No Recourse for non paying Bidders is RIDICULOUS!!

[vintage_collectibles13]

Years ago, if a buyer didn't pay within a week, you reposted the item and left the buyer NEGATIVE FEEDBACK which appeared in RED! Once a buyer got 3 Negatives, they were removed!! Nowadays, you can NO longer leave a deadbeat buyer Negative feedback for those actions! People are actually leaving Negative Feedback verbiage in a Positive Feedback setting which shows a buyer has 100% Positive Feedback when technically that's what shows but in reviewing their feedback, It's atrocious!!! We just finished 12 auctions. 8 were paid for and 4 have disappeared and refuse to respond! We have NO recourse against the deadbeats except to leave Negative Communications under a Positive Feedback Header!!!! What is wrong with this picture and Ebay doesn't seem to care!! We have been diligent over the past 6-8 months to report these deadbeat bidders and lodge a concern about the ridiculous Feedback Forum and every person we reported is still active on eBay and continues to waste our time!!!!! Come on eBay, let's go back to the old way and protect the buyers whom you make your money off!!!! This hurts your bottom line as well!!!

[pargran3]

Buyers were NEVER removed because of negative feedback.

Use the tools you are given.

Set your preferences to block those with more than two non payments (you choose the time period).

Leaving negatives as positives will get a seller booted.

And good for you for reporting the non payers. That is what helps. Negative feedback would not do diddle. Never has.

[maxine*j]

Why are you obsessed with feedback, and willing to risk your account by violating eBay's policy about positives with negative comments, instead of just giving these people their non-payment strikes?  Most sellers have their requirements set to protect themselves against NPBs.

And why run auctions if you get a lot of NPBs?  Just list at Fixed Price, Immediate Payment Required, and be done with all the hassles.  Over 85% of the goods sold on eBay are sold at Fixed Price.

And, finally, your troubles are in large part because of what you sell.  I do not know why it is, what the demographics in your market are, but never a day passes on these boards without complaints about rotten buyers of sports cards.

Anyhow, I hope things improve for you and that you can find ways to make that happen.

[inhawaii]

There IS recourse for non-paying bidders.

Perhaps you should read up on it.

[toysaver]

You have the ability to prevent nonpaying bidders by doing research to set buy it now prices and requiring immediate payment.   Price checks are a few clicks.   Auctions are no longer the preferred medium to buy or sell online.  As a buyer the outcome is uncertain and the wait too long and as a seller you've identified the problem.

[dbfolks166mt]

     I have always had mixed emotions about non-paying buyers. Unlike BIN immediate payment required, where you know for sure that the buyer is sitting at their computer or on their phone making the purchase, auctions can run for an extended period and you have no idea what may have happened to the bidder over that time frame. They could have changed their mind, found it cheaper elsewhere, died, had a medical or family emergency or be in an area that was hit by a natural disaster. 

     I have, over the years, had a number of instances where the buyer did not pay but contacted me days/weeks later explaining what happened and asking if I still had the item and they were still interested in it. Generally created a BIN immediate payment required listing with an obscure title and once posted sent the bidder/buyer a link to the posting. Every time the buyer followed through and bought the item. For those that never respond I simply add them to my BBL and move on. While less frequent, and I don't use BIN much, I have had buyers cancel an order or wait till I shipped the item and once they received it immediately request a return. 

     There is no perfect solution for a seller with either auction or BIN formats and about all you can do is as pargran3 stated use the tools you have available. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Sellers have been unable to leave negative or neutral ratings for buyers since May 20, 2008.  That's nearly 15 years ago.

If a buyer doesn't pay within 4 days, you can cancel the transaction on the basis of "Buyer hasn't paid" and the buyer gets a nonpayment strike. In your site preferences, you can choose to block bidders/buyers who have gotten two nonpayment strikes in the past 12 months. Or as noted above, you can avoid non-payers completely by listing in fixed price format (not auction) , use Immediate Payment Required, and don't use Best Offer.

