New buyers not paying after winning. Happening much too often now.

[mar1mg6]

Been using eBay intermittently since 1999. I do not sell a large amount but might be batches of stuff when I do. 

So just started selling 9 items on October 13. Today is November 17. In that time I have had four bidders not pay after winning. No messages, nothing. So after waiting the 4 days for eBay to cancel, I then re-listed the items. 

One out of the four was not paid for again. So for the third time I am going to re-list it. 

Just about all buyers that do not pay are zero feedback and brand new accounts.

Wondering what to do. At this rate, I have a 50% chance of the next buyer doing the same thing. Very frustrating.

Searched the forums for the past two weeks about this. Seems to be a common complaint but more so lately?

One solution that keeps being suggested is to make the sale a "Buy it Now".  I will not do that. These are laptops in various conditions. Mostly very good with some having cosmetic dings and one with one problem that I point out "twice" in the listing and a photo of. Because of this, you never know what someone is willing to pay. Doing an auction is best. 

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike

[mtgraves7984]

Any other suggestions?

@mar1mg6 

Not if you're cancelling, citing 'Buyer didn't pay' and if you're dead set against BIN with INR. Good luck to you, though.

[paraquip]

I pulled my remaining hair our with ebay executives on this exact topic a couple months ago.

So there are a number of things going on here with NPB's

1. Little or no feedback....by far the largest portion of buyers

2. Tons of minors using mommy's account because she left the computer on.

3. Lack of immediate payment when sending offers (about 70% or so of my accepted offers do not pay)

I solution is simple but it lies more on the buyers side than on the sellers side and that's something ebay does nto want to deal with from a development standpoint.....they simply want the burder to be on the sellers.

Here is how to solve the problem:

1.  Block buyers from ebay messaging....... this is sort of a wiki block function but there are those "special" type of buyers out there that simply make things miserable for sellers....we all know who they are.....if a buyer gets enough blocks......the account should be suspended at the IP address level.

2. Zipcode blocking..........92% correlation between high crime cities and NPB's....... sellers should be able to select the areas they service

3. Stored credit card charged on auction win / accepted offer.

4. Buyer verifcation.......since sellers are required to upload their infromation....buyers name and address should match the credit card on account.

SIMPLE!  However ebay does not view it this way as they want to be as "inclusive" as possible

HK

[mar1mg6]

So the list of "Here is how to solve the problem:" is what WOULD help but is currently NOT available, correct?

Thanks,

Mike

[ckimodog]

@mar1mg6 

Hi Mike-

You might want to consider a fixed buy it now price with immediate payment required checked off.  No best offers either.

 It's the only way to rid yourself of these pests.

Happy Selling!

[paraquip]

That is correct......no interest from Ebay.....

HK

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@mar1mg6 wrote: ... One solution that keeps being suggested is to make the sale a "Buy it Now".  I will not do that. These are laptops in various conditions. Mostly very good with some having cosmetic dings and one with one problem that I point out "twice" in the listing and a photo of. Because of this, you never know what someone is willing to pay. Doing an auction is best. ...

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 You could set up a fixed price listing with an optimistic asking price, and add both "Best offer" and "Immediate payment required."  Then when you get an offer, you can examine the member's feedback history to help determine whether to deal with them and take the risk that they won't pay.

[kensgiftshop]

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@mar1mg6 wrote:

Because of this, you never know what someone is willing to pay. Doing an auction is best. 

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Apparently, they are not willing to pay if they win the auction, so what difference does it make?

List a s BIN with immediate payment required and no more worrying about nonpayers.

[buyselljack2016]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@mar1mg6 wrote: ... One solution that keeps being suggested is to make the sale a "Buy it Now".  I will not do that. These are laptops in various conditions. Mostly very good with some having cosmetic dings and one with one problem that I point out "twice" in the listing and a photo of. Because of this, you never know what someone is willing to pay. Doing an auction is best. ...

