posted on August 10, 2001 04:45:21 AM
Ok, let's hear those reasons that you have gotten for non-paying bidders. (I'm sure that there are some great ones out there)
My latest was "I never got your winning bid invoice"....
...then I sent them a copy of their email stating the money order was on the way, 10 days previous!
Anybodies dog eat their paperwork?
(or is that just homework???)
posted on August 10, 2001 04:58:30 AM
This should be a fun thread. I have definitely heard every one in the book but this one was my most favorite (verbatim):
the bid was a mistake due to my pc problem the mouse was broken and i was tryin to veiw and bid on something else.. im sorry for this problem
posted on August 10, 2001 04:59:34 AM
"I thought I sent that." Might be true as she sent me a check the day I sent her the email.
"I got in over my head on eBay." Probably true, since she paid me two months later.
"I don't have a record of this auction. Could you send me details." Probably stalling as the email reminder had the auction number in the subject.
"I sent it Monday," followed by, "I sent it Wednesday," followed by, "I sent it yesterday." Ummmm.... She sent it (not any of those days), but it was one of my first sales and around Christmas, and I sweated it out because it was obviously a gift item and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to list it in time to get a good price again.
"I don't check my school account very often, sorry for the delay." Not me, I'd already resold the item to someone who paid me in three days.
"My family and I have suffered a financial reversal, and I'm afraid I won't be able to complete this transaction." Well, at least he didn't screw me around for a month.
Silence.......
NPBA filed
"Payment has been sent."
This scenario is about 50/50 that I'll get paid.
posted on August 10, 2001 05:05:16 AM
Humm, let's see. There are so many that it's hard to pick!
My dog had parvo (that stops you from putting a check in your mailbox?)
My husband took over the finances and won't let me pay for my Ebay stuff (a whole LOT of auctions went down the drain on this one)
Sort of along this line are those who, after receiving the end of auction email that clearly states I don't take PayPal, send you this cheery email that they've paid you with PayPal! This certainly buys them some more time cause now we have to deal with explaining WHY I don't take PayPal. I even had one who refused to pay again because she had already paid me with PayPal. I don't know if she ever reclaimed her money, she didn't pay me and I negged her! I've got another right now from an auction that ended end of July who argued with me for several emails about how easy PayPal was, why I should sign up, etc. etc. Payment still has not been received!
This will be an interesting thread (but will also give buyers more excuses to use! LOL).
posted on August 10, 2001 05:15:46 AM
I have not paid because...
"My car broke down and I needed the money for repairs..." It was a $6 item and looking over his feedback - he seemed to pay everyone else but me that week! Negged him!
"My computer went down and I lost ALL my info..." Altho I've heard this one over and over - they usually replied to my emails after the auction was to let me know money was on the way!! The computers always "seem" to go down when 10 days go by and no money
has arrived!
"I was on vacation...." I have A LOT of vacationing bidders - and ALL year round too!
posted on August 10, 2001 05:38:06 AM
Re: vacationing buyers....
Why is it they seem to be at their puters at the end of the auction in order to snipe --- I have emailed them within 2 minutes of the end of auction, and then hear NOTHING from them for weeks! They say they were on vacation, but they must have caught that plane seconds after the end of auction.
RE: paypal...
I too am unbelievably tired of explaining to people why I don't take paypal. Its none of their business - or as in Finding FOrester "Its not a soup question".
As for best excuse - its probably the rash of out of town funerals I had there for a while as well as emergency surgeries. I haven't had those excuses in a while though, and you hate to not believe them because they could be truthful, but if they are lies - that has to be the wormiest of all excuses.
posted on August 10, 2001 05:57:48 AM
I thought I paid with paypal right after the auction closed?
As stated in the Terms of Service in the auction and the End of Auction notice that you received, I do not take paypal. You can pay for this auction by either sending, check, MO, or cash, or with your credit card via bidpay or Yahoo PayDirect. If payment is not recieved within 7 days from today, I will file a Non Paying Bidder Alert and resubimit the auction.
This was the last note I sent out in answer to the paypal issue. I think I'm going to keep a copy of it handy. As you can tell, It is terse. About 30-40% of my buyers either ask or just go ahead and pay with paypal.
posted on August 10, 2001 06:18:24 AM
selling a Corvette on Ebay motors-1st time listed winner said 5 days later "Sorry but the IRS has frozen all my bank accounts so i can't pay" but he did complete all the other auctions he won, filed auction refund got negged by him same day. 2nd time listed-Winner wrote "Sorry but my teenage son bid on this item" filed for auction refund buyer narued. 3rd time listed-Winning bidder stalls for 7 days then never answers email he's naru same week.
