Selling on eBay Sucks!!!

redpcar · May 20, 2016

Not sure if ebay changed their rules but if buyers have 3 "no pays" against them, they get banned. The down side is that you have to wait the designated number of days of no payment to file a claim.

I had a noobie buyer one time who won all 3 of the watches I had listed on ebay then was very arrogant in a message to me stating he had changed his mind and would not be paying. After advising him that he only had 3 strikes and I was about to deal all 3 to him he followed up with another less than friendly message. Waited the time and filled out the forms. Blocked him as a buyer. He was booted. Big smile on my face. Fast forward 2 days, a very apologetic message came offering to buy at least one of them if I reversed the "no pays". I didn't reply. Bigger smile on my face.

ulackfocus · May 20, 2016

Report him for both non-payments. "Buyers" can't keep putting in bullshit bids without consequence.

OMGRLX · May 20, 2016

redpcar
Not sure if ebay changed their rules but if buyers have 3 "no pays" against them, they get banned. The down side is that you have to wait the designated number of days of no payment to file a claim.

I had a noobie buyer one time who won all 3 of the watches I had listed on ebay then was very arrogant in a message to me stating he had changed his mind and would not be paying. After advising him that he only had 3 strikes and I was about to deal all 3 to him he followed up with another less than friendly message. Waited the time and filled out the forms. Blocked him as a buyer. He was booted. Big smile on my face. Fast forward 2 days, a very apologetic message came offering to buy at least one of them if I reversed the "no pays". I didn't reply. Bigger smile on my face.

the only downside to this is clever mass-hi-bidders have multiple ebay accts...you eventually close down one of theirs, they got 10 more active ones as we speak...

OMGRLX · May 20, 2016

P.S.: thank you guys for letting me vent. i consider this place my horological home, right next to my watchmaker's shop. 😀

gatorcpa · May 20, 2016

redpcar
I had a noobie buyer one time who won all 3 of the watches I had listed on ebay then was very arrogant in a message to me stating he had changed his mind and would not be paying. After advising him that he only had 3 strikes and I was about to deal all 3 to him he followed up with another less than friendly message. Waited the time and filled out the forms. Blocked him as a buyer. He was booted. Big smile on my face. Fast forward 2 days, a very apologetic message came offering to buy at least one of them if I reversed the "no pays". I didn't reply. Bigger smile on my face.

This is exactly how you handle a bad buyer on eBay.

You can bitch and moan about how eBay is buyer oriented and everything costs too much, but when you look at the total bill for fees on eBay vs. any reputable auction house, the seller winds up way ahead.

You can go ahead with an auction house that has its own issues with shills, and they'll charge you 30% or more of hammer price, plus another 20% fee to your buyer. Don't think for a minute that a large chunk of that 20% isn't coming out of your pocket, as buyers need to take these fees into account in their bids.

All sales methods have their pluses and minuses. Selling on a forum like OF is likely the cheapest, but no place is perfect, not even here.
gatorcpa

ViaAppia · May 20, 2016

Best thing you can do about the damaged goods aspect is make a new listing so it doesn't show as relisted and change your first photo so people don't immediately know it's a relist. Also put at the top of the description something to the effect of "UP AGAIN BECAUSE OF NO-PAY BUYER. DON'T BID IF YOU WON'T PAY!!!" As far as watches go even idiots read the first line

Good luck man I feel your pain

bill5959 · May 20, 2016

It depends on the watch. Auction house fees are negotiable if they want you. I have one coming up at much less than 30% and with an international house. And no, it's not a Paul Newman (may he RIP over this ridiculous fuss over the fact he may have walked past one). Calculating the buyer overhead is a risk to bidding to the price you would like, but auction action can beat that. I still like eBay for selling lower price watches. They may be arseholes but they are the best game in town for visibility. So eBay, what do you say? Or maybe I should ask the DOJ. It's been pretty lazy the last 8 years😀.

CajunTiger · May 20, 2016

OmegaBear
yeah, and they wreak havoc on people's honest auctions...now my watches are damaged goods on ebay...

Damaged goods, because someone didn't pay...I think your making too much of this.
No doubt its a royal pain, we have all had non-paying bidders...this guy seems like a real POS.

But...Ive never thought twice about an item that was re-listed. So don't worry about damaged goods.

850csi · May 20, 2016

OmegaBear
it still won't affect him/the buyer negatively in any way at all...ebay has just gone so supersoft on buyers, it's unbelievable.

Both paypal and ebay are not fun services to use as a seller anymore. A lot of risk of getting scammed at every turn.

ulackfocus · May 20, 2016

850csi
Both paypal and ebay are not fun services to use as a seller anymore.

Paypal I don't mind as much, especially if it's between me and a buyer or seller I have some kind of relation with (ΩF member, friendly acquaintence from another hobby, etc.)

Most longer term members here know I HATE eBay and have railed against their policies more than once as both a buyer and a seller.

850csi · May 20, 2016

U ulackfocus
Paypal I don't mind as much, especially if it's between me and a buyer or seller I have some kind of relation with (ΩF member, friendly acquaintence from another hobby, etc.

Most longer term members here know I HATE eBay and have railed against their policies more than once as both a buyer and a seller.

