What percentage of ebay buyers are just plain stupid?

[slidekellyslide]

My latest idiot was a buyer that bought something that required UPS shipping..they made three attempts to deliver to him and UPS finally called me to tell me it was on its way back to me. The buyer who made no attempt to get this item from his local UPS tells me that I have to pay to ship it back to him. No way in H E double hockey sticks is that going to happen.

[prewarsports]

Not trying to sound sexist here but if you have a Woman buyer you have a MUCH higher potential of them being pissed off. Sell stuff women dont want and you eliminate a lot of problems. What Scott said is also true, cheap stuff brings out the a-holes in large numbers. So if you have a $9 photo of a princess, you're screwed!

I have sold on ebay for 14 years and sold tens of thousands of items with only a handful of real problems. I only sell stuff guys want in general and I only try to list things worth more than 30-40 as my bottom limit and I seem to eliminate 99% of the items that bring the problems out of the woodwork.

Not trying to be an elitist/sexist jerk, but it works.

Now if I could just find a way to eliminate the EBAY caused problems, I would be able to live a Zen-Like existance!

Rhys

[buymycards]

Rhys, I agree with you on the $30-$40 limits. All of my problems and npb's come from sales under 5 bucks and bidders with feedback of under 20. I have been thinking seriously about bundling my items and not selling anything under 30 bucks.

Rick

[slidekellyslide]

I get a lot of buyers who fish for partial refunds, but my policy is flat out return the product for a full refund, I do NOT give partial refunds. Very rarely do items get returned by partial refund fishermen. I also don't give a crap about my star rating anymore since ebay has made it virtually impossible to get the discount so I am far less likely to cave into unreasonable buyers than I was just a few months ago.

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I get a lot of buyers who fish for partial refunds, but my policy is flat out return the product for a full refund, I do NOT give partial refunds. Very rarely do items get returned by partial refund fishermen. I also don't give a crap about my star rating anymore since ebay has made it virtually impossible to get the discount so I am far less likely to cave into unreasonable buyers than I was just a few months ago.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I have never had a buyer ask for a partial refund. What possible reason would they have for even asking?

I've had some knuckleheads who can't read, and in particular one SOB from Philly who returned items on a whim until I blocked him. But so far, that's the worst.

Ken

[RobertGT]

I agree with the statement that about 10 percent of eBay buyers are idiots. Most of the idiots I encounter are idiots who buy my stuff and then never pay. The vast majority of my buyers are great.

Every once in awhile I get an idiot who is also a jerk who must be immediately added to my "blocked buyer" list, like this clown who sent me this note after I had the audacity to turn down his UNSOLICITED lowball offer. I never had a "best offer" option on the card, which coincidentally sold a few hours later at my BIN price.

To: me

after a month shove it . thanks for the dumb comments, i dont care what you did in 13 yrs . what does feed have to do with covering a transaction..bye dummy"

-

I got that response after replying to his offer with this:

I think I will hold out for awhile. If it's still for sale in a month or so email me again and I'll sell it. And I've never not sent a card in 13 years on eBay. Check my feedback.
Thanks,
Rob

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

At the risk of jinxing myself, I have never had a buyer ask for a partial refund. What possible reason would they have for even asking?

I've had some knuckleheads who can't read, and in particular one SOB from Philly who returned items on a whim until I blocked him. But so far, that's the worst.

Ken

Partial refund fishers will make up reasons to ask for a partial refund which is why they hardly ever return the item. I once had a buyer do that to me twice saying the item was damaged in shipping....the first time I gave the partial refund and just went about my business...when he purchased from me again a few months later he claimed the same thing..I recognized his name and asked him for photos...he never replied to me at all, so I just went ahead and blocked him. Then a few months later he tried to bid on another of my items and got pissed off that he was blocked. He sent me a nasty email and said the item would have sold for ten times what it sold for if he'd been allowed to bid. I just ignored him...Maybe a month or so later he requested my contact info from ebay. I sent him an email telling him if he uses my address for anything I would call his local police. Haven't heard a thing since then. Ebay is full of weirdos.

[slidekellyslide]

Yeah, I am currently dealing with another idiot. Just got a message from him that says "DO NOT WANT TO BUY"...I told him it's too late and he already bought it...he comes back with "YOUR EBAY AD SAYS I CAN RETURN IT"...I told him you haven't even gotten it yet...he replies "I DONT CARE I WANT MY MONEY BACK I FOUND SOMETHING ELSE I WANT TO BUY".

Here's the item.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:X:RTQ:US:1123

His feedback is 66.7%, I think I'll cut my losses and refund him right away before I end up with another stalker idiot

His ebay id is nj1098 if you guys want to block him.

[jsage]

Looking for some advice as to delivery to buyers.
I always use US Postal Delivery Confirmations for all my sales.
As I am sure you have experienced, many buyers do not post feedback that acknowledges receipt of the item sold.
How long do you keep the post office "documnents" - just in case, at a later date, a buyer claims he did not receive the merchandise?
Thanks,
Jerry Sage

[Exhibitman]

I differ with most on the partial refund issue. If it is a buyer's remorse issue, that's one thing, but sometimes there is a good basis for the request. I can recall at least two occasions where I received a card that was improperly packed and ended up slightly damaged--a crease or a ding [and always when the seller has charged me for shipping]. The conundrum arises when there is a rare item for which I have been waiting and for which I paid top dollar. I'm not going to send it back for minor damage that kills the technical grade but I am definitely going to reach out to the seller and make it known that he messed up and I am disappointed. If that makes me a "refund fisher" so be it, but my view is that if a seller messes up and he and the buyer can reach a reasonable accommodation that leaves both sides satisfied, it is better than having a disappointed buyer, especially when ebay so closely ties performance rankings to discounts and other benefits, or an unwound transaction that disappoints the buyer. If it makes you feel better as a seller to know that you will never be victimized by a 'refund fisher' than it does to issue a partial refund for a genuine issue you caused, that's entirely your decision. Me, I'd rather reach an accommodation that all parties can accept and not waste my time relisting, reselling and reshipping an item. Also, the vast majority of people I've dealt with are honest and of good intent, and I prefer to assume that to be the case when I enter into a deal. Plus, my goal is to have a satisfied customer who will order from me again, not someone who had a bad experience and won't look at my next listings. If all that takes is a discount when I am at fault, I'm doing it.

One other point is that for a buyer it is often quite costly to send back an item, especially if it is large or heavy, and some of the derided 'fishers' may have been legitimate people who did not want to incur the cost. I had to return a large item that arrived in a Beckett slab that had been damaged in transit and it cost me 25% of the item price to send it back.