payment after the auction ends and would prefer automatic payment went through.

I would also like payment completed on hammer drop as it would let me plan shipments better. I like to use auctions from time to time to clear out a number of items at once and knowing x items will end and be paid on the ending day allows better planning. Not a killer issue but something that would make it better for sellers.

An answer I see here often is that BINs are better and the way to go. Auctions are a tool and have their uses. Some folks use them exclusively. I use them where an upside amount is hard to determine or where I think there may be upside but have a good feel for decent selling price. I also use them to move out items, as an auction will sometimes generate a sale that a BIN price reduction did not and often for a similar or higher price.

IMHO it is time for eBay to catch up to the times in the auction world.

marnotom! · ‎12-04-2023

@newlook87 wrote:

Sorry, this is a very bad answer on every level. Why accept such mediocrity?

I think it's a very well-considered response from a seller who has a wealth of experience selling both in brick-and-mortar and online/mail order settings.

@newlook87 wrote:

Waiting 4 days after an auction ends to receive payment isn't "extending a courtesy", as you put it. It's giving deadbeat bidders/non-payers the opportunity to renogiate terms of the auction, or simply change their mind and not pay (and with no repurcussions).

Wrong. It's both. Selling is about compromises. It's about trying to make things as easy for your customers in order to maximise potential gains while minimising potential losses. You can't eliminate loss without affecting potential gain. If you were a supermarket produce manager trying to deal with one or two people shoplifting bananas each week, you could have them under lock and key and sold right by the checkouts, but you'd end up with a lot of blackened bananas because a lot of legitimate buyers would consider it too much hassle to wait for someone to unlock the banana case so they could pick out a few.

You presumably chose to use the auction format on eBay--and eBay itself--because its potential for you outweighed the risks involved. You got 24 bids for this item. How much attention would your item have received on the other auction sites you use, do you figure, with all their penalties hanging over potential bidders' heads? How much attention do you think your item would have received if you had offered it as a "Buy it Now" item instead?

Non-buying buyers can face repercussions, but sellers have to use the tools available to them to ensure those deadbeats get non-payment strikes levied against them. You also have the ability to block potential bidders with a history of non-payment strikes. Sure, non-paying or waffling bidders are annoying, but if this is the first one you've received and all your other auctions on eBay have gone without a hitch, do you really want to throw the baby out with the bathwater with a bunch of Comic Book Guy-inspired restrictions? You'd probably drive a lot of good potential bidders away and end up with a lot of black bananas and zero feedback thrill-bidders who don't intend to pay for their items from the get-go.

recped · ‎12-04-2023

@newlook87 wrote:

I responded that was unacceptable, the buyer has a requirement to be able to pay for the items won at auction and that I would be cancelling the order. I cancelled the order within minutes.

What reason did you use when you cancelled?

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

byto253 · ‎12-04-2023

Requiring immediate payment when an auction is won is the industry standard, it is not unreasonable nor a penalty.

Once upon a time there were no automatic payments and buyers mailed sellers money orders for sales. The auction format is stuck in that era and is way overdue for an update.

ricarmic · ‎12-04-2023

Personally, I would instead suggest they expand the "require immediate payment" option to extend to auctions too (is there for BINS already) so that sellers have the ability to require immediate payment.

I prefer the auctions NOT to require immediate payment as it allows my buyers to accumulate items over days so I can combine into one package, which happens regularly.

Until I read this I didn't realize immediate payment wasn't an option for auctions, one learns something every day!

marnotom! · ‎12-04-2023

@byto253 wrote:

Requiring immediate payment when an auction is won is the industry standard, it is not unreasonable nor a penalty.

Yes, I'm sure it's industry standard for in-person "hammer" type auctions where the bidders or a proxy are in attendance, but eBay auctions are more like silent auctions and many silent auctions--particularly fundraisers--close without anyone being in attendance, so immediate payment is unlikely.