Unpaid items - can't place a bid
Hello,
I'm hoping someone can help.
I recently linked my credit card to eBay, but the automatic payment failed three times after I won three auctions. I then checked out manually and paid for all three items.
However, when I try to place another bid, I get a message saying that I have too many unpaid items, even though they've already been paid.
Has anyone experienced this before? Is there a way to resolve it?
Thanks in advance!
gameday007
Posted Aug 10, 2026 at 7:53 PM · Edited Aug 10, 2026 at 7:53 PM·Last reply 2 weeks ago
9 comments
mam98031
·2 weeks agoUnpaid strikes are not necessarily related to your most recent transactions. Depending on how a seller has their Buyer Requirements set up in their Site Preferences, seller can designate that with as few as 2 Unpaid Strikes in the past 12 Months, you can be blocked from bidding or purchasing from them. Some have different settings as the seller has options, but the one I stated is the strictest one available to sellers.
kathiec
·Aug 10, 2026 at 9:16 PMIf it took more than four calendar days for you to realize the payment failed the sellers could cancel for nonpayment, giving you a strike. You sell, so I assume you know this. You should also be familiar with the notices eBay sends out when someone buys, including the one that verifies payment has been successful. When you didn't receive that it was up to you to follow up.
Sellers can block bids from members with two or more nonpayment strikes in a 12-month period. Not all sellers do, but if your strikes remain you'll find few items you can buy here.
You can reach out to customer service and explain the situation to see if they'll remove your strikes. They normally will remove the first; I don't know what they'll do with three.
gameday007
OPAug 11, 2026 at 5:00 AMAll payments were finalized within 1-4 hours, so nothing was left unpaid. Getting in touch with customer service seems to be difficult, but will give it a try if nothing works out. Thank you
kathiec
·Aug 11, 2026 at 5:07 AMIf payments were finalized within 1-4 hours you wouldn't have three nonpayment strikes.
gameday007
OPAug 11, 2026 at 5:11 AMHow can I be sure that I have three nonpayment strikes? Could it be something else? After all, I only started bidding three days ago, so having four business days' worth of unpaid items is not possible.
kathiec
·Aug 11, 2026 at 3:52 PMThis is something you need to talk to customer service about. Did you make these purchases on the US site (ebay.com) or the Netherlands site (ebay.nl). Whichever site it is you can access customer service through the Help & Contact link.
whattheactualfox
·Aug 10, 2026 at 8:47 PMIs the automatic payment method the same payment method used at checkout? About that error, it may take some time, maybe an hour for eBay to allow you to bid as their systems have to catch up
gameday007
OPAug 11, 2026 at 5:01 AMYes, it is, which makes it extra weird. I get an error message that it couldn't be charged. Then I go to checkout myself and everything works fine.
unreng
·2 weeks agoWelcome to the modern, more "helpful" ebay... good luck contacting human customer service... 🙏