Buyer claiming they never ordered the item

[zippyused]

I don't know if other ebayers have experienced this, but lately I've had multiple buyers that claimed they never purchased/bid on my items. The first case occured with an auction. The buyer claimed they never bid on the item after the auction ended. The second case was even weirder. The buyer purchased an item from me, but then inquired (later on) why their item was not delivered. I checked and noticed that usps had no access to the address. I told them usps would attempt another delivery and they thanked me. Then, when the item was delivered, the buyer filed a case with their payment provider stating it was a fraudulent purchase. I was protected by ebay, but am still irritated that the buyer got the item for free. What would be the best way to handle these situations?

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy · Accepted solution]

You sound like you are already handling them well. Unfortunately you can't do a whole lot. At least they seem to have gone well

I did have a buyer win an auction (with 1 bid, only bid on the auction) and the buyer said they never bid on it. I just cancelled and moved on.

[zippyused]

It's stupid. Ebay should change their bidding policy to charge the buyer automatically after the auction ends. It would save us all alot of headaches.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

Ebay is rolling out a program where it automatically charges the buyer once we accept an offer, so we aren't waiting on payment, so i wonder if the auction scenario is next in line

You know...come to think of it... I have one beef with the whole idea all together... what about when buyers want combined shipping on multiple items and a lot of sellers say "add it all to your cart and pay at once"...

Interesting

[albertabrightalberta]

If the auction winner claims not to have bid, tell him, no worries. Just don't pay and that you'll relist. (Don't volunteer the non-payment strike they'll get when the unpaid item cancellation closes!)

[stainlessenginecovers]

I would be sending this message:

I am so sorry someone has access to your account and is bidding for things using your account. You need to contact ebay and close your account and/or report it and change your password as this is obviously fraud. I will be contacting ebay about this account as well, along with the IC3 and US Postal Service (of anything I've shipped that a fraudulant payment was used as it is now Federal (crossing state lines). 

If the buyer is lying or a fraudster; you may see their story change. If not, no harm done. 

[zippyused]

Yeah, for real. I'll try that on my next auction that will end this weekend (If they don't pay when it ends). How many payment strikes do buyers have before ebay restricts their privileges?

[brightlightbookseller]

It's actually sellers who choose to restrict their privileges, though there may be a point where eBay acts as well.  The strictest setting (and the one recommend for use by most sellers) is 2 unpaid item strikes within the past 12 months (you can reduce the time or increase the number of strikes if you choose to be more lenient).

[craft-stash]

Agreed...I think I've heard of a thing called "Credit Card" on file but I might be from outer space!👽

[zippyused]

Huh...I never knew that. Definitely will put the LEAST lenient restriction up. I'm really sick of this whole "buyer not paying" thing.