Just want to vent about buyers on eBay!
By firemom31
@firemom31 (598)
United States
May 8, 2011 7:01pm CST
For the past couple of weeks sales have been slow for almost all sellers. I was very excited to see that in the past few days seven of my items had been purchased, one of them being rather expensive. In all the time I've been selling on eBay, I have never had any trouble with buyers paying for their purchases, but at this moment ALL seven of my sales remain unpaid. I am very frustrated by this. First, I time my listings to end on thursday, friday, and saturday so I will have the weekend to package things and can take them to the post office on monday morning. Now I will be doing that through the week, fitting it into a very tight schedule. Second, I need the money. I don't sell on eBay because it's fun, I sell because I need the extra income. Why do people bid if they can't pay? One item was sniped at the last minute, so the guy was obviously sitting at a computer when he won. I emailed them with friendly reminders, one person replied and said she'd send it by the end of the day - nothing was paid. If you're sitting at a computer to make a final bid, or respond to my email, you can hit the "pay now" button, unless you never planned to pay - right? Why would he not just pay for it right then? These are seven different buyers, so I am really perlexed. It looks like I will spend my week filing Non-paying bidder reports and relisting my items. Grrrr!
2 people like this
6 responses
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
9 May 11
Ouch! I'm a buyer, and sometimes it takes me a long time to pay. Not that I intend to be slow, sometimes, I just forget that I bid on something, or I'm about to pay but then got distracted ( I usually do my shopping at the office). I know, that's my fault, and in no way should the sellers be troubled by my troubles. That is, MY BAD. I'm apologizing in behalf of the slow/late payers.
Also, one factor for the delayed payment is when I request for a total. Let's say I buy multiple items from one seller, then talked about a discount or reduced shipping fees or whatnots, I request for a total, and sometimes, it takes a long time for the seller to respond, that I forget that I'm supposed to pay for something
In my defense though, I really do bid on an item, only if I can pay for it, when I want to buy multiple items but I'm a little short, I ask the seller for a discount. If I can't have it, then I don't bid at all. I'll just wait until I have enough money on PP, cause I want to save on shipping.
@firemom31 (598)
• United States
9 May 11
I don't consider the clock to be counting down until I provide my buyer with an accurate and final invoice. If I don't send it right away, that's my fault, not the buyer's. It's refreshing that you admit to being slow at paying sometimes, I appreciate your honesty. Just remember that the few bucks you spend on eBay might be someones gas or food money. I do much more selling than buying, and most buyers are great. I just seem to have hit a bad run this week. Out of the 7 who were unpaid when I posted this originally, only 3 have paid. That's kinda sad.
@Suzieqmom (2755)
• United States
9 May 11
I have noticed this going on more and more--since there is no longer any real repercussion for bidding and then not buying an item, I think more and more people have started to believe they don't have to honor the contract to purchase that they entered into. I REALLY wish Ebay would give sellers back our ability to give negative ratings to buyers. I have NEVER understood why that was taken away.
@firemom31 (598)
• United States
9 May 11
I agree. There is no good way to tell if the buyer is a slow/no pay, since all buyers feedback says 100%. I really think, of all the bad decisions eBay has made, that one is the worst. They took away what little ability we had to protect ourselves from slimeballs who get some kind of kick out of bidding and then not paying. I will never understand it. I don't bid on something unless there is enough money in my PP to cover it, and I pay as soon as it ends, or as soon as I know I've won. Why wouldn't I, since I have to be on a computer to know I've won? I am so completely ticked at this whole thing. There were things I wanted to purchase that I will now lose out on because of a bunch of losers.
@missbdoll (1165)
• Australia
21 May 11
As a very long time seller on Ebay, I noticed something very anoying with buyers over the last month or two. They buy don't pay and them some only pay after they are reported.
These people seem to always have ratings under 50 or 60.
my last "problem" waiting till the time for non payment had almost run out them emailed me ( despite never replying to any emails before) said she was having problems with her paypal account and would pay the next day.Three days later still no payment.
Why do some of these people jsut want to drag it on , if they are not going to pay ?
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
11 May 11
I guess people don't realize the mess they create when they do this, or just forget (or laziness) to do the next step to make their purchase.
I hope you do file the non-paying bidder reports to these buyers. So they can be taken out of ebay. Or at least learn their lessons.
Wish you better luck on re-selling your items.
