I recently tried to sell my old MacBook on eBay, but the winning bidder had zero feedback and subsequently refused to pay. This was annoying, and it was only after this happened that I discovered eBay has some mechanisms to stop this kind of thing happening — but they are disabled by default.
So, you really should enable these options if you want to prevent time wasters and scammers from bidding on your items. You can access the options, called “Buyer Requirements”, by doing the following:
- Login to eBay
- Go to your Account Settings page
- Click on Site Preferences in the left-hand menu
- Under “Buyer requirements” click “Show” and then “Edit”
Here are the options I recommend:
- Block buyers who don’t have a PayPal account.
- Block bidders and buyers who have 2 unpaid item(s) recorded on their accounts within 1 month(s)
- Block buyers whose primary delivery address is in a location I don’t post to.
- Block buyers who have 4 breach of policy report(s) within 1 month(s)
- Block buyers who have a Feedback score of -1 or lower
- Block buyers who do not have a credit card on file. (Only apply this block to buyers who have a Feedback score of or lower.)
- Don’t allow blocked buyers to contact me.
Glen Scott
I’m a freelance software developer with 18 years’ professional experience in web development. I specialise in creating tailor-made, web-based systems that can help your business run like clockwork. I am the Managing Director of Yellow Square Development.
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The vast majority of my paying customers (I sell diamond rings) were new ebay Users some even had no PayPal account but they opened one in order to buy the ring they saw on eBay.
I prefer to make my own judgment on someone. Had I had these settings active, I may not have sold the dozen rings I sold
On the flip side, I have had old accounts with high feedback buying rings but asking me to cancel the same day and others having me take more photos and videos of a ring wasting 3 hours of my Xmas holiday to only then vanish in to thin air.
Its never black and white, right or wrong.