How come you can’t require immediate payment for auctions?

[dreamerjm]

I had an iPhone auction with Buy it Now, the person who won was from out of country with a reshipper’s address in the US. They apparently paid with an e-check, it never cleared, I had to file a nonpayment claim and re-list the auction. This time I checked “require immediate payment” to keep that from happening again, but guess what, after a full auction the winner once more is a person (with a new account) from out of country shipping to a reshipper without instant payment.

I looked up on eBay how they could dodge the instant-payment requirement, and it turns out that requirement is only for Buy it Now, and once the auction gets bids, the requirement goes away. WHY? My time is going to be wasted, which is bad for my iPhone sale because the closer we get to the new iPhone launch the lower old iPhone values will be. This is frustrating, and as far as I can tell there’s nothing I can do except take the 6 days minimum to get a non-payment claim, then relist the phone again but only allow Buy it Now. I thought eBay was about auctions, if all you can do to prevent fraud is use Buy it Now, why even use eBay rather than another site?

[mingotoy]

Auctions can never have instant payment since they can end early in the morning or late and buyer might no be online.  List it buy it now or list it on Craigslist. Phones are risky items to sell.

[dreamerjm]

So require they preapprove the sale value for the maximum bid amount they’ve chosen at the time they make the bid.

[magicjohnsonsvariety]

What would be considered immediate payment after an auction ends?? Not everyone is available to pay the second an auction ends. Some people might win when they are not available......they may be at work, school, church, movie theater. Its simply not possible or even logical.

[slippinjimmy]

What do you do if you are outbid and then 2 days later the person who outbid you retracts their bid or the seller cancels their bid. Now you are the high bidder again but you don't know it because once you were outbid and not willing to go any higher you moved on to a different listing or simply changed you mind about the whole thing?

I could easily come up with more reasons why it won't work.

[janet9988]

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@dreamerjm wrote:

So require they preapprove the sale value for the maximum bid amount they’ve chosen at the time they make the bid.

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I would be okay with that..as long as you shipped as soon as I paid or the sale will automatically be cancelled. 

[jonathankirkland]

OP I agree with you 100%.

Fortunately, phones are one of those items that are kind of easy to price. You just search your model phone and your carrier and you get a very good idea of what you can reasonably expect for it, then just list it buy now with immediate payment required.

It's sad but it's true, auctions or buy-now without IPR are just scam magnets for international buyers with e-checks hoping someone will ship before receiving payment, and trust me, IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

Sorry for your frustration but I hope you will just try listing it as BIN with IPR. Make sure to use signature confirmation as well.

Good luck!

[7606dennis]

With an auction the winner is determined by the highest bid and that bid may have been placed days in advance of the auction ending.  While when making a purchase from a fixed price listing, the buyer makes his decision to buy at a time of his own choosing and thus it is reasonable to expect him to pay for his purchase at the time he places the order.

In the case of both auction wins and best offers the fact that the bidder/buyer is not in full control of when the purchase is made makes it unreasonable to expect him to pay immediately.  In an auction the winner doesn't know he has won until it ends and in the case of a best offer until the seller accepts it.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Given eBay's software track record there is no way I would preapprove a payment. Many buyers would just quit buying. Poof! I've spent over a quarter million here and would walk if this was a requirement.

now you see buyers are hard to replace. Why would ebay annoy me just because you, the seller of high scam items refuses to use the tools already available?

[magicjohnsonsvariety]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

Given eBay's software track record there is no way I would preapprove a payment. Many buyers would just quit buying. Poof! I've spent over a quarter million here and would walk if this was a requirement.

now you see buyers are hard to replace. Why would ebay annoy me just because you, the seller of high scam items refuses to use the tools already available?

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So true, no Buyer in their right mind would ever trust ebay to process a payment automatically such as what was implied by OP. 

[maxmann1974]

Amen!!!  If u buy something on Amazon I don't wait around for an invoice and decide later if I want to pay or not.  Same should and could work for an auction.  The person had a credit card on file or paypal and its automatically drafted of they win. How hard is that???? Sellers are majorly abused on ebay for fraudulent/flakey buyers.   There has to be a way to do this. 

[maxmann1974]

Ever heard of automatic bill pay? Its amazing.. your account gets drafted automatically for your electric bill no matter where you are! Church or the golf course. Computers are amazing.  The same thing could be done here... and if you dont have the money to pay.. you shouldnt have bid in the first place.  It should be electronically processed as soon as the auction ends. Period. 

[luckythewinner]

How come you can’t require immediate payment for auctions?

Because the buyer must initiate the payment.

First, no buyer in their right mind is going to grant eBay the authority to access their PayPal account, bank account, or credit card without being online to approive the payment.  

Second, many buyers do not want to leave a large cash balance in their non-interest-bearing paypal account. When they win an auction, they want to transfer the money first and then initiate the payment to avoid overdraft charges. 

Third, sellers can end auctions early and choose to sell to the current high bidder. this means a buyer may win an auction on a day and time he was not expecting to have to make a payment.

Solving all these issues would cause massive buyer confusion and negative impacts, without buyers seeing a single shred of benefit from it. 

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread here: https://community.ebay.com/t5/forums/postpage/board-id/selling-db

Thanks.