posted on June 17, 2004 01:37:35 PM new
Yep. I just filed 6 FVF today. 4 of them on bidders with great feedback ratings. I am clueless how this trend can be reversed. I've waited 3-4 weeks for payment on all of them and still nothing. No more emails, nothing.
Who wants to bet me I'll get negged this week for filing these??? It is almost guaranteed to happen.
posted on June 17, 2004 02:08:43 PM new
then you just write the truth that they are non-paying bidders to let the other sellers know.
[ edited by mamachia on Jun 17, 2004 02:10 PM ]
i have never had this problem until last sixty days; like you, i am clueless as to the trend...
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i saved one by writing a quick note on a postcard[one i couldnt sell]...two others have ignored me, and i now await the window of opportunity to open so i can file for the fvf..
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i will keep my positive cap on for you - and me.
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myoldtoy
posted on June 17, 2004 03:20:27 PM new
Had to do the same with three of our UK winners too so isn't just US winners. Probably everyone enjoying the warm northern hemisphere summer (as I stare out at another harsh frost) .
posted on June 17, 2004 03:54:46 PM new
Well, they'll have a rude awakening once fall rolls around and they see they were negged and a FVF was filed.
I think many people, even those who have bought on ebay many times think it is ok to flake out every now and then. Little do they know that they are going to get the big fat FVF boot up their bidding butts if they continue this trend.
I had a bidder with over 3000 positives flake on me this past November. About two months ago I get an email from them about reversing the FVF. They paid me $50.00 to reverse it. I had no problem, and started it as policy. They don't get their item either. They pay the removal fee and have the fortune to use their account again. I know many sellers don't like it when one of us do this, but you know... I lost money on it, and here is my chance to make it back and then some. Ebay for me is a way to make a living, and I'm more interested in making my living than kicking people off for non-payment. Sure, they'll get the FVF, but everyone makes a mistake and I don't mind making a few bucks in the process if it means I have rent money at the end of the month.
posted on June 17, 2004 06:16:46 PM new
i've had the same problem. i would rather they just email that they didn't want it than be ignored. how long does it take to answer an email?
posted on June 18, 2004 05:49:47 AM new
But there are also a lot of problems with spam blockers these days. For instance, a lot of people on AOL are reporting problems.
I get tons of junk mail every day. My ISP started putting tags on some of my mail - *possible junk mail.* Problem was, most of what they were tagging wasn't junk - the junk was coming right through because by now the spammers know how to code it to bypass the filters. So I wrote to my ISP and had them knock it off, least they block the wrong mail.
The end result, though, is that I get so much junk I sometimes miss a legitimate email. One of the books I listed on Amazon finally sold, and I didn't notice the "ship it!" email for four days because it was just buried in-between.
Rusty, I know you do a high volume of sales every week. But if someone with great feedback was MIA like that, I would get the contact info and make the call.
posted on June 18, 2004 06:24:05 AM new
Speaking of contact info, I had a non communicating bidder recently that I decided to pull their contact info. Absolutely worthless! For their name they had two initials. For the address just the name of the town that they (might) live in and a mobile phone number. Which I will try to ring shortly. Also this bidder has perfect feedback. I guess ebay doesn't require you to have meaningful contact details now.
Regards,
Adrian
If you read the eBay boards, "invalid contact information" is one of the things that eBay does take seriously.
If you don't get a response when you call that number, you can file the ICI report, and someone from eBay will try to call the bidder.
They don't spend a lot of time on it. They'll make one or two attempts, and if there's no response, they'll suspend the account.
If there's no name or street address in the contact info, that might trigger a suspension right there - I'm not sure.
posted on June 18, 2004 07:40:32 AM new
Jeez ... we filed NPB and FVF and left quite a polite-as-possible negative feedback, on a seller/buyer who had a LOT of good feedback ... BAM, he negged back this morning. ... it sux, but doggone it I wasn't going to phone them over a $12 item that they got a real good deal on ... I had emailed them through the ebay contacts, the ebay invoicing system, as well as directly emailed them several days before the FVF was going to be applied for. ... during all that time, they were an active seller and buyer ... I just have to think they are full of baloney
posted on June 18, 2004 08:51:58 AM new
Nope ... I don't think so ... I check my spam filtered box every day ... and I wrote to them several times thru both ebay and direct mail ... and I figure when they received their npb and fvf notices through ebay, if they REALLLLLY wanted to, THEY would have found out a way to contact me, even if through another auction listing of ours. ... (I don't have any 'free long distance' cell phone, so i really didn't want to call 'em) ... not to mention, working through the NPB'ers process really already wastes enough valuable time, imho.
All in all, it's okay ... he/she negged us a few hours ago ... and I'm over it now. LOL
Then, the next time one like this comes up, I think you should follow the format I suggested - # of weeks, # of emails, # of ebay notices.
I think with that kind of cut-and-dried, just-the-facts formula, it's harder for someone to issue a retalitory neg. If they do, it won't be as effective as yours.
posted on June 18, 2004 03:43:52 PM new
I've read the responses to this posting and find it quite amusing all of the justifications sellers give for a bidder not to respond, whether it was a SPAM filter, on vacation, etc.