Buyers have never been suspended on the basis of negative feedback. You might be thinking of the old "3 strikes and you're out" policy based on nonpayment strikes, but that disappeared shortly after eBay introduced the site preferences block based on strikes.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

You should also be able to add the non-paying buyer to your block list even after the first non-payment.

[soh.maryl]

If/when a buyer has not paid in 4 days, the seller, on day #5, can cancel, citing as the reason "buyer did not pay". 

Buyer then has a strike.  Two strikes in a twelve month period mean most smart sellers have set their requirements so they do not have to deal with that buyer.  All of this can be done automatically, no need to contact eBay or the buyer.

And those sellers leaving negative verbiage in a positive FB are basically shooting themselves (and everyone else) in the foot.  

It's been at least 10 years since sellers were allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers.

[vintage_collectibles13]

Agree 100% and I will move forward with some of the suggestions provided!!

[albertabrightalberta]

@vintage_collectibles13 

There's an easy solution to your NPB issues.

If you don't want non-payers, stop having auctions. List your items as BIN/IPR -- fixed price with immediate payment required. Item isn't considered to be sold until payment is complete. I promise, you won't have another NPB!

[mr_lincoln]

@vintage_collectibles13 

-eBay has been working on this issue and for the Offers process on select accounts they are requiring that a Buyer provide payment information PRIOR to sending an Offer or accepting one.  While it is a slow process they are doing something about that part of the payment process.

-As others have mentioned, in 2008 eBay stopped letting Sellers leave Neutral or Negative FB for Buyers ... sadly, it has created an unbalanced  FB system and therefore the system is not reliable AND rather subjective.  For members in general, leaving a negative comment on a positive FB is a policy violation, the FB can be removed.

-eBay has also changed how Sellers can handle Unpaid items (UPIs) ... wait 4 days to the minute, then Cancel using the reason "Buyer hasn't paid".  Buyers get an unpaid item strike, if they get 2 they will have trouble buying on eBay, the strikes take 12 months to roll off the account. If Sellers do not wait and cancel for the Buyer hasn't paid reason then the Buyer gets off without a penalty.  Sadly, Sellers have to police the site in that regard.

-Personally, I think Buyers who do not pay should be charged a fee paid to the Seller for the inconvenience of not following through with the purchase ... say 25% of the purchase price.  It wouldn't take for word to get out that if you win something on eBay you better pay or you get charged a fee.  

[albertabrightalberta]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

-Personally, I think Buyers who do not pay should be charged a fee paid to the Seller for the inconvenience of not following through with the purchase ... say 25% of the purchase price.  It wouldn't take for word to get out that if you win something on eBay you better pay or you get charged a fee.  

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LOL! While it's not a bad idea, can you imagine the number of threads posted that will say, "Start a class action! Ebay illegally charged me for item I didn't pay for and didn't receive!"

[mr_lincoln]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

-Personally, I think Buyers who do not pay should be charged a fee paid to the Seller for the inconvenience of not following through with the purchase ... say 25% of the purchase price.  It wouldn't take for word to get out that if you win something on eBay you better pay or you get charged a fee.  

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LOL! While it's not a bad idea, can you imagine the number of threads posted that will say, "Start a class action! Ebay illegally charged me for item I didn't pay for and didn't receive!"

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@albertabrightalberta   Oh I am sure there would be a lot of unhappy non paying Buyers ... which would offset the previously unhappy unpaid Sellers ... I would gladly NOT get paid for something 5 to 10 times and make money on it every time a Buyer didn't pay the price but got charged the FEE ... LOL!

[dbfolks166mt]

@vintage_collectibles13 

There's an easy solution to your NPB issues.

If you don't want non-payers, stop having auctions. List your items as BIN/IPR -- fixed price with immediate payment required. Item isn't considered to be sold until payment is complete. I promise, you won't have another NPB!

     There are pro's and con's to both auction and BIN and while BIN/IPR may eliminate non-payment issues, unless of course you are dealing with an offer situation, the buyer on a BIN can still cancel the order or worse yet wait till it arrives and open a return request because they changed their mind, found it cheaper elsewhere......... and they had to pay for it when they bought it. OP may find they replace one problem with another although I would be willing to guess that the incidents would be less.