What is it with Ebay Buyers????

[fiza]

****WARNING*****

***** RANT***********

 

I have been trying to sell a smart phone on ebay. First time I advertised it I had 30 watchers and quite a few bids. In the dying seconds of the auction a new bidder pops up and bids the highest amount and wins. I thought great, it was just over what I wanted for the phone. Next thing I get an ebay message - the buyer wants to retract because she had bid on another phone earlier in the day and hadnt realised she had won that one already!!!

 

Fair enough - we cancel the transaction.

 

Relist the phone. This time in the dying minutes 2 bidders start a bidding war and one of them wins my phone. These bidders had 0 and 2 feedback. Buyer doesnt make any payment. On checking their profiles i see that the one with 0 feedback is based in Uganda!! The other has has 2 negative points for non payment!!!

Cancel transaction

 

Look up how to block those with negative feedback and those not based in UK. Put these restrictions in my settings.

 

 

relist item.

 

This time new bidder jumps in at last few seconds and wins. Has 1 feedback. I look at his profile - based in united states!!!. Has a UK address for delivery as a self storage place.

He sends me an email to say he is having problems with his paypal and would I send him my email address so that he can ask his friend to make payment via paypal using my email.

Not too familiar with paypal and ebay rules but this sounded distinctly dodgy so I contacted ebay. They have said he shouldnt be using a storage place as his address and that I should cancel the transaction.

 

Each time I relist they seem to charge me a listing fee.

 

I am back to square one!!!!

 

I give up!!!

 

I understand that there is a certain "buzz" when bidding but these guys are costing me money!!!

As a buyer on Ebay I have never done this - Always paid for what I bid and won.

First time I am selling anything of value and I have seen a whole other side to Ebay!! Feel like finding these people and £$^£$%"£"££$*^&$

 

****End of Rant******

Edited November 5, 2013 by fiza

[bladedanny]

Would it not let you do a second chance offer the first time around?

[fiza]

Would it not let you do a second chance offer the first time around?

 

Problem was that the next few bidders down were all 0 feedback or negative feedback. The next decent bidder was lower than what I wanted.

[bladedanny]

Ah, ok

[Danp]

Have to have buyer restrictions in place, it's a must. Other than that, it's luck of the draw, mobiles are always going to invite dubious bidders as it's easy to pass the item on afterwards. There are many many loopholes in the eBay\PayPal system than can be worked into any ones favour.

[fiza]

mobiles are always going to invite dubious bidders as it's easy to pass the item on afterwards.

 

I wouldnt mind if they just paid for the phone!!!

 

They seem to get a thrill out of bidding, winning and then going silent!

[Danp]

I wouldnt mind if they just paid for the phone!!!

 

They seem to get a thrill out of bidding, winning and then going silent!

 

I would expect it's the sort of person who does not value people's time or money!

[mole]

Yep had this a few times - being stung by fees for having to relist. And the people that bid and pay and then complain about postage or something.

 

Don't really think it's worth selling on ebay with ebay selling and postage fees and paypal fees. gonna try facebook/gumtree next time i sell sometihng.

[bladedanny]

We've been selling loads on local facebook groups. Most stuff has sold within an hour. Only down side to this, a lot of people want stuff dropping off.

[LosOjos]

Yep had this a few times - being stung by fees for having to relist. And the people that bid and pay and then complain about postage or something.

 

Don't really think it's worth selling on ebay with ebay selling and postage fees and paypal fees. gonna try facebook/gumtree next time i sell sometihng.

 

eBay used to be great but these days it's just another online shop. Unless you're running a business or just want to clear out your clutter and and cover your costs, it's not worth the hassle

[bushby]

well at the moment i have a penny farthing on and the buyer is from singapour thats fine its just the shipping costs from here to there 250 for it so got the buyer looking from there side for collection thats going to be fine. its just an awkuade shape to send

 

but it did take a while to sell due to the uniqeness of the item

[AMLinington]

I had a similar experience when I listed my Vectra on Autotrader - so many timewasters! People emailing me asking for complex and convoluted payment mechanisms and wanting to 'send a friend' to collect the car. I even specified 'Cash on collection' in the Ad. In the end I had 2 genuine queries - the first never turned up to our arranged viewing and I text him to find out if he was still interested and he said 'no, sorry, were you waiting for me?' (well DUH!) and the second ended up buying it. It was a nightmare though. I can see why people would prefer to use 'webuyanycar.com' even if you do only get 50% of the cars value!

