How do you handle E-Bay deadbeats?

And this has to do with Model Railroading, how?

John, There is a very good chance that the winner is away for the holidays. Check his feedback rating and if it is over 99.5% positive, I'd give him the benefit. If you post a negative, a good chance exists that he'll return the action. If you are new to the venue, you do not want this!.I've been on it for four years and most folks I have done business with have been just fine. Sugar always works better than vinegar.....keep he threats minimal and good luck. HZ

Get their contact information from Ebay and call them. If that gets you no where, then file to get your fees back and non paying bidder alert, neg them ( they will probably give you retaliatory neg, which you can reply to. ) Be short and professional in your feedback or response to make you look good. Then relist the item, or contact the second highest bidder and see if they are interested in the item. LTG :)

John:

I've sold and bought on eBay since 1997, from NASCAR to cameras to trains to razor blade refills to Brita filters, most recently (yesterday) sold an MTH 4-6-4.

Don't call them - that's inappropriate (in my opinion). Ebay has a process for this.

Chances are they are away for the holidays. But, to cover yourself, follow the eBay "non-paying buyer process" here

beginning with the "report a new unpaid item dispute" here eBay will send them a reminder and then the clock starts ticking. If they don't repsond, etc. you get you fees back.

Good Luck. Mike

John Frankl> I am very new to selling items on E-bay. So the questions

Well gee it was a P2K 2-8-8-2............that was up for auction, does that have anything to do with model railroading?????

Howard that is very good advice. John if worse comes to worse there is non payment link to ebay on the sellers tools section under services..

Larry at Papas Trains

For the most part I've found train people and boat people on ebay to be pretty good. Consumer electronics has a lot of deadbeats and bad sellers. I can't imagine what jewelry must be like. S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster" "Trains are a winter sport"

is fine) garlic parsley fresh cracked black pepper

Season and sauté the cutlets in olive oil till golden brown, remove. Add the garlic and onions and cook down a bit. Add some lemon juice and some zest, then de-glaze with stock. Add a little cornstarch (dissolved in cold water) to the sauce. You are just about there, Pour the sauce over the cutlets, top with parsley, lemon slices and cracked pepper. Serve with spinach salad, macaroni and cheese (homemade) and iced tea...

Spaghetti with Real Italian Meatballs

If you don?t have an expendable bambino on hand, you can use a pound of ground pork instead. The secret to great meatballs, is to use very lean meat.

1 lb. ground flesh; human or pork 3 lb. ground beef 1 cup finely chopped onions 7 - 12 cloves garlic 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs ½ cup milk, 2 eggs Oregano basil salt pepper Italian seasoning, etc. Tomato gravy (see index) Fresh or at least freshly cooked spaghetti or other pasta

Mix the ground meats together in a large bowl, then mix each of the other ingredients. Make balls about the size of a baby?s fist (there should be one lying around for reference). Bake at 400°for about 25 minutes - or you could fry them in olive oil. Place the meatballs in the tomato gravy, and simmer for several hours. Serve on spaghetti. Accompany with green salad, garlic bread and red wine.

Newborn Parmesan

This classic Sicilian cuisine can easily be turned into Eggplant Parmesan If you are planning a vegetarian meal. Or you could just as well use veal - after all, you have to be careful - Sicilians are touchy about their young family members...

6 newborn or veal cutlets Tomato gravy (see index) 4 cups mozzarella, 1cup parmesan, 1cup romano Seasoned bread crumbs mixed with parmesan romano salt pepper oregano garlic powder chopped parsley Flour eggwash (eggs and milk) Peanut oil for frying.

Pound the cutlets. Dredge in flour, eggs

There are deadbeats of Ebay. Everyone has had some experience with them.

I personally do not leave negative feedback. I leave neutral feedback. It has the same effect, but the deadbeat cannot get into a flame war because you really haven't said anything bad about them, have you?

Neutral comments should be non-confrontational, such as "did not recieve payment, after several attempted contacts", "had to relist item, never heard from buyer" Do not, do not, attack the buyer, it serves no purpose.

Boy is this hard advice to take especially when someone has stiffed you for several hundred dollars!

John Glaab Peach Creek Shops

flesh. Place 1 quart water in a baking pan, the meat on a wire rack. Bake uncovered in 250° oven for 1½ hours. When browned, remove and glaze, return to oven and bake 20 minutes more to form a glaze. Cut ribs into individual pieces and serve with extra sauce.

Fresh Sausage

If it becomes necessary to hide the fact that you are eating human babies, this is the perfect solution. But if you are still paranoid, you can substitute pork butt.

5 lb. lean chuck roast 3 lb. prime baby butt 2 tablespoons each: salt black, white and cayenne peppers celery salt garlic powder parsley flakes brown sugar 1 teaspoon sage 2 onions 6 cloves garlic bunch green onions, chopped

Cut the children?s butts and the beef roast into pieces that will fit in the grinder. Run the meat through using a 3/16 grinding plate. Add garlic, onions and seasoning then mix well. Add just enough water for a smooth consistency, then mix again. Form the sausage mixture into patties or stuff into natural casings.

Stillborn Stew

By definition, this meat cannot be had altogether fresh, but have the lifeless unfortunate available immediately after delivery, or use high quality beef or pork roasts (it is cheaper and better to cut up a whole roast than to buy stew meat).

