eBay

teazle18 · ‎26-12-2023

Buyers on 0 feedback bidding on items and then not paying. Some have only registered in the last few days.

Looks like fake buyers trying to trash sellers accounts. Do Ebay make new buyers register a bank card and contact details?

How can I block buyers with 0 feedbacks.

arkwebus · ‎26-12-2023

You cannot block 0 feedback buyers - we all started at "0".

What is vital is that you open a "non payment" case after 4 days. By doing so the buyer gets a defect and if he gets two in a year most sellers will block any buyer with 1+ non payer defects.

In effect they will be blocked on eBay which is a result is it not?

If only every seller with a non-payment would do that!

@teazle18

zoomingmouse · ‎26-12-2023

To add... if you change to BIN's you can select instant payment required so the listing won't end unless they pay.

the-nutwood-collection · ‎26-12-2023

Blocking them from most sellers on eBay would only be a result if they were unable to open another account.

As far as I'm aware, they can keep on opening accounts - and trashing auctions.

teazle18 · ‎12-02-2024

I agree that not all 0 feedback bidders are on Ebay to mess up sellers accounts.

As said we all started with a 0.

Its those buyers who open multiple accounts for the sole purpose of trashing sellers accounts.

Non paying bidders lose Ebay money. OK they get the initial listing fee but they lose out on the FVFees.

Targetted sellers get more and more and more disillusioned and eventually take their trade elsewhere.

I know it could all be listed on BIN but where is the fun of the Auction of not knowing if your item sells for 99p or £990.

Perhaps a solution would be for Ebay to make all buyers register a bank card and contact details on each account opened. Seperate bank details for each account.

Same as they now have to when making an offer on BIN.

This would provide Ebay with legitimate contact addresses and payment details for each account opened.

Maybe it would deter those people bidding on Auction listings who have absolutely no intention of buying.

Would also make it more difficult to open multiple Ebay accounts.

Ebay would be able to monitor those who consistantly push bids up then cancel before auctions end so collapsing the bids and those who win then don't pay.

I know this solution would possibly alienate some buyers. But if you bid then surely you intend to pay when and if you win.

Just a thought

litp*records · ‎12-02-2024

@zoomingmouse wrote:
To add... if you change to BIN's you can select instant payment required so the listing won't end unless they pay.

Won't stop those who pay and then immediately cancel to get their money back. Or who are intent on scamming you in some other way.

Ebay needs to vet buyers more. People have had 25 years to create an account... new accounts should be closely monitored. Yes, people just turning 18 and wanting to register, but they should be used to providing ID for everything already...

555njp · ‎13-02-2024

@arkwebus wrote:
You cannot block 0 feedback buyers - we all started at "0".

And unfortunately many will stay on Zero as hardly anyone leaves feedback these days (10% if you're lucky).

What is vital is that you open a "non payment" case after 4 days. By doing so the buyer gets a defect and if he gets two in a year most sellers will block any buyer with 1+ non payer defects.

In effect they will be blocked on eBay which is a result is it not?

If only every seller with a non-payment would do that!

Agree the practice, however the errant buyer just opens another account to get round the blocks so it doesn't work.
The solution is for eBay not to allow users to have multiple accounts, that way some trust might come back to the site. If users knew they could only have say three accounts they might behave better and look after what they've got.
Another idea would be if eBay applied an automatic Negative feedback to a buyer that didn't pay after losing a non-payment case. That would soon stop the practice.
Nothing offencive just "failed to complete payment".
Agree sellers shouldn't be allowed to leave a neg as in the past was used as a threat but if eBay did it could work well.
Of course they won't do any of these things because they don't want to restrict or put off the remaining few buyers now left on the site!

kath3735_wxmjn · ‎13-02-2024

I had a buyer last week who did not pay so i cancelled at first opportunity and blocked him. (joined date 31/1/24, no feedback) Hopefully e bay will do their stuff if it is a serial offender! Waste of my time but at least it was only a very small item that no one else bid on. The stuff will probably go to the car boot next month when they start again, no problem there with non payers, just that they do not pay as much....

mypaperboat · ‎01-04-2024

I have just been hit by these zero feedback fake bidders too. There were not only one account placing bid on my item but 4 accounts. All of the busses accounts were opened just on the day when the auction was ending . One of them won the auction but I can not cancel the order right away knowing they can leave a negative feedback if I did so.

And It is so frustrating having to wait 3 days before I can cancel the order knowing they are not going to pay!

Please eBay do find a solution to the issue. It is really discouraging to see that they are allowed to waste sellers time

like this.

s1teve · ‎10-04-2024

When this happens every time it becomes a real pain. A total waste of time and eBay are not trying to solve it. It happened to me with three items and took me 2 months to sell a phone. Absolutely rediculous.

bungalowbill*1961 · ‎12-04-2024

The answer is probably to do what the online platform one of our local salerooms uses does - authorise a credit card when you register so if you bid on something and don't pay they can charge it to the card. Not rocket science is it?

redmoorvinyl · ‎20-04-2024

Why do people do this? Serious question. What's in it for the fake buyer?

a45heaven · ‎20-04-2024

So by auto opening a none payment you hit the potential bidder, as a buyer myself, i often fall foul of this ill thought out rule when i am waiting for the sellers auction to end so i can combine items and save on postage, and environmental issues.Another issues arises when the seller does not respond to questions regarding the item purchased, but not paid for - although reliability of the message system is questionable to say the least.

Alternatively, instead of giving the policing to the sellers to address, with no reward, ebay could vet new members, including multiple screen names on the same address, and address the problem themselves.

If you think its bad now - wait until all the second hand clothes 'members' flood ebay with new blood.

peturning · ‎20-04-2024

The length of time this takes to resolve itself is also far too long. If someone intends on paying they will pay within minutes yet for some reason ebay give them three days... three days before the seller can re-list the item.

Of course for people doing auctions this potentially could mean a very long wait until they are able to find a new buyer who intends on paying.

I'd reduce it to 30 minutes 😛 but realistically it should probably be somewhere around 12 hours. I think the whole pre-authorisation thing needs to happen for auctions like it does for Buy It Now as well although even then it isn't perfect.

fotherbale · ‎20-04-2024

@bungalowbill*1961 wrote:
The answer is probably to ......authorise a credit card when you register so if you bid on something and don't pay they can charge it to the card.

Not sure that would work either - easiest thing in the world to register with a card and then cancel the card straight away. There is no way for the ebay system to discover that the card is no longer valid until they try to make a debit against it.