Worst excuses deadbeat buyers give for not paying for purchases on eBay?

[spideyfan76]

its amazing how many family pets have learned how to use eBay.

 

My best friend likes to leave his laptop open on his coffee table and because it's warm, his cat likes to sleep on the keyboard. Before he turned 1-click buying off from Amazon, the cat ordered several items that he had been looking at.

[Dr. Balls]

Before I knew the proper protocol for cancelling a sale/relisting an item - I had a buyer ignore and not pay within the allotted timeframe specified in the auction, so I relisted it and it sold as a BIN (super hot book at the time).

 

Buyer gave me the 'Dead-Grandma-I-Was-At-The-Hospital-And-Never-Checked-My-Phone-For-Three-Days spiel and demanded I sell him the book. He went hilariously ballistic when I told him it was already sold, paid for and shipped by the time he contacted me.

 

He refused to cancel the transaction and neg'd me. The sad part is that I was stuck paying the FVF anyways and Ebay refused to remove the neg. But, I learned that there is a specific way to relist an item that is unpaid for - so lesson learned.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

its amazing how many family pets have learned how to use eBay.

 

My best friend likes to leave his laptop open on his coffee table and because it's warm, his cat likes to sleep on the keyboard. Before he turned 1-click buying off from Amazon, the cat ordered several items that he had been looking at.

 

lol

[kav]

I'd like to see a creative excuse like 'someone hacked my ebay' or something at least

My kid bid on it is so played out

[mycomicshop]

I used to have my items set up so you didnt have to pay right away . I changed that pretty quickly. It wasnt about people not paying. I just expected if you wanted it, you would pay for it right away. I got tired of waiting 3 to 4 days for someone to pay . I always get my items ready to ship ASAP. So i changed items to require immediate payment .

I also had several different options as far as shipping. Including free pickup. I changed that after I had a guy want to buy a book for 3.99 from me. He choose free pickup . Problem was he was in Colorado . He didnt want to pay the $2.50 to ship it. So i would have made about 90 or so cents on that after all the Ebay fees, Paypal fees Shipping , Shipping materials. I never shipped it, he never paid .

Too many people truly dont know how Ebay works .

So now shipping is "Free " ( I roll shipping into the price) and you pay right away .

Makes things much easier .

 

 

We are in the process of switching our listings over to require immediate payment. I don't want people to be able to tie up items (especially consignments) for a long period of time without paying for them, and I don't want people giving us negative feedback because we released the reserve after two weeks of non-payment and then they try to buy the item after it's been relisted and sold to somebody else.

 

The biggest issue I've seen so far with the immediate payment option is that eBay's interface is kind of a mess if you want to require immediate payment but still allow people to place a combined order for multiple items. What buyers are supposed to do is use the "Add to cart" button to pick out the stuff they want, then go through checkout to pay for everything together. But we're getting some people who continue to click the "Buy It Now" to buy one item at a time, and then want to combine them after the fact. Ebay doesn't make it easy.

[Dark Prime 0]

I used to have my items set up so you didnt have to pay right away . I changed that pretty quickly. It wasnt about people not paying. I just expected if you wanted it, you would pay for it right away. I got tired of waiting 3 to 4 days for someone to pay . I always get my items ready to ship ASAP. So i changed items to require immediate payment .

I also had several different options as far as shipping. Including free pickup. I changed that after I had a guy want to buy a book for 3.99 from me. He choose free pickup . Problem was he was in Colorado . He didnt want to pay the $2.50 to ship it. So i would have made about 90 or so cents on that after all the Ebay fees, Paypal fees Shipping , Shipping materials. I never shipped it, he never paid .

Too many people truly dont know how Ebay works .

So now shipping is "Free " ( I roll shipping into the price) and you pay right away .

Makes things much easier .

 

 

We are in the process of switching our listings over to require immediate payment. I don't want people to be able to tie up items (especially consignments) for a long period of time without paying for them, and I don't want people giving us negative feedback because we released the reserve after two weeks of non-payment and then they try to buy the item after it's been relisted and sold to somebody else.

