Non paying ebay sellers and other assholes

LOL!

It's a mixed bag. If you're in a desperate bind like I was for some money, its a good tool to make something when nothing else is going for you. And for the most part I am pleased with how much money I made and for the amount of effort I put in. Granted the cost of the books to me means in terms of a working wage, I didn't make shit. But in terms of I need money right now, it worked. I'm happy with it.

What I'm made about is as a seller, I'm not allowed to negative a buyer and even worse, there is not really much if any period to a non paying bidder while I'm out of the time and potential for a real winner buying because some tool decided not to pay. I found ebay's attitude to be something like.

1) If the buyer doesn't pay, send them an email

2) If they still don't pay, open a case and give it 4-32 days to work it out. (I gave 8 which I feel is plenty, I got NO response).

3) If they still don't pay, ebay tells you YOU need to close the case and makes you HURRY to do it or you won't get your final value credits back (I didn't understand their hurry not to give you your fees back, why the time limit?)

4) Once the case is closed, they say it goes on sellers record. For me, closing the case felt like a big "nevermind" to the buyer. He could no longer buy and leave me a feedback. I could no longer leave him a feedback, although the only one I could have ever given him was a positive. I almost left a positive and talked shit on it. But I didn't know how that would have affected the process. I almost felt like that would have given up your fees to leave a positive even if you did talk shit in it.

5) The thing that bugged me the most is even though he didn't pay me, he continued to buy and receive positives AFTER he purchased my book. And even AFTER I reported him as a non paying bidder. To me, I don't think you should be allowed to buy another item if you have any payments in dispute. I feel like your promised debts must be settled if in dispute, before you can buy ANYTHING else. This bugged me more than anything.

So year, ebay is shit. Not that their idea of trading items for cash is bad. Its the fact that they'd rather piss off a seller than a buyer and the seller is the one paying all ebay's fees.

Yeah...ebay is shit.

But unfortunately, I'd use them again and maybe very soon.

Couple of more transgressions I want to talk about.

In 10 years of dealing on eBay, I had a perfect feedback record. Not anymore. I got a Neutral from kaneconner.

kaneconner left me the following neutral yesterday....

may buy more... thanks

Naturally this came on a Valiant item. Turok3 #1 in NM which sold for $6.24. He also has a profile pic that looks like Hobo Stu drew it.

This book's sale ended on Jan 15th. Was paid for on Jan 16th and shipped by media mail on Jan 17th. He received in on Jan 22nd. He did not contact me with any problems at all. Instead he said he may buy from again and gave me a neutral.

Not only this, I look at feedback left for others...

8 out of his last 9 was neutrals for other people. Can anyone say Habitual Neutral giver?

Because I can, I reported the buyer.

Because I can, I replied to his feedback.

Because I can, I blocked the buyer.

And because I can, I cancelled his bids on my current sales. Because I'm all but certain he was going to buy more from me and give me more negative/neutral feedback.

I had 18 unpaid for books this time. My last sale in September, I had 1. Before that, I never had an unpaid for item. I don't like the trend.

eBay gives all kinds of protection to the buyers, but not much for the sellers. I can't give a negative to anyone. Even if they don't pay.

Of the 18 books that weren't paid for, I blocked all of them today. I had to wait for the non paying process to end. It ended yesterday. I actually should say 2 books were paid for after they reported as non paying bidders. The other 16 did not. Those 16 books consisted of about 6 or 7 buyers. I blocked all of them today.

I need to take special note of wolfman-collectibles.

This tool won a couple books on my last books and decided not to pay. And on this sale, he had his bids on about 6 or 7 books. Today I cancelled all of his bids and then I blocked his ass.

I can't believe someone wouldn't pay and then turn around and bid some more and expect you to be okay with it.

I can't believe someone would neutral you for no reason and then be okay seeing you bidding on more of your books. I could buy it if he had a legitimate beef. His only deal was he wanted to be a tool. He's never sold 1 item on ebay and he's handing out neutral's like candy on Halloween. He ruined my perfect record.

I reported him. I don't expect anything to happen. But I did everything I could to him in retaliation. Reported, Bids Cancelled and User Blocked.

I will add that I don't ship anything by media mail. I also use a priority mail box.
Some customers want media mail so they pay the lowest in shipping. Some are willing to pay a little more to get it faster and they also want the added protection of the box.
Shipping it media mail is like telling the customer you don't care when they get it. The post office will let a truck sit until it fills up before they close the door and drive off. If media mail shipments are light, it might sit a day or two. It's possible to protect a single comic adequately with cardboard , but the priority box adds a layer of protection and if it's crushed or ripped in half, there is no doubt that the post office was negligent. With a paper envelope. It could be argued that it isn't designed to protect more weighty objects from gouging and flexing or being shipped alongside other boxes and irregular objects.

df1

Back in my Valiantfans days, I used to think he was alright. But I seen quickly he was in the "IN" clique over there and was more or less one of the unofficial "officers" over there. Also, I mentioned before somewhere that I thought his artwork was too cartoony. And in a squabble over at Lyria, he made it a note to point out some reference to me on something, I forget the subject, but I remember he said to me "What's wrong, is it too cartoony for you?"

The Valiantfans people have done far more to damage my love for Valiant comics than to make me appreciate it. I do find it ironic that the 1st time I get something besides a positive, that it comes from someone who bought a Valiant comic and has what looks like Stu art as his profile pic. I find the irony on all fronts a little more than coincidental.



I'm unwilling to suck anyone's dick or lick their balls to get a good feedback. I've operated ethically and I suspect there will be times I get neutrals and negatives. It just comes with the territory. I expect it. What I don't like is the buyer didn't even list a legitimate beef or concern and even said he may buy more and in fact was currently bidding on more of my product until I cancelled his bids and blocked him. If that news spreads and gets me more non-positive feedbacks, so be it. But it hardly seems like someone had a bad or even neutral experience if they are trying to buy more of your books. And also, 8 out of his last 9 feedbacks were neutral almost all saying he would buy from again.

My problem with eBay is it does everything it can to make sure the sellers operate ethically but nothing to make sure the buyer operates ethically. A non paying bidder report does nothing but put a demerit on their record. I'm not sure how many of those demerits have to happen before they actually block your account. Meanwhile, you're out a sale and the time spent putting it up. You get your fees back but now you have to relist and wait for the process to happen over again. If nothing else, its about a 10 day setback. eBay doesn't compensate you for a buyer being a deadbeat and lets them go on bidding away. They are aware a buyer has won an auction and yet when you send a non paying bidder alert to them, something they can see is legit because all actions including payment comes through ebay or paypal, they do nothing but let the seller continue on.

My thought it is, as soon as a buyer is reported as a non payer, his account on ebay should be frozen until he either pays or the seller says the issue has been resolved. Instead, they let buyers run free. I can't even leave a negative to damage his reputation and warn others. He goes on unannounced as a fraud. I see this as a great injustice. I'm trying to live off of what I'm doing on this. I'm being charged handsome fees to list, have winning auctions and even accepting payments all from the same company. eBay promotes buyer protection constantly but there is nothing to protect me from someone keeping money from me or unjustly damaging my reputation.

Unfortunately, its the nature of the beast and it is what it is. You accept these inefficiencies in ebay and move on. You have no other choice. My choices are to report and block and do what I can to make others aware of certain individuals. Otherwise, I just accept that the system is flawed and if I want to make money doing this, I just have to accept that. Grandstanding is free.