Ebay Help - I have a bidder with low/poor feedback

[1MegMeg]

Hi everyone! I know there are so very knowledgeable ebay DISers on here, so I am hoping you can help me. I have some auctions listed that are ending around noon EST on Sunday. Currently the high bidder on one of them has a feedback of 1. She has 2 positives and one negative (for non-payment), thus making her percentage 66.7% positive. Her 4 feedbacks are from June 02, April 03, and June 03. The item I am selling is a popular sought after collector's item, so I could definitely re-sell it or do a second chance offer if she didn't pay (and if she wins on Sunday), but as you all know, NPB are a hassle.

Sooo.....if you were me would you cancel her bid? I've never canceled a bid before so I don't really know the "what's allowed and not allowed with bid cancelling".

Thanks in advance!

 

[jennifer293]

In my opinion I would let it go and if she doesn't pay then I would add another negative to her feedback. Like you said you can always re-list this item or give a second chance so it is not gonna hurt anything to let it go. She may not even end up winning the item on Sunday anyway.

She might have made a mistake in the past who knows....

Good Luck!!

 

[JDarling]

Can you tell when they were from? If the negative one is the oldest, then I wouldn't worry.

 

[Toni300z]

As a seller, you do have the right to cancel her bid and give reason as to why you did that. Especially if it is a non payer negative feedback. Make sure you file a non paying complaint if she does not pay so u can get your fees back.

 

[1MegMeg]

Thanks everyone! Since the auction doesn't end until Sunday I will just let it go and if she doesn't pay I'll file a NPB and offer it to the next highest bidder.

Have a great weekend!

 

[disneyloveralways]

As a seller, you do have the right to cancel her bid and give reason as to why you did that. Especially if it is a non payer negative feedback. Make sure you file a non paying complaint if she does not pay so u can get your fees back.

As a seller, I totally agree with this post. I would let her have a chance to pay within your time frame if not give negative feedback and file to get your fees back.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

1MEGMEG I have been selling along time, & this has happend to me plenty of times.

My advice, would be block her. This way, the bid stays high, & if anyone else bids, she can't over bid them (unless she has a proxy)

search on ebay for:

Blocked Bidder List

Hope this helps

Patricia

 

[~Kathie]

I would give them a chance to pay within your time frame and go from there.


For future auctions you can block bidders that

Have a feedback score of -1 or lower
Have received 2 Unpaid Item strikes in the last 30 days

You can do this in My Ebay:
Under My Account:
Go to Ebay Preferences:
Scroll down to Seller Preferences

The bidder who has 2 unpaid item strikes oin the last 30 days may not neccessarily have negative FB to go along with it. I have had fewer Non Paying bidders since I opted to block these bidders.

Good luck!

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

Have you considered putting a notice on your items that say, if you have less than 10 Feedback to have them contact you first? I've seen a lot of people do that.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Have you considered putting a notice on your items that say, if you have less than 10 Feedback to have them contact you first? I've seen a lot of people do that.

A seller can try including this information, but believe me, most non-paying bidders do not bother to read. I agree with PurtyPat1. BLOCK the bidder in question and cross your fingers someone outbids her. If she has put in a max bid and others are unable to outbid her, she might be a reckless bidder and you might want to consider cancelling the bid. A seller may cancel any bid at any time upon their discretion. Also, you might want to check her bidders list for the past 30 days and see if she is on a bidding spree. That's never a good sign.

Good luck!

 

[marriedmarylander]

I would email them first and explain you are concerned about their low feedback. That you are not trying to be rude but you have to protect yourself since you get non paying bidders. Maybe the negative they got was a misunderstanding - i've seen people and had people leave negatives for me before even trying to email and work something out - just jumping to conclusions. Maybe he/she was new and got a negative that was undeserved? Or maybe they did deserve it . you never know.

 

[erinch]

I agree with sending an email and asking about intentions to pay.
Many times negs are the results of misunderstandings--particularly by newbies.

