Hey, do you want to block an eBay buyer who left you viciously? Did you fail to trace unfound feedback or faced any other inconvenience? Here’s a quick guide you may consider to block an eBay buyer.
eBay sellers interact with different customers each day. Some of them are amazing – so amazing that you want them more often to make purchases. While on the other hand, there are some unpleasant ones with whom you never wish to interact again.
Primarily, sellers want a positive experience with every eBay buyer. It is worth saying that both happy and unhappy customers play a vital role in your business growth.
The unhappy ones help in a way that they let you identify your improvement areas sometimes. Yet sometimes, you better need to block these customers.
So let’s just fix the puzzle pieces for you and see methods to block eBay buyers. In this post, you will learn:
- When you need to block an eBay buyer.
- What happens when you block a buyer on eBay.
- What steps you need to block an eBay buyer.
- Optional Step: Block the buyer’s messages
- How you can unblock a buyer on eBay.
- Blocking might not be right; try alternatives.
When do you need to block an eBay buyer?
First of all, note that you are not supposed to block buyers frequently. So blocking shouldn’t be the first and final solution that comes to your mind. Being a business owner, you know that not every customer is a happy one.
But, there are some situations that make you block a buyer unwantedly. Such situations can be:
- Verbally abusive interaction
Interaction with such buyers is always non-productive and abusive. So you should block them.
- Buyers not clearing payments for their past purchases
First strategy: Send them reminders.
Not receiving payments then? Block them now.
- eBay bidders constantly withdraw bids
Non-serious buyers keep bidding on your items? Simply block eBay bidders right there.
- The buyer comes from your competition
If your product is unique to you, then don’t sell it to your competition to purchase it. Simply recognize a block here.
- Interaction with flagged buyers for fraudulent activity
Is the buyer suspected of his/her fraudulent activity? Do not make them shop.
What happens when you block a buyer on eBay
When you block unwanted eBay buyers, eBay does not let them bid or buy your product. This is when they get to know that they have been blocked.
But your listings are always visible to them and they won’t know they have been blocked until they hit “bid or buy”. As soon as they try to click the button, they will see a message saying, “This seller is not accepting bids from you”.
Note that: eBay does not provide any strict guidelines on when to block an eBay buyer.
What steps you need to block an eBay buyer
To put a buyer on eBay into your blocked list, follow the simple steps.
- Log in to your account.
- Go to the Block buyers from your listing
- See the unwanted buyers’ usernames/emails and enter them to block.
You can block up to 5,000 buyers on eBay. - Click the submit button.
If you try to block an invalid ID, you’ll be prompt by a message. Click “See All” to figure out the invalid ones.
Optional Step: Block the buyer’s messages
In case if an eBay buyer is unnecessarily contacting you, you can simply block the buyer’s messages. Go to the buyer requirements page of your eBay account to proceed.
Once you’re done blocking the messages of such buyers, they can no longer see the “Contact Seller” option on your listings.
How to unblock an eBay buyer
- eBay allows you to unblock an eBay buyer. Simply delete the username of the buyer from the list of blocked buyers.
- Or simply click the “Restore List” to restore an old block-list of buyers by clicking “restore list.” However, eBay does not allow restoring a list that is older than three months.
Blocking might not be right; try alternatives
You may have to intelligently identify the cases where blocking might not be the right option. So you have to opt for some alternatives to keep the buyers on the line without blocking.
The alternatives you can try are:
1: Filter buyer requirements
eBay offers a set of restrictions that sellers can filter easily. It allows you to consider only buyers you like to interact with. Simply filtering buyer requirements to limit your interactions. It saves you from inconvenient transaction experience.
Following are the categories through which you can set buyer requirements.
- Filter by location
Filter the buyers by countries; exclude the ones that are expensive to ship to.
- Filter by buyer’s transactional behavior
Filter the buyers having a history of nonpayment.
- Filter by feedback
Filter the buyers providing frequent negative feedback.
For more info, visit the Buyer Management page.
2: Identify the reasons and report the buyer
If you encounter any buyer that violates eBay’s policies, you can report that buyer. Make sure the reason for which you are reporting is valid.
The following reasons are considered by eBay for which you can report the buyer.
- The buyer asks for something that wasn’t in the original listing.
- The buyer frequently messages you with no aim to make a purchase.
- The buyer asks you to complete a sale outside of eBay.
- The buyer is misusing the eBay returns.
- The buyer violates the bid retraction process
Reporting by one seller can help other sellers from these harmful buyers. Also, it saves you from the hassle of blocking buyers as well.
3. Utilize eBay’s Resolution Center
Make smart use of eBay’s Resolution Center. For the issues you face when an item is sold, eBay lets you report issues in the Resolution Center.
The Resolution Center provides the two options:
- Report an unpaid item.
- Cancels a transaction.
You may get the advantage of the 1st option when an item is sold.
4: Monitor and revise your transaction record
As a good practice, you should keep monitoring your transaction record to identify issues. Therefore, eBay allows you to correct any mistaken defects with Automatic Defect Removal.
A defect in a transaction is defined by eBay as “a part of a transaction that is created as a bad shopping experience for buyers.”
Visit eBay’s Seller Protections page for a more clear insight into what protection measures eBay offers.
In a nutshell
You should keep it in mind that your approach towards every transaction should be in a positive way. Ultimately, the customer’s feedback about your service is a foundation for your business growth. So the feedback has the decisive power to make you either rise or fall. Therefore, both good and bad feedback can have ripple effects on other customers. So it’s suggested, rather than block an eBay buyer, try strengthening positive customer service to win.
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