Apart from the sickness/death/vacations mentioned the real killer one I've had this week is "sorry but my wife won't let me pay for this or any more auctions" ($4.00 smoking pipe)
I'm thinking about taking all the money I spend at live auctions and estate sales for ebay stock to the casino. I'd have much better luck at the craps table. If I lose think maybe I could just tell them "sorry I was in the hospital on vacation then my car broke down on the way to my uncle's funeral so I can't pay you?"
posted on August 10, 2001 08:30:53 AM
In light of all the modified TOSs that state changes of payment terms, I'm thinking of adding: "Sorry, we no longer accept excuses or payment delays--your full payment by check, money order or credit card is due not later than 10 days after the auction closes."
posted on August 10, 2001 09:09:45 AM
After WBN sent, waited 10 days for payment (no response in the beginning) on 11th day sent reminder. Received these:
I WON NO SUCH AUCTION!!! (emailed a friend (him) the auction page!)
then....I say "did your wife, or your kid or your gf? He says "I have no idea!"
then...he says "What do I do now?"
I say "depends on what you wanna do"
He says" Can I pay you the EBAY fees?" (In other words, I dont want it)
I finally gave up and said "forget it" I want to Neg him really bad, but am not sure what to put. Or neutral? Say something like "he claims he didnt bid, sale cancelled"
What do you think?
posted on August 10, 2001 09:28:00 AM
"Why is it they seem to be at their puters at the end of the auction in order to snipe --- I have emailed them within 2 minutes of the end of auction, and then hear NOTHING from them for weeks! They say they were on vacation, but they must have caught that plane seconds after the end of auction. "
posted on August 10, 2001 09:42:51 AM
My favorite was a women who didn't pay after about 10 days so I sent a reminder, she said she just got out of the hospital after having a baby. (Of course she had been bidding on other things all along). Then she still hadn't paid after another week so I filed NPB on her and then she e-mails and says she just got out of the hospital because she had a kidney transplant (still bidding).
I hope she has good medical insurance.
I have had so many family deaths, car accidents, "my kid bid on this auction", even one lady who said she wasn't even an eBay member, hmmm, how did I get your e-mail then?
posted on August 10, 2001 10:27:27 AM
Oh, OK, you guys are going to make me post a few more.
- My son bid on it and we decided not to let him have it.
- My son's friend bid on it and we cannot get him to pay.
- I bid on it for my boyfriend and we broke up and I hate [that kind of widget] and I don't want it
- I was working on an animation project for Nickelodeon and I did not turn on my computer for 6 weeks
- I bid for a friend and I have been forwarding your email to her, isn't she responding to you??
- I play minor league hockey and we have been playing away games for 3 weeks
- All kinds of diseases, people dying, babies, operations, car accidents, things catching on fire, job loss, etc...
posted on August 10, 2001 10:34:08 AM
I didn't pay because I am an irresponsible teenager who had no intention on following through on payment. I bid simply for the sport of it.
About 90% of my default buyers fall under the above.
posted on August 10, 2001 10:43:42 AM
This is my favorite one...and no, I never got paid.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience I got my picture I.D. at a big drag racing bust and couldn't get any money without
my picture I.D. The bank would only let me deposit money not get any back. It's all settled now and they money
order is in the mail.
posted on August 10, 2001 10:45:17 AM
These people eventually paid but of course some of them I felt so sorry for I (almost) said forget it!
<p>I am doing up my friend's email~ she had an accident and is in a coma~ will pay as soon as I can
<p>we are in Europe and will pay very soon~ might be a little delayed~ my hard drive crashed~ several weeks later he did pay by paypal though
<p>Lost your email, computer hard drive crashed, just noticed your email for payment, lost your address could your write again ~ the usual but they all paid
<p>the only customers who didn't pay
One very abusive one~WHERE IS MY BOOK 2nd email I MAILED OUT 2 MONEY ORDERS ALREADY!!!~ never received payment for this item ~ still waiting for neg~ but I figured the guy flipped out~ he left several negs which appeared to be for no reason after he had himself received many positives ~ he was a buyer and seller so I think he probably went off the dead end and freaked out for some reason~ oh maybe that 's another good excuse!
<p>Love this thread! very funny if we weren't so dependent on those cheques, money orders! Suzanne
posted on August 10, 2001 10:47:31 AM
- Various illnesses and hospital excuses, I get them ALL the time (either e-Bay makes them sick, or I have items that appeal to very ill people...kinda worrying...).
- Computer crashes (amazing how often this happens to people) - and the weird thing is that those I believe are the ones who go to the trouble of going to the library or a friend and taking care of things when their 'puter dies...