Yeah paypal is fine if you have good reason to know the buyer is legit. But its dispute resolution mechanisms are very heavily slanted toward buyers in my experience, so I'm hestitant to make a goods & services sale to someone that can't show me any references or feedback.

eBay is just a minefield or at best an exercise in frustration.

Steve9pm · May 20, 2016

Have you emailed eBay to highlight this matter? Seems like they wouldn't want to encourage this kind of behavior either, so I'm curious as to what they would come back with

OMGRLX · May 20, 2016

bill5959
It depends on the watch. Auction house fees are negotiable if they want you. I have one coming up at much less than 30% and with an international house. And no, it's not a Paul Newman (may he RIP over this ridiculous fuss over the fact he may have walked past one). Calculating the buyer overhead is a risk to bidding to the price you would like, but auction action can beat that. I still like eBay for selling lower price watches. They may be arseholes but they are the best game in town for visibility. So eBay, what do you say? Or maybe I should ask the DOJ. It's been pretty lazy the last 8 years😀.

and that is the point...if you're not dealing in high-end patek/vacheron/etc, for the most eyeballs, you're doomed to go on ebay.
i don't begrudge ebay their fees, such as they are and for what they are (even the double-dipping esp when they still owned paypal); i do think their outrageous buyer behavior needs to be curtailed. (sellers are always kept on a supershort leash-no worries there)

OMGRLX · May 20, 2016

Steve9pm
Have you emailed eBay to highlight this matter? Seems like they wouldn't want to encourage this kind of behavior either, so I'm curious as to what they would come back with

ebay acts like the only 800lb gorilla in the room that they are. they dont seem to care much about seller feedback.
there is, sadly, no other giant global c2c online auction powerhouse anywhere near their market reach...never understood why that is, but no outlook/yahoo mail to ebay's gmail here...

GBTRIUMPH · May 21, 2016

OmegaBear
it still won't affect him/the buyer negatively in any way at all...ebay has just gone so supersoft on buyers, it's unbelievable.

me, now, i'm mostly pissed that relisting a just-sold watch on ebay is its kiss of death. it's instant damaged goods.
and i really wanted that AT so bad and this was part of the AT purchase fund...oh well... 🙁

There's a different better plan for you on this. Be at Peace.

omegasaso12 · May 21, 2016

Cant see your longines diver in your auctions? Can you send me item number.

And yes I hate ppl like that. I have note on every auction "no fun bidders" but still there are some that ignore that note and kill the sales.

Kobus · May 21, 2016

People like him makes it difficult for me as a noob on ebay to bid on anything. People just don't want to accept my bids. Now I understand why.

Mr Bing · May 21, 2016

Sorry for your woes my friend but there's another victim in this....the next highest bidder.

I've just took a look at your listing and the bidding activity suggests that this guy was pretty keen on getting your watch.

I'm pretty sure that you can contact this bidder with a 'second chance offer' due to non-paying bidder. This way you won't have to re-list the item, the guy gets his watch and you still get more than you were expecting.

That's the way it used to work anyway. Hope this helps.

Cheers, have a good weekend.

Paul

WatchVaultNYC · May 21, 2016

I'm on Ebay a lot. Easily 10% will be non-paying buyers, and this is for people who make "best offers"! I'm like, if you make an offer and I accept, you should go ahead and pay for it right?

I've had one person say "well I never expected you to accept my offer". I've had several "my dog's mother died the day I lost my job and got into an expensive accident" excuses.

I've had one arrogant SOB who backed out and did not want to get an unpaid item strike after not wanting to pay for the watch he bought. Profanity and threats ensued. Deadbeat buyer tried to sneak a negative in a "neutral" feedback (you cant leave negative feedback for something you haven't paid for). Then after he got his unpaid item strike, the "neutral" feedback got automatically removed.

Deadbeat buyers make it hard for real buyers to get your stuff. And for sellers? Wasted time and listing fees. Deadbeat buyers on Ebay should always get unpaid item strikes - never allow them to cancel. If you cancel, they can leave negative feedback for outrageous or malicious reason. The only way you don't get negative feedback from deadbeat buyers is if you give them an unpaid item strike. You will be doing yourself, and the Ebay community a service by penalizing the bad behavior.

plowjockey · May 21, 2016

I've never sold a watch on ebay, but as a buyer the most recent watch I was interested in the seller bought it, not once, but twice with shill bids from multiple accounts. I found this out by looking at their other items for sale having a very high bid activity with this seller, and the items being re-listed.

Ebay isn't perfect but it does provide a 'service' unfortunately sometimes honest people get screwed. If you re-list with buy it now/best offer you run the risk of losing out on potential buyers who use 'auction only' or 'lowest price' as search tools. Perhaps that is the best way to go as it instantly sorts out serious buyers from chancers. Re-listed items wouldn't put me off, but it does raise my suspicions. I suggest wait a month or so, take new photos before re-listing. Good luck.

Selling on eBay Sucks!!!

redpcar

ulackfocus

OMGRLX

OMGRLX

gatorcpa

ViaAppia

bill5959

CajunTiger

850csi

ulackfocus

850csi

Steve9pm

OMGRLX

OMGRLX

GBTRIUMPH

omegasaso12

Kobus

Mr Bing

WatchVaultNYC

plowjockey

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