Can a Buyer leave negative feedback IF...

[lovebuguniverse]

I file an unpaid item dispute against them?

When I first starting selling I was impressed that I had no problems getting paid but lately I've had buyers who at first are very communicative and then they don't pay.

I am always very polite and send a nice message or two to see if they are still shopping and I get no response.

I ask for payment within 5 days so what I'd like to know is when I file against them can they leave me negative feedback after?

Thank you!

[cottonwoodindustries]

Only if they answer your dispute, they then have the opportunity to leave feedback. I have filed numerous disputes and only one answered but never left any feedback. If you do not put in a dispute then you are not eligible for your FVF.

[craftycatsattic]

Hi Justine. I looked at the type of items you sell which is basically craft supplies like me and if you don't mind my saying so, personally, I would give my buyers more time to pay. For one, you can't file for non payment before 7 days and most sellers give 7 days or more to pay. Experienced buyers who know this will pretty much expect to pay in the same amount of days that other sellers in your category will allow.

A lot of my best buyers are "browsers". They like to take their time looking through my store and adding things as they go along, even if they do so over a 3 week period. I've always given 10 days to combine and 10 days to pay but will be revising it soon to 3 weeks to combine (still 10 days to pay otherwise) so long as the bidders contact me. I'd rather ship out 6 orders of 4 or more items than 24 orders of single items because filling small orders is almost as time consuming as bigger ones.

I don't stress so much about non paying bidders anymore. I expect to have some every now and then and deal with them in a systematic way. I ask for payment within 10 days and after 14 days will send what I call a courtesy payment reminder. I give them 3-7 days to reply (depending on my mood) and if they do not reply, I file with ebay.

Those that communicate almost always wind up paying, those that don't, don't and then you don't have to worry about retaliatory fb. If you do get into a situation where they do retaliate, reply to the feedback and keep it professional (this is retaliatory feedback from a non-paying bidder...or something along those lines). I know negative feedback is a personal blow, but it's not necessarily a bad blow to your business. Buyers who are looking to get the "dirt" on your unfavorable feedback will quickly discard the ramblings of a bad buyer if you point them out as such in a professional way.

HTH!

Catherine

[lovebuguniverse]

Thank you both for the reply!

Catherine - I like your idea about extending my 5 day policy. To be honest, I have a lot of great buyers and any buyer gets much more than 5 days to browse/pay etc. Sometimes I have people shopping for weeks and I'm totally fine with because as you said, as long as communication is there I'm not worried.

You are right that I should change my listings over (and plan to do so in the next few weeks) because that way the new shoppers won't feel the crunch to pay right away and might take their time and add more.

I usually wait until about a week after a buyer has stopped shopping and then send them a payment reminder. If nothing back within about a week I file. So I guess what I'm doing isn't too bad. I just really worry about the neg feedback but I will 100% professional with any replies should that happen (knock wood 🙂 )

I appreciate your imput so thank you very much!

[faerywishes]

Hiya Justine
I also do pretty much the same as craftycatsattic. I also have buyers that shop for a few weeks. If they are a new buyer for me and they haven't paid I send them a reminder at 7 days. I check their feed back and see if there is any activity. If there isn't I will file a UPI dispute. If there is I try contacting again. If I don't hear anything from them in 72 hours I will file a UPI dispute.

If they do reply most cases they forgot or for what ever reason. I always make them feel it's no problem. Because for the most part it isn't. A few buyers not paying is not going to break me. I even had a repeat buyer go 4 weeks without paying. She did finally get back to me and let me know she had been in a car accident and was in the hospital for a few weeks. I asked if she wanted to back out and I would understand. But she wanted the items and paid for them. I sent a Get Well Card with the order. She couldn't get over what a thoughtful person I was and has been a very loyal buyer ever since.

I don't get stressed at all about buyers not paying. Really the only thing I can lose is my FVF's if I don't dispute.

When the changes came, for the 1st month I had 3-4 a week when I used to only get 3-4 a month. So far this month I have had 1 (fingers crossed).

Some sellers get all worked up because they feel the buyer is feeding them a line. Who cares if they are. More than likely they are telling the truth and if they aren't they probably had gotten into some kind of financial difficulty. And haven't we all been there at one time or another.

I had another buyer last month that finally contacted me after a couple of weeks to let me know she couldn't pay for another 10 days. Her father had passed away recently and in trying to cope got into a bit of a problem with online buying. It took her mind off things for a bit. I felt so bad for her. I also offered to allow her to back out. She wanted the items as well and true to her word she paid when she said.

Some in here would have opened the UPI dispute. I can't do that and sleep at night. There are enough stressful things in here that I don't buy into that one. I want to be more flexible for my buyers.

Well that's my 2 cents worth.

Have a WOnderful Week