BEWARE: non-paying, no communication bidder

[swerst]

Recently listed a car on ebay motors,.  After 5 days, no contact from buyer (obviously no payment).  After canceling the 'order', eBay doesn't allow negative feedback.  eBay customer service representative suggested sharing this in Community.

[dq3141]

Vehicle listings are non-binding. Too bad the eBay rep didn’t mention that.

And you can’t post other people’s IDs here. The rep was probably clueless about that.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Titled property (vehicles and real estate) sales are non-binding. Either party can walk away at any time with no repercussions. 

[aprilmoviebuf2000]

Did you make any effort to contact the buyer at all?  Like others have said vehicle sales are non-binding, meaning it is up to the buyer and seller to communicate to make arrangements for payment and pickup.  But the buyer is not obligated to follow through with the sale.  Also, your listing states full payment required within 7 days....it ended 6 days ago.  Who knows maybe they were waiting to hear from you too.  

[kensgiftshop]

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@swerst wrote:

  After canceling the 'order', eBay doesn't allow negative feedback.

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It doesn't matter if you canceled the order or not, you couldn't leave negative feedback for a buyer,

[smileytown18]

You are not allowed to name buyers or bidders on the eBay boards. I see a moderator already edited your original question.

Better luck next time

[reallynicestamps]

Sellers are never allowed to leave negative feedback in any category.

And don't try leaving a positive with a negative message, that leads to a Defect and those are worse than losing a flakey buyer.

In most categories, the seller can open an Unpaid Item Dispute, which gives a Strike to the deadbeat. Sellers can also Block automatically bidders with Strikes in our Seller Preferences/Buyer Requirements. (I'm not sure how this works with Autos, but it is a useful protection and always worth doing.)

You can Block this deadbeat manually.

Feedback is much over publicized on eBay. It does not lead to refunds. Most buyers never read it. Even fewer sellers see it, since most transactions are Fixed Price or Buy It Now. EBay doesn't use it to assess accounts.

Feedback is the online equivalent of the supermarket cashier telling you to "have a nice day". Pleasant, but not meaningful.

[redmodelt]

Many if not most  car sale have a deposit and balance due at pickup when the car and paper work handed over.

The buyer or their agent normally would be allowed to inspect the car before paying. That is part of the reason for car sales being non-binding. As of 2022, eBay does charge a fee on the deposit along with the car selling fee.