Bidding prankster
Summary: arcor.2 discusses issues on eBay with users who place bids but never follow through, often having suspicious names and zero ratings. bikenerd.23 and alter_mommark suggest these might be bots or individuals seeking to cause disruption. stubenkram mentions possible settings to prevent such bids, but arcor.2 clarifies that these settings are limited. petersmodellbahnstuebchen and mmstore74 participate in the discussion, seeking additional clarity on the restrictions and settings.
Hello,
I’ve been here on Ebay for 25 years now and mainly sell through auctions. Unfortunately, people with zero ratings bid on items, or at least try to, and then never get in touch again. Sometimes the names aren’t like Max Müller but “None of your damn business!” What’s that about? What do they get out of it? I cancel the bids as best I can, but sometimes bids only come in shortly before the auction ends. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to exclude zero-rating bidders from bidding; I have to cancel them all manually. Ebay, do something about this already!!!!
stubenkram
·1 week agoDue to post moderation in the forum, replies with image material are only visible “with a delay.”
If it is no longer possible to exclude buyers with fewer than so-and-so many ratings from bidding/buying, why is this function still available in the block settings? That is what it is intended for exclusively.
mmstore74
·1 week ago · EditedGood morning @arcor.2 ,how about this setting?
I don't have this setting myself and therefore can't say whether this is what you need?
bikenerd.23
·1 week agoThis doesn't help and only refers to the previous rules. eBay removed the blocking of bidders with too few ratings a few years ago
arcor.2
OP1 week agoWhat do the bots or their programmers get out of it if they bid on things and never get back in touch?
alter_mommark
·1 week ago · EditedYou’re thinking too "reasonably"; it probably has to do with hurting other people, just like that. Maybe they’re also competitors or some envious people, who knows. It doesn’t necessarily have to be bots.
arcor.2
OP1 week agoWell, I maybe post around 10 articles a month, so that with the competitors is rather unlikely.
stubenkram
·1 week agoThat could also just be some random kids who are bored.
You can basically exclude all buyers from bidding in the block settings if they don’t have any ratings yet. Does that stay ineffective here, @arcor.2 ?
arcor.2
OP1 week agoUnfortunately, that doesn't work; you can only exclude bidders with multiple warnings for unpaid items and bidders who live in countries I don't ship to.
stubenkram
·1 week agoI haven't sold anything in ages, but "back then" this worked effectively here with these settings. If you select, for example, 0 (or 1) at the bottom and activate this option, the one above it becomes active too. Then nobody who doesn't have any (or only one) rating can bid anymore.
arcor.2
OP1 week agoUnfortunately, you can’t generally block buyers who have zero points; that only works for people who were warned because of unpaid items.
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·1 week agoHi @arcor.2
since when has it been possible to exclude bidders with a residence abroad?
I only know this setting:
"Block buyers whose preferred shipping address is a place I do not ship to"
Warm greetings from the Baltic Sea
Peter
arcor.2
OP1 week agoExactly what I meant.
bikenerd.23
·1 week agoThat just happened to me again too. This looks like bots - often only signed up a day ago. Annoying
arcor.2
OP1 week agoThe only way to curb this a bit is to keep checking the bids again and again to see whether the highest bidder is a zero-feedback bidder, and then block them. Such a pain, and Ebay doesn't do anything about it.