Frustrating Buyers!
By habibti320
@habibti320 (925)
United States
November 6, 2012 11:39pm CST
I just got started selling items on eBay and I am running into some bad luck with Buyers. I have sold 8 items, but have only received payment for 3 of them. Sometimes the buyer makes a mistake: they overbid and want to retract, their 6-year old daughter plays with their phone and bids for them, etc. How can I protect myself against these buyers? Also, is there anyway of getting a refund or voiding the selling fee from eBay on cancelled orders?
5 responses
@Raine38 (12387)
• United States
7 Nov 12
Welcome to the world of selling! Whether you sell items online or you have an actual, physical store, you will always encounter difficult people and irritating buyers. But then you have to think that each of them are potential buyers and potential buyers mean potential revenue. Just stretch your patience even more, of course be wary of the red flags to aid getting scammed.
With regards to such incidents in eBay bidding, you may want to recheck ebay's guidelines or email their customer support, maybe they can add another feature in your site for bidding or purchasing to make sure that the one doing the bid is the legit buyer and not their kid or someone else who just plays their phone.
Good luck and hope you make more sales in the future!
@ravisivan (14082)
• India
7 Nov 12
I have no experience in ebay selling/buying. the suggestion given by Raine appears to be good. please try.
@habibti320 (925)
• United States
7 Nov 12
Thanks for the encouragement! I am new to selling. I am an ESL teacher at a non-profit by trade, but with economic/political uncertainty I am getting into selling. There is a lot to learn, but I am enjoying it so far!
@heaytheblogger (2876)
• Philippines
7 Nov 12
I don't know ebay's dispute policy. However, in order that you will not experience problems with your clients on ebay. Set your items on fixed prices. Don't enable a bidding price, in that way. you can get rid off having problems with your item pricing. Also, you should set a "pay-me, before purchasing" rule so that you will ensure yourself that are paid.
@jureathome (5361)
• Philippines
7 Nov 12
That's a good thing to know. I am planning to sell some items, too. That's a good way to secure yourself from unnecessary charges.
@habibti320 (925)
• United States
7 Nov 12
I reported the buyers to eBay, but I am not able to get rid of the charges. The way eBay works for individuals (as opposed to businesses) is that you can list up to 10 items at a time for a total of 10 sales a month or $1,000 a month. This listing is free and if nobody purchases an item, you can replace it with another as long as your sales don't exceed 10. You don't have to pay eBay until someone makes a purchase. At this time, eBay charges a percentage of the total item price. Thankfully, my expensive items were paid promptly and I have only lost about $4 to eBay with the smaller items. I was able to make $240 through the other items, so it is not a major complaint!
What kind of items are you interested in selling?
@ravisivan (14082)
• India
7 Nov 12
I think it is worth talking over phone with the buyer before despatching goods. there must be a mechanism to ensure that you do not lose money.
@vidhyaprakash_2 (7116)
• India
7 Nov 12
Hi friend, good to know you are selling ebay things. We must have more patience while selling things. This kind of happenings are quite common, some times the buyers will cancel the order and we will lose our income due to it. We must be ready to face such kind of events. Don't worry, you will get good clients in the near soon and my wishes for it.
@habibti320 (925)
• United States
7 Nov 12
Thanks! I'm sure you are right. Do you sell on eBay? How has your experience been overall?
@mutchy126 (317)
•
11 Nov 12
I have had this sort of thing happen once. I was selling an Nintendo DSi and someone bought it and then he never paid and asked to cancel it without a reason.