 

I'm a prolific ebayer though - it is excellent for my crafting. We're not all charlatans although many sellers are.

 

Personally I will not buy any electrical goods on ebay. Too much hassle. I don't use ebay for anything over £50.

[twin--turbo]

Ebay generaly have free listing weekends fortnightly.

 

You only pay the final value fee.

 

List it at teh price you want and that should cut out most fo the chaff.

 

Rob

[LosOjos]

Ebay generaly have free listing weekends fortnightly.

 

You only pay the final value fee.

 

List it at teh price you want and that should cut out most fo the chaff.

 

Rob

 

Yeah, the free listing saves you a whole 10p!

[sparkeh]

And the people that bid and pay and then complain about postage or something.

Oh yeah, got into a right argument about this a little while ago.

We were selling some cake plates from our wedding, for various reasons we really weren't able to wait in for someone to come and collect, so we stated *very* clearly in the postage and in the description that it was delivery only and we wouldn't be able to offer collection.

 

Of course the winner contacted us to tell us she wanted to collect *facepalm*.

 

We replied showing her the bit on the listing stating delivery only. We entered into a back and forth with her getting more and more irate including:

• Demanding our address so she could come pick up.
  
• Sending us a quote from a delivery company because we were 'ripping her off' (we really weren't).
  
• Demanding we sent the plates over in a Taxi as it was cheaper (a taxi? wft!?).
  
• Refusing to pay.
  
• Complaining to ebay.
  

 

Each time I just sent back "By bidding on our item you are accepting the postage conditions on the listing. We look forward to your swift payment." until ebay told her to pay.

She did pay in the end but it really put us off using ebay to sell.

[HarryMonkey]

Ebay generaly have free listing weekends fortnightly.

 

You only pay the final value fee.

 

List it at teh price you want and that should cut out most fo the chaff.

 

Rob

 

Which now includes the postage as well. Greedy robbing ba*****.

[mole]

Indeed, so people end up putting p&p up to cover this extra fee, as well as cost of packaging etc...

 

I had someone complain after they paid and received a pair of shoes that £5 for p&p was too much and for that price they should have come with the box. Well (and this was just before RM changed their prices) if they came in a box it would have cost me £8 to post them.

 

I went off on one and basically said - you came, you saw, you buyed. end of.

 

I wonder if these people complain if they buy a new TV, get it delivered do they then complain to currys that they charged them too much delivery? I expect not.

[LosOjos]

I'm afraid to say my mom has become an internet shopping troll. She won't order from anywhere but Amazon and even there only from resellers. I've ordered stuff for her from eBuyer, Scan, Play etc. in the past and after 3 days she's on the phone to me kicking off it hasn't been delivered yet. If her resellers send her a book with a mark on the cover that wasn't mentioned (I'm talking minor 'dents' that could easily have happened in posties bag) she'll email them kicking off and usually end up getting a full refund, P&P and all! Unfortunately the likes of eBay and Amazon's rating systems have created this strange breed of people who will post an item same day, sometimes at a loss, on an item that cost them 10p and they're selling for 12p, just to avoid negative rep. I find the whole thing weird frankly! Not that I won't order from eBay/Amazon resellers, I just don't order anything I think I might need to return - if you want customer support, order from a proper company!

[twin--turbo]

Yeah, the free listing saves you a whole 10p!

 

£0.01 - £0.99 = Free

£1.00 - £4.99 = £0.15

£5.00 - £14.99 = £0.25

£15.00 - £29.99 = £0.50

£30 - £99.99 = £1

£100 > = £1.30

 

 

 

So if the OP say wants to list his item starting at £35, he has done that 3 times = £3 of listing fees.

 

 

 

 

As for postage, just up the item price and list with free postage so no one can complain. It does slow down sales some times, but if you have free listings weekend and time to wait then it works OK. Don't realy agree with the 10% on postage but understand the reasoning.

 

Use Myhermes drop off for most items now, I can take it to the local petrol station at 8PM rather than rushing to the local PO.

