Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders
Protecting your bottom line, your feedback, and your sanity!
Courtesy of BidBoosters.com Everyone seems to have their own stories about them…You’ve probably discovered, either through personal experience, or the stories of others, that deadbeat bidding is a regular occurrence at online auctions such as eBay.
Unfortunately, on many levels, this is absolutely true. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to fall victim to the waste of time and money that deadbeat bidders present. To avoid being burned by deadbeat bidders, there are many simple steps that you can take that will ensure that you’ll maximize your selling potential, while minimizing frustration and waste. These techniques include:
-
A clear, concise payment policy that is easy for your potential customers to access,
-
Strong communication with bidders,
-
Limiting the time it takes to discover that your bidder is a deadbeat,
-
A strategy for dealing with deadbeats,
-
Never assume that what a buyer says is the truth,
-
A policy for post-deadbeat discovery, and
-
Reliable payment methods
The sooner you discover that you have been dealing with a deadbeat, the better. In fact, the most annoying part of dealing with a deadbeat is that you are usually strung along over a lengthy period of time, under the belief (perhaps encouraged by multiple promises by the deadbeat) that payment is on its way.
This prevents you from re-listing your item, or making contact with a second-highest bidder who may still have an interest in your item. The more time that passes, the less money you’ll make, and the more time it will take to make that money. To overcome the issue with regards to lengthy dealings with a deadbeat bidder, there is a handy strategy that you can use. Send the end-of-auction notice with your address for payment and payment policies, the day that the auction ends. In this email, you should also request the name and shipping address of the bidder.
If you receive no reply after 3 days have passed, send a second notification. After another four days have passed, if you have still heard nothing from the bidder, send a third “courtesy” notification email. After two more days in silence, send a final email to the bidder which states that the bidder’s bid for the auction will be negated, they will be blocked from your future auctions, and negative feedback will be left for the bidder, unless one of two things happen: 1. You receive payment by a specific date, which you mention in the email, or,
2. You are sent an email with an update regarding payment within the next 24 hours.
This strategy is effective since it means that you will wait only 9 days, and can take prompt action for recovery if the bidder turns out to be a deadbeat. Should you hear nothing, confirm that the bidder’s bid has been negated, that you will block him or her from bidding on your future auctions, and that you will be leaving negative feedback immediately.
If 30 days pass without seeing hide nor hair of payment, it’s time to settle things with your deadbeat once and for all. Send an online final value fee request, and re-list the item (which is frequently free at most online auctions), then send an email to the deadbeat bidder informing him or her that the transaction with him or her has been voided.
Inform the deadbeat bidder that he or she has been barred from any future bids on your auctions. Then, either use a “blacklist” feature from the online auction, or keep your own list of deadbeat bidders that you wish to ban in the future. Refer to this list frequently to make sure that you aren’t setting yourself up to be burned by the same deadbeat twice. Creating a quality payment policy is a basic and effective protection against deadbeat bidders. If you have not yet created and stated your payment policies and expectations for your auctions, then the avoidance of deadbeat bidders should be a prime reason to get you motivated and get you writing.
Your eBay policies should depend heavily on the feedback system. Remember that the higher the eBay score, the more likely they are to be trustworthy. Therefore, you may wish to adopt a strategy that allows only people with a +1 or higher feedback rating to bid on your auctions. You may wish to offer people with a 0 rating to contact you and request permission to bid. It is recommended that you avoid accepting bids from anyone with a negative rating.
When it comes to acceptable payment methods, the best way to avoid confusion and doubt is to accept only postal money orders from the USPS, Western Union’s BidPay service, and online money transfer services such as PayPal. This way, you’ll always know that you’ve been paid, and that the funds are available. No more insufficient funds, or non-existent checks.
You may also wish to keep in communication with each of your high bidders - emailing them to thank them for their bid, and ensuring that they understand what will be expected of them should they place the winning bid. When deadbeat bidders see your payment policies and expectations frequently enough, they’ll be much less capable of pleading simple ignorance, or ignoring those policies altogether.
Moreover, if a repeat-deadbeat sees that your payment policies are clearly outlined, they will be more likely to move on to a less prepared and knowledgeable seller before placing his or her bid. You can encourage communication of some kind by requesting the name and shipping address of the bidder in your end-of-auction email message; this almost always sparks a reply of some sort.
While it may be your automatic instinct to give people the benefit of the doubt, if things seem a little fishy, then they probably are. There are countless ways in which deadbeat bidders will respond to your end-of-auction notice.
One of the most common, is the buyer’s claim that the “check is in the mail,” and that you should feel free to send them the item. This claim can take many different creative forms - including that they will be “away” or “out of town” or “unreachable” for a length of time, and must receive the item before that date - so you should be careful not to fall victim to any of them. Don’t do it. Make it clear that checks must be received and cleared before the item is sent.
Overall, deadbeats are the minority, and you’ll find that most people will pay quickly, as they are excited about winning the auction and want to receive their item as soon as possible. However, it is the deadbeats that make things difficult. With the proper precautions, you can minimize their impact on your own auction.
Printed with permission of BidBoosters.com :: BidBoosters.com helps power sellers and auction newbies save money, increase sales, and boost online auction selling success with professional templates, free embedded item photos, and insightful auction selling information. ........end of article.........
Return to BidBoosters Insider Back to Top
Would you like add "Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders" to your web site?
You are free to use this article (unedited) on your web site provided the
byline and site attribution (at close of article) remain as-is with live hyperlinks to our web site. No other duplication (including ezines or newsletters) is allowed without our express written permission.
You can also link direct to our "Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders" article from your site!
You can copy/paste the following code:
to create this:
Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders
Everyone seems to have their own stories about them…You've probably discovered, either through personal experience, or the stories of others, that deadbeat bidding is a regular occurrence at online auctions such as eBay. [read article]
For more details or to request use, please contact our BidBoosters Insider team. We'd love to work with you and can also provide you with custom-written content tailored to your web site! For other auction-related articles available for reprint, please see our BidBoosters Insider area.
© 2004 BidBoosters.com - All content within this site and the BidBoosters Insider is the exclusive property of BidBoosters.com and protected under filed copyright.
|