- sloooooowww mail! Amazing how many checks apparently got lost... and I never did get 2 when the 'second' one was sent!
- can't figure out how to make Paypal work (or they don't use my correct email address and assume I don't have an account so they then decide not to pay - I have a .edu extension email and people don't look and type in .com or .net or something.)
- bought this for a friend and she no longer wants it
- my favorite: "this is not the size I wanted, I really need a bigger size" - the size was mentioned in the title line!!!! So they don't even read that (I know they don't read descriptions!). This happened to me for a large antique doily and I was very annoyed, are people even bothering to read anything????
Oh well, I guess 98% are fine, those 2% are just the price of entrepreneurship!
posted on August 10, 2001 10:58:07 AM
Aside from the canned responses my favorite one was from someone who's husband had just lost his logging job. Due to this tragedy they would be unable to send the payment.
Just for fun, I tracked their activity and noticed they were currently bidding on a half dozen other items. They had placed bids AFTER sending this email to me. Guess they didn't know anyone can look up this info.
I couldn't resist throwing that back at them.
Of course, no reply. Too embarrased I guess.
posted on August 10, 2001 11:32:43 AM
This is one of my favorites. It's been very hard for me to tend to my children and clean up their problems off the floor, bedding, also to comfort and soothe them plus take care of myself and hope that I make it to the bathroom on time.
It also seems like everyone has a brother, sister, child or parent that dies.
posted on August 10, 2001 11:55:39 AM
My latest negative came from someone who claimed her son died in a car accident on 7-11-01. However, on 7-13-01, she asked for payment information, and on 7-14, 15, etc she bid on more items. Her emotional distress must have caused her an inability to get a money order over $25, because all of her positives are for items under $25! the big ticket stuff remains unpaid. I should stop listing auctions, to many people are getting hurt or killed when I send my end of auction notices.
Don't get me wrong, I can be a compassionate person. If something like this happens to you or me, just take a break from ebay, and tend to more important matters. Don't continue bidding!
posted on August 10, 2001 12:14:30 PM
Well guess what, this is my favorite topic!
My good ones were:
1)I wont pay because I thonght that shipping
Should be less then $10.00
(on 30 pounds package, yeah...)
2) I though my friend paid for this while
I was in hospital and my Pc broke just before I went there...,
But I forwared him the email...
(with smoke signals? I though the PC was broken)
3) Paypal!
WBN and description states: MO or BidPay
2 min later I get Paypal payment.
4) 2 weeks no responce to my emails,
Then I file for NPB
And she replied: I get 300 +
Emails on thes addy weekly...
(but she saw the one from eBay...)
(paid the same day as the NPB was filed )
5) I will be in surgery from 07/03 till
08/01 you'll have to wait....?!?
(his feedback shows that he paid other
People from the "hospital" and had bid on 12 other auctions)
And I'm waiting for a excuse from the my last auction, still havent heard from them 6 days
Later....
posted on August 10, 2001 12:24:40 PM
There was a rash of open heart surgeries that hit some of my buyers about 2 months ago! I wanted to warn potential bidders: "Before bidding on this item, please see a cardiologist!"
posted on August 10, 2001 12:41:37 PM
I love this....
"... poisoned myself last night with a can of pears so am late with reply and weak. "
Hey, at least it wasn't windex-- hope it at least tasted good. Bizarre! I'm still laughing! Thanks-- you made my day!
posted on August 10, 2001 12:50:47 PM
It's a shame that people use false excuses, because I have been to hell and back this week.
As I was coming home from an auction Saturday around midnight (with my car loaded with ebay resell items), my mom called me on my cell phone and told me my dad was in the hospital. Truthfully, eBay was the last thing on my mind when after 4 hours of sleep I got up and drove the three hours to be with my mom.
During the last 4 days, my dad (who is paralized from the waist down) has had a plugged catheter, collapsed lung, heart attack, chest tube, and is withering away before my eyes.
I went to the library there and got a 5 day pass to use the internet. I emailed all my winners at that time, and the seller to whom I owed money, most of whom were sympathetic. When I got home Wednesday, I mailed out six packages and one check to the seller.
So, I'm sorry that you as sellers didn't receive your payments, I'm also sorry that your bidders used phony excuses, but I'm grateful that there are also ebay people out there who did believe me, and gave me the benefit of the doubt.
Not my name on ebay.
posted on August 10, 2001 12:53:44 PM
The most recent one, sandwiched between some very rude emails:
"When I tried to pay, the item was already relisted."
This woman apparently looked at the completed auction page, and saw eBay's notice to the effect that "this item, or a similar one, has been relisted" and decided that absolved her of responsibility.
That doesn't explain her ignoring my emails and the NPB reminder, though....
