posted on June 13, 2002 12:40:17 PM
Continuing on with some posts in the "what would you do if you quit ebay" thread that discussed buyers who buy LOTS of stuff ... I have a bidder who currently has 178 auctions bid on (not the high bidder in all of them, but most of them!). Checked a few pages of her feedback (2,834 feedbacks) and she is the buyer of all of these auctions and not a seller. First I was thinking that she had a store but even with that, 178 items each week is a high volume store. Now I am thinking she is a fruitcake .... eh, person who has more money than she knows what to do with. Not sure if I can post her name so I won't unless someone assures me that it is ok. Don't really have a specific questions but I am hoping this will turn into an interesting thread with some amusing and/or astonishing stories.
posted on June 13, 2002 01:07:45 PM
Best to never put out names.
" Now I am thinking she is a fruitcake .... eh, person who has more money than she knows what to do with."
LOL, As long as she pays you just get on your knees and say a thank you prayer for this live one.
Then do the happy dance! We should all have this "problem".
posted on June 13, 2002 04:26:22 PM
It is a given that eBay is a whole vast wonderful world for the compulsive shoppers. Frankly, I think this topic would make a great dissertation subject for a Phd. student of psychology.
Earlier this year, there were two different buyers, two different ladies in different regions of the country, who started buying in my categories around the same time. Amazingly, they both had the same story, that they inherited some money and were opening up a tea shop. Except it makes no business sense to make thousands of bids a month, winning antique tea pots and cups in excess of $100 each, and use such antique porcelain commercially. Both ladies eventually ran out of money, maxed out all of their credit cards and got NARUed.
One of my best customers has been on eBay for only two years, buying and buying and buying, two years less than I have been selling. His feedback now has a higher count than my feedback. He is an elderly gentleman with a great amount of inherited wealth. At least he started out with inherited wealth. But guess what? Yes, his checks started to bounce a few months ago.
I know another buyer who filed for bankruptcy last month.
I like to own nice things. Who doesn't? What I don't understand is having a life that becomes consumed with owning things. Many of these compulsive buyers live in conditions where they don't have friends and family over to their house because of the possessions crammed into every room. They are living a life in front of the computer, buying things and more things, going into increasing debt, not saving for their retirement plan, not going anyplace on holiday, not contributing any hours to their community or church. What is amazing is they think they are normal, don't understand they are suffering from a obsessive-compulsive disorder and need counseling.
It makes no sense to spend thousands of dollars on eBay each month, when the money spent is debt not extra cash flow.
posted on June 13, 2002 10:25:33 PM
What I don't understand is people that worry about what other people spend there money on.Don't you have anything better to do than to complain and worry about how other people should spend there own money?
Successful businesses expend great effort to understand their customer base, one reason why market research is so important in today's business world.
Yes, it is critically important to understand buyer behavior and motivation. Entire classes on the topic are taught in the economics and business departments of our universities.
For an eBay seller, the concern is not for what a bidder buys, but for the amount and dollar volume to which the bidder is obligated. Recognizing the addicted complusive buyer is pinpointing the future deadbeat bidder.
Discussing and analyzing the addictions helps to understand the buyers' behaviors and motivations.
I know it is an effective business strategy for my sales. The two ladies with the tea shop stories I mentioned in a prior post, at the time they were NARUed other sellers in my categories were left with unpaid auctions totalling in the thousands of dollars, hundreds of bounced checks and deadbeat buyers with no credit available on their charge cards. On the other hand, because I had taken the time to study the two ladies' buying patterns and their underlying buying behavior, I was able to block their bids at the critical time, even though I had been selling to the two ladies for months.
