What's going on with ebay??

S

s_zemliakov

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May 7, 2013
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Hi guys, sorry for this post but I'm really disappointed with the famous auction site: It's the third time I'm relisting a lens I've been trying to sell, and everytime some Chinese user bids on the auction, wins it and then suddenly disappears without even replying to messages.

The second time I even contacted the guy before the end, asking him if he really was interested in buying and he assured me so, but after winning the auction disappeared like the others :bang:

What to do? Should I exclude China from the countries allowed to bid on my auctions? Someone had similar experiences?

The worst thing is that you really can't report those users, neither leave them a negative feedback, as ebay has removed this function.
 
It is annoying you can't leave feedback for deadbeat buyers; all you can do is block them.

Sounds like all you can do is change preferences so it's not available in China. I'm sure you know how, but just in case it's under selling preferences; select edit for the Exclude postal locations list.
 
I see you are in Milan. I am in the UK and only sell to the EU (while we are still in it!). Makes life a lot easier and there are still plenty of customers.

Having said that the other day I forgot to cross off Russia. I sold one camera to St Petersberg and one to the Ukraine with no problem whatever and the Russian Post Office tracking was excellent.
 
Deadbeat buyers aren't worth doing anything about, as ebay doesn't care. Relisting, which should be free, or making an offer to the next closest bidder, then the next and next, are your best options.
I only sell to the country where I live to avoid the hazards of world shipping, but I have had deadbeat buyers from here too.
 
I only sell to US buyers, and often warn overseas bidders not to get around this by using an international reshipping service. If the buyer's address is a reshipper (you can just google it) I cancel the transaction and relist the item. I wish this weren't necessary, but I've had too many bad experiences! I suspect many deadbeat buyers are akin to spam calls where there's nobody at the other end: scammers throw a wide net and focus in on the most promising marks.
 
I have recently (.) like this from GTA. Not from China. It took two weeks for ebay to sort it out.
 
davidnewtonguitars said:
Deadbeat buyers aren't worth doing anything about, as ebay doesn't care. Relisting, which should be free, or making an offer to the next closest bidder, then the next and next, are your best options.
I only sell to the country where I live to avoid the hazards of world shipping, but I have had deadbeat buyers from here too.
Click to expand...

This ^^

It isn't an issue with ebay as much as it's how people are abusing it.
 
I’ve only had one problem buyer... claimed the item wasn’t as described even though my record photos clearly showed it was. I offered to take it as a return and give a full price back, but he wanted me to pay $$200+ for shipping from Taiwan. Funny that.. the item was a $120 piece that I’d charged him $80 shipping on, and lost about ten bucks in the process. And he wanted it in advance....

I removed Taiwan from my ship to list, told him to stuff it, then blocked him. He filed a complaint with eBay. I explained it to them, and they removed his account–and the negative feedback.

I don’t like dishonest people. :)
 
Ebay is a big machine that makes money.
If you are lucky you find someone there who is paid for just answering you.
But don´t count on it. And don´t take possible answers too seriously.

If I were you (fortunately I am away from such problems until now) I would scan which similar articles were bought ("sold items") at this time to whom and which prices were reached.
Possibly you can get some information about the systematics of your problem (and would be happy to read about here ;) )

In all other cases follow the advice to exclude whole region from the circle of buyers.

I´ve lost around $500 last year to this machine because of no reliability in anything but making money for itself.
That´s the only knowledge I´ve got at the end. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose... ;)
 
I have dealt with problem sellers (Cameras) and problem buyers (Trains). I do not take returns and do not ship overseas. Problem seller never shipped the lens, and Ebay service was great at assuring return of my funds. Problem buyer made unsupported claims and I negotiated a refund to allay his "issues" and keep the "gone at last" merchandise from coming back. Returned merchandise almost always will never be in the same condition. With sales, my view is that it is "found money", and I tend to low ball the market to assure a sale. At least in the corner of the market where my sales were made, all known buyers tended to be dealers, and first rate. Retail buyers are a minefield.

All that said, I have dealt with both Ebay and PayPal and Ebay is much easier to work with. Paypal.... makes it hard to talk to a live person. You can do it, and they are helpful when you get through, but it's harder.

Good luck!
 
Ale,
why not giving a try here at RFF?
BTW what are you selling if I may ask?
And keep the good work, I am a big fan of your stream at Flickr.
Ciao
Giulio
 
I only use eBay for small items these days. I previously bought an M4-2 which was defective. The seller in this case accepted the return and everything went smoothly. It was still a PITA though. Funnily everything I still own I bought either from a shop or through RFF. I sometimes sell on eBay, where I only ship to Australia, but I prefer to sell through here too.
When I sell items through eBay, it's always BIN with immediate payment. I don't want to have to chase people up.
 
Thank you all for the advices, in the end I excluded China from the list of countries and put the lens on Buy it Now, sold it in less than 24h hours. I will always do the same from now on
 
JoeLopez said:
This ^^

It isn't an issue with ebay as much as it's how people are abusing it.
Click to expand...

So if ebay doesn't care and refuses to change policies to eliminate the problem, how is it not an ebay issue?

Business policies exist because some people are abusive.

Apparently, ebay believes they will make more profit by not protecting sellers for this sort of abuse.
 
willie_901 said:
So if ebay doesn't care and refuses to change policies to eliminate the problem, how is it not an ebay issue?

Business policies exist because some people are abusive.

Apparently, ebay believes they will make more profit by not protecting sellers for this sort of abuse.
Click to expand...

ebay actually does have things in place to protect sellers from buyers like this, you just need to use the options and tools at your disposal.

Sellers can block specific users from bidding/buying from them, among others.

https://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html
 
I've had to block specific bidders before, and I have reported non-paying bidders (which unless something has changed since the last time I did this, ebay refunds you the listing fee).
 
I've dealt with problems with sellers or buyers by initiating a case through ebay. For completed sales (payment made), there is a clear mechanism in place and working. But you have to use it.

When needed, I've phoned ebay directly (they are very responsive) and spoke to a member of the staff to clarify an issue, policy, or report such problems as the OP's. They have been helpful.

Buyers who do not pay after the auction or who send back items that are in fact just as described ("Buyer's regret") are out there, but fortunately they are not common. No case can be initiated, but you can screen your buyers (look at their feedback, no. of purchases), and location, and then exclude sales to regions that have given you problems.
 
When I sold on Ebay. Depending on the item. I set a minimum feedback of 20 to weed out tire kickers and those looking for thrill bids (they like to bid, but not pay if they win)

DON
 
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