 

The biggest issue I've seen so far with the immediate payment option is that eBay's interface is kind of a mess if you want to require immediate payment but still allow people to place a combined order for multiple items. What buyers are supposed to do is use the "Add to cart" button to pick out the stuff they want, then go through checkout to pay for everything together. But we're getting some people who continue to click the "Buy It Now" to buy one item at a time, and then want to combine them after the fact. Ebay doesn't make it easy.

there is 1 problem i see with that.....what happens if the book sells (to someone else) in the time between adding it to the cart and when they get done looking, then said buyer is SoL

 

personaly i never even knew about the cart, and honestly i have no intention of ever useing it. though i barely use ebay and norm it's only 1 item at a time

 

in the example above i'd rather buy the book, know it's mine then go on to look for more

[RockMyAmadeus]

My cat ate my mouse, and I bought 47 new laptops before I got it back.

[mycomicshop]

I used to have my items set up so you didnt have to pay right away . I changed that pretty quickly. It wasnt about people not paying. I just expected if you wanted it, you would pay for it right away. I got tired of waiting 3 to 4 days for someone to pay . I always get my items ready to ship ASAP. So i changed items to require immediate payment .

I also had several different options as far as shipping. Including free pickup. I changed that after I had a guy want to buy a book for 3.99 from me. He choose free pickup . Problem was he was in Colorado . He didnt want to pay the $2.50 to ship it. So i would have made about 90 or so cents on that after all the Ebay fees, Paypal fees Shipping , Shipping materials. I never shipped it, he never paid .

Too many people truly dont know how Ebay works .

So now shipping is "Free " ( I roll shipping into the price) and you pay right away .

Makes things much easier .

 

 

We are in the process of switching our listings over to require immediate payment. I don't want people to be able to tie up items (especially consignments) for a long period of time without paying for them, and I don't want people giving us negative feedback because we released the reserve after two weeks of non-payment and then they try to buy the item after it's been relisted and sold to somebody else.

 

The biggest issue I've seen so far with the immediate payment option is that eBay's interface is kind of a mess if you want to require immediate payment but still allow people to place a combined order for multiple items. What buyers are supposed to do is use the "Add to cart" button to pick out the stuff they want, then go through checkout to pay for everything together. But we're getting some people who continue to click the "Buy It Now" to buy one item at a time, and then want to combine them after the fact. Ebay doesn't make it easy.

there is 1 problem i see with that.....what happens if the book sells (to someone else) in the time between adding it to the cart and when they get done looking, then said buyer is SoL

 

personaly i never even knew about the cart, and honestly i have no intention of ever useing it. though i barely use ebay and norm it's only 1 item at a time

 

in the example above i'd rather buy the book, know it's mine then go on to look for more

 

Yes, if you're concerned about somebody else getting it, you're right that you're better off doing the Buy It Now to purchase the item immediately. In our case, if you buy any more stuff soon afterward, we'll automatically combine the new stuff with your existing order if we haven't already started processing the first order, and refund you the extra shipping. But that only helps if the buyer knows about it, and most buyers don't.

 

Putting stuff in a shopping cart and knowing that the item isn't reserved for you until you complete checkout is how our site works, how Amazon works, and how most of the world's other e-commerce sites work. It only feels unusual in the context of ebay because I don't think they've done a good job with the shopping cart/BIN interface.

[jimjum12]

My cat ate my mouse, and I bought 47 new laptops before I got it back.

 

..... I have this book called "101 Uses For A Dead Cat"........... GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Chris_Skeleton]

I'd like to see a creative excuse like 'someone hacked my ebay' or something at least

My kid bid on it is so played out

 

I had a seller use that one before, but it was genuine back when all the hacks were happening. They had The Walking Dead Compendium 2 for $25 BIN so I bought it. And then nothing happened the next few days so I went ahead and bought the next cheap one I found for $23. A couple days later, I heard from the first seller. Apparently, her account got hacked and somebody listed a whole bunch of items on her account that she didn't have.

