Buyer With Reputation of Never Paying Bids and Wins Multiple Auctions at last Minute.

[immortalfigures]

Here is a fun one. Just finished a series of auctions for some vintage transformers. Auctions performed really well and they all went for the high end of what I expected. Fantastic. When I went to send invoices I saw that most of the items were purchased by one person. Great, makes it much easier. I click on their profile and see all positive review (forgetting there isn't anything else). Then I look at the reviews. 99% of them are from sellers with some variation of "THIS IS NOT A POSITIVE REVIEW, THIS PERSON BIDS UP ITEMS AND THEN NEVER PAYS!!" Just...Awesome. Apparently this guy bids on transformer auction at the last minute and never pays. 

I have of course had people not pay for auctions, but never this many at one time. While I would normally wait until the couple days passes before I can terminate for non payment, I really don't want to tie these items up for long (I have travel plans that will restrict me from starting the auctions again for a while if I wait for the whole period). What are the consequences for me if I just cancel the sales? I've never done that before in 20 years so I have no frame of reference. I looked at this person's profile and they have never left feedback on another account.  Is there another solution here. 

Also, as a side question. Any ideas why someone would do this?

[ed8108]

This is certainly curious

1.  Why doesn't this person have two or more item strikes for non payment ?

2. Why does ebay allow this person to continue their practice of " never pay"

[slippinjimmy]

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@ed8108 wrote:

This is certainly curious

1.  Why doesn't this person have two or more item strikes for non payment ?

Because  sellers would rather leave feedback that is a policy violation then follow proper procedures

2. Why does ebay allow this person to continue their practice of " never pay"

See above, if sellers don't follow procedures then eBay has no way to know the reason the transaction was never completed

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@immortalfigures 

Proper Procedures

1 - Send the invoice IF you are discounting the shipping

2 - Wait 4 days for Payment

3 - If not paid withing 96 hours of sending the Invoice cancel the sales with the reason Buyer Did Not Pay

Next step, if you don't already, in your Buyer Requirements, block buyer with 2 or more non-payment strikes in the past 12 months.

If you cancel the sale now your only choices are "out of stock" (very bad for you) or "buyer requested" (not truthful).

[ed8108]

Ebay may not know the specific reason why the transaction was not paid, but would certainly be aware that this buyer has repeadly made purchases , followed by a failure to complete the transaction 

[soh.maryl]

As an experienced eBay seller, you do know that that FB was against eBay rules, correct?

And that the buyer could have reported it so that eBay could remove it.  The seller would have then received a defect.

If just TWO of those sellers would have handled this correctly and cancelled, using "did not pay" as the reason, and if you have your buyer requirements set so that a buyer with two unpaid strikes in a year cannot buy from you, you would not have had to deal with that buyer.  Make sense?

[soh.maryl]

The reason that this person doesn't have two or more strikes for nonpayment is because those sellers didn't cancel, citing "buyer did not pay" as the reason.  Just leaving negative FB (written as positive) for a buyer doesn't notify eBay that he did not pay, and also doesn't stop him from making further purchases. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

We don't know whether those sellers canceled the transactions based on 'Buyer didn't pay." In the past, both buyer and seller were blocked from leaving feedback when a buyer got a nonpayment strike, but currently sellers are able to leave feedback for nonpaying buyers.  

So perhaps the sellers DID follow the system, but the OP hasn't set up his preferences to block bidders with two strikes in the past year.  

A distant third possibility is that the OP does have his preferences set up, but those comments about nonpayment are over a year old.

[soh.maryl]

Thank you for your clarification.  Guess I hadn't given a thought to those aspects of the situation.  

[luxgoods]

Immediate payment for all ebay tranactions. Problem solved

[caldreamer]

If you cancel the sale...customer could leave you negative feedback (and because they purchased multiple items that feedback could tank your store).   Personally, I would just wait the 4 days and then cancel (it is possible customer may pay for some or all the items...I would not rush to judgment).

[sextons-sweet-deals]

I would like to see that stat of the number of non-payments by a buyer on their feedback board after sellers have to wait 4 days before they cancel due to non-payment. That is four days the seller is missing out on from real buyers. 

I know it is a game but would like to see scammers or price pushers be identified. I also understand that they will probably just a fresh account. 

For the O.P. Create an invoice and send it to the buyer. If they do pay, I would also entertain taking photos of packing process (just for a record) and shipping with signature required at delivery. 

You can also restructure your listings. Have an auction with a buy now price or maybe just a fixed buy now price with immediate payment. Many variations to consider. 

Good luck

[femmefan1946]

@ed8108 Unless the seller specifically cancels the sale, eBay doesn't see anything.

And the seller pays FVF so really why should eBay care?

As far as they can see, the seller accepted the situation and paid his fees. It could have been a cash for pickup sale at the time of purchase without the usual paperwork.

[brightlightbookseller]

@immortalfiguresto answer your second question since the first has been answered repeatedly: you'll receive a strike if you cancel for being Out Of Stock, and any other reason you can choose before the 4 days is up opens you to a report from the buyer and earning a defect anyways.  If it was just one order, it might be well worth it, but that many at once could result in your selling privileges being restricted, which obviously would be a significant issue.  I wouldn't recommend canceling before the 4 days is up, even though that will keep you from relisting them as an auction right away due to your plans.  Sorry for the bad news!

[sextons-sweet-deals]

correction

I also understand that they will probably just open a new fresh account. 

[immortalfigures]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I guess it's best practices to wait those 4 days like normal and cancel for lack of payment.