OT: Ebay frustration, winners not making contact

[Vickko]

Sigh

I'm getting frustrated with ebay winners not making contact with me after the auction end.

Okay, one of them turned out to be fraudulent, which is a frustration all in itself.

But some look fully legit (okay, they look like camera dealers) with healthy active feedback records, and my item is not out of range with what they've been dealing with, and there are all sorts of feedbacks with "fast payer, great ebayer".

I would figure if a buyer has bid to the end, they'd want to close the deal quickly.

Okay, rant off, thanks for letting me blow off steam here.

How are you all doing?

Vick

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I know how you feel and, for what it's worth, it hits us all from time to time. Not that that helps much but you are in good company...

I hate the ones that bid in the last minutes and then forget about it. Worse still the 2nd and 3rd bidders lose interest while I'm prodding the so-called winner. A pity ebay won't take the money from them for us regardless.

Regards, David

 

[rbelyell]

ebay does have a feature where a seller can offer the item to the second highest bidder, at his bid price, in the event the 'winner' reneges.
tony

 

[jsrockit]

But some look fully legit (okay, they look like camera dealers) with healthy active feedback records, and my item is not out of range with what they've been dealing with, and there are all sorts of feedbacks with "fast payer, great ebayer".

You can ask for their phone number via ebay (in the site map).

http://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch/?_sofindtype=9&&tokenstring=ovp/EwcAAAA=

I've found that a call can work wonders. However, make sure it's been a few days and such. Don't harass people for cash. 🙂

 

[Steve M.]

I give 'em 5 days. After that I send an email requesting payment. No news in another day, I relist the item. Some people wait for a bill, or whatever ebay calls it, so I send those after the auctions close just in case. Seldom have any problems these days, but things like this tend to come in batches.

 

[gavinlg]

ebay does have a feature where a seller can offer the item to the second highest bidder, at his bid price, in the event the 'winner' reneges.
tony

Yeah this has happened to me before. I just got negative feedback from a French buyer after I gave him the best part of a week to get back to me (after sending him a message and the invoice), and eventually used the 'second chance offer' thing. Little did I know it on the day that I did the second chance offer, he had sent the money through, and I effectively sold the item to someone else. When I realized what had happened a few days later I refunded him the full amount. He left me negative feedback. Stuff like that makes me absolutely rage.

 

[loquax ludens]

I rarely sell on ebay, and so far I've only had one case like this where the buyer did not contact me. I just relisted after three days in that case. Since then, I've added a line to my sales stating that item will be relisted if winner doesn't send payment within 24 hour.

In my opinion, it's not worth the bother of having to pester someone to pay up.

 

[rbelyell]

Yeah this has happened to me before. I just got negative feedback from a French buyer after I gave him the best part of a week to get back to me (after sending him a message and the invoice), and eventually used the 'second chance offer' thing. Little did I know it on the day that I did the second chance offer, he had sent the money through, and I effectively sold the item to someone else. When I realized what had happened a few days later I refunded him the full amount. He left me negative feedback. Stuff like that makes me absolutely rage.

gavin thats why i hardly ever sell on ebay, the deck is stacked against the seller. i much prefer selling here or other similar sites. but i guess sometimes ebay is the only outlet for certain things...yuck!
tony

 

[kuzano]

My stuff usually sells BIN with immediate payment to close auction

My stuff usually sells BIN with immediate payment to close auction

Ever since eBay added the checkmark on BIN for immediate payment, that's what I do. In most cases, any more, running the auction out to bid is fruitless. I research my items, find the average price in the "completed listings", set a price to sell, and check the box for "immediate pay"

Heated bidding is very low these days and last minute surprises have dropped off. Bidders are ambivalent any more, so I set my auctions to act as a sale.... not an auction.

I find that while I occasionally run a longer auction (7-10 days) on some items, for the most part 1 and 3 day auctions produce faster results and force buyers to make a decision, rather than put you on their watch list, and find the item sooner elsewhere. Buyer are impulse and my one day listings force them to respond impulsively, not veg out and sit on their ass watching a number of similar auctions.

In fact, I often have the information down pat to the point of an attractive BIN for a serious buyer. On a lot of items, that means I may list ONE DAY only. Majority of my items sell within 24 hours and are paid instantly. The buyer cannot close my auction by BIN without immediate payment.

Personally, I don't want to deal with shoppers and hopeful bidders. I want to make a sale. I've been selling my items (mostly photo gear) on eBay for 8 years and this is the most productive time I have had in all that time...at least for the last year.

BTW, I have spend a lot of time researching eBay, and in fact, teach a Community College Community Education class on eBay 6-7 times a year (often twice a quarter). I often sell as a Trading Assistant on eBay for a 28% of the final listing price, plus posting fees. At that, I often kick ass for people on what they can get on Craigslist and local classifieds.

