Problems Selling on Ebay - Buyers Not Paying!

[OrangeSVTguy]

Uhh...ready to punch myself repeatedly for trying to use eBay agin after swearing it off once before.

I have a current auction going for my old iPhone 4. Last night when I went to bed the bidding was up to $270. When I awoke this morning the person who had placed two different bids up to $290 (he was the high bidder at $270) had retracted their bid citing that they had entered a wrong amount. Now the auction is back down to $200 with only a few hours left.

And after reading all of this stuff in this thread I am thinking I may just end the auction and sell it on craiglist just to avoid the hassle. To hell with my perfect feedback on eBay. Its just not worth it anymore.

That's a bad scam too. They bid it up high with one of their accounts and with another lower bid so they can then retract their high bid later hoping that their cheaper bid wins the auction. I've had people retract bids days later after bidding and saying wrong amount.

 

[Moshe1010]

Limiting your auctions to only US based costumers is a sure fire way to limit the target audience!

It makes 99% less hassle than dealing with fake Russian accounts, buying insurance, filing claims if something broke/got stolen, and getting your money in about 60 days time frames. Do you want an option to do all of that for 20-30% more revenue? go ahead.

 

[jon3543]

I've been a victim of this, too. After getting a few bids the first 3 days and no bids for 4 days, two new guys came in with a few hours to go and engaged in a bidding war up to the end of the auction, and they substantially exceeded my expected selling price, killing the one new legit bid that occurred in that time. They each had feedback below 25. Out of their past purchases I could still review, one had a maximum purchase of $50, and the other had about a dozen all below $10. And here they were bidding several hundred dollars more on my several hundred dollar item than a sane person would.

This is not the first time this has happened to me. Does ebay allow a seller to arbitrarily cancel bids? Because if I see someone with low feedback buying an item over 10x the cost of anything he's bought recently, I want to cancel his bid and ban him from bidding on my items. I guess I can't do anything about snipers, but it would have helped this time.

P.S. ebay sent me an email:

"A previously entered bid on your item has been retracted or cancelled. You can view the retraction/cancellation and the reason provided by selecting the (bid history) link from the individual item page."

I guess they lied about my ability to review it, because there's no record of it.

 

[davidjearly]

It makes 99% less hassle than dealing with fake Russian accounts, buying insurance, filing claims if something broke/got stolen, and getting your money in about 60 days time frames. Do you want an option to do all of that for 20-30% more revenue? go ahead.

Woooosh! Again.

Please re-read the post I quoted, and by subsequent comment very carefully.

 

[pommie82]

i would never use Ebay to many con artists on there now years and years a go it was really good but now its just a gamble if you are going to recieve your purchase or sell the product you are selling


I have been done over twice on there never again

 

[bmwman3241]

I just had 1 buyer buy all 3 of the iPhone 5's I had listed for sale at the buy it now price, but without paying and "marking it as paid". Don't think I will be getting paid for either..

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I just had 1 buyer buy all 3 of the iPhone 5's I had listed for sale at the buy it now price, but without paying and "marking it as paid". Don't think I will be getting paid for either..

Take advantage of the buyer exclusion options. I'd think "Block buyers who are currently winning or have bought 1 of my items in the last 10 days" would have helped you, as this would have prevented him/her from buying more than one of your iPhones.

 

[wknapp0924]

I recently sold my Iphone 4 on Ebay, I only do one day auctions with no reserve set at 100.00, never didn't get what I wanted. I only was going for $150.00, and the auction ended at $275.00. I watch the auction closely and delete anyone with a zero rating or if they arent in the USA which I always exclude them, but they find a way to bid.

After I sold the iphone to someone with 350 feedback and 100% I get paid instantly through paypal and as I stated in auction drive straight to post office to ship it. I videotape the whole process because I always have and it will save you in a dispute.

Well the next morning I wake up to a paypal email saying they were investigating the payment and then log on to ebay and the auction was cancelled and the ebayer closed their account. I am furious and call paypal and they reverse charge and put it back into my account, and transfer me to ebay and they tell me the person had her account hacked and they have bought 60 iphones in last couple of days.

I end up finding the woman's name doing a google search and I call her up and she explains something went haywire with her account and that ebay cancelled her account but she indeed ordered the phone and sells them at her electronics store.

Long story short I got paid, and I got to keep my ebay seller fees since they deleted my auction. Not a bad day besides the headache ebay caused and didnt note in their systems.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I am furious and call paypal and they reverse charge and put it back into my account, and transfer me to ebay and they tell me the person had her account hacked and they have bought 60 iphones in last couple of days.

