Ebay Transaction Payment Problem in China

Doing Business on Ebay is Fun, at Times China is a Challenge.

Ebay Transaction Payment Problem in China are an epidemic

Selling on Ebay can be a lot of fun and very rewarding financially.  We've all heard stories of the item with a high bid of $75 and spiking to $2,500 in the last 6 seconds before the item ends, very exciting stuff when it happens.

Whats been happening to eBay Sellers isn't just limited to this venue, larger bricks and mortar auction firms have been having similar problems. Recently Bloomberg reported a crackdown is underway following refusal by several Mainland Chinese bidders who walked away from bids totaling almost 100 million dollars.

Authentic Chinese Porcelain Can be Found

Once the item sells, you send off the invoice, the buyer sends money to your Pay Pal account and ahh yes life is good. You then ship the thing out by using the very convenient USPS "Click and Ship" or UPS online postage gizmo right through Ebay itself..easy as pie.

Things on Ebay work rather well 99% of the time, with one glaring exception. The exception is? When you are selling to buyers in Mainland China. Sorry mainland China is a different world to do business in most of the time, different culture, different outlook, different business practices different view on what "buying" something can mean.

Do not get me wrong, we have GREAT customers in China who pay like clock-work, never are a problem, very good communications on shipments and all of that.  That said, we also have the highest incidence by a mile with buyers there who simply never pay bills, ignore bills, do not reply to emails, do not care if they get "None-Payment " strikes on their account. They bid, they chase, they ask questions, they win the item and we never hear from them again? weird huh?

Well, here's whats going on and has been going for years there. In China the game is simply this for many, too many, buy something on Ebay and then try to pre-sell it there before having to pay for it. In other words, Ebay Sellers around the world are sort of a warehouse supply operation for many Chinese Ebay members.

So what can you do to cut down on all of this?  If you don't want to block all buyers in China and Asia?

Heres the rule book for Selling on Ebay when you offer goods to China:

Bear in mind these rules will apply to all listings World Wide, you cannot at this time select only China. However you will also block Buyer's with similar payment issues elsewhere, which is a good thing.

• Go to your Ebay Seller Preferences. Hover over the "Account" tab, look for the words "Site Preference" and click it open.

1. Under "Payment from Buyers" make sure you select Pay Pal as a Payment source.

Then scroll down and open "Buyer Requirements", open the window and

1. Check Buyers without a PayPal account
   Check Block buyers who don't have a PayPal account. (Note: This block only applies to future listings and can be disabled per item on the Sell Your Item form.)
   This requirement can help you avoid Unpaid Items, as PayPal account holders have up to an 80% lower Unpaid Item rate.
2. Then Check  "Block bidders and buyers who have received" "2" Unpaid Item strike(s) within "12" months.
3. Then Check, "Buyers with policy violation reports"
   Block buyers who have "4" Policy violation report(s) within "6" month(s)
4. Then Check: "Buyers with a negative feedback score
   Block buyers who have a feedback score of "-1" or lower."
5. Then Check: Buyers who may bid on several of my items and not pay for them
   Block buyers who are currently winning or have bought "2" of my items in the last 10 days.
   Only apply this block to buyers who have a feedback score of "5" or lower.
   Then Click "SUBMIT"

ok..now.

Go down to the "Unpaid Item Assistant", click "SHOW" on the right hand side and then click "EDIT". 

1. Check: Yes – I want Unpaid Item Assistant to open and close cases on my behalf.
   Open a case if payment hasn't been received after "4 days".

Now if you have buyers who are buying several things add their user name to the "Exclusion list", ONLY do this if you know the buyer and will be paying his bill.

That's about it, feel free to Email me with any suggestions or comments! Many thanks Peter Combs .