 

I did have a very frustrating incident with a seller though. I had purchased the 2008 Guardians of the Galaxy HC Vol. 2-4 for roughly $10 each plus shipping. The guy messaged me and said he had several of the single issues as well. I believe it included the first and last issues and a good mix of the mids and that he would sell them to me for $20. I agreed and messaged make a listing with my username and nothing else and told him to send me a link. I didn't want to risk someone else grabbing them. He listed them as "Guardians of the Galaxy Lot" with pictures and full description and sent me a link like 20 minutes later. Of course, when I opened it, there was a big fat SOLD on it. Made me so mad, but I should've had him send me an invoice on paypal and did the transaction outside of ebay.

[JohnFranklin]

I was at my kids BB practice....looking at book on ebay using my phone, something happened on the court, slid my phone in my pocket as I looked up, pulled my phone out 10 minutes later.....BIN somehow got pushed. Had no interest in the book. Attempted to contact the seller, repeatedly(2 emails and 5 phone messages), the DH never responded....so it isn't always the buyer....although it probably is 98.5% of the time.

 

[Buzzetta]

Back around 2005? I actually did have someone hack my eBay account.

 

I was locked out of my account, all of my listings were cancelled and they did not buy a single thing.

 

However they started using my account to list automobiles. That was a shocker.

 

I called up eBay and they took care of everything for me.

[Gatchaman]

 

We are in the process of switching our listings over to require immediate payment. I don't want people to be able to tie up items (especially consignments) for a long period of time without paying for them, and I don't want people giving us negative feedback because we released the reserve after two weeks of non-payment and then they try to buy the item after it's been relisted and sold to somebody else.

 

The biggest issue I've seen so far with the immediate payment option is that eBay's interface is kind of a mess if you want to require immediate payment but still allow people to place a combined order for multiple items. What buyers are supposed to do is use the "Add to cart" button to pick out the stuff they want, then go through checkout to pay for everything together. But we're getting some people who continue to click the "Buy It Now" to buy one item at a time, and then want to combine them after the fact. Ebay doesn't make it easy.

 

There is a around the cart and not to have to pay for everything right then, but you have bought it anyway nonetheless. Choose your book, purchase it, but don't go all the way to paying for it. I have done this numerous times and worked. I've bought a lot from Comicshop on eBay and sometimes it takes me a couple days to look through a lot of what they have to offer and I don't want to lose it if it is in my cart.

[Sqeggs]

I used to have my items set up so you didnt have to pay right away . I changed that pretty quickly. It wasnt about people not paying. I just expected if you wanted it, you would pay for it right away. I got tired of waiting 3 to 4 days for someone to pay . I always get my items ready to ship ASAP. So i changed items to require immediate payment .

I also had several different options as far as shipping. Including free pickup. I changed that after I had a guy want to buy a book for 3.99 from me. He choose free pickup . Problem was he was in Colorado . He didnt want to pay the $2.50 to ship it. So i would have made about 90 or so cents on that after all the Ebay fees, Paypal fees Shipping , Shipping materials. I never shipped it, he never paid .

Too many people truly dont know how Ebay works .

So now shipping is "Free " ( I roll shipping into the price) and you pay right away .

Makes things much easier .

 

 

We are in the process of switching our listings over to require immediate payment. I don't want people to be able to tie up items (especially consignments) for a long period of time without paying for them, and I don't want people giving us negative feedback because we released the reserve after two weeks of non-payment and then they try to buy the item after it's been relisted and sold to somebody else.

