25+ years on eBay and still no good means of dealing with deadbeat bidders

[imatt49849]

Another day, another auction won by a deadbeat bidder. While I'm admittedly a fairly infrequent eBay seller, I've been on here for 25 years and I am sick to death of dealing with eBay and deadbeat bidders on roughly 30% of the items I list. It's 2023 and there are so many generally secure methods of taking payments online; why isn't the system set up in a way that requires these people to have a credit card *on file* so when they bid on something and the auction ends, it simply charges them the amount they agreed to pay? This happens to me probably 30% of the time when I list something: some moron with little or zero feedback bids at the last minute, they don't pay, and then *I'm* penalized by being told to wait 4+ days until the auction can be nulled/voided "the right way" and the buyer listed as nonpaying so I can finally relist it, try again, and then wait 'x' more days for the next auction to end. And, from what I understand, the fees I paid up front (in this case the "Special Duration Fee") are non-refundable (at least that's what the "ask an expert seller" person told me), non-paying bidder or not. Why should I be penalized with waiting 4 days and still owing these fees for an auction that wasn't successful all because eBay's payment system is trash?

Then on top of all that, after reporting as "nonpaying" you can't even leave negative feedback anymore to warn other sellers anymore!

This whole process is monumentally stupid and it's been happening literally for DECADES. What legitimate reason is there for this still being an issue? Fix it!

[ebooksdiva]

By utilizing the Buyer requirements to stop annoying nonpayers you have to USE it.

Policy here>>Setting buyer requirements | eBay 

You can find it in your Seller Hub here>Buyer Management | eBay

Blocked Buyer List >>Block buyers from your listings | eBay

Also when you list don't do auctions it attracts nonpayers like flies to a dung heap. 

Always list BUY IT NOW with IMMEDIATE PAYMENT REQUIRED 

Boom !!! No more Nonpayers

Happy New Year

ETA Feedback for buyers has been only positive for nearly 15 years. Leaving negative feedback is pointless. Filing nonpaying bidder and Buyer requirements works. 

Happy Selling

[imatt49849]

I'm already aware of all of that and I already have the settings set as stringently as possible. Blocking buyers doesn't help with auctions that have already completed.

[ebooksdiva]

I guess you skipped over this part of my response:

Also when you list don't do auctions it attracts nonpayers like flies to a dung heap. 

Always list BUY IT NOW with IMMEDIATE PAYMENT REQUIRED 

Boom !!! No more Nonpayers

[imatt49849]

No, I didn't skip over that part of your response, I declined to acknowledge it because that's not a remotely valid solution to the problem. "Buy It Now" isn't always a good fit, and I should be able to hold an auction and still get paid at the end of it. Often you get the best price when people get to bid against each other.

[stainlessenginecovers]

80% of items sold on eBay are BIN. 50% of Auctions are not paid for. Maybe someday they will force a 'prepayment' for auctions like they do with 'offers' (some), but I also assume that will cut bidders down 70% as people won't want to 'put up the $$' just to bid. 

There are Used Nintendo Machines shown on your sold listing (other sellers), for more $$ than what you 'sold' it for in an auction. So, why not just list is at $135 Buy It Now IP and be done?

[ebooksdiva]

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@imatt49849 wrote:

No, I didn't skip over that part of your response, I declined to acknowledge it because that's not a remotely valid solution to the problem. "Buy It Now" isn't always a good fit, and I should be able to hold an auction and still get paid at the end of it. Often you get the best price when people get to bid against each other.

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Well then you'll have to put up with the nonpayers. 

[eburtonlab]

Often you get the best price when people get to bid against each other.

The "best price" means little if the high bidder is unwilling to actually pay, though.

eBay has gone 25 years without requiring a credit card to sign up or to bid. That is unlikely to change any time soon.

The threat of negative feedback never stopped a deadbeat from bidding even when it was possible to leave negative feedback for buyers. And without a valid reason to cancel a transaction, such feedback does not really help other sellers.

Nonpayment cancellation strikes, on the other hand, do help other sellers by allowing all sellers to preemptively block those accounts automatically -- provided that sellers actually use the process to cancel for nonpayment and set their buyer requirements properly.

[soh.maryl]

So you didn't really want suggestions?

And you have to be aware:  This forum is made up of fellow eBayers.  None of us are able to "fix it".

[imatt49849]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

So you didn't really want suggestions?

And you have to be aware:  This forum is made up of fellow eBayers.  None of us are able to "fix it".

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I wasn't really looking for suggestions per se as I realize I've already worked through all the native options that eBay provides; rather, as indicated by my final paragraph, I'm looking for an answer to "Why is this still like this?" Furthermore, "just don't use that feature" isn't a valid or helpful suggestion. Yes, I'm aware this is a community forum.

[soh.maryl]

Pretty sure I didn't say, "Just don't use that feature."

Others have made various suggestions like FP, IPR.  But you prefer to stick to auctions.

OK, then.  

[kensgiftshop]

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@imatt49849 wrote:

No, I didn't skip over that part of your response, I declined to acknowledge it because that's not a remotely valid solution to the problem. "Buy It Now" isn't always a good fit, and I should be able to hold an auction and still get paid at the end of it. Often you get the best price when people get to bid against each other.

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But what good is that Best Price if they don't pay?

I would rather list at my price with immediate payment required and I know I'll get paid.

[eburtonlab]

I'm looking for an answer to "Why is this still like this?"

Probably because eBay would rather have 138 million users than the much smaller fraction of that that would have been willing to sign up and provide a credit card to place a bid in an auction the first time they encountered the site.

[albertabrightalberta]

Don't you just love it when posters come here looking for advice, receive helpful and valid advice and dismiss it, often implying that responses aren't answering their questions? 

In cases like this, I suspect that OPs aren't really looking for advice because one would assume that with "25 years on Ebay," @imatt49849 knows that FP with IPR would totally eliminate NPBs. My guess is that this topic is a way to advertise his listings but disguised as a plea for help. 

JMHO.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@imatt49849 wrote:

some moron with little or zero feedback bids at the last minute, they don't pay, and then *I'm* penalized by being told to wait 4+ days until the auction can be nulled/voided "the right way" and the buyer listed as nonpaying so I can finally relist it,

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If you're referring to the "Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition" that was sold to a 1-feedback buyer, the auction closed less than 48 hours ago so that buyer, completely in accordance with ebay policy has over 51 hours left to pay! 

He may pay and be one of your best buyers and maybe even a repeat buyer. 

@imatt49849 If you insist on running auctions, you need to learn patience!