What feedback should I leave?

[jayshah]

Hi,

I sold this item, and after a few invoices and messages, the persons decided to "mark the payment as sent", and leave me positive feedback.

He never sent the payment nor replied.

Just wanted to see what you fellow rPointers think.

It's a 3 day poll, so really the winning vote is what the guy gets Please post what you'd say too.

Thanks,

Jay

[GavJ]

i would start an unpaid item dispute, then if still no payment by day 8 i would close the dispute and neg him

[jayshah]

Okay, thanks, I can start one tomorrow (yay!).

Thanks,

Jay

[kiltylyn]

He /she perhaps had meant to send the cheque
( genuinely) sent but maybe took ill and cant get to the post office or pc, sometimes things do happen that keep us from our pc's to let others know, i would give it a few days yet, doubt if you could start an unpaid dispute for a few days more yet
Linda

[seylectric]

Hang on.

I always wait a couple of weeks, you have to take into consideration what Lyn said.

But why are you even thinking of leaving feedback first to a non-payer? So you neg him. He only has a feedback of four and it might be a buying ID, or he might be a newbie. either way it won't harm him. If it's a buying ID so he gets a neg, so what? If he's new, he can abandon that ID and start a new user account.

You have a 100% feedback record and you neg him first, he negs you back. Do you really want to lose a 100% record for a 39p item?

If you open an unpaid item dispute and subsequently close it he gets an unpaid item strike. You can then neg him and he can't neg you back but ONLY if he hasn't replied to the unpaid item dispute. If he HAS replied he CAN neg you back. Well worth remembering but a lot of sellers still don't realise that. I didn't know until it was posted on here a couple of months ago and I have over 2,500 feedback, so beware!

If it's a new user and you really want to neg, go through the unpaid item process and in the message box put this:

"This dispute has been opened because you have not paid for the item. If you wish to pay just go to the item and click the 'Pay Now' button. If you do not want the item you need do nothing as we will close the dispute from here."

This works an absolute treat. A lot of newbies think this message has come from ebay, not from the seller. They do nothing, no reply means a week later you close the dispute and neg them with something like, "Non-payer, no contact, allowed 3 weeks, no intention of paying"

[GavJ]

seylectric, the buyer has already left a positive.

[jayshah]

He /she perhaps had meant to send the cheque
( genuinely) sent but maybe took ill and cant get to the post office or pc, sometimes things do happen that keep us from our pc's to let others know, i would give it a few days yet, doubt if you could start an unpaid dispute for a few days more yet
Linda

This could always be true, but then why hasn't the person replied yet?
Also, I try not to jump to conclusion, but look at what (s)he's purchased/sold, all eBooks to get feedback (most likely), and the other sellers probably didn't realise/didn't care that they hadn't payed, as they've got feedback from it.

seylectric, the buyer has already left a positive.

Ditto

Jay

[matdwebb]

I'd just leave it, not give any feedback and put in a non-paying bidder alert to claim back listing fee. 2 more of those and he is kicked off eBay anyway.

If you push it too far, he could theoretically start a claim of you listing against eBay policies by offering an eMail-delivered product. I see you have included a footer to get round all the clauses for listing this type of product, but is it worth the 5p selling fee to risk eBay taking a greater interest in your listings?

[kryptic]

He /she perhaps had meant to send the cheque
( genuinely) sent but maybe took ill and cant get to the post office or pc, sometimes things do happen that keep us from our pc's to let others know, i would give it a few days yet, doubt if you could start an unpaid dispute for a few days more yet
Linda

This could always be true, but then why hasn't the person replied yet?
Also, I try not to jump to conclusion, but look at what (s)he's purchased/sold, all eBooks to get feedback (most likely), and the other sellers probably didn't realise/didn't care that they hadn't payed, as they've got feedback from it.

seylectric, the buyer has already left a positive.

Ditto

Jay

I am guessing that this is some social/psychological experiment you are running on eBay rather than a money making business? Selling items for 0.39p with no p&p charges will result you in a 1p profit if the buyer pays by paypal. I would imagine that any buyer who is buying for feedback has no intention of paying for the item and will probably open a new account if they get bad feedback as it doesn't cost them anything other than time. One thing I would be weary of, if you decide to leave neg feedback, is a retaliation neg, this buyer could open/use a separate account to buy from you (and pay for) and leave a neg against you and I am not sure you would easily be able to remove it.

Having tried to sell low price/high volume information products myself I can tell you it is just a pain in the bum and not worth the effort (IMO).

Jason.

[seylectric]

seylectric, the buyer has already left a positive.

Don't let that put you off!


Seriously, I have actually negged a non-payer who left me a glowing poz simply because she lied (she claimed that her benefits hadn't come through and she was unable to pay but had been buying other items in the meantime).