Non-Paying Bidder - How many strikes before they are booted out??

[luv4orphans]

I just had a buyer that didn't pay so I filed an NPB with ebay. After 4 days closed the case and should be getting a fee credit which I haven't seen posted on my account yet. But that's not the problem here.

This buyer has multiple sellers that have left false positive and I did the same .  So we know this is a buyer that doesn't pay most all of the time. Yet they are still on ebay bidding and not paying. Out of 50 feedbacks left 30 or so are NPBs. I am certain most seller will file a NPB to get their fees credited. Who wants to pay fees on something they didn't sell.

I also have my blocks on that if somebody has 2 strikes against them they cannot bid. This was listed on ebay.com so maybe not the same when I list there?

Can anybody explain this one. I have had a few sellers contacting me to report this ebayer to ebay but we should not have to call ebay and tell them how to do their job. I thought this was done automatically if constant NPB.

[dutchman48]

---

@luv4orphans wrote:

I just had a buyer that didn't pay so I filed an NPB with ebay. After 4 days closed the case and should be getting a fee credit which I haven't seen posted on my account yet. But that's not the problem here.

This buyer has multiple sellers that have left false positive and I did the same .  So we know this is a buyer that doesn't pay most all of the time. Yet they are still on ebay bidding and not paying. Out of 50 feedbacks left 30 or so are NPBs. I am certain most seller will file a NPB to get their fees credited. Who wants to pay fees on something they didn't sell.

I also have my blocks on that if somebody has 2 strikes against them they cannot bid. This was listed on ebay.com so maybe not the same when I list there?

Can anybody explain this one. I have had a few sellers contacting me to report this ebayer to ebay but we should not have to call ebay and tell them how to do their job. I thought this was done automatically if constant NPB.

---

How high can you count?

[mcrlmn]

'Non-Paying Bidder - How many strikes before they are booted out?'

There aren't enough. The possibilities are endless.

I'd have to say eBay has no policy in this regard.

If they do, I'd love to see it in print.

[luv4orphans]

I am not going to sit there and count if that's what you mean. There's enough of them. Don't have time. Just looking for answers. Thanks anyways,

[femmefan1946]

This buyer has multiple sellers that have left false positive and I did the same

Assume that most of those sellers did not go to the "trouble " of filing a UID.

So the buyer got no Strikes for those.

And the sellers who did leave Strikes did not leave feedback, because they can only leave positive or none.

Who do you think reads buyer feedback?

Not your fellow sellers- we can't identify your buyers from your fb and all buyers have 100% positive so it has no use if we somehow found him.

In any case, we don't meet our buyers until they buy-- most purchases are Fixed Price or Buy It Now.

And eBay doesn't use FB as a measure for either buyers or sellers anymore.

So the only reader would be your own potential customers, looking at FB Left for Others and seeing you slamming another buyer, before hitting the backbutton.

EBay is cagey about giving information about 'how many'.  They allow one freebie Strike- the first can be removed on request on the basis of being a learning curve. 

Then we have the 'two strikes in a year' option for sellers. *

And then comes the unknown number of Strikes that eBay will allow before closing accounts.

But a lot of it comes down to self-defense and to seller solidarity.

Thank you for leaving the Strike. That improves the seller experience.

*If you have that set up, your deadbeat customers has had even fewer Strikes than you thought. Those sellers leaving false positives did no one any good.

[luv4orphans]

I was under the assumption that 3 strikes you get booted off. I saw this at one point but maybe I am wrong. Either way its ridiculous to have that many strikes and to let it continue.

[renata6]

Suggest you add this deadbeat to your blocked bidder list. I have noticed that my blocked buyers are usually deleted smetime in the future. Don't know if that's done by eBay, or not.

[femmefan1946]

Three Strikes over what period of time? Remember that there can be legitimate reasons (including newbie confusion) for non-payment.

Most scammers won't push for a Strike to avoid being on eBay's radar, but some will.

And does your three included the 'freebie'?

And again, it's very likely that the deadbeat does not have 'three or more' actual Strikes. The OP reports a lot of false positive FB, which to me indicates that those sellers did not do a UID, or give a Strike, or sadly get their FVF back.

[hlmacdon]

Guest checkout trumps all.

[luv4orphans]

Why would sellers not file a NPB claim. Then you end up paying for fees and didn't sell the item. I know of at least 4 now that have have filed NPB. Over what period of time. In the last few months I would say but didn't exactly ask them that question.

Do we need to do anything else? That's a strike no if you don't pay.

I didn't say she was a scammer but one that's getting away with not paying numerous times and yet able to continue operating on ebay.

[hlmacdon · Accepted solution]

---

@luv4orphans wrote:
Do we need to do anything else? That's a strike no if you don't pay.

You have done all you can. I've pointed out to ebay scammers who have 4 linked accounts in the past and all of those accounts remained active. I've pointed out to ebay accounts that have fraudulently used credit cards (and essentially admitted as much in ebay messages) and filed unauthorized payment chargebacks and those accounts remained active.

