Buyer from China apparently having trouble. What to do?

I received an order yesterday from a buyer in China. I am willing to ship there or to any other country, but so far my hands are tied on this one.

First of all, he placed the order but did not pay for it. I then checked his rating and he has done the same thing four times previously within the past month....twice involving the same seller and one time each with two other sellers. So his rating is 0 based on those four failed transactions.

Before I realized that he had such a poor rating, I responded to his order and said "please process the payment at your convenience and I will ship the order." He did not respond to that message.

Now today he has placed another order for different products, but has not paid for that one either. If and when he ever pays, there will be another issue.........his name and address are all written in Chinese characters. Only the country name and postal code are in English. Therefore my (US) post office would be unable to ship a package without a name, I would assume.

I have several theories.......

A) A language barrier and he does not understand how to process a payment.

B) A young person just playing on his computer and he does not realize he is actually making commitments to purchase.

C) He hopes someone will feel sorry for him and ship him something for free or send a bill with the package.

D) A scam artist who should be ignored and maybe even blocked altogether.

I am a helpful sensitive person by nature and if this is a sincere buyer who is just having trouble getting started, I would like to help. But I am not sure what to do. Suggestions?

At this point I'd set a minimum rating for buyers - any number will do - and at least then, whatever else happens, this has only taken a limited amount of stock temporarily offline. That will minimise any frustration you are likely to experience. Otherwise I'd give him a week to pay, as I would anybody, and attempt to communicate. If he pays but doesn't reply, or replies in Chinese characters, then Google translate will come in handy.

It doesn't look too hopeful so far but good luck with it

Wait 4 days and cancel as Non Paying Buyer, I don’t see any way that this ends well no matter how hard you might try

ddsdiscsva
Before I realized that he had such a poor rating, I responded to his order and said "please process the payment at your convenience and I will ship the order."

Literally the first thing I do when I receive a new order is check the buyers page.

As BaldGhost said, just wait the 4 four days and cancel NPB. Don't forget to block the buyer, in fact probably best to do that right now.

ddsdiscsva
his name and address are all written in Chinese characters. Only the country name and postal code are in English.

Copy/paste the address. China will get it to the right country and postcode nay help getting it to the right airport and mail centre. The name/street/district and city will get there once in China.

* if this happens in future as it doesn't look like you'll be sending to this buyer.....

Thanks for all your input guys. You really jumped on this question in record time. I will probably do nothing and wait for the orders to be automatically canceled. I have found that when that happens, the items are not only returned to active status but they are put at the top of the seller's inventory. So in a roundabout way, it makes them look like "new" listings.

By the way, something else I have noticed is that this person does have a PayPal address. So you would think that would mean that he has a functioning PayPal and should therefore know how to use it. That makes the situation even more puzzling.

ddsdiscsva
there will be another issue.........his name and address are all written in Chinese characters.

SOLUTION
If and when your Chinese buyer makes payment, go to : Permalink

guogai
First of all, let me tell everyone that your concerns are unnecessary; I am just a Chinese buyer. In China, those who know about this website must be people who like or have a desire for CDs. Otherwise, no one would know about this site, as the internet in China is blocked. Additionally, due to language barriers, very few people are aware of this site. I guess the main reason for most people not making payments is due to payment issues. Chinese people are accustomed to using Alipay or WeChat for online payments. Moreover, PayPal cannot be used in China, or its usage is almost nonexistent. Today, I selected a CD but did not make a payment because I found that my card could not be used with PayPal. Additionally, because most people have never used PayPal, they are hesitant to use it due to concerns about the safety of their bank cards, especially with rampant telecom scams in Southeast Asia, making them fear that their s might be leaked. Therefore, do not hold prejudice against Chinese buyers; those who know about this website are surely true collectors and very much love CDs.

Yes imagine the availability of WeChat or AliPay on Discogs...be prepared for endless waves of transactions.