Would you block?

[byto253]

Appreciate thoughts on if you would block this ID?

They bought a small item, $11.95 and free shipping by lettermail.  They opened an INR, which is fine.  I actually got a message from another buyer that they got the item, so I made an error and sent it to the wrong person.

Now in the INR they buyer wrote "No tracking. Small item. I doubt that it was ever shipped."   No prior email, just right to accusation.    My knee jerk thought was to block them from buying from me.  Would you? 

[marnotom!]

No.  Somebody just needs to be coached in eBay etiquette.  You'd be surprised by how many buyers think that the feedback forum is where they should be communicating with the seller.

Respond to the feedback inviting them to contact you to resolve this and take it from there.  This will also make you look pretty good to potential buyers reviewing your feedback record before buying from you.

[byto253]

I refunded as it was my error and it closed out the INR. There was no feedback, that was the note in the INR. I did send a note that it was an error, the item was sent and that I have 2 +ve feedback on sales of the same item.

[marnotom!]

If the buyer is really that fussed about the transaction, they’re not going to buy from you again. Blocking them isn’t going to give you another chance to prove yourself to them if they have a change of heart.

[pjcdn2005]

I wouldn't block a buyer for my mistake.

I find that few buyers contact the seller first before opening a claim, often through no fault of their own.

Unless something has changed..when they click on contact seller or solve a problem or whatever it says now..one of the options for the title of the message is 'I didn't receive my item'.  If they click on that they open a claim even though they had intended to let the seller know that there was a problem. 

[esclyons]

how long between mailing  and opening of INR case?? Did they wait a fair amount of time prior to opening the case??

[ricarmic]

The reason I at least would block a buyer is if I did not want to do business with them again.

The fault was on the selling end, the buyer's response was actually accurate if one adds "to me", and it doesn't ever show anywhere that matters if it is only in the case.

So if it were me, I wouldn't block the buyer.

As others have said they'll likely not ever buy again anyway so it is likely moot.

[byto253]

I though the original post was clear, but perhaps not.  I own the shipping error, that was on me and the INR is fine.    I would not block because of the INR or my mistake.   

The reason for the block would be because the buyer's accusation in the INR is that I likely did not even ship it, i.e. it is a scam sale.   Is that a red flag of potential future hassles?   This was the only communication too.

[clemowbooks]

Remember that most Disputes are quickly handled by robots.

No one is reading the thousands of Disputes daily. (And keep in mind that eBay has millions of transactions daily, so thousands is not a big statistic. Most Disputes are disagreements between adults, just like this one was.)

The buyer filed an INR.

You responded promptly with a refund and an apology.

I'm not clear if the message was part of the original complaint or if it was received after the refund, but nevertheless, there will be no public record of it, since the buyer did not leave feedback.

Don't poke the bear. Don't pick the scab.

[byto253]

fyi, part of original complaint.  

[marnotom!]

Let it go. There’s no way to know what your buyer is really feeling or thinking. They’re obviously upset that they didn’t receive their item, possibly peeved that you didn’t do anything about it other than return their money, but there’s no way we can do a psychological analysis here. To me, blocking sounds very petty, vindictive and “Comic Book Guy”. There’s no point in trying to prevent a problem that’s likely not going to happen. Don’t take his rant personally. Chalk it up to pandemic-induced stress if you have to and just move on.

[cardconnoisseurs]

Absolutely. We will block someone for any of the following (not exhaustive):

1) INR
2) Negative Feedback
3) Neutral Feedback (most of the time)
4) Lowball offers (if we notice them)
5) Abusive language in chat.
6) Messaging us after we have requested that they do not.
7) "Paddy cake offers", where we send a buyer an offer, advising that this is our best price, and they either decline, or counter offer at a lower price, particularly if they lowball, are declined, and make repeated offers A $1 higher each time.
😎 Any sort of criticism of our shipping and handling rates. 
9) Potential competitor attempting bad faith orders.