EBay - Can you block 0 feedback bidders?
 

I was just doing some browsing around EBay for the completed recent auctions on "Mickey Mouse in Living Color". Something very strange is going on, as a bunch of auctions ended at $80 and up, won by the same 3 buyers, all with 0 feedback. I couldn't help but think someone is sabotaging these auctions with no intention of paying.

Which made me wonder if, as a seller, you can block bidders with 0 feedback? Or would you just have to state in your TOS that you won't accept 0 (or low) feedback bidders and cancel any who do, though you couldn't stop snipes in time.

TIA!

I don't think that you can physically stop all people with zero feedback from bidding, though you can certainly add specific users to your "blocked" list (where that specific person can't bid on your auctions).

Speaking of this, I saw an auction a couple of days ago that stated "no international bidders or bidders from Hawaii or Alaska. People who violate this rule are subject to a 15% restocking fee." It was an interesting idea, though of course I doubt anybody pays it.

I put a notice on all auctions that people with 0 feedback or less need to contact me prior to bidding. If they don't, I cancel their bids and put them on my blocked bidder list. You can't do this automatically through eBay.

Do you just eat the listing fee and the percentage of the final price? Do you notify the second high bidder to see if they want the item?

Hey what's wrong with zero feedback bidders??

You were all one at some point...give a brother a chance..

Unless the 0-feedback bidder snipes the auction at the last minute, you just cancel/block them before the auction's over. No sweat.

Thanks for the feedback!

And Cheddarmuff, nothing against legitimate 0 feedback bidders, but in the instance I noted, it seemed very suspicious. (The same 3 bidders, all with 0 feedback, each winning multiple auctions for this OOP item.)

I had one of the auctions in question with the same bidder you are talking about. He/She has not responded or paid for the item so I think your suspicion is correct.

Yeah...
 

Exactly. Not all 0 feedback bidders are bad. Everyone's gotta start somewhere.

The odd thing is - I didn't start with zero feedback when I started using Ebay. Between the time I registered and the time I actually started listing items and buying (about a year), I had earned a feedback rating of four. I don't who the feedback was for or why I had any at all, but there is was and Ebay wouldn't remove it.

LOL How wierd. For me, I just bought feedback like so many people do. Got me out of that 0-place right quick.

:hscratch: Huh?

How did you do that...are you just referring to buying some stuff and paying quick?

Something like that. There are basically a ton of auctions on ebay which only have a purpose of providing feedback. They're usually very low priced items, sometimes "information" that is sent to you via e-mail, sometimes they're dutch auctions (so the seller can crank their feedback ratings high, quickly) and the descriptions usually say "I provide positive feedback for all winners"

And sometimes they're 3-day auctions like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=33039

Selling feedback is completely against eBay's rules, so the auction listed above will probably get pulled and the seller might get kicked, but there are a ton of auctions going on right now that I would guess are basically auctions-for-feedback, but are thinly veiled as low-cost-dutch-auctions-for-emailed-info-that-promise-good-feedback-to-all-winners

BTW, I'm not suggesting that anybody purchases feedback. I'm just saying that that's how a LOT of people do it.

And as I thought, that ebay auction I mentioned above has been pulled. For those who didn't see it, theTitle of the auction was something to the effect of "Buy Feedback Here"

True, but 99.99999999% of the time I have a non paying bidder, or I don't get any email responses from the winning bidder, it's someone with "0" feedback. I'm sure many people wouldn't mind loosing a buck or two on a $100+ dollar item if they blocked the 0 feedback bidders, simply for the peace of mind that they will actually have a sale, when it sells.


0 feedbackers do make it interesting at times. When I list that $1000 dollar item and start it at $0.01, I can always count on the 0 feedback bidders to give 10 bids before the item price reaches 3 bucks.

So I only like to spend $3 at a time... ;)