"Block buyers who are currently winning or have bought 1 of my items in the last 10 days" would have helped you too.

 

[CSpackler]

Yeah ebay a hassle sometimes but you'll get a bit more $$ and you don't need to meet people face to face.

I just sold a cracked iPhone 4 for for $220. Luckily the buyer seemed legit and paid right away. It's definitely a lot more than I would have gotten on Craigslist.

It also depends what you sell. Electronics is a big haven for scammers. Mens clothing, not so much.

 

[boomhower]

One of many reasons I don't sell on eBay anymore. First you have people that just don't pay and cost you the listing fee. Second, when they do pay you get hit on one side by eBay fees and on the other side by paypal fees. Third, you have scammers. It is way to easy to file a complaint with paypal and get your money back. Paypal and eBay are so slanted on the buyers side it's ridiculous. I sell pretty much exclusively on forums of whatever area that product is in. If it's not worth a lot I find someone local who could use it and let them have it. eBay is a bigger headache than what's worth. Years ago I bought and sold a TON on eBay, not anymore though.

 

[bmwman3241]

I just had 1 buyer buy all 3 of the iPhone 5's I had listed for sale at the buy it now price, but without paying and "marking it as paid". Don't think I will be getting paid for either..

The buyer sent me this:
"Hey, I paid, but Paypal is holding the payment until I can confirm tracking for this item, thanks "

I think this is fake and a scam but could someone confirm?
And I can't even relist the phones because apparently I have reached my limit of selling iPhones (4).

 

[wknapp0924]

The buyer sent me this:
"Hey, I paid, but Paypal is holding the payment until I can confirm tracking for this item, thanks "

I think this is fake and a scam but could someone confirm?
And I can't even relist the phones because apparently I have reached my limit of selling iPhones (4).

Fake for sure!

 

[itjw]

The buyer sent me this:
"Hey, I paid, but Paypal is holding the payment until I can confirm tracking for this item, thanks "

I think this is fake and a scam but could someone confirm?
And I can't even relist the phones because apparently I have reached my limit of selling iPhones (4).

Let me check with security. Wire me $800 as an advance fee and I will return it once security verifies your transaction is legit for you.

Ok?

LMAO, these scammers are getting good!

And by scammers I mean primarily PayPal and eBay, since they are the ones that screen these people and let them into the community in the first place. They are also the people who are SO concerned about buyers being scared that literally there is NO way to protect yourself as a seller anymore.

I comment negatively a lot about eBay, but the truth is, it really makes my sad. I truly miss the way it USED to be. It was awesome to be able to buy and sell without the ridiculous fees and rules. Now, I probably only spend 1/100th of what I used to and I NEVER sell anymore.

Face to face for cash. Otherwise I'll just pay the "fee" and take the loss selling it via instant sale. Never getting a chargeback notification is worth 20%. Not just for the money either, but for the grief and time you lose fighting it.

I really do miss eBay though. May it (circa 2000) RIP.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

The buyer sent me this:
"Hey, I paid, but Paypal is holding the payment until I can confirm tracking for this item, thanks "

I think this is fake and a scam but could someone confirm?
And I can't even relist the phones because apparently I have reached my limit of selling iPhones (4).

While Paypal does hold payment in the seller's account until after the item is delivered per tracking information, if you don't see the money in your account (even if your available balance currently reads $0) the buyer is lying.

 

[bmwman3241]

I would do instant sale, but apparently it can't be done for the iPhone 5.

 

[Breitling65]

Sold many of my items on fredmiranda.com including iPad. No problems with Craigslist for local cash only sale as well, EBay is always a problems. High fees, PayPal, tons of extra rules they are changing etc.

 

[BrianSoCal]

I knew I was jinxing myself reading this thread before I posted my iPad 3 & iPhone 4S!

Initial buyer on the iPad said he'd pay me in a few days (I required immediate payment at auctions end), but pulled out claiming he had a car accident and needed $500 for the deductible.

Went back and forth on offers with a bidder on the iPhone, he/she accepted my counter offer but never paid.

I've been on eBay since 1995 or so and never ever had a non-payer, now I've had 2 in 5 days. What the heck happened to eBay? I see I can't even leave negative feedback anymore.

 

[drummingcraig]

I knew I was jinxing myself reading this thread before I posted my iPad 3 & iPhone 4S!

Initial buyer on the iPad said he'd pay me in a few days (I required immediate payment at auctions end), but pulled out claiming he had a car accident and needed $500 for the deductible.