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 You could set up a fixed price listing with an optimistic asking price, and add both "Best offer" and "Immediate payment required."  Then when you get an offer, you can examine the member's feedback history to help determine whether to deal with them and take the risk that they won't pay.

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And with a twist to this suggestion...............................  as just like auctions, the IPR is not applied to offers, so If you get an offer that is to your satisfaction, reset the BIN price to that $$$ # letting them make the purchase at that amount so that you can retain the "immediate payment required".  If they do not purchase, as you have already decided that you would accept that amount, you can leave it there, or raise it back up. 

[tdrake]

A high number of zero feedback "just joined today" buyers come by way of Google search. They are shopping for "now" and sometimes don't even realize until after they "bid" that it is an acution. Sometimes they do. Those that bid on auctions, but really wanted the item "now", look at their other search results while waiting for the auction to end, which can be an excruciating long time for someone that needs that, say, laptop now. Add in the fact that as soon as they make a bid  eBay starts teasing them with all kinds of deals on the same or similar item.  Lots of them, knowing they have to wait as much as a week to SEE IF THEY WON just grab a sure thing and leave the auction hanging because they have no stake in eBay or the item.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote: ... You could set up a fixed price listing with an optimistic asking price, and add both "Best offer" and "Immediate payment required."  Then when you get an offer, you can examine the member's feedback history to help determine whether to deal with them and take the risk that they won't pay.

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And with a twist to this suggestion...............................  as just like auctions, the IPR is not applied to offers, so If you get an offer that is to your satisfaction, reset the BIN price to that $$$ # letting them make the purchase at that amount so that you can retain the "immediate payment required".  If they do not purchase, as you have already decided that you would accept that amount, you can leave it there, or raise it back up. 

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You can't revise a listing that has an active offer, so you'd have to decline the offer before you could revise the full asking price. This would risk losing the buyer completely. So that strategy is a tradeoff between risk of nonpayment vs risk of losing the transaction.

[albertabrightalberta]

@mar1mg6 

When a buyer doesn't pay, are you adding that ID to your BBL? 

Are you canceling the transactions as "buyer didn't pay" so those buyers get strikes? 

As others are recommended, list your items as BIN with IPR and you'll never have a non-payer again.

[mar1mg6]

Yes I add the ID to the blocked list but that does no good when they create a new ID the next day. 

Yes I let eBay cancel the the transaction after 4 days. Buyer gets a strike but once again, they create a new account the next day. 

At one time I had 6 different bidders that all had zero feedback and all created in the past month. 

I cannot sell with BIN since I do not have a reliable way to value people's opinion on slight cosmetic imperfections. One person may think it is the end of the world with a small scratch. Another may not care at all as long as the product has great specs. When searching past sold items the prices vary greatly. So an auction is best.

Why eBay cannot offer immediate payment upon auction ending makes no sense. In todays world of electronic bill paying that happens on random days and times, this is a no-brainer. Also, do not bid if you do not have the money. Easy.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@mar1mg6 wrote:

I cannot sell with BIN since I do not have a reliable way to value people's opinion on slight cosmetic imperfections. One person may think it is the end of the world with a small scratch. Another may not care at all as long as the product has great specs. When searching past sold items the prices vary greatly. So an auction is best.

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Of course you can sell with BIN just as easily as you can sell by auction. And now that ebay allows up to 24 pictures per listing, you can show every minor detail of any flaws, scratches, discoloration or anything else. 

And with a totally transparent description, even highlighting and using bold-face font, you can point out in text what they can expect. 

You'll never be able to avoid unhappy buyers merely by listing as auctions as opposed to BIN/IPR. Buyers can lie or be unhappy either way. 

You came here complaining about non-payers and you've been given information on a surefire way to prevent non-payers. Rationalizing why you can't do it as suggested (by multiple longtime and experienced posters) makes no sense and will not solve your problems.