Selling on eBay is not meant to be a game of musical chairs. When the addicted obsessive compulsive buyers crash and burn, which they do when they run out of money and credit, it won't be me left standing there without a chair.
posted on June 14, 2002 10:55:09 AM
One week, I had every one of my auctions purchased by one person. Make sure the check is good, and Go on. I used to be a HUGE collector of stuff. When I married my wife, I saw her Stuff (rubbish), and realized that stuff was stuff. I started selling it instead of buying it. I emptied out my trader bag, I trimmed my collection. I made the mortgage payment once every month or two and made the house more baby ready at the same time.
posted on June 14, 2002 12:18:53 PM
I also love the compulsive buyers who think they are buying something valuable when they are not. I have sold lots of books that I know are worthless but look like they may be valuable. They are described accurately with a low price, so who am I to question someone else's buying decision.
posted on June 15, 2002 09:50:20 AM
I have not been so fortunate to have many repeat buyers, because I sell many different types of items so it is hard to have repeat buyers. I like it better that way then I don't have to worry about the buyer and his money. Remember when HSN started, lots of people went bankrupt because they sat home and bought, bought and bought. In my opinion I think they were catering to the stay at home wives, invalid etc. Now that is my opinion. I never got hooked on that and I never bought anything. We have a HSC store in Illinois and I have bought there only because I can see the merchandise. I think eBay is a lot like that. I have only bought items on eBay that I can't get where I live. Pez, jewelry findings etc. Other than that I stay away from buying.
posted on June 15, 2002 10:55:51 AM
One of my mega buyers left town and left me a $600.00 bad check. It took 28 days for this check to be returned to me for insuficient funds. I have never recieved the money for this check and at least 10 other sellers at the time also had his bad checks.
I still don't care for one person to win a bunch of my auctions but I am more carefull now and do not take checks.
posted on June 15, 2002 01:06:38 PM
We had a buyer who would purchase dozens of items at a time from us. This lasted for several months however she ended up deadbeating on the last 30+ items she bid on.
posted on June 16, 2002 09:45:07 PM
I made mention of two ids, compulsive buyers, who had bid on my auctions and were eventually NARUed for nonpayment, both ids with a story about setting up a tea shop. The ids had a large number of bids going, I think around 65 pages of bids when I looked.
I assumed the episodes were in my past
Well I tell everyone who is reading this thread not to make an assumption that deadbeat bidders go away.
One of the ids got NARUed, had about 20 negatives at the time. I got my payments, though other sellers had not, then placed the id in my Blocked Bidder List quite a few weeks before the bidder was NARUed by eBay. Then a month later, another seller contacted me, said the buyer was back, had gotten one of the NPB sellers to lift an NPB, which reinstated her id. The buyer changed her id as soon as she was reinstated. I checked my Blocked Bidder List and eBay carried the id name change in the list, so I was protected. Thus, I thought I was safe.
The id started bidding like crazy again, but within a few weeks was stiffing the sellers and was NARUed a second time.
The last of my auctions ended a bit over a week ago because I am taking the summer off from selling on eBay. Two auctions have yet to be paid, one is for about $100 by an id with a permutation of tea shop in the id name. I never received contact from the buyer after the auction ended, and was getting ready to file my NPB alert.
This evening, I get an email from the id, a form email sent to a couple of hundred eBay sellers, saying that her email wasn't working, please make contact through two other email addresses and she proceeds to list the two email addresses. I do a copy and paste, put the email addresses into eBay to see if there are any associated eBay ids. And guess what? Oh yes, it is the tea shop lady who was NARUed twice and who is on my Blocked Bidder List with the NARUed id
I forward the email on to Power Sellers, ask them to take care of the situation. I am pretty certain once you are NARUed you are not allowed to register again.
It looks like I got caught, tried so hard to spot the compulsive buyers, but this one came back again and got me.
And another thing, right now the id has over 40 pages of bids going. I am out a hundred dollars, but it appears some sellers are going to be hurt big time.
posted on June 19, 2002 01:48:05 PM
This is for hotcupoftea...I have a tea shop person who has bid on 13 of my auctions, has bid on over 900 auctions in past 30 days...how can I find out if it is same person...
posted on June 19, 2002 02:00:22 PMI used to be a HUGE collector of stuff. When I married my wife, I saw her Stuff (rubbish), and realized that stuff was stuff. I started selling it instead of buying it. I emptied out my trader bag, I trimmed my collection. I made the mortgage payment once every month or two and made the house more baby ready at the same time.