The fact remains... 1) They know they bid on something, 2) They received notification from eBay after the auction ended. 3) They receive a WBN notification from us 4) They received a NPB warning.
How much justification and reasoning do we really have to give for someone not to deserve a negative??? Really, this is getting absurd. There isn't one single reasonably minded individual who has used eBay more than a handful of times that isn't aware that 99.9% of auction transactions are communicated via email. We shouldn't have to send postcards, make phone calls, etc for us to have a bidder pay for their item. The truth of the matter is that most of them simply decide they no longer want the item, and instead of being mature enough to email us, they choose to ignore us and waste our time and money. To make matters worse, we go through 2-3 weeks waiting for the cycle of emails, NPB, FVF, and feedback only to get negged in the end because they're mad they got a well deserved negative for non-payment.
We need to quit making excuses for these deadbeats. Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule (family emergencies, etc) but we have to draw a line somewhere.
posted on June 18, 2004 04:14:13 PM new
exactly my feelings too, rusty ... did you leave your 4 'high feedback npb's' negatives??? and what were their responses? ...
posted on June 18, 2004 04:28:38 PM new
Yes, I left them negatives. I haven't received a response yet. I'm sure I will. Those who have a history of good feedback will almost always respond as opposed to those with little or none. They'll wait until Sunday to respond when my auctions are winding down towards the end. That way, if there are any bidders who decide to check my feedback, they'll see I was negged for whatever reason these deadbeats will make up out of thin air.
We shouldn't have to send postcards, make phone calls, etc for us to have a bidder pay for their item.
I find a lot of sellers don't want to get the contact info and call. And I don't think it's necessarily the 7 cents a minute. It's the humiliation of being made to chase after someone and beg for a payment for a $12 item when the auction itself is a lot of work and you've already put out all the extra effort of sending the emails and issuing the NPB. I think a lot of sellers feel "enough, already"; I'm not going to lower myself any further.
But I think it depends on which segment you're in. If I was in one of the "new merchandise" categories like clothing or tools, I would say the emails and the NPB are enough.
But with the collectibles segments I'm in, an amazing number of buyers have 100% positive feedback. I've had just a handful of non-responders over 2 years - maybe 6. Four were long-term eBayers, with perfect feedback scores. Usually, they were on eBay constantly as both buyers and sellers. During the 3 weeks or so that they weren't responding to me, they hadn't been active with other auctions. So their stories were credible - one said he'd been called away abruptly on a business trip; another, into court on a child custody battle; and the third had been out-of-state with a death in the family. They all thanked me profusely for not pulling the trigger on the NPB, paid on the spot, and left glowing feedback. The fourth had said he would send a money order, but it was two weeks later, and when I emailed him to tell him it still hadn't arrived, he discovered that his wife had forgotten to mail it and still had it in her purse. He thanked me profusely, too.
The other two were just goofballs - nasty, insulting on the phone - but then, at least I knew where I stood. One got especially nasty in email after he got the NPB, but I flashed him with my "live chat" transcript giving me the OK to void him and re-list, and he went poof.
But saving four out of six ain't bad. Much less work than re-listing and going through the whole process all over again.
I think you should look at the bidder's record, and whether he or she has been online bidding on other auctions during that time frame.
Some people are worth that bit of extra effort - others aren't. But I think it's a case-by-case judgment call - I wouldn't adopt a blanket policy.
I know you think the spam filter thing is just an excuse some people make - but it really is a problem right now for a lot of people.
posted on June 19, 2004 03:27:59 PM new
The spam filter may be a problem, however, the bidder knows they bid on an auction, and it is their responsibility to contact the seller anyways. If I do my part and they do their part, then everything should end up perfect. However, it is irresponsible bidders who place a bid and forget about it. I would guess that most bidders completed high school. Much of High School wasn't just about reading text, as it was about completing assignments, writing papers, etc. in a timely manner. If we failed to turn in an assignment on time, it showed in our grades. Most of us also work. If we didn't complete assignments at work, we probably wouldn't have a job either. The point I am making here is called, RESPONSIBILITY. I take responsibility to list auctions accurately, I take responsibility to answer questions in a timely manner, I take responsibility for paying my fees on time, I take responsibility for shipping items quickly, and I take responsibility for managing each and every auction in a professional manner. I'm not asking a bidder to write a term paper, or spend hours doing something unnecessary. I simply ask for them to complete a transaction they agreed to do by placing a bid on an item.
Your base-line question is: Why am I getting so many NPBs, and what can I do to get off this treadmill of being ignored, issuing FVFs, and getting unjustified, retalitory negs?
I think the only way you're going to get any real insight - specific to your auctions and your bidders - is to pick up the phone and talk to some of your NPBs. Do some market research. Maybe it's just the way eBay is right now, but maybe there are specific things you can do with your ads or your EOA process that will decrease the rate of default. Basically, you're like any other business that's suffering a high rate of customer defaults - the question is why.
But if you talk to a dozen of your NPBs, you're going to learn *something* about why so many of your bidders behave the way they do.
Arguing responsibility in the abstract isn't going to change anything.
I think you should take some concrete steps to get as much info as you can, and see what you can do to tinker with your ads or your processes to make it work out better.
.
