posted on December 8, 2002 12:24:36 PM
well.. I never cancel bids before... but I really dont know about this seller. I have two auctions which he is bidding on... and they seem rather high. I'm not too sure if he/she will pay or not. So I basically email him/her about it, to get a confirmation that he is indeed bidding on these items.
He has one transaction from like Feb. 2002 that has a seller saying he never paid for the item...
I emailed him yesterday, I think I should wait a bit more before I take any action, auction ends in 4 days though.
I didn't state any policy in the description about canceling bids though.
normally, I give bidders/buyers the benefit of the doubt, that they will complete the transaction, since I have got quite a few who has bad feedback ratings but still came through with the transaction promptly... lately I've been getting a lot of no pay though, so its really taking up my time and I dont enjoy relisting auctions or losing potential transactions with bidders that will pay.
posted on December 9, 2002 03:01:43 AM
Mcjane gave you good advice. Wait for an email reply. If you don't get a satisfactory response see how you feel then. I would check their current bidding activity and see what they bid on & might email a few sellers
to check if he recently paid/did not pay for very recent wins(if any). If you cancel the bid don't forget to place the name on your "blocked bidder" list.
posted on December 9, 2002 07:58:18 AM
Hi CapYoda,
In another thread you mentioned your age. I admire your work ethic and ambition. I have a grandson that is about a year younger than you that can't even get out of bed in the morning, but that's another story
There are several factors that Might influence the advice we give here.
Is this a buyer of long standing with one negative?
How much money are we talking about?
Is this your only source of income?
What are these items?
Some people just have a transaction go bad and for what ever reason, right or wrong, it goes South and a Neg is the result. In general though they are good customers. And of course we all know of underserved Negs. Maybe this guy just happened to get one. Did you happen to check on the person that gave the neg to see if this is a pattern for them?
If you are doing this as a business and this is your only source of income, you probably have to be somewhat more aggressive. I am a hobbiest just looking for some extra $ to support my collections. I can afford to be more patient. I have only had a couple of no pays but I sell collectables and in general this is a more reliable crowd. I have however had folks with a couple of past negatives that gave me some moments of frustration because they were very non communicative and slow to pay. It was my guess that their negs came from less patient folks than me. In the end all worked out. My general advise is to be patient.
We can't lose track of the fact that ebayers have lives. Some people are just very laid back and are slow to read their emails, get busy and temporarilly forget to send the check or that they even bid etc. etc. The computer goes down, their mother has to have surgery, it goes on and on and in my mind these are legitament. As long as communication continues and payment ultimately follows, I'm happy. There are those here that would disagree with me and the agressive business types with hundreds of auctions a week couldn't begin to take the time to be patient with dozens of these folks. You can only put up with so much and you have to decide what is more important and what will work for your goals.
There are catagories that tend to produce more deadbeats so if your items are in these catagories you may have more frustration than some of us. There has been an increase in deadbeats of late but it is part of the "new internet" At first it was some what more difficult to become computer sauvey and get on line. Computers were expensive and software wasn't that friendly. Those that had them were more serious and responsible.
Now everybody has a computer and many are being lead through the steps to Ebay by that persistant relative/coworker who has talked them into shopping on Ebay. They bid then they get distracted, frustrated because they can't figure out how to check-out, and the next thing they know they have been NRU'd. To them it was just something to do, "oh well"
Good Luck on your Ebay endevor and I predict a bright future for an enterprising young person. You can get some great advice here but don't forget, some of us could be flakes too, so wiegh your advice before you jump in.
posted on December 9, 2002 01:29:15 PM
hi throughhiker, thanks for the advices and compliment, I never really thought about checking on the person that gave him the negative.
This isn't really my source of income, its just a side thing so that I can get rid of the many toys, games, comic books, etc. that I wasted on my younger days, to pay for college and other expenses. I also sell off many used textbooks that my friends and I have laying around on half.com
I currently only list about 10 items per week, and each week only generates about a $120. (excluding half.com) But in my opinion, thats not too bad since I only spend a couple hours on listing these items and shipping them.
I suppose in a sense I sell collectibles too (comic books) and two of those auctions just ended yesterday, both buyers paid right away. I guess these buyers are knowledge buyers, they know what they're looking for and they know how to get it.
Maybe I worried prematurly, the auctions in question are Toys from back in the days... like, 1994, and it isn't exactly a popular item these days, so whoever is bidding on it, probably knows what it is and wants it.
Although, I dont have to worry much since a previous bidder who won auctions of the same toy line that ended a few days earlier, emailed me and told me to hold off on shipping, so he can bid on the rest of the toys I have.
the amount involved isn't too much too, they total about $20-40. Its just I really dislike buyers that dont follow through, this really takes up a lot of time, first I have to ensure that they dont pay, then file for all these things, then eventually attempt to relist the item or offer them to other bidders, which usually by that time they have already gotten that item.
I believe though as time goes by I will probably be more aggressive in certain auctions as I expand my selling volume, and especially when I start selling this large volume of automotive products that I currently have in production...
I really appreciate the advices though, I will keep them in mind. Thanks for your time!
I really enjoy reading the post on these boards, as it gives me some really useful informations from long time small business owners, collectors, etc.
I never would have known about Shipping Assistant if it wasn't for this site! (well I probably would have found out eventually, since I dig through the USPS website when I have time, and found out that they send off those shipping supplies for free)
You really gotta love the government services, they spend a large sum of money to start a service, and they dont spend some time into informing the public about it.
posted on December 9, 2002 03:52:29 PM
You really need to give them the benefit of the doubt, until proven wrong.
I recently listed a item on another online auction since Ebay doesn't allow the sale of firearms.
The high bidder use the buy it now on the item @ $1150.00. Had ZERO feedback & I was majorly concerned. Within 20 minuted of the close of the auction, I had a email from him wanting to know where to mail payment. Email him back as to where to mail payment & the other doccuments needed to transfer the item.
Three days later, the cashiers check was here. So don't always sell a new bidder short.
posted on December 9, 2002 05:02:18 PM
An ebayer with negative feedback and an ebayer with a negative fedback rating can be two very different things.
I recently bought a book for a buck and felt it would do very well at auction. The bidding was going very nicely when I noticed the top bidder had a ( -1 ) rating. Three negatives and two positives made the minus one rating. In five years on ebay I'd never canceled a bidder but I'd never had a (-1) bidder before and I didn't want this bidder screwing up this auction so I canceled the bid with a note the a minus feedback rating was unacceptable. Great all was fine again. A new top bidder with a zero rating soon appeared and the email address was a Yahoo email with the same name as the canceled bidder and the registration date was the same as the day. The canceled bidder had merely registered another ebay account. I didn't cancel the new bidder but I did place him on my blocked bidders list so the next time he was outbid he could up the bid again. The auction ended fine with the winner ( with an (18) feedback rating ) paying the $150+ for her book the next day.
I've had too many auctions get ran way up by deadbeat bidders and then second highest bidder won't take the item and upon relisting the item goes for only a fraction of what it did the first time.