How many other sellers on eBay are doing the same thing. Double whammy, many former collectors now selling collectibles and therefore there are less less collectors buying collectibles.
posted on June 19, 2002 02:27:13 PM
YUP, that is our girl, same person looks like. Now how do I go about getting her NARU'ed??? Funny how you can get a gut feeling about these types...I have sent her 2 emails in past 2 days with no reply. I didn't save her "new" email addresses or I would pass them along to ebay powerseller. I did email ebay powerseller support to ask what they can do to track her. IF I can prove she has been NARU'ed in the past then will suspend again. I am going to file NPB's against here with the hope that she will pay up as a hedge against being NARU'ed again. Any advice would be appreciated!! Thanks for your quick response. BTW, I am not susiegirl on ebay!
Here is an idea. Don't post your id or email address in this forum. Instead, post the first two letters of your selling id and I will go to the buyer's bidding history, find your id and send you an email through Seller Contact. That way, when you respond to me, I can forward that email from the buyer to you again, the one that must have your email address in the To Line, so that you can contact Power Sellers. And I can tell you the NARUed id name, which you can also find from the alternative email address given by the buyer.
I am glad my posting to this thread might help you avert a financial disaster.
I forwarded my email to Power Sellers, but have yet to see any action taken on it. A NARUed person cannot register again.
posted on June 19, 2002 03:41:31 PM
Oooohhh, I love sneaky deals! First two letters are su.
I had a similar bidder a year or so ago....had registered under a total of 3 different user names, all NARU'ed in turn, and made similar error in linking old email address. Far as I know she is now gone, hopefully, but you never know! I know that these compulsive types can generate a lot of sales, but in the end they generate heartache for sellers that end up getting stiffed and themselves! Ebay should have some way of monitoring these things rather than via us powersellers raising #%*&%.
posted on June 19, 2002 04:08:38 PM
Why not just tell us the ID of the teacup thief!? I am very curious to have a look at all her crazy bids on eBay! What a nutcase!!!! lol
posted on June 19, 2002 04:31:06 PM
Ok, I am new to the boards, so I don't understand the the reason so many people that post here seem to be reluctant to give out thier own Ebay user ID. Heck, I would think after reading all of your posts I would be more likely to buy from YOU people if I was looking for something, but it seems Ebay usernames aren't used much, or spoken of much around here. (I referance the above posts where hotcupoftea and susiegirl both say thier message board names and usernames are different) I have read a LOT of posts in the last week catching up on things and notice most everybody here does not ever say what thier ebay names are. Is there a reason for this that I don't understand?
posted on June 19, 2002 04:33:29 PM
I'm with rvlawrence ... would enjoy knowing the nutcake's addy ... but it is allowed? I think you have to have permission from her/him to do so. If she is a *TRUE* nutcase, she just may say yes. Maybe if she is promised fame and fortune (a Lifetime Movie contract???) she will agree.
posted on June 19, 2002 04:43:58 PM
I sent susiegirl an email through Contact a Member. I found her id on page 33 of 40 pages of bids in the buyer's 30-day bidding history.
I am pretty certain Auction Watch has rules that prohibits the posting of eBay ids of anybody other than yourself.
Most users of this board don't use their eBay ids because the selling id needs to be protected. All it takes is one crazy person that takes a dislike to something a seller posts in eBay Outlook, goes to the seller's eBay auctions and does creative things to cause grief and financial hardship. It is better to be prudent.
posted on June 19, 2002 08:09:55 PM
Thanks to hotcupoftea, I reported this deadbeat reincarnated to powerseller support this evening and filed NPB's for 13 auctions of mine she had won. I have tracked 3 ebay usernames for her just since last Sept. and wonder who she was before that! Once again it pays to stick together, thanks for your great help hotcupoftea!
As long as she pays you just get on your knees and say a thank you prayer for this live one.
