Influx of No-Pay bidders, anyone?

I haven’t had a problem. I do allow 0 feedback buyers. I think you are more prone for trouble depending on what you are selling. I know I will never sell electronics or games unless I can do high volume so I can absorb the problems that can come with it. Any items that draws the teenage crowd would make me think twice

quote:

Originally posted by Foxfyre33:
I've been selling for about a year now, and I'd never had a nonpaying bidder until now, and I get slapped with three in the last month, in addition to not receiving two items I had to file claims for!

Anyone else having unusual amounts of trouble with this sort of thing?

In a related note, do you forbid/place a condition on buyers with 0 feedback?

-Fox

Tis the season for newbies...honest. It happens this time of the year for me and follows through till after tax checks are spent.

They think if they bid and want to back out that it's fine...no problem. Well, it is a problem with me.

I've been selling since 97 and the last two years are the worst batch of new buyers I've ever seen. (proud owner of 4 eBay IDs)

They are more demanding, rude and plain out and out..gosh, brash to say the least.

My problem with them is this...if you buy something from Nike.com or EddieBauer.com or CrateandBarrel.com VictoriaSecret.com would you question their means of shipping or ask them to drop their shipping rate or would you question why they are charging you ten dollars for shipping when you know the item costs 5.00 bucks with d/c.

Nope..you go to the site, buy an item and pay them. And know what? If the item comes and you're not happy..You the buyer have to pay to have it shipped back to them on commercial sites and also a restocking fee if it's in the seller's agreement.

Once I hit them with a NPB and an explanation that I have to pay fee's for their bid...they never knew that. So I explain how not only am I out the money I should've made on the auction, but another buyer could've bought the item and I'd have my money, plus I have a charge from eBay for their non paying bid. Normally I do receive payment. But I have no qualms about filing NPB.

Next question: Items not arriving...
It's an advertised scam out there on the internet...stating you didn't receive an item and then badgering your seller to refund charges. It's in a very popular ebook that's out there for purchase. The buyer gets the merchandise, especially when the seller is new, they claim they never received, new seller worries for negative feedback and refunds total (even though a threat of a negative is grounds for NARU most sellers don't know this). Then the buyer can turn around and sell the item himself on eBay. Delivery confirmation is a gotta gotta on all Paypal purchases as far as I'm concerned. As long as you mail a package to a confirmed mail address with Paypal, they should stand behind you.

I don't have any restrictions for buyers with zero feedback. <shrug> Some of my finest return buyers were newbies to eBay and I'd hate to think that just a little bit of hand holding and patting them on the back to make their first buy successful is enough for me not to have that restriction. But if you're having that problem, Heck yeah, I'd put it that restriction on in a New York minute. Never hurts to try.

Good luck and Happy New Year!
Donna

Lots of new ebay users this time of the year and many don't know how to complete their transactions. Send a friendly email and offer help to complete the transaction.

I've had an influx of NPB's lately, too. One item, is currently listed for the THIRD TIME! Two NPB's on it. ARGH! I'm more than patient - but I have no qualms about filing, and leaving negative feedback if necessary. They can retaliate - a neg doesn't hurt me so much since I'm over 1000.

I used to not allow zeros to bid - but my husband talked me out of it. Remarkably, my NPB's mostly aren't zeros!

Hgmartin , i agree completely with what you wrote , alot of it has to do with what you sell , i dont have many problems with non paying bidders ,but my brother has terrible problems , he sells remote control car parts , well i had a part of my own and listed it , got a great price for it , and waited 3 weeks for him to pay , then he reported an item not received , to which i responded with an unpaid item complaint , a few days later i get the check , and was aggravated enough to just ship it and be done with it , YES you guessed it , the check bounced !
lesson learned !
now i avoid the teenager items like the plague !

I just read this thread for the first time...interesting conversation. I myself, sell software, accessories, games...obviously I deal with teens. I also allow O feedback and accept all forms of payment. To this point, I've had no problems. I've had a couple checks that took a little long getting here...as well as a few that took there sweet time paying. My strategy; firm, professional, and still grateful (when notifying said people). So far it's paid off........