I'm not a powerseller by any means, but in my 500 or so sales, I've had fewer than 10 total deadbeats.

 

[1MegMeg]

Oh guys, this isn't looking good. I just tried to email her to (politey) express my concerns about her low feedback and the email got returned to me. It's an AOL address and the return reason was "no such user or mailbox". So if she does win the auction I have no way of getting in touch with her unless I look up her contact information and call her, and who knows if that information is even current?

 

[erinch]

if the email address is no good, then cancel the bid and block her, imo

Here's the wording I use in my auctions. You'll notice it gives me the option to cancel the bid or not, depending upon my "feel" of the situation. Feel free to plagiarize if you'd like to for future listings.

Payment: Paypal Preferred

I MUST hear from you within 3 days of auction close or the auction will be relisted.Payment MUST be received within 10 DAYS of auction close or item will be re-listed and negative feedback will be left. If you have an extenuating circumstance, I will work with you as long as I am notified.

If the item is selling for more than $20.00, ALL e-bayers with less than 10 positive feedbacks or UNEXPLAINED negative feedback must e-mail me BEFORE BIDDING with your address, intent to pay and method of payment or your bid may be canceled!

ebay username: erinch
(master of originality)

 

[Trixiezzz]

How do you feel about bidders with a Zero rating? I've got one now that hasn't emailed me after 4 days....and I'm wondering if I shouldn't deal with "0" people??

How have you more experienced sellers handled them?

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Meg, you have probably cancelled her bid and blocked her by now, right? A bidder can be kicked off eBay by not having a legit email addresss. She sounds like bad news.

Trixie, unfortunately, there is not much we can do about 0 feedback bidders. Here are a few things you can do:
1. If you know how much money you would like to get for a particular item, consider listing using a "fixed price" format with the "immediate payment required" option checked off. Sure I get fewer bids, but at least the auction cannot end until it is paid for.
2. Choose the option that allows you to only accept bids by users with Paypal accounts. According to Ebay, Paypal users have an 88% (or something like that) follow through, so that's good news. Again, you limit the number of bids on your items, but you also limit the number of headaches due to non-paying bidders.

I have been on eBay since 1999 and have had my share of non-paying bidders. Now, most of my auctions are fixed price with immediate payment required. This method will not be right for all items and all sellers, but for me, for most of my items, it works fine.

Tink

 

[RoyalCanadian]

This "Ebay Snobbery" is rather perplexing to me -- a very occasional Ebay user with a 100% feedback of 4. How is anyone to raise their Ebay "score" to an acceptable level in order to purchase your wonderful treasures if:

• they are blocked from bidding on items because they have low feedback?
• they must pass your email tests which question their intention or ability to pay simply because they have low or no feedback?

All very interesting from where I'm sitting.

 

[1MegMeg]

RoyalCanadian - I can't speak for everyone in this thread, but my original issue was not due to low feedback, but the fact that the buyer had low feedback coupled with negative feedback as well as a non-functional email address (so if he/she did win the item I would have no way to get in touch). I fully agree with you - everyone has to start somewhere on ebay. I've had a lot of new buyers (less than 10 100% positive feedback) and I've never had a problem. My concern in this case was the low feedback *and* the negative.

 

[erinch]

Neil--
the problem with so many 0 or very low feedback ebay users is that they cluelessly or maliciously don't know how ebay functions; don't know that they are entering into a binding contract and generally can end up costing sellers time and money.

My advice to new ebays is to build the feedback is to make some purchase like books (which never sell for much) and to build the feedback up as quickly as possible. It also helps to mail the seller to let them know your good intentions. In a world in which all were as responsible as you, this would not be necessary. Since I've been unloading a bunch of my son's video games, I can tell you that I have to keep tightening my rules.

 

[Disney_Smiles]

I wonder how it turned out for her.
Sorry, I know its been over a year.