I'm about to become a non paying bidder

[bykimbo]

This works if a seller has a store[s]. Not all sellers do. If they don't, I don't know how to tell if they are there or not. Does anyone know.

You can't, but looking at their feedback *might* give a clue if you're lucky.

[Teddyrose54]

I think that is an excellent idea and is implemented on another auction site I sell on (not the big kahuna) - it shows which members are online, whether they are a buyer or seller doesn't matter.

I know the site you mean~ great site, but geared mainly towards the American market~

I love it there too. Friendly, informal, and very very different from anything else. Just wish they would add some thing to get the international buyers and sellers more interested.

Back to here~ we need something~ this is NOT a one off seller~ there are too many doing this. And it is not good~

Out of five purchases, I've had 2 bad buys, all within 6 weeks.

If I was new to this, I would think twice before buying again.

If we're serious about making this THE top site, we need to ditch the dead wood, and fast.

[asktricia]

I now have 6 non paying bidders, only one of these has emailed me to say that they had ordered in error, i.e. wrong size, did I have a larger size, but as regards the others there has been no response to my emails or my repeated sending of invoices, so from a different point of view I think it would be a good idea to be able to select an option, in the feedback area, to show that a person has bidded on and not paid for an item (after a period of time has elapsed), as some people appear to be treating this website as a 'game'. I do believe that this also went on in the early days of the other auction site.

I am aware that being able to give negative feedback helps, but as yet, I have not given anyone feedback, so no one else will be aware, which I think happens in most cases, due to the possible retaliation of negative feedback.

Instead of leaving negative feedback, being able to select 'non responding bidder' would leave a strike against their feedback score and would be more noticeable i.e. [+2] 4 (4 being shown in red and change each time someone selects this option), therefore showing that this person has 2 feedbacks and 4 non paying strikes.

This would also eliminate the need to contact support, if a retaliation feedback has been left, to justifiy the reason for it to be removed, which is why I have not gone down this route.

After a period of time members with a certain number of non paying bids could be removed from the site as it would be clear that they are not serious buyers.

Not sure if this is possible, but just a suggestion.

Tricia

[Teddyrose54]

Not a bad suggestion Tricia.

I've checked out my sellers~ the one oweing me a refund last check in 4th May 2010

The one I am waiting for an invoice from~ 27th Oct 2009~

Not good, not good at all~

[asktricia]

A change in this area would boost confidence in this website.

Tricia

[rethreads]

I can empathize; i'm going through the same thing now myself. This is my first time using Ebid~ I just discovered it while looking for a shirt; it came back in a google search. I emailed the seller a sizing query- she listed the item as large, but I wanted to know the bust measurements~ but after a few days I didn't hear back from her, so I went to the actual website of the company who made the shirt, and just used their sizing chart. One I was sure it would fit, I came back and bought it (it was a buy it now, not an auction)~ but the seller doesn't take Paypal, and says she prefers google checkout. There was no direct link to pay via them, so I emailed her via Ebid, & asked if she would tell me how to proceed with payment-0 and even apologized for being new at this- but nada~ still no reply.
I suppose I should have been a little wary when she didn't answer the measurements query, but I also know a lot of people don't bother answering those kind of questions; they think "large" should suffice~ I'm a seamstress, so i deal in measurements (sizes are too varied by designer)~ I've been selling handmade clothing on Etsy & EBay for almost 7 years, but I also know some sellers have so many auctions they can't take the time to measure specific items, so at the time, i figured that was the case, and I bought it anyways.
However, she only appears to have a handful of auctions, so i'm a little concerned now :P After i didn't hear back from the first email asking how to pay, I sent a 2nd one to her personal email (it was listed on her profile), but again, no reply.
I'm in the US anyways, but she doesn't appear to use that ppay system mentioned on here- she does however have her physical mailing address on her profile, along with a note saying she takes checks, money orders, credit cards & google checkout- but I'm really not comfortable sending a check to her without getting her reply first~ I'd much prefer to use google checkout, you know?
So now i'm kind of stuck in limbo~ i don't know how to send her payment, and even though I'm starting to think maybe she's not going to reply, i don't want to spend the $ on another shirt lest she suddenly pop up and send instructions.
I'm sure there are great sellers on here, but i have to say, i'm not really sure if i'll com eback~ it feels a little unfinished to me here~ there don't seem to be any safeguards in place yet; for buyers OR sellers- i mean, i love that someone else is out there aside form Ebay, but i think there needs to be some tweaking done. Kind of a bummer though, i was excited to find a new spot-
What do i do if the seller never emails me back? I agree with the earlier statement about it not being our responsibility to chase after the seller~ i run 2 shops on Etsy and another on Ebay; plus I do a lot of custom orders, and i always send the buyer a quick note after they purchase from me, just to show i'm aknowledging the sale, and to ask if they had any questions, etc~ in this case however, i sent the seller 2 emails, on top of the automatic one Ebid sent letting her know that she made a sale- am I supposed to keep emailing her now? And it's kind of frustrating b/c I feel gipped- not to mention, does this mean i'll get a non-paying buyer label now?
Any sage advice would be greatly appreciated

Hi, neighbor! I'm in Lakewood.
Please don't be put off the site. My first "buying" experience was with a dump-and-run seller. Most of us have been there, and there are goobers everywhere. Be glad you didn't pay, and move on. You won't be branded an NPB if you couldn't pay.
P.S. Would love to see some of your clothing.

[darklisruthven]

I don't know the answer to that one. I've wondered the same question myself.

I directly PM them and ask.

[hopeful2]

You can't, but looking at their feedback *might* give a clue if you're lucky.

I think you are right Kim..

[hopeful2]

I directly PM them and ask.

I did "ask seller a question", never heard anything so I contacted admin. They are looking into it. I have moved on since. It just bugs me to see all these listings [thousands] with no one home.

[deltadelta48]

I now have 6 non paying bidders, only one of these has emailed me to say that they had ordered in error, i.e. wrong size, did I have a larger size, but as regards the others there has been no response to my emails or my repeated sending of invoices, so from a different point of view I think it would be a good idea to be able to select an option, in the feedback area, to show that a person has bidded on and not paid for an item (after a period of time has elapsed), as some people appear to be treating this website as a 'game'. I do believe that this also went on in the early days of the other auction site.

I am aware that being able to give negative feedback helps, but as yet, I have not given anyone feedback, so no one else will be aware, which I think happens in most cases, due to the possible retaliation of negative feedback.

Instead of leaving negative feedback, being able to select 'non responding bidder' would leave a strike against their feedback score and would be more noticeable i.e. [+2] 4 (4 being shown in red and change each time someone selects this option), therefore showing that this person has 2 feedbacks and 4 non paying strikes.

This would also eliminate the need to contact support, if a retaliation feedback has been left, to justifiy the reason for it to be removed, which is why I have not gone down this route.

After a period of time members with a certain number of non paying bids could be removed from the site as it would be clear that they are not serious buyers.

Not sure if this is possible, but just a suggestion.

Tricia

A majority of buyers who get negatives get them because of non payment. The feedback and comments are easily available for those transactions. So value of bypassing the present feedback system in favor of just leaving non payers a comment that they did not pay is questionable. Every buyer would have 100% score, same way it is done on feebay now.

A feedback systems has to summarize the transaction.

Yes in the old days on feebay someone could give a negative feedback in return, and it was non reversable even if given in error. But here such a feedback (i.e. from a non payer) is reversable, often within hours of contacting ebid administration. So being afraid of getting negged is not a good excuse for bypassing the whole feedback system.