I'm in it for the money and the money is good. No, I don't expect any of you on this forum to buy from me after hearing this, but if you understood what a minute percentage of the population is on these forums, you would understand why I'm being straight forward on this.

There are ways to engineer your eBay activity to reduce the disappointment, whether you are selling or buying.

And my last and most important comment. I NO LONGER think of eBay as an AUCTION SITE. Pure and simple, it has become a BUY and SELL SITE.

 

[jsrockit]

Personally, I don't want to deal with shoppers and hopeful bidders. I want to make a sale.

I always find it funny when I bid on an item (say $500 item) and find out that the previous bidder put in a bid of $18.34 as their max. What were they hoping for? :bang:

 

[kuzano]

HEY! they were French buyers....

HEY! they were French buyers....

gavin thats why i hardly ever sell on ebay, the deck is stacked against the seller. i much prefer selling here or other similar sites. but i guess sometimes ebay is the only outlet for certain things...yuck!
tony

I've sold a ton of international, and in fact that's where the market seems to be best presently. Last four deals to Federation of Russia.

I have never sold to anyone in France. In fact when someone from France bids on my items, I remove their bid and contact them that I do not sell in France.

Perhaps many of you don't know about the French. For the most part they hate Americans. Go there for vacation some time.

Oh, and my last name is Cousineau. Bred and Born in the Good Ole USA!

 

[DominikDUK]

I fully agree with assesment of ebay it has in fact become a buy and sell site.

Dominik

 

[dreilly]

I have had problems with late-paying bidders before and it is irritating. I have had issues with shipments to certain countries and I don't deal with those anymore unless someone has a US mailing address. It is getting harder, and that's too bad.

 

[Matus]

Kuzano, with exception of your little 'french issue' 😉 I find your approach to eBay very reasonable - and if you can make money as trading assistant - good for you. I do believe that (probably depending on type of item) - a proper approach may increase the outcome and limit the hassle. I is trading as any other, after all.

But why should we not buy from you? I will either like your prices, goods and conditions or not. It is that simple (for me).

I sell rarely over eBay - I try to sell on photo-fora. But when I want to buy something - I make my decision on the max I am willing to pay (usually after long consideration and checking a few auction to see what kind of price should I expect), make my bid and do something else. I only watch (sometimes) the bidding wars when I am NOT bidding myself. I found that too stressful 😛

 

[DominikDUK]

dreilly you're spot on.

I also agree with kuzanos post except for the french thing.

Dominik

 

[mdarnton]

I don't buy if i don't intend to pay immediately--like in five minutes. A friend who does a lot of Ebay selling has a notice on her sales saying that if she doesn't receive payment in two days, she will relist, and file a complaint. She said when she didn't give a deadline, people let things drag on and on, and you never know if the deal is dead or not, so now she gives almost no room, doesn't worry about the slugs, and moves on.

 

[S.H.]

Yes they have 😛
They are a bit bruised with a post like this one 😉 but that's OK.

 

[kuzano]

Oh, good on....

Oh, good on....

Yes they have 😛
They are a bit bruised with a post like this one 😉 but that's OK.

Glad to hear the French have a sense of humor.

You have no idea what it's like to be a French Canuck in these here united states. What damage I have done today is nothing compare to growing up FC in the USA. My ribs have been sore for so many years now.

BTW.... HOW ARE YOU GETTING THOSE EMOTICONS TO WORK IN YOUR POST????? THEY ARE NOT WORKING ON MY COMPUTER.... OTHERWISE YOU'D ALL KNOW IMA JOSHIN YA.

If you will notice they only show up next to my post titles.

 

[kuzano]

testing emoticons

testing emoticons

This is a test, it is only a test, do not change the dial on your TV.😉

HEY, I got the Emoticons to work. You have to choose the advanced settings in the post menu. Or at least I do.😀

How about that😎

Now the Frenchies will know when I am pulling their leg, now that we have ascertained that they have ribs.....😱

Oh Goody:angel:

But back to the post... I am at your hest, if I can be of assistance on eBay listings.

Two things I do commonly... If you have a bidder with bad feedback, you can take their bid off your listing, which I will do and let them know why. Two, I commonly do answer questions about my reserve, if I use one. No sense wasting your and others time if they are not an interested buyer.

There are any number of other areas like this that would seem to breach eBay rules, but in reality, do not.

Like I said, it's no longer an auction site, it's a buy/sell site if you truly examine it, and there is a lot of negotiation going on in the "contact the seller" area. Just be logical and wary of actual and blatant breaches of the system

 

[colyn]

I always find it funny when I bid on an item (say $500 item) and find out that the previous bidder put in a bid of $18.34 as their max. What were they hoping for? :bang:

Don't knock it... I won a Leica IIIa with badly scratched Summar last year because the first bidder (only bidder except me) bid the starting bid of $99..