 

The biggest issue I've seen so far with the immediate payment option is that eBay's interface is kind of a mess if you want to require immediate payment but still allow people to place a combined order for multiple items. What buyers are supposed to do is use the "Add to cart" button to pick out the stuff they want, then go through checkout to pay for everything together. But we're getting some people who continue to click the "Buy It Now" to buy one item at a time, and then want to combine them after the fact. Ebay doesn't make it easy.

there is 1 problem i see with that.....what happens if the book sells (to someone else) in the time between adding it to the cart and when they get done looking, then said buyer is SoL

 

personaly i never even knew about the cart, and honestly i have no intention of ever useing it. though i barely use ebay and norm it's only 1 item at a time

 

in the example above i'd rather buy the book, know it's mine then go on to look for more

 

Yes, if you're concerned about somebody else getting it, you're right that you're better off doing the Buy It Now to purchase the item immediately. In our case, if you buy any more stuff soon afterward, we'll automatically combine the new stuff with your existing order if we haven't already started processing the first order, and refund you the extra shipping. But that only helps if the buyer knows about it, and most buyers don't.

 

Putting stuff in a shopping cart and knowing that the item isn't reserved for you until you complete checkout is how our site works, how Amazon works, and how most of the world's other e-commerce sites work. It only feels unusual in the context of ebay because I don't think they've done a good job with the shopping cart/BIN interface.

 

Those other sites, though, are selling standard stuff where there isn't much chance of being scooped by another buyer while going through the adding to a cart process.

[stanley1883]

OK after 14 years selling on eBay, I finally got the infamous "my kid bid on your comic" excuse for not paying and wanting to back out of a transaction. I've had my fair share of non-paying bidders who never respond at all, but a much smaller number of deadbeats who actually give excuses...usually citing personal illness or a death in the family. I think one guy told me the weather had knocked out internet service so he couldn't log on for a week.

 

Anyway, I suppose the "my kid did it" excuse is remotely plausible if it was a BIN...still very unlikely, but possible. However mine was a best offer...and a fair one at that...that his "12 year old son" somehow concocted. Not a high dollar book so no biggie...although this one was especially annoying because I had multiple offers in on the book and took this one which was the highest. After I accepted this offer, one of the underbidders sent me a nasty note claiming that I should have negotiated with him before selling it to somebody else. I was gracious and apologized to him and simply said the highest offer won, but now I have to relist and have probably lost at least one interested party.

So...how many of you who sell on eBay have gotten the kid excuse? And what are some other absurd reasons deadbeats have given you?

 

 

I think the "My kid did it" is very plausible for a regular auction, I don't think it's plausible for the best offer, but hey whatever. I haven't really heard any stories as I seldom sell comics, but I did have a buyer back out once because the comic I described as VF, was actually VF. It is pretty disheartening that people have buyers remorse and make up stories to get out of the sale.

 

I also don't like the eBay policy of the buyer is ALWAYS right, regardless of what happens. I understand the need to protect buyers from crooked sellers, but their current system is flawed. Sorry for going off on a tangent.

[Action252Kid]

I once bought something/paid for it, only to have the seller tell me he "accidentally dropped the comic in a bucket of bleach, and it was destroyed" so he could no longer sell it to me. That's probably the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard on eBay. (He likely sold it to another bidder for a higher price than I won it for at auction).

 

But for selling, I've heard all the various excuses from buyers. Like someone else said, just let them out of the sale and move on. It's annoying, but still better than "forcing" them to buy the item then getting bad feedback; or worse, sending them the item/having them return it and have to pay return shipping/risk damage to the item, etc.

[mycomicshop]

I used to have my items set up so you didnt have to pay right away . I changed that pretty quickly. It wasnt about people not paying. I just expected if you wanted it, you would pay for it right away. I got tired of waiting 3 to 4 days for someone to pay . I always get my items ready to ship ASAP. So i changed items to require immediate payment .

I also had several different options as far as shipping. Including free pickup. I changed that after I had a guy want to buy a book for 3.99 from me. He choose free pickup . Problem was he was in Colorado . He didnt want to pay the $2.50 to ship it. So i would have made about 90 or so cents on that after all the Ebay fees, Paypal fees Shipping , Shipping materials. I never shipped it, he never paid .

