Why
block anyone from bidding on your auctions? Simple: You do it
for the same reason your local quick-mart owner tosses out
shoplifters and loiterers. It's the online auction equivalent of
telling a deadbeat bidder or problematic user "we don't
want your business." Read on for an overview of bid
blocking, including why you'd want to take advantage of such a
feature, which sites offer it, and how the venues vary.
For
the Block
There are several instances when a seller may want to prevent
bids from a particular user:
Overall negative feedback rating
or an abundance of recent negative feedbacks in the user's
record
Bad experiences with that user in
the past
Warnings from other users
Harassing or threatening email
received from that user
At eBay, your reason
for blocking a user from bidding on one of your auctions simply
can be that you are not comfortable doing business with a
particular person. You don't have to include specifics when you
make your blocking request (more on that later).
The main benefits of
bid blocking is that it helps users avoid dealing with habitual
deadbeat or nuisance bidders, and that the auction site doesn't
have to issue so many final value fee refund requests. The two
biggest online auction sites, eBay and Yahoo Auctions, each have
their own version of bid blocking.
Yahoo
Auctions' Blacklist
Under certain circumstances, you might want to prevent a
specific bidder from bidding on your auctions. From Yahoo
Auctions' "Options" link, you can build what the site
calls a "blacklist." You'll enter the IDs of any users
you want to have blocked from your auctions. If these users
attempt to bid on them, they'll see a message stating that
they're not authorized to bid on that auction. Adding and
deleting users from your blacklist is done via an onscreen
interface. You can blacklist users when you enter an auction,
when you cancel a user's bid, or at any time during an auction's
duration.
To remove a bidder from
your blacklist, select that user from the same form and click on
the "Delete" button. You can edit your blacklist at
any time by clicking on "Options."
One Online Auction
Users Association (OAUA) member and Yahoo Auctions user has had
good results with the site's blacklist feature. She sold a
teapot, clearly specifying that it was for display only. Upon
receipt of the item, the high bidder didn't like it, and sent
the seller several harassing emails. She refunded the $9.99 but
never got the teapot back. "I did some research on his
history with the site and noticed that he had given others
really nasty feedback," she said. "I blocked him so he
couldn't bid on my auctions again."
Ebay's
Pre-Approved Bidder Feature
This feature is the reverse of a blacklist but has the same
basic intent--to allow some bidders and to block the rest.
You'll create your own pre-approved bidder list for any auction
and allow only those on your list to bid on that item. If a
bidder who isn't part of your list attempts to bid, he or she
will receive a notification to contact you by email to place a
bid. You can add or delete bidders until the time your listing
ends. eBay does warn, however, that the feature can limit the
number of bids on your item.
That's one method eBay provides for
blocking certain bidders. Additionally, you can ban specific
users from your auctions. To do this, you have to email the user
telling him or her not to bid on your auctions, and cc
SafeHarbor--which, in turn, will help enforce your request. If
the person bids on your auction, he or she is subject to
suspension. However, there's no specific program in place to
automatically block the bid, and SafeHarbor doesn't always
enforce it. One OAUA user requested a bid block but SafeHarbor
let the person bid "just this once." The person bid,
caused trouble, and left the seller negative feedback. eBay did
eventually remove the feedback and warned the bidder, but the
auction had closed and the seller was out the time and effort
involved in relisting the auction.
Other
Sites' Perspectives
Amazon.com Auctions sellers have asked for the option of
blocking bidders but they currently don't have access to such a
feature. Instead, they rely on site policy enforcement to
resolve problems with bidders. "I have been selling on
Amazon.com almost since the beginning of Amazon.com Auctions and
have had very few problems," reported one user. "Since
I started taking Amazon.com 1-Click, most folks pay. If folks
bid and don't pay, I notify Amazon.com and let them deal with
deadbeats."
At eHammer, a high-end
antique-focused venue, if enough folks complain about a user,
the site will remove the user. This seems to be the status quo
at auction sites that don't offer a bid-blocking feature.
eHammer encourages
users to work things out privately. Phillip Rinehart of eHammer
says that to install a bid-blocking feature at the site
"goes against the grain of keeping an open playing
field." According to Rinehart, eHammer hasn't had a huge
need for a bid-blocking feature because its volume and user base
are significantly less than that of an eBay or Yahoo Auctions.
"It's easier to be anonymous at a site with many millions
of users," he said. "At eHammer, it's easier to keep
an eye on things. If and when we ever have the kinds of problems
that would make a bid-blocking feature necessary, we'd probably
add one."
Some sites that offer
high-end items will allow sellers to block bids from certain
users, but the matter is handled privately between the seller
and the site administrator. With business-to-consumer auction
sites, problematic users are simply removed, thus blocking
future bids. Other sites handle the matter similar to eBay:
They'll ask you to email the bidder with the request to refrain
from bidding on your auction and to cc the site administrator.
If the bidder bids on your auction, he or she is subject to
suspension.
Disadvantages
If the bad experience that made a seller block a bid was a
misunderstanding, the seller may be losing a potential steady
customer. One could argue that the bidding pool is big enough at
eBay to not have to worry about it, but this also depends on
what products you sell. If the market is small, it's better to
resolve disputes than burn bridges. If you sell wildly popular
items, the risk isn't as great.
Bid blocking is
obviously a bigger issue at high-traffic sites, which is why
they make provisions for it. As other online auction sites grow
in popularity and attract their own gaggle of problematic users,
they'll have no choice but to offer the feature as well.
Blocking Bidders
