What will happen if I don't pay for an auction I bid & won? Tried to cancel.

[laurelrose0]

I forgot about an item I bid on & tried to cancel by contacting seller but no response. I'm bidding on a more expensive item from same seller that I really want & was hoping they would cancel the lesser item so I can increase my bid on the other. I know I screwed up! What will happen if I don't pay? I have a perfect record on eBay as a buyer.

[ebooksdiva]

If you don’t pay, 96 hours from the end of the auction the seller can cancel the transaction citing buyer didn’t pay.

You will get an unpaid item strike placed against your account.

2 of those in a 12 month period will get you blocked from bidding and buying from hundreds if not thousands of sellers on eBay. 
The seller may also cancel the other bids on the other item your bidding on. 

Unpaid Item Policy  

[titipeo]

You might as well say bye to your "perfect record". U won the bid, u won't pay, eBay will submit an unpaid strike against you, simple as that, and that might hurt your buying on eBay, as sellers can filter out buyers that have unpaid strikes against them. 

Remember, sellers are not required to cancel on behalf of buyers. A bid is a commitment to buy if successful. I can't comment on seller being happy to cancel your bid so you can bid higher on another item, after all you already backed out of the transaction, what guarantees he has you won't do that again? You are not the type of buyer that a seller wants to do business with. 

[laurelrose0]

I'll never do this again! I hope someone outbids me!

[laurelrose0]

Thanks for the lecture! I have a better feedback score than the seller does and I'm just inquiring here - auction has not ended yet! I already know I screwed up!

[ebooksdiva]

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@laurelrose0 wrote:

Thanks for the lecture! I have a better feedback score than the seller does and I'm just inquiring here - auction has not ended yet! I already know I screwed up!

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I hate to burst your bubble but ALL buyers have 100% positive feedback because sellers can’t give buyers negative or neutral feedback. 

[kathiec · Accepted solution]

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@titipeo wrote:

You might as well say bye to your "perfect record". U won the bid, u won't pay, eBay will submit an unpaid strike against you, simple as that, and that might hurt your buying on eBay, as sellers can filter out buyers that have unpaid strikes against them. 

Remember, sellers are not required to cancel on behalf of buyers. A bid is a commitment to buy if successful. I can't comment on seller being happy to cancel your bid so you can bid higher on another item, after all you already backed out of the transaction, what guarantees he has you won't do that again? You are not the type of buyer that a seller wants to do business with. 

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The minimum number of unpaid item strikes necessary for a seller to block a member is two. There are no consequences for one strike. In fact, if you contact customer service they'll typically remove your first strike.

[woodland_gnome]

In addition to the block that many sellers have (and many don't, or have set more lenient than the 2 strikes in 12 months) an unpaid item record counts towards your Open Transaction Limits for some period of time (I'd guess at least 30 days) and would factor into the algorithms for setting that and your Buyer Activity Limit.

And I would guess the seller would have concern about the request when you are bidding on another of his/her items.  S/he very likely would cancel the bid on the new auction and block you permanently when s/he actually reads your message.  

[ed8108]

A cancellation is not an entitlement based on the reason you provided.

If you win one item, pay 

Should you win both, pay for both.

[albertabrightalberta]

Buyers aren't supposed to bid on an item they don't expect to pay for or can't afford. 

Since you liked the item enough to bid on it and you were lucky enough to be the winning bidder, why not just pay for it? If you can't afford both the item you won and are obligated to pay for and the "more expensive item from same seller that you really want," you should retract your item on the still-active listing. 

If I were your seller, I would cancel the active current bid and block you from my listings. And as for the one you want to cancel after winning, I'd tell you not to worry because it'll cancel automatically 4 days after the listing ended. 

Thank you for posting. 

[simba6]

It's worse than jury duty but not as bad as a Turkish prison.

But really, you have cost the seller time and money.  Do the right thing and pay for the item.  You can always resell it on eBay if you don't want it.   Next time use the watch list and don't bid until your sure.

[laurelrose0]

All the answers here were assuming the auction had ended when I asked.

If I understand correctly, one unpaid item strike has no consequences other than seller possibly blocking me and I'm okay with that. Since seller would not cancel my bid & just ignored my messages, I might end up blocking them.

[laurelrose0]

So I was outbid on the item I wanted (listing still active) and PAID for the one I was asking about. Now I'm wondering about returning it before it gets sent!

[albertabrightalberta]

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@laurelrose0 wrote:

So I was outbid on the item I wanted (listing still active) and PAID for the one I was asking about. Now I'm wondering about returning it before it gets sent!

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Are you kidding?! 

I'm so confused. If you didn't want the item, why did you bid in the first place? 

Just as sellers aren't required to cancel transactions (after the listing ends) or cancel bids (while auction is still active), they aren't required to accept a cancellation request even if it's made before they've shipped it. 

Sheesh! 

[laurelrose0]

I did- I paid for it. I paid $1.10 more than the bidder before me so I think seller must not have seen my message..

I could have used a different reason and complained that the listing title is not accurate but I prefer to be honest. I'm going to follow your advice from now on! It's been ages since I've bid on eBay auctions so I was rusty. 🤗