The threshold for any buyer action is set very high. Ebay treats buyers, even the terrible ones, as though they are priceless commodities. Even if something does happen they just have to cycle over to using the guest checkout or if they are a determined bad actor they can simply purchase any number of ebay and paypal accounts that are available for purchase from other bad actors. That being said it does serve a purpose in at least allowing other sellers to block transactions where they have been bothered to setup the unpaid items filter. 

[luv4orphans]

I did.

[luv4orphans]

You explain things in a way that make sense. Having said that I know of 4 sellers that filed a NPB regarding this buyer. In the last month alone this person has 14 negs against her, well false positives. A lot more of these sellers I am sure have filed NPBs only for the fact to get their fees credited back to them. One would think anyways.
I have filed a complaint regarding this buyer and let the chips fall where they may. If that's the road ebay is taking where they are letting this go on wow.

I know I have my blocks on for ebay.ca website for 2 strikes in a year or 6 months (whatever it is) but not sure on when I list on ebay.com if it carries my preference over there or not.

[hlmacdon]

---

@luv4orphans wrote:
I know I have my blocks on for ebay.ca website for 2 strikes in a year or 6 months (whatever it is) but not sure on when I list on ebay.com if it carries my preference over there or not.

---

Preferences are global and carry over. If you manually block buyers, one tip is to block both the email address and user name as some buyers will use the same email for alternate/new accounts. I'm sure you probably have the unpaid item assistant turned on, but if not double check that as automating the process removes most of the headaches, albeit it is still a pain if the unpaid item is an auction vs a fixed price buy it now listing. 

[ricarmic]

At least non-payment is all that happened.

Just had one that got the UID notification (I'm patient after 32 days) paid and voila 2 weeks and 3 days later filed INR. It was a wee thing not worth tracking. Spider senses could see it coming, I should have tracked it just because.

So that's worse.

I may just stop issuing UIDs on wee stuff (ie priced under $15) because it avoids all the paperwork and risk of situations like above.....that cost time as well as the item.

[femmefan1946]

Why would sellers not file a NPB claim. Then you end up paying for fees and didn't sell the item.

I mentioned 'buyer confusion' -- there is such a thing as 'seller confusion' too.

We see posts, usually from newbies, asking how to get buyers to pay. Sometimes the seller has already sent the product out -- because they are unclear on the concept.

It's a problem with feedback. It's easy to see and eBay still promotes it. (I recently discovered both AZ and etsy have feedback. Never noticed it before.)

So both buyers and sellers get the idea that that is how to be made whole.

While in truth, it's pretty close to useless.

I know of 4 sellers that filed a NPB regarding this buyer.

How do you find that out?

[pjcdn2005]

I was told that sellers can’t post feedback at all once an uic has closed so I’m surprised that you could.  Either the people who said that were wrong or something has changed,  I’ve never tested it out myself since it’s actually against ebay policy for a seller to leave a false positive.

I think that many sellers just cancel the transaction rather than open a claim and that some have no idea they can open an ui claim.  As far as a buyer being banned after 3 unpaid items, I don’t think that rule has been in effect for a few years.

[mcrlmn]

'I have my blocks on for ebay.ca website for 2 strikes in a year or 6 months'

Me too, but I'd prefer 1 strike.

As far as I'm concerned once is enough.

Obviously eBay disagrees, as they've preset many of the buyer requirement options to allow the scumbags a few extra opportunities.

[luv4orphans]

I posted the feedback before I closed the case. She got two more negs or false positive again yesterday and 1 positive.

You mean to tell me that sellers are not filing NPB claims. They are paying fees on an item they never received money for. And when they do sell it again they have to pay again. I know some might not understand everything on how it functions but not the majority like that you would think. I knew that I read somewhere when a buyer gets 3 negs within a certain amount of time they were out. Somebody in this thread said they never heard of this but I am sure I read it somewhere and didn't dream it up. They did away with that you are saying. Maybe the blocks also?

[ricarmic]

Well, yes there are experienced sellers not creating NPB (UIDs) sometimes.

I gave a good reason up above, creating the UID just ended up costing me the item because it provoked the buyer to pay then INR me (I got the fees back because of the refund).

For "small" things like a $10 to $15 item the fees are adding up to $1 or $2.  The time it takes to follow the process costs time and therefore $$$ because whilst I'm following up with the buyer I'm not listing other stuff that will sell, and in cases like the above, it costs me 4 times the time, and I end up out even more....

In the case where I do not UID them, I do of course block them but as others mention there are ways around that too.

I've had experiences with regular buyers where they didn't pay (and I suspended the UID before it automagically was applied). My favourite case is 6 weeks later I get an email saying they are sorry they were in the hospital for 6 weeks and just got home and they paid me then. That buyer has been with me for maybe 10 years now, so it's good that I didn't irritate them with a UID.....