 

Rob

[NewFormz]

I've stopped using Ebay to sell phones due to all of the annoying scammers. I have recently been using the sell my phone website, you don't always get as much as Ebay but I do find it much easier. I recently sold a HTC One S, they were going for between £60 and £120 on Ebay. sell my phone offered my £90. Stuck it in the free post bag and then got a cheque a couple of weeks later.

[HarryMonkey]

Lots of places now have local selling places on Facebook. That tends to be my market stall of choice to sell things now. Might not get as a high a price but they sell for free and get picked up so no messing with packing etc.

[CAM]

I had a similar experience when I listed my Vectra on Autotrader - so many timewasters! People emailing me asking for complex and convoluted payment mechanisms and wanting to 'send a friend' to collect the car. I even specified 'Cash on collection' in the Ad. In the end I had 2 genuine queries - the first never turned up to our arranged viewing and I text him to find out if he was still interested and he said 'no, sorry, were you waiting for me?' (well DUH!) and the second ended up buying it. It was a nightmare though. I can see why people would prefer to use 'webuyanycar.com' even if you do only get 50% of the cars value!

 

I'm a prolific ebayer though - it is excellent for my crafting. We're not all charlatans although many sellers are.

 

Personally I will not buy any electrical goods on ebay. Too much hassle. I don't use ebay for anything over £50.

 

Get a quote off Webuyanycar and use it as leverage in Part-Ex negotiations. I was quoted £175 by WBC for my Astra, dealer offered £100 part ex and upped it to £200. Take into account WBC valuation fees of £50, the dealer effectively beat them by £75. Being the last day of the month, taking interest in the new car and being willing to pay the full amount helps in your favour too.

 

I might have been able to sell it for more privately but it'd need more money spent on it than I'd get back. The insurance premium rebate alone is worth more than the car...

[sonofsanta]

Which now includes the postage as well. Greedy robbing ba*****.

 

You want greedy robbing bar stewards, you should see what they're doing on StubHub, their new ticket site.

 

I say "list ticket at £55". StubHub says "buyers will see £63.26". PITA, as I'm trying to position the price against other tickets listed there, so it's a constant tweaking game to get your price right, but whatever, fees are dealt with that way.

 

Except it then tells you "your payout will be £48.40". WTH? I put them up at £55, you add £8.26 (15%) on immediately as profit, then take another £6.60 (12%) as profit before you pay me. And how do you pay me? Oh right, PayPal - where you take another cut. They end up making about 25% of whatever you sell tickets for!

 

I'd rather be able to sell them on eBay where I know they'll be done and dusted in a week and I don't have to worry. Instead I'm constantly checking and tweaking prices. It's like selling bloody Veldspar in Eve all over again.

[twin--turbo]

Get a quote off Webuyanycar and use it as leverage in Part-Ex negotiations. I was quoted £175 by WBC for my Astra, dealer offered £100 part ex and upped it to £200. Take into account WBC valuation fees of £50, the dealer effectively beat them by £75. Being the last day of the month, taking interest in the new car and being willing to pay the full amount helps in your favour too.

 

I might have been able to sell it for more privately but it'd need more money spent on it than I'd get back. The insurance premium rebate alone is worth more than the car...

 

 

 

WBC valuations are a joke, they valued my old Merc at £130 ( not even scrap value ) and I sold it for £650

 

I have sold 4 cars on ebay over the last couple of years.

 

MK1 Golf (1.3i Converted )

Volvo V40

Merc C230

Mondeo TDCI

 

All 4 sales were totaly painless, easy and I got what I wanted for the cars.

 

The secret is a full long honest description with lots of detail, good photographs, etc.

 

Too often you see listings for cars with.. " Focus, Good for age ring 077678437634" and no other information what so ever.

 

Rob

[CHR1S]

I once sold my Samsung Omnia i900 on ebay back in the day.

 

The eventual buyer promptly opened a complaint the day he received the phone wanting to be compensated because the item was not as described. I think he wanted £100 back or something silly like that.

 

We back and forth'ed for a few days, ebay got involved, so did paypal. To cut a long story short he was asked to take the item to a police station for it to be documented what was missing (I kid you not) and compensation could be agreed.

 

I had a call a day later from paypal informing me it was settled and I had to provide zero compensation. The buyer did all of this because the tiny bit of string that looped the stylus to the phone had fallen off whilst I packaged it.

 

I think my negative feedback was removed three times due to foul and abusive language!!