Newbie seller with a problem buyer.. please help

thepoppet

thepoppet

wind sylph
Jul 25, 2010
3,217
6
#1
I'm sure this has been asked a lot but maybe someone can give me some insight into this buyer's behavior?

I'm a new seller, but have bought on ebay for 7 years and have 100% positive feedback and always pay immediately. So 2 of my new sales have been easy and great. But the last one the buyer hasn't paid. The item sold on Tuesday and I have since emailed, very politely, twice asking for payment. I've even said that if there was an issue or a problem, to please let me know. I've had no response.

However, this buyer's feedback all says "quick payment!" Additionally, the buyer is also a seller and listed something new to sell just yesterday, so I know she is active on ebay. She's also bid on items since buying mine and won and has received positive feedback for quick payment. She has 28 retracted bids in 12 months too.

I'm not sure what to think about the buyer. She's clearly ignoring my messages and requests for payment since she has been active on Ebay since, but all her feedback says quick payment. What do you think? Ever experience something like this (the weird contradictions)? Thanks for any help and insights!!! I really appreciate it!
 
#3
forget bombarding her with messages and file a non paying bidder. Give her an unpaid item strike when the time comes and relist the item.

The fact that she has a new listing really doesn't mean anything- I can schedule my listings ahead of time thru Auctiva- I don't have to actually be sitting at the computer at that time.

Oh, and put her on your BBL.
 
#4
Oh, I totally forgot about the scheduled listing option! Thanks for reminding me!

Ok, I will open a case tomorrow (give her one last day). One more question: is it worth it to try calling the person? I'd rather not, but if it's somewhat successful, then maybe? The strange thing is that the contact information is a different name and address than the information of whom/where to send it.

Thanks for your quick replies!!! Really appreciate it. :heart:
 
#6
^^I wouldn't call... I think that's only for really drastic cases, like scamming and such. I'd just file NPB and leave it at that. A lot of people aren't responsive to emails, but then when you file a dispute, they're suddenly verrrry attentive!
 
#7
Oh good! Because, honestly, I ****really**** didn't want to call the person. I'm pretty non-confrontational and calling seems confrontational to me. :smile:

Thank you again ladies for all your wonderful help!!!!
 
#9
thepoppet said:
Oh good! Because, honestly, I ****really**** didn't want to call the person. I'm pretty non-confrontational and calling seems confrontational to me. :smile:

Thank you again ladies for all your wonderful help!!!!
Click to expand...

You don't have to call this person. It was an online transaction. She knows how to respond online but, for some reason, is not. I suppose she could be away for the weekend. You can file an NPB after four days which may give her a nudge. If not, you will get your fees back and you can sell to someone else.

I totally agree with how uncomfortable you would feel calling a buyer about an ebay transaction.
 
#10
I'm so glad I don't have to call them! I only asked because I looked at Ebay's Help files to see what to do and they recommended first trying to sort it out with the buyer and if the buyer is unresponsive then request contact information and call them and THEN file a nonpaying bidder claim. I've never sold on Ebay before last week, so I wasn't sure if that was a suggestion or a strict policy. As a buyer, I've never given anyone reason to file a claim on me or even request my contact information. If anything, I could be accused of being *too* communicative... like after buying it sending a message to the seller that I paid and am excited about receiving the item and then following up after receiving it to let them know I got it and love it, etc. etc. :biggrin:
 
#12
I have never called a buyer........................nor would I want anyone calling me. I think that tactic could backfire too easily.
The only other thing I can suggest is that lots of my messages wind up in my spam/trash folder so it is possible that a buyer might not see them.
 
#13
Ok, dumb question but is an INR? Is that the same thing as a NPB? First time seller, so this is all new jargon to me! :smile:

Yes, I thought 28 bid retractions was odd too, but I really didn't understand what it meant. As in, can there be that many legitimate reasons to retract your bid? I've never even heard of bid retraction until I started researching this buyer. I know, I sound incredibly naive. I've just only ever bid things I planned on paying for.
 
#14
INR is Item Not Received
NPB is a Non-Paying Bidder

You as the seller need to file a NPB not an INR. Buyers file INR.

When I first started I didn't even know what LOL was.
 
#15
Don't feel bad about not understanding eBay. Even education specialists, trained by eBay will scratch their heads, Too often in my opinion, but...

28 retracted bids in 12 months is bothersome, but it sounds like this is all taking place in a matter of days, so I personally would not get nervous until a full week to 10 days. Besides being able to schedule listings, they also can bid on something that does not close for up to 10 days, so they could have gone on vacation (good time for that) and planned to be back a few days after the auctions closed.

Heck, I have even had someone die between buying and paying. She was a regular and I knew she had been in bad health so I was not caught totally unaware, but her roommate was nice enough to write to me.

Another had a miscarriage and it was her parents who actually paid. I canceled the sale with no NPB because I did not know what happened. They came back a month later and re-bought the item and filled me in on the story. They appreciated that I had not "zinged" her.

Isn't that the way all of us would like to be treated if it was us? Just food for thought, but I will brace for comments. :peace:

By the way, I agree with some of you who will think, if not say, that eBay's policies on only positive feedback for buyers encourages the bid withdrawal phenomena.
 
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