posted on November 27, 2002 07:10:05 PM new
I never used to see this, but now I'm getting post-auction email from winners telling me they don't have the money to pay and could I hold onto the item until xx/xx/xx and they'll be sure to pay me then?
Oh sure, we've gotten lots of sob stories over the years, tales of close relatives suddenly dying when payment came due, epidemics of disease, and people who "just came out of the hospital after three weeks".
But never so many shrugs of "Sorry, I'm broke", said with that indifferent what-do-you-want-me-to-do attitude.
I believe sport bidding is the new hobby of the unemployed masses in America.
There ought to be a better way to pinpoint sport bidders. The feedback system is broken beyond repair; no one leaves a neg anymore, it seems.
posted on November 27, 2002 08:18:48 PM new
ohmslucy: You say keep doing NPBs and FVFs? Oh, you'll love this email from a deadbeat who's stiffed me for 60-plus auctions. This beauty wrote to EBAY (heh-heh) to beg them to make me stop sending her email. Whoo-hoo! I wonder what kind of answer she'll get from Support...
[em]
"I have informed seller and sent copies of emails to eBay Support. I mailed one check and gave her all of the items it covered. I have contacted my post office here regarding it. I told her if she did not receive it by today to let me know and I would stop payment on the check. Meanwhile, my boyfriend of many years left and put my checking account in the red. So, if she does receive the check it is not good. My credit is shut down also until I receive new cards. I am depositing money into my PayPal account and will be using it to pay other bills. I do not have extra cash yet to get a money order for her items. As I have told her alot of these wins are Christmas presents and I DO want to pay for them. I am in the process of arranging money to live on and pay bills. No new money comes in until the first of each month.
I have written to her and she just sends these!!! (meaning NPBs and FVFs --fluffy) I have a very good payment history. I plan to sell on eBay and was about to do just that when my boyfriend of many years just disappeared with all the money!! Now, my dirty laundry is out all over. I do not like my personal life exposed like this. I emailed her and thought she understood. My other sellers do!!!
I am advising eBay that I am having financial difficulties!
PayPal can vouch for me!!
Thank you"
[/em]
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Nov 27, 2002 08:20 PM ]
posted on November 27, 2002 08:33:52 PM new
Okay, I get it! These new bidders are those folks, mostly young?, with credit cards on which they pay ONLY THE INTEREST every month. And they expect us sellers to let them do the same??
Good grief. Wait until she DOES try to sell on ebay and gets the same guff she's giving you. Well, I guess there may well be justice in the universe after all!
posted on November 27, 2002 08:35:16 PM new
Gee, Fluffy, don't you feel sorry for her? Hah!
I 'spose you could just send her the 60 items so she would have a nice Christmas. After all, with a list that long it would be pretty hard to get by without the gifts... Might be embarrassing and you surely wouldn't want THAT on your conscience!
How many other sellers is she talking about?
Lucy
P.S. I spit wine all over my keyboard - - how do I get it off?
posted on November 27, 2002 09:00:14 PM new
Who else thinks the boyfriend left the buyer because she spends her life in front of the computer buying things she cannot afford?
Reading the letter from her, it appears that she has not gotten the point yet. Her "boyfriend of many years" left her, and I betcha he did it because she was sucking up his paychecks with eBay purchases for a long time, and he got out of the relationship before he got swallowed up in a mountain of debt.
Fluffy, you may get more of these type of explanations from your nonpaying buyers. It is a fact that lots of Americans have increased their standard of living for many years through leveraged credit card debt, meaning when the economy goes down they are not able to adjust spending patterns or increase income to pay off accumulated debt. Not paying eBay sellers is one of the consequences of current buyers in crisis due to years of making inappropriate financial choices.
posted on November 28, 2002 03:53:40 AM new
On the flip side of the coin..
Last year I sold a ski board for a friend and the high bidder was a young college student.
The morning the sale ended he emailed me that if he was the high bidder "He had wrecked his car over the weekend and was broke but still wanted the board" He was hoping I would be patient with him.
This went on for over 2 months (my friend okayed the wait each time) with us emailing each other every week to see how things were going. He did pay for and get the board finally and if I am ever in his area I have a free room waiting.
posted on November 28, 2002 06:43:23 AM new
your bidder of 60 items said she gets a check first of every month,so could this be a govt check?
well,on that boyfriend,may be he has no paycheck??
60 items is a lot of items,must have a huge family for xmas .
the more years i sell on ebay ,the more i learn to appreciate buying from established shops and mail order houses,both ebay sellers and buyers must understand a different protocol,it is like dealing at the street corner,until fist fight and blood is spilled on the street,police does not care.
posted on November 28, 2002 09:59:08 PM new
I don't know if she's on welfare or what, but I went back and looked at her bidding history.
663 auctions won over the last 30 days.
OK, some of them were small items, like beads, but even that adds up.
Here's a software tool I just dreamed up. Maybe I can get someone to write it.
When someone bids on your auction, this tool would do a Bidder List, then scan the list for signs of any unusual activity (hundreds of auctions won) or to get an idea of what this bidder usually buys (so you can sell it to her directly).
Maybe it's not practical.
But I definitely get the feeling that we don't know enough about our bidders.
posted on November 28, 2002 10:08:56 PM new
Sounds like a welfare mother and the boyfriend ( gravy train) left her, like some else said probably got tired of feeding her spending habit.
Fluffy, I think what you are wanting would be near impossible. Invasion of privacy and stuff like that.
Ain't Life Grand...
posted on November 29, 2002 09:10:09 AM new
It would be better if eBay set a limit on the number of active auctions a person could bid on. base it on their feedback rating or other criteria to be determined by eBay.
.................................................
We call them our heroes...but we pay them like chumps
posted on November 29, 2002 03:37:52 PM new
If you give this "welfare mom" a NPB, she will eventually get enough NPB's from her other auctions, that she hasn't paid on, and noone will have to worry about her bidding and not paying, for awhile, at least.
posted on December 1, 2002 02:44:40 AM new
I sell posters on Ebay. Appx. 20 to 30% of my bidders do not pay. It's disguisting!! Ebay does not take this matter seriously. If they refunded posting fees, I'm sure they would!! Best of all, when you leave negs. for NPB's, they retalliate!! You just can't win!! Ebay needs to take control of this situation. Sellers like myself arer getting killed.
posted on December 1, 2002 09:34:27 AM new
obrie51: You sell posters and have a 20-30% non paying bidder rate. I sell books and have a 1% no pay rate. Verrry interesting.
posted on December 1, 2002 10:59:33 AM new
twelvepole: Amzn already does this in a much more sophisticated fashion, as does TiVo.
Hey, did anyone see the WSJ article "What to Do if Your TiVo Thinks You're Gay". I don't have one but apparently your TiVo records certain things for you spontaneously based on what you've seen before.
So if you're a guy into Barbra Streisand movies, fabulous window treatments and the Lifetime channel, guess what TiVo decides about you.
