How to (almost) Bulletproof Yourself from Unpaid Items.. UPDATE ON PG 8/ POST 115

[shinymagpie]

How to almost bullet proof yourself from unpaid items....

These steps have made my selling time so much more fun.

1. My Ebay
2. My Account tab
3. Site Preferences
4. Buyer Requirements
5. Edit
6. Block Buyers without a PayPal account (eBay says 80% of NPBs have no PayPal)
7. Block Buyers with 2 unpaid item strikes within 12 months (You have to select these, the default is 3 within 3 months I think, which is waaaaaayyy too generous)
8. Block buyers with Policy Violations (4 within 6 months is the minimum setting)
9. Block buyers with -1 feedback score
10. Bonus extra option is to block people who are winning more than X items in 10 days. You can set the minimum feedback requirements. Don't get too carried away here or you might lose the dream multiple item buyer. The benefit here is that it stops people who are first time eBayers winning all your items in their excitement. I like new buyers, but I can't have them win all my items at once! They can always email me to ask for the restriction to be lifted if they are keen.
11. Choose apply to current and future listings. (this last step is very very important.)

Note: you can also block countries if you want to. You can now select individual countries from a region. Remember we live in a wonderful big world. There are people all over the world who are excellent bidders who would love to buy your item, if only they knew about it. (conversely, there are also not so nice people all over the world)

You can then watch who is being blocked by these steps

1. My eBay
2. My account
3. Site Preferences
4. Buyer Requirements
5. Buyer Requirements Activity Log

I have used this to stare in amazement at the number of people with strikes who would have bid on my items.

I have also used it to spot low feedback buyers who paid reliably and to grant them exemption from conditions. If you do find you have blocked one of your reliable new buyers, then just send them a note to explain it's not personal, just a filter and they will turn into wonderful repeat customers!

Hope this is useful. Using these steps certainly improved my quality of life!

Tip! You might want to copy this and print it out or save it to a new window... It's pretty long - lots of steps!

 

[luvtami]

Thank you for the really thoughtful and well outlined post. I just went through and made sure my settings were correct.

I was glad I did, because I found for #7 that I was allowing bidders to slip through who had a strike in the last month, but not the last 12 months!

 

[itsonly4me]

omg I am sooo doing this now! thanks!!

 

[chiaosy]

Thank you for posting this, it's really helpful for new sellers!!

 

[petitechouchou]

Thanks for the tips shinymagpie! Will definitely use this for my future auctions

 

[CGS]

Thanks for this info!!

 

[Awwgeez]

Great info, Thanks !!

 

[redskater]

thanks, that's so helpful. especially for peeps like me that don't do much selling but need to!

 

[K.Z.]

Thanks for posting this kuz I always assume that everyone knows to set their buyer preferences to the safest settings. It definitely helps--it might not be bullet-proof kuz there's always a first time for everything--but I think it can make a big difference

 

[shinymagpie]

Thanks everyone.

Following this just took an amazing amount of stress out of eBay for me. Hope it works for you too! Puts the fun back into it all!

 

[Expat]

Thank you!
What a time-saver - I used to do this for each item, I didn't realise I could set it as a default.

 

[alij78]

I have started doing these steps recently - unfortunately the NPBs still can slip through but at least we can start stopping those who repeatedly offend so gradually these snakes may stop wasting our time when they realise there is actually some sort of consequence for their actions!!
But I didn't realise you could look at those statistics - how great!!! Just saw how many have been blocked and WOW!!! It is amazing how many NPBs are out there - I have alot of purchase transactions on ebay and I have NEVER ever contemplated not completing even if it was an impulse buy

 

[Ellie Mae]

Shinymagpie.... Prize winning post!!

 

[MarneeB]

This is how I've had mine set for a while now and it does help. Of course there's always gonna be bidders that cause problems that these won't or don't catch. But it still catches a lot for me!

 

[shinymagpie]

I have started doing these steps recently - unfortunately the NPBs still can slip through but at least we can start stopping those who repeatedly offend so gradually these snakes may stop wasting our time when they realise there is actually some sort of consequence for their actions!!
But I didn't realise you could look at those statistics - how great!!! Just saw how many have been blocked and WOW!!! It is amazing how many NPBs are out there - I have alot of purchase transactions on ebay and I have NEVER ever contemplated not completing even if it was an impulse buy

It's a bit of a shock isn't it!

Me too. I've never defaulted on something.

If someone tells me that they have been blocked and they have feedback over my comfort level (everyone has a different zone from 1-?).

That immediately means that they have NPB strikes or no PayPal. They get a message from eBay saying they are unable to bid because they don't meet certain criteria.

Then I have a choice about whether I engage with them or not. If it is a new person, I might also look at goofbay ebay tools to see how many things they are bidding on. This helps me decide what to do from there on.