posted on June 24, 2001 06:00:39 AM new
Wouldn't it be great, just once, to respond to one of these by emailing back something like:
Oh, I'm so sorry about your misfortune, but I must insist that you pay asap as my grandmother's long-term care bill is due, the mortgage payment is late, my baby sitter quit because I couldn't pay her, my car has been repossessed, and there is no food in the house. In fact, if I don't pay the electric and phone bill soon, I'll be destitute because eBay is my livelyhood. I currently have $4000 in 60 day old receivables, and most of them also have family tragedies. May I put you in contact with them so that you may all form a support group? I look forward to your payment so that my kids don't get ricketts.
Ah, that felt better, even if I would never send it....
posted on June 24, 2001 06:46:02 AM new
DISCLAIMER: I am a Buyer...so most of what I say is from that perspective.
I can appreciate how frustrating it is to have a non-paying bidder win your auction(s). The fees are due, the time already spent, the hassles of reminders and delays in shipping, yada, yada, yada. It would be one of the most frustarting aspects of online selling.
HOWEVER, what I do not understand is the cynicism that is seemingly developing after experiencing NPBs. I am stunned that the NPB is portrayed as anything from a "liar" to a person that doesn't pay his/her own bills. How unfair, and how embittered some Sellers are becoming!
Life happens outside of eBay. Yes, Mothers and fathers get cancer, die, have strokes or become ill. Yes, kids get hit by cars, flu occurs, hospitals are thriving, people travel for business, homes burn down, unexpected depletion of funds and some people don't really understand how eBay works. All of those are the reality of life despite what your TOS says, despite what hassles you endure, despite how many notices you send and despite whether a Seller decide to become a doubting Thomas or not.
I once rec'd a neg from a Seller that was anxious for his $3.24 because he "thought" i was a NPB. The truth was my Mother DID just die and I was out of state attending to all the arrangements etc. Sorry, ebay does not always take precedence over the unexpected life's tragedies--and hopefully it never will. He did get his money within 13 days of the end of auction (his TOS was 10 days) and he left a "retraction feedback" advising others to "ignore his negative"---too bad that cannot be done now.
And to all you sellers who refuse to leave a neg for a NPB out of fear of retaliation, that seems like the exact type of behavior that leads to an increase in NPB. Turning the other cheek and not warning other Sellers of this NPB history seems to be part of the problem to me! Albeit, ebay's system of kicking a UserID after 3 NPB is not sufficient because they can always get a new UserID--at least it is something! Sellers that do nothing (not even file for FVF reversal) are only adding to the ineffectiveness and not at all assisting other Sellers in dealing with what seems to be a growing problem.
posted on June 24, 2001 06:54:47 AM new
Absolutely! I have been selling for close to 2 years and had very few problems up to about 2 months ago, and all of a sudden:
a high percentage of non payers and also crazy bidders running up auctions and then not answering emails. The last nut bid on 2 auctions totaling over $500, paltry compared to other sellers he bid with: 5 cars a motorbike several expensive pieces of furniture and an enormous piece of industrial equipment (350 tons!) I haven't had the heart to add up the total but it certainly well over 1000 between the turtles (slow payers) and the clams (non payers) One non payer who strung me along for over a month, claiming she mailed payment twice was finally NARU by the time I checked again. I am fighting my impulse to pull bids from users with shades and no feedback, but they aren't the only onmes not paying. This has got to be the economy. Are people so addicted to bidding that they do it even if they can't pay?
I appreciate your position. No, I don't assume people are lying - generally they prove it to me.
I recently sent a "reminder" to a late payer who stated she had no record of the auction. Apparently she neither got my WBN or eBay's EOA notice. Though the number of the auction and the title were in my reminder, she wanted a link to the auction - I believe she had enough feedbacks to check this auction with the info I gave her, but sure, I'm stupid, I sent her the link. No response for a day and a half. I file a NPBA on June 7. On June 8, she emailed me saying only: payment has been sent.
I received that payment (I think) yesterday. It has no identifying anything since it's a postal MO and since she never even bothered to email me her address, I can't match it that way. It's postmarked June 19th.
While we sellers may seem harsh in our assessment of slow payers, the reason is that more often than not, the excuses are lame and not true. Now, my buyer who 'fessed up and said she got in over her head on eBay - I took a chance on her and never filed for my FVF's (they were small). She paid me two months later and stayed in contact with me the whole time. And those exceptions are why my post above is only a rant - I could never really send it on the off-chance that someone really had just experienced a tragedy.
I realized your post about "would'nt it be great to send".... was satire and to be taken "tongue-in-cheek" It certainly was by me. My post was not addressing you spefically at all; rather, the general Seller consensous that if a Seller encounters a NPB, that he/she is a liar, cheat, game-player, irresponsible bill payor, etc. It was more directed at the automatic fixation of a label that may or may not be true because as a Seller, you have been denied a sale that rightfully was yours to be completed.
Sadie wrote: "While we sellers may seem harsh in our assessment of slow payers, the reason is that more often
than not, the excuses are lame and not true."
I ask you Sadie, just how do you know if the excuses are true or not? Perhaps what is "lame" to you may not be so "lame" to another that is going through an overwhelmingly difficult time in their life. How do you verify the lameness or the veracity of the "true/untrue excuse?
