non paying buyer... again!

[grannio204]

Spoiler

Here’s another neat one. Bidder places a bid that is more than previous bidder. S/he wins the item. Two days later, s/he posts a nice feedback saying how nicely shipped the item, etc. Problem is ... buyer never paid and item has not been shipped. So, I am out a legitimate sale, and have to go through eBay’s resolution nonsense to get fees back etc.

Ebay has become a bunch of scoundrels, and they won’t allow us to warn others...

[reallynicestamps]

You want to leave negative feedback?

Who do you think reads feedback?

Not your fellow sellers.

Over 85% of transactions are now Fixed Price. Sellers meet their customers when they buy.

Auctions are dying out. Most auctions now include a Buy It Now option. Sellers meet their customers when they buy.

Of the few Auctions that don't end with Buy It Now, most bids arrive in the last moment. Sellers meet their customers when they buy.

So who does read feedback?

Your future customers.

And do you want them to see you badmouthing other customers?

File the UID.

And set up your Seller Preferences to Block automatically bidders with Strikes as deadbeats.

You can also have a Preference that bidders have an active Paypal account.

If you list as Fixed Price, you can add Immediate Payment Required.

[pjcdn2005]

Your last auction ended on Dec 9, have you filed an unpaid item claim yet? As explained in your other thread you can open a claim in 4 days (96 hours) and then close it in another 96 hours if the buyer doesn't pay.

Also, block buyers who have 2 unpaid item claims against them within the last year. You can do that by going to my ebay - account - site preferences - buyer preferences - click on show

In that same area you should also block buyers who have a primary shipping address in a location that you don't ship to. Even though you just specify shipping to Canada, buyers in other countries can also bid on your items because they are not blocked.  That causes problems because if you do decide to ship there and send them an invoice, they often won't pay because they didn't realize how much shipping would cost.

If the unpaid item claims continue, consider doing fixed price listings only and with immediate payment required.

You should look into shipping to the US as there are so many more buyers there. 

[grannio204]

Thanks. wrt shipping, it clearly states that the shipping cost is to Canada ... other countries are asked to provide a Postal or ZIP Code before bidding. A technicality, perhaps, but a sign that the “buyer” on my current item (US) did not bother to read the description. I was brought up on the old eBay system where feedback was considered a big deal. A person can now build a high positive feedback without doing a thing! I also have not been able to figure out why some of my stuff says “does not ship to Canada”. Sometimes they appear on the .ca site and sometimes on the .com site. I am not a big time seller - just trying to get rid of stuff that won’t fit into my new smaller home! I prefer to ship to Canadian addresses only, but I will ship anywhere in the world. I just need to know where first. On that Dec 9 auction, the buyer eventually paid after being threatened by eBay. I had already sold the item locally, and gave the buyer a full refund.

[pjcdn2005]

By not listing a shipping cost to a country that you are willing to ship to you take the chance that the buyer will just ignore your items because they don't want to wait for a shipping cost or they will buy the item and then not want to pay for the item.  Also, if you do not specify a shipping cost in the listing, there is the possibility that the buyer won't even see your listing.

[pjcdn2005]

I also have not been able to figure out why some of my stuff says “does not ship to Canada”. Sometimes they appear on the .ca site and sometimes on the .com site.

You have 2 items listed on .com which show US shipping only.  If you list on .com the domestic shipping is in the US and then you have to set up Canada as international.  Items 173031947454 and 173029638361 are listed on .com

[grannio204]

That would be a great idea, but everything I am trying to sell is different in size and weight (full size guitar to Trinidad to a video game sent to Toronto). They are not packed up ready to go. I can’t measure or weigh them until I find a suitable box and packing material.

Since my stroke I don’t drive anymore, so to prepack an item that might not even get a page view and take it to the post office is a bit of a hassle just to get a rate to mail an item somewhere.

Can you imagine having to include postage rates in my listings for 257 countries and eleven gazillion cities.

Anyway, you folks are very helpful ... have a safe and happy holiday.

[pjcdn2005]

 There are ways to do that that are not that complicated but I won't bother you with that.

Have a nice Christmas too.

[grannio204]

Arrgh ... looks like they want me to buy a scale! Tried to relist an item, and it would not be accepted until I put the package weight in.

[grannio204]

I don’t understand your “meet their customers” overused reference. It’s like you are trying to tell me something. In fact, you don’t meet anyone when you are on-line - your ‘customer’ can be anyone, anywhere, and say anything s/he wants with zero repercussions. 

I don’t care if my ‘fellow sellers’ read my feedback - it just allows me to vent a bit, ‘cause you have convinced me that feedback is now meaningless and not worth a hill of beans.

eBay became a mall (85% fixed price listings now, per your stats)  a long time ago, but it does provide exposure to a lot of potential buyers - way better than Kijii.

[pjcdn2005]

You only need to put in weight and dimension if you are using calculated shipping.

Canadian Tire often has an inexpensive scale on sale.

[noveltyguys]

I have left positive feedback because that is all we can really do. The feedback message I left however was not anything close to positive.. Quite the opposite actually. It made me chuckle. Kinda like beating the system. Where there is will there is a way.

[pjcdn2005]

I'm not sure what you and/or grannio accomplished other than telling buyers that you won't hesitate to call buyers a 'weirdo'.

[grannio204]

For me, it’s just venting which gets my old blood flowing.

The buyer refered to above ... well it was a comedy of honest errors.

He paid right away, but to the wrong account.

When I asked him about the feedback, he told me it was in error, meant for another seller.

Of course, during this I could do nothing with the listing, and there was an hourglass symbol under the paid column. I could neither access the money to either ship or refund. When I clicked on the transaction number, I was sent to PayPal and a blank screen (obviously).

I still cannot close the listing, relist it or anything. I sent a copy of the invoice to the original buyer, with a note “Want to try again. Tks.” Have not heard back yet, and my books are in eBay limbo ...

[pjcdn2005]

How did he pay to the wrong account? The only account he could pay to is the one that you indicated in your listing.

[grannio204]

He sent payment to another account named just ‘grannio’. at a totally different email service. I am ‘grannio204’ on a gmail service. Weird, wouldn’ you say?

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

He didn't pay through ebay? 

[grannio204]

I have no idea how he paid ... just assumed it was PayPal.

[pjcdn2005]

---

@grannio204 wrote:

He sent payment to another account named just ‘grannio’. at a totally different email service. I am ‘grannio204’ on a gmail service. Weird, wouldn’ you say?

---

When buyers checkout through eBay they are taken to the Paypal account that you specify on your listing. The only way they can pay to the wrong PP account is if the seller has specified the wrong account in the listing so you should check to see what the PP address is in that particular listing.Since you could see the hourglass on ebay they must have used ebay checkout otherwise ebay wouldn't know they had paid or tried to pay for that item.

The buyer could have gone directly to PP and paid there but unless you gave them your PP email address they would have had to 'guess' at the address. Also, that payment wouldn't be associated with the item they purchased on ebay so you wouldn't see the hourglass on ebay. In other words, it's very likely that payment to the wrong address was your mistake, not the buyers mistake. If the listing is wrong and you relist it, the next buyer won't be able to pay either.

[grannio204]

I have sold maybe a dozen items using the IDENTICAL id and payment details, and ne’er a problem with any of them, So, perhaps YOU experts on PayPal can tell me how this can happen. The last time I looked at this listing, it said something like “unclaimed” wrt the payment.

EBay still has a couple of days to do their ‘resolution’ thing, when hopefully I will get back any seller fees and I will be able to relist the books.

For you to suggest it was my fault is a bit insulting ...