Went back and forth on offers with a bidder on the iPhone, he/she accepted my counter offer but never paid.

I've been on eBay since 1995 or so and never ever had a non-payer, now I've had 2 in 5 days. What the heck happened to eBay? I see I can't even leave negative feedback anymore.

Its gotten really awful. The paradigm shift occurred a few years ago when eBay changed things in favor of the buyers by not allowing sellers to leave negative feedback. They did this to encourage buyers to try to stimulate the market but its had an absolutely terrible backlash that I don't think eBay foresaw. It really has become completely skewed in favor of the buyers with all of the responsibility on the shoulders of the seller in the event of a blown transaction.

Which is why, after I finish this transaction I am in the middle of, I am done with it. I've been using eBay since the late 90's and while I am nowhere near being a power seller, but I've taken pride in my almost 150 transactions with 100% positive feedback both as a buyer & seller. I just don't give a damn anymore. Its not worth the hassle and the fees they charge (almost 10% of the final value).

And to update my current auction ater my post above (about the bidder who canceled his bid), the phone eventually sold for $280, but then the high bidder didn't pay for 5 days. He wasn't responding to my messages and I was about to open a NPB case against him when he finally contacted me and paid me the following day. I am still nervous as I think he paid with a CC and I am worried that he's gonna try the chargeback scam after I ship the phone.

 

[eleite]

I can solve many of your ebay problems for you. Go to Account > Site Preferences and set all the buyer requirements to stricter options. I require paypal only buyers, no low scores or >2 bad ratings in the past 12 months. Keep your buyer requirements very strict and it'll save you a LOT of headache.

 

[drummingcraig]

I can solve many of your ebay problems for you. Go to Account > Site Preferences and set all the buyer requirements to stricter options. I like to require paypal only buyers, no low scores or >2 bad ratings in the past 12 months. Keep your buyer requirements very strict and it'll save you a LOT of headache.

Unfortunately that only helps really with new and or unverified accounts. People with 100% positive feedback and hundreds of transactions can still be abusive as a buyer (canceling bids, not paying, etc).

 

[BrianSoCal]

I can solve many of your ebay problems for you. Go to Account > Site Preferences and set all the buyer requirements to stricter options. I like to require paypal only buyers, no low scores or >2 bad ratings in the past 12 months. Keep your buyer requirements very strict and it'll save you a LOT of headache.

I just revised the auction with a few of those preferences.

 

[eleite]

Yea, unfortunately you can't completely avoid idiots when selling online, but you can try to reduce your exposure to some scams and protect yourself by leveraging paypal and ebay's protection programs.

It's not a perfect system, but when it works it works. Good luck.

EDIT: btw ebay just completely changed the way buyer requirements are configured, it used to be a lot more granular and you could set all the options while you were listing your item. Since then they've made it more of a global account configuration and they've taken away some of the preferences (or so it seems) - i'm not a fan of the new system but i'm about to find out how well it works.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

And to update my current auction ater my post above (about the bidder who canceled his bid), the phone eventually sold for $280, but then the high bidder didn't pay for 5 days. He wasn't responding to my messages and I was about to open a NPB case against him when he finally contacted me and paid me the following day. I am still nervous as I think he paid with a CC and I am worried that he's gonna try the chargeback scam after I ship the phone.

I'll give you the same advice I've already given in this thread (not sure why some of you aren't reading and heeding some of what we're sharing). Put under description "Payment required within 24 hours or I'll relist it." Don't bother with the lengthly NPB process and send them the cancellation request instead. Relist it right away while you wait on the cancellation request. You'll get your fees back if the high bidder doesn't respond after a week (likely in your case) and you'll have another shot at the auction in the meantime. Even if the high bidder eventually pays, return the money, eat the fees and tell them too bad (as they didn't pay within 24 hours).

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

EDIT: btw ebay just completely changed the way buyer requirements are configured, it used to be a lot more granular and you could set all the options while you were listing your item. Since then they've made it more of a global account configuration and they've taken away some of the preferences (or so it seems) - i'm not a fan of the new system but i'm about to find out how well it works.

I just took a look at it. The global account configuration has always been there (found under Account > Site Preferences > Show Buyer Requirements); however, they added "Apply above settings to active and future listings" (so you can still add or remove options while the auction is still active) and "Don't allow blocked buyers to contact me." Unless I'm overlooking something, I'm not seeing options being taken away. I particularly welcome the "not allowing blocked buyers to contact me" option as I've gotten quite a few of them practically begging me to allow them to bid.