posted on November 1, 2002 03:16:42 PM new
Hello! I've just begun selling again after having to take a year off, and a lot of my auctions are being bid on by people with 0 feedback ratings, some with sunglasses! What's the deal? They are outbidding the others in most cases and it is discomforting. I know everybody is new at some point, but the ratio of newbies is astounding. I guess I'll just have to wait and see, huh? One of them has bid on hundreds of dollars worth of items from other sellers, which just looks fishy to me. What's a girl to do?
posted on November 1, 2002 03:33:28 PM new
Yep. The newbies are everywhere. And they make me a bit antsy, too. But except for one, they've all paid up and have been good eBay citizens. I've found that if you check what they are bidding on you can tell if they are spree bidders or serious. And keep in mind they know from nothing about sniping and are prone to keep re-bidding the price up and up. There is nothing nicer (IMHO) than leaving a newbie their first positive.
posted on November 1, 2002 03:49:18 PM new
Easy,They all watched 60 minutes. The New Breed,here they come..Money and a place to spend it. Thank you C.B.S. And thank you e bay! A/w too.
posted on November 1, 2002 04:09:22 PM new
I think we should be thankful that there are new bidders. Sure, some have problems, but the more bidders, the more sales. A lot of my regular buyers have become sellers themselves, and many must reach a point where they no longer need to keep buying, at least at the same rate, so let's welcome the newbies, and do our best to help them get started.
posted on November 1, 2002 04:58:50 PM new
I've been seeing the same thing with my auctions of late. After cycling through 20 years of business in a specialized area I see a turnover about every two years. New buyers with a few of the old buyers still returning. But it is not uncommon to have people burn out and move on while the newbies are movin in to take their place.
The only down side is a lot of Newbies are unrealistic about processing and shipping auction items and shoot from the hip when things don't move on their time table.
But hopefully the newcomer will become one of the regulars and we love them...
posted on November 1, 2002 05:37:55 PM new
New bidders are the life blood of an auction. Without newbies the auction would die a slow death. New bidders are always a good sign. The drawbacks are that they need extra care in explaining the auction & payment process and they can be very volitile with leaving unwarrented neutral and negative feedbacks.
posted on November 1, 2002 08:20:31 PM new
It can be a little scary with some newbies. My only neg came from a guy who registered with Ebay the day before the auction ended. He had his own preconceived notion of what the feedback system was about.
On the other hand, one of my most memorable experiences with a newbie was when a lady registered specifically to bid on one of my auctions. It was a trumpet and she won out over a good feedback bidder for over $350.00. I was really upset about this but I sent her an eoa anyway and started the wait for filing an NPB. The next afternoon, a Federal Express truck pulled up in front of my house. You guessed it, a cashier's check from the 0 feedback newbie for the full amount, and I didn't even have the trumpet packed yet!! Talk about moving my butt to get that thing packed and to the P.O. before 5 p.m.!!
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
posted on November 2, 2002 05:48:42 AM new
I know that we were all "newbies" at one time or another but, I had one sign on the day my most expensive auction closed and won it. It's been two days and I'm still awaiting her reply to my winning email. $200 is $200. I resent the email last night thinking maybe it's lost in cyberspace somewhere, but still no reply. It would be nice if they'd acknowledge you, which is what I request in my email. I'll just have to sit here and wait. What I hate is all the time that has to go by before you file a NPBA and finally get your fees back. By then, you could have sold the same item to someone else 10 times over (I know, I'm stretching it a bit). Fingers are crossed that this person will come through. How soon after filing a NPBA do you normally relist? I've never had this happen before and would like to be prepared if it happens in the future.
posted on November 2, 2002 07:52:22 AM new
Newbies ... there does seem to be more than usual. I don't know where they came from, but (for now) I'm quite happy with them. They have bid up several of my items nicely! They bid again, as soon as they receive an outbid notice. May they never learn how to snipe! I have also noticed quite a few zero feedback SELLERS. I can't understand why they don't buy a few things first, to at least get some kind of feedback to give bidders confidence.
posted on November 2, 2002 04:48:42 PM new
I am glad to see a new influx of newbies, and sad to see so many seasoned buyers have hung up the purse for now. We are dealing with the new economy and generally younger, more impulsive buyers and sellers.
As others have suggested, newcomers do require a little more fussing and explaining, but that is fine with me. Better to have to explain about Paypal or shipping than have no bids.
The newbie sellers are another matter. Those who start selling without feedback often err in one of two ways.
1. They list their item with a poor description and fuzzy or no photos and forget to include important information like dimensions, condition, shipping costs or payment methods.
2. Other new sellers have visions of a fortune to be made dancing in their heads. They then take the most obnoxious of other seller's qualities and incorporate them. Like long TOS or warnings which they think make them sound professional, but only proves their newness to selling in a retail format.
Hopefully the new buyers will have good experiences and return, and the less customer oriented of the sellers will move on to other dream pastures.
posted on November 2, 2002 08:59:07 PM new
I have to wholeheartedly agree with the majority...The 0 feedback folks are holding better than the ones with much higher feedback numbers....
Four no reply/no pay within the last 21 days...
This is very discouraging!
