How I learned to be mean on eBay

I have been a buyer and seller on eBay since 2001. During that time I have sold thousands of dollars of items. I have been fortunate enough that as a seller I have only dealt with 3 non-paying bidders/buyers and filed a non-paying buyer grievance with eBay. All went well until I met the buyer from hell, or at least difficult.

I had a very inexpensive costume pattern for sale. It sold as a BIN (buy it now) transaction. Since I have set all my items to require payment within 3 days to enable my buyers to buy more than one item so they can save on shipping, I thought I would get paid via PayPal in a day or so. Within a few hours I got an email from the buyer wanting my address so she could mail me a check. I told her that all of my items require payment through PayPal and they clearly state that in each listing. Never mind that eBay requires all payments to be processed through PayPal unless it is a listing for real estate, cars or the item is pick up only.

So I emailed her back telling that I only will accept payment through PayPal and she went off in her email back to me. She went on that she always paid by check and never encountered a problem yet. So I went and looked at her feedback and yes she does have about 50 positive feedbacks......all from the same 4 people. I had a bad feeling about this and immediately added her to my blocked bidders list. I then suggested to her that we both cancel the transaction since she would not agree to pay via PayPal. Then the transaction was canceled. I thought that I had heard the last from her, but I was wrong.

About 3 weeks later I got my first and only negative feedback and it was from the b**** that would not pay for her purchase the way I required payment. I was under the false pretense that eBay would not allow feedback from non-paying buyers but there is a loop hole. If the transaction is cancelled (because I thought I was being nice about the matter) instead of a non-paying buyer grievance filed then the buyer can still leave feedback. I have learned my lesson and next time I will play the eBay game but no more being nice, I'll play by eBays rules and methods. Buyers that keep doing what that b**** does are removed from eBay.

I also filed a grievance with eBay about the buyer telling them that "she always pays by check" and offered to let them read the email from her. I want buyers like that gone from eBay.

For those of you who are wondering why I don't accept checks or money orders is the fact that I have gotten too many bad ones over the years. It is like someone coming into your store with a basket full of eggs and wanting to pay you with eggs instead of money. That would be great if the eggs were solid gold but businesses just don't operate that way anymore.

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