1 stillbirth, de-boned and cubed ¼ cup vegetable oil 2 large onions bell pepper celery garlic ½ cup red wine 3 Irish potatoes 2 large carrots

This is a simple clas

I appreciate the responses, nobody has been stiffed yet. I have not sent the model out and won't until he comes through with pay pal payment or MO. I am just trying to get the person to pay for what he won in the bidding.

John

EBay allows you to file a Non-Paying Bidder Alert....they do suggest that you give the winning bidder about 30 days to respond, and also will notify you of contact info (phone, etc.) If a buyer gets so many of them (either three or four within a specified period), they are banned from EBay.

Be careful about rushing to leave negative feedback....because the non-paying bidders may be slow to respond to invoices, etc., they sure as hell are right there to leave retaliatory negative feedback on you the moment you post negative feedback on them.

I've gotten to the point of waiting almost the entire 90 days (the maximum you can wait to post feedback) to post a negative feedback line on a deadbeat, then they might not have time to do the retaliatory thing!!

Maybe he was selling model railroad items....give him a break.

I agree...have NEVER had problems with rail folks. One problem with someone in the bus hobby, but he not only stiffed me, he stiffed about six other people at the same time, so EBay showed him the door.

The worst offenders I have dealt with are the Disney collectors, believe it or not!!

and sauté the cutlets in olive oil till golden brown, remove. Add the garlic and onions and cook down a bit. Add some lemon juice and some zest, then de-glaze with stock. Add a little cornstarch (dissolved in cold water) to the sauce. You are just about there, Pour the sauce over the cutlets, top with parsley, lemon slices and cracked pepper. Serve with spinach salad, macaroni and cheese (homemade) and iced tea...

Spaghetti with Real Italian Meatballs

If you don?t have an expendable bambino on hand, you can use a pound of ground pork instead. The secret to great meatballs, is to use very lean meat.

1 lb. ground flesh; human or pork 3 lb. ground beef 1 cup finely chopped onions 7 - 12 cloves garlic 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs ½ cup milk, 2 eggs Oregano basil salt pepper Italian seasoning, etc. Tomato gravy (see index) Fresh or at least freshly cooked spaghetti or other pasta

Mix the ground meats together in a large bowl, then mix each of the other ingredients. Make balls about the size of a baby?s fist (there should be one lying around for reference). Bake at 400°for about 25 minutes - or you could fry them in olive oil. Place the meatballs in the tomato gravy, and simmer for several hours. Serve on spaghetti. Accompany with green salad, garlic bread and red wine.

Newborn Parmesan

This classic Sicilian cuisine can easily be turned into Eggplant Parmesan If you are planning a vegetarian meal. Or you could just as well use veal - after all, you have to be careful - Sicilians are touchy about their young family members...

6 newborn or veal cutlets Tomato gravy (see index) 4 cups mozzarella, 1cup parmesan, 1cup romano Seasoned bread crumbs mixed with parmesan romano salt pepper oregano garlic powder chopped parsley Flour eggwash (e

Ebay's protection system system is basically an honor system. All you can do to the guy is leave him a bad feedback. Even after you go through all the Ebay hoops, there is nothing you can do to force the guy, except hire an attorney, on your own, and take him to court.

With that said, realize that it is the holiday season and some people have other things to do.

I recently purchased an item, and could not get any kind of response from the seller. I was ready to leave him a feedback that would have told exactly what I thought of him, when a package arrived. It turned out the seller was someone I have known for years, (but not on Ebay), and he sent me the item WITHOUT getting paid for it! Of course I immediately put a money order in the mail to him!

I havent had any problems at all with train people. Wait till the holidays subside and see what happens.

"Steve Hoskins" wrote

Not True

Not True

A trading partner's contact information (phone number) is only available if it's specifically requested. And then eBay supplies both parties with that info.

period), they are

Not True

Not True

Forget about it and relist the item.

Don

-- snipped-for-privacy@prodigy.net

snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com moderator: snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com moderator: snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com co-moderator: snipped-for-privacy@Yahoogroups.com

Okay, so now they say 45 days. used to be 30 days.

Have filed a few in my EBay days....

Funny you say not true, because I had one guy in Brooklyn, NY flake out on SIX auctions all at once....and they promptly sent me his telephone number without asking for it. I called, left a polite message and never heard a thing from him. Nor did about four other people who he stiffed at the same time.

I never requested that seller's number; EBay sent it when I filed the NPBA.

period), they are

VERY true. The guy mentioned above got bounced and hasn't been back since (and cries regularly at a forum related to the auction items' subject about being bounced from EBay).

And, someone I know personally who I wouldn't trust loaning him a quarter, has been bounced from EBay two or three times for non-payment of winning bids. He has this uncanny knack for changing his e-mail (of course, he seems to move every time the rent becomes due) so he's hard to crack at EBay.

VERY true again. I have one item still awaiting feedback in my account from about 2.5 months ago, that I will NOT post feedback for because the buyer was a pushy SOB. He DEMANDED feedback be posted the day he mailed payment, not the day I received it. Wasn't too nice about it either, made some empty threats that "if I didn't post positive feedback..." Got his payment four days after he mailed it (very reasonable time...no problem) and went right to the post office down the street and mailed the item via Priority Mail. It took three days to get to him, and each one of those three days, he sent e-mail demanding to know why the package hadn't arrive at his place yet. Maybe I should have sent him some Valium to go with his items.