Ebay extends refund period for buyers

[Dan Fromm]

A lot of us block people on ebay as a risk avoidance measure, not because we've had personal problems with them or even ever had bids. It's about avoiding bidders that seem to excessively give bad feedback, leave flaming, confused sounding feedback, or leave feedback about a 50 year old, $4 filter "was dirty", "smelled like smoke", etc. I do not want people like that bidding on my items, and taking chances with their behavior. It's the only method Ebay gives us now to have a meaningful "good buyer" feedback. You block them based on your own research.

Garrett, don't speculate about what I might do or have done, read the feedback I've left. You're defending an ....

[goamules]

Not to worry Dan, I was not talking about you. Just the general philosophy I follow. I was only commenting on the general "why would someone block bidders" implied question. I didn't even read the posts about anyone in particular. I changed my post from "you..." (meaning "someone") to "I"....

To Moose, what other tools can a seller use to avoid bad buyers? Ebay makes it VERY hard to avoid ANY sales. The one criteria they let you set, is is to automatically block someone with EXTREMELY bad feedback. All others it does not filter. Even the very bad, quite bad, unbelievably bad. I don't use anyone elses list either, just my own research based.

[DonJ]

To Moose, what other tools can a seller use to avoid bad buyers? Ebay makes it VERY hard to avoid ANY sales. The one criteria they let you set, is is to automatically block someone with EXTREMELY bad feedback. All others it does not filter. Even the very bad, quite bad, unbelievably bad. I don't use anyone elses list either, just my own research based.

Well, you first have to realize that there is no such thing as an eBay buyer with bad feedback; not very bad, not unbelievably bad, not even kind of bad. Five years ago, eBay eliminated the option for a seller to leave negative feedback for a buyer. So, unless the person buys and sells on the same account, their feedback will be 100% positive. That old option to block buyers with an overall negative score was worthless even before the change.

eBay gave sellers a number of ways to block buyers who might cause problems. You can:

• block buyers with more than one unpaid item in the past 12 months
• block buyers who don't have a PayPal account (very effective against the "Nigerian scammers")
• block buyers from countries you don't ship to
• limit the # of your items a buyer can bid on or buy in a given period (prevents someone from "carpet-bombing" your listings)
• force immediate payment for a Fixed Price listing or when the Buy It Now option is used on an auction; the listing doesn't close until payment is actually made

I sense that I've forgotten one, but I don't have access to eBay at the moment to check my buyer preferences setup.

They don't catch the buyer who leaves inappropriate feedback, so that's what the BBL is useful for. But those folks are a lot less common than the non-payers, etc.

[Dan Fromm]

Garrett, I just checked. Look here: http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ockPreferences

The blocking criteria are a bit broader and more flexible than you think. Hard to find, though. Account, site preferences, buyer requirements, edit.

FWIW, I block people who've won my items and not paid. But then, I've never ever got bad feedback from a buyer.

[DonJ]

This thread appears to have become shorter.

[rdenney]

Folks,

We got a complaint about the lists of buyers. This seems to us a violation of the forum guidelines, that say:

"To have a healthy and informative forum, it's essential that participants maintain a respectful and professional decorum. Name calling, personal attacks, character assassination, coarse or inappropriate language, or enticing/baiting others to violate forum guidelines will not be tolerated here."

Please don't accuse long lists of people of being bad ebay buyers by posting their ebay names here.

Rick "thanks" Denney

[rdenney]

This thread appears to have become shorter.

This was a mistake on my part. I was trying to remove some posts using Tapatalk, and managed to punch the wrong button, sending them into the ether instead of leaving a deletion notice. Sorry about that. The remaining lists have been deleted the more correct way.

Rick "fat-fingered on an iphone" Denney

[Rick A]

Just now reading this thread, I have to chime in. I recently purchased two items from the evil place, some Ilford paper that turned out fogged. The seller gave me a total refund including my shipping, which I never expected(the shipping fee). The second was a lens set for my mamiya TLR. The seller didnt report the shutter as inaccurate, just the dust on the lens. I contacted him as to repairing or return, his policy was return, minus the shipping. I would have had as much in shipping(both directions) as I have in the lens, I opted to keep the lens and have it repaired at my expense. It seems the new rule may be 14 days as thats the time I was given to decide if I spent my money well, I could be wrong though.

[DonJ]

Just now reading this thread, I have to chime in. I recently purchased two items from the evil place, some Ilford paper that turned out fogged. The seller gave me a total refund including my shipping, which I never expected(the shipping fee). The second was a lens set for my mamiya TLR. The seller didnt report the shutter as inaccurate, just the dust on the lens. I contacted him as to repairing or return, his policy was return, minus the shipping. I would have had as much in shipping(both directions) as I have in the lens, I opted to keep the lens and have it repaired at my expense. It seems the new rule may be 14 days as thats the time I was given to decide if I spent my money well, I could be wrong though.

Sellers are "encouraged" to offer a 14-day, no question asked, return policy, but you have 45 days to file a "Not as described" complaint with eBay or PayPal. If they rule in your favor, you pay return shipping, but the full amount you paid for the item (price AND shipping) is refunded.

[CP Goerz]

'I think its time to put him on my list of liars.' name calling Dan? Careful, you may have that post deleted, but I doubt it. Dan, you have accused me of a number of things and most recently 'liar'. I'd rather not deal with someone like that, I don't think too many people here would either. The fact that your name didn't appear on my list a few months ago is because I thought you were already on it, thank you for showing up in my inbox so I could verify and address the situation. You don't need to buy something from me to get on the list, you just need to be...well, I'll let you fill an appropriate adjective :-)



The list I made is a cumulative list of various folks I've had problems with or fully expect to have problems with, this list includes bidders other sellers I know have had problems with, we 'share' lists. It has been amassed throughout the decades and is written by scholars on vellum and kept in a locked box deep in the archives of a well known library. Should any of the select group of sellers wish to peruse the contents they are allowed free reign to do so or failing that they can drop me an E mail for the latest updates.


Ebay allows bidders to leave a negative feedback publicly and as you all know the thing that potential buyers look at is the negative and ignore the several hundred positive feedbacks. In order for me to protect my reputation I'd rather NOT have bids from people who may give me trouble or have given a few other sellers I know trouble. If an item sells for less because of it, too bad, but at least I'll have fewer headaches and may live three days longer.



I am not the sole and only seller on Ebay, there are thousands if not millions at this point, if you feel that my business practices are unfair then I heartily encourage you to bid elsewhere, its what I would do.




If any of you feel personally affronted by your inclusion don't be, as they say in certain organizations...its just business.