Too many people truly dont know how Ebay works .

So now shipping is "Free " ( I roll shipping into the price) and you pay right away .

Makes things much easier .

 

 

We are in the process of switching our listings over to require immediate payment. I don't want people to be able to tie up items (especially consignments) for a long period of time without paying for them, and I don't want people giving us negative feedback because we released the reserve after two weeks of non-payment and then they try to buy the item after it's been relisted and sold to somebody else.

 

The biggest issue I've seen so far with the immediate payment option is that eBay's interface is kind of a mess if you want to require immediate payment but still allow people to place a combined order for multiple items. What buyers are supposed to do is use the "Add to cart" button to pick out the stuff they want, then go through checkout to pay for everything together. But we're getting some people who continue to click the "Buy It Now" to buy one item at a time, and then want to combine them after the fact. Ebay doesn't make it easy.

there is 1 problem i see with that.....what happens if the book sells (to someone else) in the time between adding it to the cart and when they get done looking, then said buyer is SoL

 

personaly i never even knew about the cart, and honestly i have no intention of ever useing it. though i barely use ebay and norm it's only 1 item at a time

 

in the example above i'd rather buy the book, know it's mine then go on to look for more

 

Yes, if you're concerned about somebody else getting it, you're right that you're better off doing the Buy It Now to purchase the item immediately. In our case, if you buy any more stuff soon afterward, we'll automatically combine the new stuff with your existing order if we haven't already started processing the first order, and refund you the extra shipping. But that only helps if the buyer knows about it, and most buyers don't.

 

Putting stuff in a shopping cart and knowing that the item isn't reserved for you until you complete checkout is how our site works, how Amazon works, and how most of the world's other e-commerce sites work. It only feels unusual in the context of ebay because I don't think they've done a good job with the shopping cart/BIN interface.

 

Those other sites, though, are selling standard stuff where there isn't much chance of being scooped by another buyer while going through the adding to a cart process.

 

Fair enough, but if the item is so desirable that you're worried somebody else will snag it out from under you, I wouldn't think that paying $4.95 shipping to go ahead and buy the item would be a big concern. (and again, our system will automatically combine any follow-on orders you place soon afterward as long as the initial order hasn't started processing yet, so it's best of both worlds).

 

I don't disagree with you that buyers have a legit reason for wanting the ability to claim an item and not pay for it til later. Just pointing out that given the problems for us and our consignors caused by buyers who claim an item via Buy It Now and then never pay for it, we're going to try eBay's immediate payment feature to prevent that from happening.

[ttfitz]

I've got my ebay account set to block anyone with unpaid strikes aganst them, that's the best advice I can give you.

 

That will work with repeat offenders, but I think they have to have at least 2 to block them, right?

[Chris_Skeleton]

I once bought something/paid for it, only to have the seller tell me he "accidentally dropped the comic in a bucket of bleach, and it was destroyed" so he could no longer sell it to me. That's probably the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard on eBay. (He likely sold it to another bidder for a higher price than I won it for at auction).

 

But for selling, I've heard all the various excuses from buyers. Like someone else said, just let them out of the sale and move on. It's annoying, but still better than "forcing" them to buy the item then getting bad feedback; or worse, sending them the item/having them return it and have to pay return shipping/risk damage to the item, etc.

 

My buddy won an auction on New 52 Flash 1-10 with variants for super cheap, like around 15. Shortly thereafter, maybe a day or two, he gets a message from the seller saying that they got water damaged ON THE WAY to the post office. Even if it did rain or he spilled something on them, if he had packaged them properly, there's no way they would've got wet. The only way is if he would've drove his car into a lake on the way to the P.O.

[Mark 1]

I just got one today from a guy who accepted my counter offer on a $2,300 guitar.

 

He now claims he doesn't have the limit on his credit card and can't pay.

 

What do I do? Neg him or just move on/?