Again, I am going to say Sellers take responsibility and do the right thing. If you have a NPB than file the neg, report to ebay FVF recovery...go through the established process instead of doing nothing but whine and feel the injustice of it all. Any retaliation neg from a NPB can EASILY be explained and commented on after-the-fact. But for some (no one in particular) to state that they do not neg, cannot be bothered by time consuming task of filing FVF, is silly.
posted on June 24, 2001 09:46:24 AM new
Hello Marie....
First of all let me start by saying I have personally bought many
reggae CDs from you under my buying ID.
Around this time last year I had a company meeting with
my eBay staff .....I pulled up [email protected] and
told my people that . “That this is how I want my eBay operation to
look” ..So let me say that it’s a honor speak to you....!
Please tell me how you handle your feedbacks.....I know you
will ship out the winner their CD prior to payment....
“I LOVE THAT” it restores my faith in mankind not to mention gives me a warm
fuzzy feeling that some one trust me as a person.....
As for the eBay credit issue ....The FVF system is a joke.
It was so nice when eBay let you just submit your nonpaying
auction number for a full refund ....I can under stand their
motives completely....I would like to see large Power Sellers
like yourself be able to use some kind of system like that again..
you know like a perk for being a Power Seller..
Now for the IRS problem...As for us.. a full blown C corporation
all of our money goes back into the company check book...
I feel at all eBay sellers should not play around with this money
eBay customers send them....If some sellers were smart they
could show a loss on many eBay items they sell..
If your spouse goes out and buys a widget for 20 bucks
and doesn’t like so sells it on eBay for 10 bucks ....That is a loss
and a tax deduction along with the cost of selling it..
I would love to see your operation in action ..are you going to
open an eBay Store or just keep your second “B.I.N” ID....?
posted on June 24, 2001 01:03:35 PM new
At the risk of jinxing myself...
I haven't had very many deadbeats, at all.
Just two last month(no stories, totally non-responsive bidders). That was a significant improvement over the prior months.
so...I was feeling pretty good about eBay til I opened this thread...
Actually, 'retraction feedback' is still possible.
The difference is that the other party has to leave feedback too.
1. Seller leaves neg feedback (Transaction then successfully completed)
2. Buyer responds to this feedback.
3. Seller responds to the Buyer's responce that all is now well.
Bill
[ edited by cdnbooks on Jun 24, 2001 01:51 PM ]
posted on June 24, 2001 02:01:58 PM new
Actually, when the new feedback policy goes into effect, you can leave a follow-up comment (or retraction feedback) without having the other person respond first.
posted on June 24, 2001 02:09:11 PM new
cdnbooks.....
Yes, I am aware that one may "comment" upon a feedback previously left by another ebayer (commentary can be left for ANY feedback, not just negative).
Wayyyyyy back when, I think it was 1998? one could leave a negative which counted as a negative one (-1) off the total "score" and then leave a positive later (+1) resulting in a nuetral (or no effect) on the total score. This was before the time feedback was specific to a transaction/aution listing.
ExecutiveGirl...I was unaware of the new policy change concerning comments. Sounds like a winning idea! Thanks.
posted on June 24, 2001 04:53:32 PM new
My percentage of non-payers has been much higher than normal lately, too. Here's some of the reasons I've been given recently:
1.) Bidder won an auction on May 10 for $3.99, which includes shipping. No payment arrived. I contacted the bidder, who claimed that she already sent a money order, but will send another one as the first one must have gotten lost. Okay, fine. But it still doesn't arrive. At 30 days, I sent another reminder, followed by an NPB. Less than 48 hours from my NPB, the bidder claimed she had the first two money orders traced, and BOTH of them were stolen (weeks apart) in Salt Lake City. Highly unlikely, but possible (I suppose). Bidder said she will send a third money order, and this time send it Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. Surprise! It never arrived either. I e-mailed the bidder once again to let her know. She then said she had her post office check on the delivery status of money order #3, and they told her it is still en route. Okay, we'll give it a few more days. It still doesn't arrive. I e-mailed one more time, asking for the Delivery Confirmation number (after all, the post office DID look it up, according to her!), or even a scanned copy of the money order. The bidder went silent; no response at all. Hmmm .... Methinks I've been fibbed to.
2.) Bidder claimed he is slow sending his payment because he's flooded in Houston. Well, that's terrible for him and I hope he and his family are safe ... but the address he sent me previously indicates that he isn't even in the Houston area .....
3.) Another bidder's husband had to have heart surgery, causing a delay in sending her payment out. (I tend to think this one could be true, because she *did* finally pay, albeit a bit late.)
4.) Several bidders who claimed they sent their payment, that I must have overlooked it, but that they would send another payment right away. Well, in 3 years of selling, I haven't "overlooked" a payment yet! LOL! And out of all the bidders who have claimed to send two payments, only one duplicate payment has EVER turned up. And that one apparently was a post office mistake, because the poor envelope looked like it had traveled around the world a few times.
Anyway (I'm rambling), but it actually doesn't bother me too much when someone, for whatever reason, decides not to honor their bid, AS LONG AS THEY'RE HONEST ABOUT IT AND TELL ME UPFRONT. The part that DOES bug me is the weeks of excuses and my having to play "Bill Collector". It just wastes my time (and theirs), when I could've gone ahead and relisted the item and have it sold to someone that really does want it.
