No penalty for non paying bidder on eBay

[Vertefae]

The person in question has been banned from the FB group. If someone could at least pm the eBay id to the mods so she can be added to the bad trader list I'm sure many of us would appreciate it.

I find it concerning that so many people know about the issues but are unwilling to help others out by sharing a name. If you're that worried about backlash from the person or her friends that's even more concerning.

[ashlyne]

The person in question has been banned from the FB group. If someone could at least pm the eBay id to the mods so she can be added to the bad trader list I'm sure many of us would appreciate it.

I find it concerning that so many people know about the issues but are unwilling to help others out by sharing a name. If you're that worried about backlash from the person or her friends that's even more concerning.

I haven't had any direct transactions with her so I'm not sure it's my place. It's not exactly scamming either, just really bad ebay practices.  But anyone is welcome to PM me privately.  Those that have personally had bad transactions (both buyers and sellers) should let the mods know about it. You'll have more grounds to complain than I do.  I know she has had mostly good transactions with members here (outside the Arena), a couple not so good that I know about, but it's mainly her ebay behavior that's frustrating and there are many Arena members that sell on ebay.

Just a quick update.  I had a conversation with this individual and everything should be resolved.  I don't think details are important therefore will not be going into them.  I did point out how these occurrences affect other people and do believe in second chances.  I am glad that I raised the topic, but even happier that I can now bury it.

I do hope this is true.  20 auctions backed out on in 3 months, and that doesn't include any before then, ended auctions under $70, BIN auctions that won't show the scrambled ID winner, auctions she bid on never intending to pay but didn't win,  or retracted bids.  In most cases, the relisted auctions sell for much less than the first time, which has to be really disheartening.  Either it's intentional and she doesn't care how it affects others, or she has some compulsive retail therapy issues.

One ebay seller was selling ponies to raise money for a house downpayment.  This girl backed out on at least 8 auctions, totaling over $800 worth, and the seller wasn't able to meet her goal.  I know the thinking is the seller can get their fees back and relist, but some sellers urgently need the money, or don't have the time to keep relisting auctions. It does mess with the perceived values of the ponies, and bidders that lost out on the auctions the first time might not see it the second time... or may think there's a negative reason why it's been relisted.   It really does mess things up and damages others.  I do hope she understands that now.

I think the lesson here is if you're a seller with a NPB, report them no matter what their excuse is.

I totally agree. I saw a couple of sellers left negative remarks in their positive feedback, but that's just not effective.  I believe you still get your sellers fees if you file a NPB report, but I don't think you can report them if you cancel the transaction. 


As far as the $100+ seaponies go, unfortunately that seems to be the going rate for many of the Baby Sea Sparkle seaponies with floats. I couldn't find that $200+ loose one.  The only seapony auctions I saw where this person backed out on was a lot with the ballet studio, a rarer adult seapony, conch shell, a couple of baby seaponies and floats that she won for over $370. It was relisted and sold a couple weeks later for $310.
 

[Vertefae]

I've added the usernames to the non paying bidder thread.

[goddessofpeep]

The person in question has been banned from the FB group. If someone could at least pm the eBay id to the mods so she can be added to the bad trader list I'm sure many of us would appreciate it.

I find it concerning that so many people know about the issues but are unwilling to help others out by sharing a name. If you're that worried about backlash from the person or her friends that's even more concerning.

I too have never sold to her, so I really never had a horse in this race.  I noticed the high prices, and started to see the pattern.  And for a while there was no legitimate problem.  The NPB thing is relatively new.  She actually used to pay for her crazy priced auctions.   And yes, there is a risk to anyone who gets involved with something like this.  I am not unwilling to help, but anyone who has ever had their online life turned upside down by stupid internet drama is going to be  extremely cautious about getting involved. They're going to be doubly cautious if people who DO finally report these things get attacked by the pony community for not reporting it sooner.  It takes time for the pattern to emerge, and it takes time for evidence to be collected.  This was not a clear cut scammer case where someone was doing illegal chargebacks after getting their ponies or something like that.  The bad behavior was bad ebaying, not outright scamming. This is also a person who was very publicly seriously ill, and had a history of facebook and ebay meltdowns.   Nothing about this situation invited people to come forward. 

