posted on March 29, 2003 07:46:01 PM new
I got an email from Ebay today asking me to participate in their Non-Paying Bidder Seller Survey. I think the URL is encoded to me/my email address, but I will post the questions they asked, as I found them interesting. (It's long.) I'm not sure how I was chosen, though I have filed a lot of NPB/FVF's lately.
I got the impression that they're interested in regulating NPB's bidding with some kind of indicator next to their feedback noting how many NPB's they have - which I think we'd all agree is a good thing.
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1. Which of the following describes your use of eBay? (To buy, To sell, Both to buy and to sell)
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2. How many items do you typically list in a month? (Less than 10, 11-25, 26-50, 51-100, 101-500, More than 500)
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3. What categories do you primarily list? (entire category list followed, with checkboxes)
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4. Which of the following describes how you include information about the types of payments you receive? (In the item description, In selling tool/SYI form, Don't include payment information)
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5. Which types of payments do you accept for your eBay transactions? (list of options followed, with checkboxes)
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6. Which of the following describes how you include information about shipping the items you sell on eBay? (In the item description, In selling tool/SYI form, Don't include shipping information)
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7. When listing an item, which of the following do you do? (Calculate the cost of shipping after the listing closes based on the buyers address, Provide free shipping, Provide a flat rate for shipping, Provide a shipping calculator in the description so that the buyer can calculate before bidding)
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8. Do you generally send the winner or buyer a total price for the item? (Yes via eBay invoice, Yes via my own email, No)
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9. Do you use eBay Checkout? (Yes, No)
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10. If you don't use eBay Checkout, do you use any of the following checkout solutions? (Your own checkout procedure, Other third party checkout - Andale, Channel Advisor, Auctionworks, etc., None)
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11. Which of the following selling formats do you use when listing on eBay? (Auction, Buy It Now, Dutch Auction, Fixed Price, eBay Stores)
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12. Please tell us how much you agree or disagree with the following statements about selling on eBay. (Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Neither Agree Nor Disagree, Somewhat DisagreeStrongly Disagree):
- Receiving positive feedback is important to me
- Buyers on eBay are easy to deal with
- Buyers on eBay pay promptly
- I would not give someone negative feedback because they might give me negative feedback in return
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13. Have you ever sold something on eBay and had the bidder or buyer not pay for the item? (Yes, No)
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14. How many of your winning bidders or buyers end up not paying for their eBay items? (Less than 1%, 1 to 2.99%, 3 to 4.99%, 5 to 9.99%, 10% or more)
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15. What are the main reasons buyers claim that they did not pay for an item they bought or won? (Please select up to three):
- Claimed seller changed the terms or description
- Claimed shipping and handling charges too high or weren't stated in description
- Found something different/won a different auction
- Claimed it wasn't really what they wanted
- Claimed they couldn't afford it
- Claimed they bid more than it was worth
- Claimed they didn't realize when they bid that it was an obligation to pay
- Claimed they didn't think they would win
- Claimed they just wanted to have fun bidding
- No reason given, buyer emailed telling me they did not intend to pay
- Did not hear from the buyer
- Other (please specify)
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16. When you have a bidder or buyer who does not pay, do you leave negative feedback? (Yes, No)
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17. How familiar are you with the Non-Paying Bidder process? (Not at all familiar, Somewhat familiar, Very familiar)
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18. Have you ever gone through the process to file a Non-Paying Bidder Alert? (Yes, No,
Did not know there was a process)
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19. In general, how many times do you try to contact the buyer before filing the Non-Paying Bidder Alert? (None, One, Two, Three or more)
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20. After filing the Non-Paying Bidder Alert, how often does the buyer pay? (Less than 10% of the time, 11% to 20% of the time, 21% to 30% of the time, 31% to 40% of the time, At least 50% of the time)
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21. Have you ever gone through the process to file a Final Value Fee Credit? (Yes, No, Didn't know there was a process)
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22. How would it affect your use of the Non-Paying Bidder Process if eBay showed non-paying bidder information in feedback comments (bidders would be labeled in their feedback for not having paid)? (Increase use of the Non-Paying Bidder Process, Decrease use of the Non-Paying Bidder Process, No affect)
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23. How would it affect your use of the Non-Paying Bidder Process if eBay more quickly terminated buyers who did not pay? (Increase use of the Non-Paying Bidder Process, Decrease use of the Non-Paying Bidder Process, No affect)
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24. Please share with us any other comments you have about selling on eBay and the Non-Paying Bidder process.
posted on March 29, 2003 11:34:41 PM new
WOW...what an awesome idea! Just think about it...NPB history right there for the whole world to see! I'll bet a move like this on eBay's part would cause an immediate, very steep decline in non-payers..oh happy day!
posted on March 30, 2003 05:22:29 AM new
As big a problem as non-paying bidders right now seeems to be those that try to change the terms after the auction, as in want lowered/free shipping or won't pay in proper form and refuse to complete transaction otherwise. And neg you if you don't do what they want.
What I hope is that Ebay doesn't stop NARU after 3-NPB's-with-FVF and instead just put a NPB report.
I think any dishonest buyer with bad NPB figure would just go get a new user ID from what I've seen. The NPB figure will only keep fairly honest/responsible people in line. Rampant abusers will not be stopped by it, in my opinion.
posted on March 30, 2003 03:08:09 PM new
If eBay REALLY wants to do something constructive, they'd not permit NPB-ers to leave feedback for that specific auction.
posted on March 30, 2003 03:22:17 PM new
eBay should have a pretty good handle on the percentage of NPBs UNLESS too many sellers are not applying to get their FVFs refunded.
posted on March 30, 2003 04:23:09 PM new
>> If eBay REALLY wants to do something constructive, they'd not permit NPB-ers to leave feedback for that specific auction.<<
I posted something very similar to this in the "Other Comments" area of the survey and explained that these feedbacks are almost always retalitory. They want us to report NPBs, yet when we do, we run the risk of getting another negative for it.