[ashlyne]

I've added the usernames to the non paying bidder thread.

Thank you!

[LadyPinwheel]

I don't know if it's the same person, but from what I read here it could be. I've recently bought from a very rude seller. I asked for a tracking number like five times and she made up a story about her having a terminal cancer and that the pony had been returned and then shipped again and that's why she didn't have the tracking number and so and when I said I didn't believe her she went all crazy. The pony arrived, but she was rude and lied a lot.

If it's the same person I'd love to know who she is on Facebook to block her.

[Tak]

There's no excuse for something like that except hospitalization and, as noted, the report will fall off the record. If you do have the wherewithal and the determination to make good on your bid then don't bid. It just ruins buying for everyone else. How selfish. Yes, I don't really care what others think, but I always try to be polite and do the right thing. I wouldn't ever bid and not pay. I won't sell on eBay. I'm just not a shark. I don't know who this person is and I hope I don't encounter her/him.

[Vertefae]

I've added the usernames to the non paying bidder thread.

Thank you!

Very welcome.

If anyone has an issue with me adding the names, I'm sorry. However, it needed to be done. If you have any questions or concerns my inbox is open.

[northstar3184]

A few months back I bought a pony from her advertised as being in mint condition and when I received it I found it had 2 cancer spots. When I contacted her, she said she'd issue a partial refund and strung me along for a week with her excuses. I only received the refund after telling her that if she didn't follow through on her word within 48 hours I was going to open a case.

Here's the thread: http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,378492.0.html

[Attercop]

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say she is doing this to inflate prices and temporarily remove competition. By bidding up insanely high and then not paying she's is insuring she can ask top dollar for her items and while at the same time leaving them the only items on eBay not tied up.

The same crap happens all the time in the mobile phone area of eBay.

[FantasticFirefly]

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say she is doing this to inflate prices and temporarily remove competition. By bidding up insanely high and then not paying she's is insuring she can ask top dollar for her items and while at the same time leaving them the only items on eBay not tied up.

The same crap happens all the time in the mobile phone area of eBay.

I didn't share this thought publicly. But altering, and controlling the market is a distinct other possibility. I don't know if it was the intention, or a happy fringe benefit for this individual we are speaking about now.

but like you said, other categories have people doing this. One of the most infamous was vintage (g1?) strawberry shortcake items. One person created a system that (almost) no legitimate buyers won auctions for YEARS (unless it was some items listed with BIN immediate payment the market scammer missed). the only listings with real buyers was this person's stuff. and ebay pricing became totally out of sync with what collectors charged among eachother buying/selling. ONE person. messing up a collecting catagory on ebay for YEARS. insane. 2nd bidders had to pay crazy rates for next chance offers or buy the market scammers stuff if they ebay shopped.

[marblecheshire]

So is the pony person both a seller and buyer? I got the impression she was just shopping and retracting bids pretty regularly.

[ashlyne]

So is the pony person both a seller and buyer? I got the impression she was just shopping and retracting bids pretty regularly.

She does both.  She has one ebay account that she sells from primarily, and one she uses to bid on items (unless she needs to use her seller account).  She does both buying and selling on Facebook too.   She was banned from one Facebook group, but has immediately opened up her own group. 

Ya, the market is really sensitive to this kind of manipulation.   Not just from a seller's point of view, but also buyers. Once an auction hits a high value, other buyers start seeing the item as having more value than it probably really does.   It draws attention, then stirs up interest, and then desire that leads to a bidding frenzy.  Next thing you know you have multiple people paying a lot for something that's not really rare or special.   Many times, it's temporary, and the value drops dramatically, or the item ends up sitting on multiple sales lists at inflated prices for a long time.

[bluerose9978]

So is the pony person both a seller and buyer? I got the impression she was just shopping and retracting bids pretty regularly.

Yes. See the link northstar posted above and the non-paying bidders thread that's stickied. It'll show you how devious this person truly is. They have two separate eBay accounts and there have been at least three threads in this forum about them.

[marblecheshire]

Yikes! I was trying to figure out who it was in f/b but was unsuccessful. And she has an account here as well?