Non Payers

[kiwiatnmh]

So, are there any actions sellers can take against buyers who don't pay/communicate. Can they simply ignore a seller, until the seller simply cancels the purchase? Doesn't seem fair?

[inhawaii]

Give the buyer 4 days to pay.

Cancel the transaction on the 5th day. Reason: Buyer did not pay.

Buyer will receive a strike.

If they receive 2 of these strikes within a year they can be blocked by sellers.

[ckimodog · Accepted solution]

Yes...that's what sport bidders do.  They play with a sellers accounts by bidding on items they don't intend to pay for as a soul purpose to annoy the seller and take up their time.  Very childish I agree. 

You as a seller can change this behavior:

Stop with the auctions or you will be chasing your money until rapture with most of them.

Post all your listings with a fixed price (buy it now) with immediate payment required checked off.  Do not give a "best offer" option either.  It's another way for non payers to annoy you and not pay.  Been there, don't do that anymore.  

This way, you will get serious buyers who will pay immediately as they have no other  choice.  

Also, you do accept returns and that's great.  However I would pay for the postage if there are returns.  It's ebays Money Back guarantee.  We see it all day, everyday on our sites.  

Do what I suggested and you will have legitimate sales and less headaches.  That's all.  

[pburn]

@kiwiatnmh 

There are a number of ways a seller can reduce or avoid nonpaying customers. Here's a list of approaches you can utilize:

• List all items as fixed-price, immediate payment required. Do not list with the auction format.
• Remove the "best offer" option from your listings or decline each offer manually--no matter how tempting it appears.*
• Make sure to use the new cancellation process for members who don't pay within four full days (cancel on day five). A strike for nonpayment will be recorded on their account. The cancellation process can be done manually or you can set it to cancel for you automatically.
• Set your Buyer Requirements to block any member with two or more strikes in the last twelve months--the most restrictive setting.
• Add the member id to your Blocked Buyer List.

Utilizing these tools will help eliminate unpaid transactions.

*eBay is rolling out a process that requires immediate payment on offers, as announced in the 2022 Winter Seller Update and the 2022 Spring Seller Update, both of which can be accessed on the Seller News board when posted and on the Seller Update Archive after some time has passed. It's in your best interest as a seller to keep abreast of this Seller Updates.

Good luck!

[inhawaii]

I agree with her.  That's the way to go.

Once i've switched to buy it now/fixed price/immediate payment required, i've never looked back.

But if you insist on running auctions, please consider what i said (above).

[b86fiero]

Unfortunately nobody can make a buyer pay.  As mentioned by others there are steps you can take to help mitigate the problem.  One seller I know blocks any buyer who doesn't pay within 2 days of the sale then unblocks them after they pay.  She's had bad experiences where buyers make purchases over several days and never pay for any of them.

Even then, a buyer can return an item and get their money back.  Most credit cards give buyers up to 6 months to file a dispute / charge back which can cost you around $22.00 in fees even though you did nothing wrong. 

Selling online can be rewarding but the pitfalls are out there.  I list BIN with immediate payment required.  Sure, I get a cancellation occasionally but I can relist the item right after I issue a refund.  No waiting around for 4 days or more to get paid or relist.

Best wishes to you!

[fashunu4eeuh]

eBay is a buyer-centric platform. As such, buyers can flout the rules without much interference from eBay. Altho there is some indication this trend is slowly being revised. eBay is working on a beta program to enforce immediate pay for Best Offers. Don’t know when (if ever) this will be implemented for all sellers.

For the time being, make sure to set your Buyer Requirements at their strictest settings to block serial non-payers, and give current non-payers a strike on their account to prevent their access to your’s, and other’s, listings.

PS—Whatever you do, do not leave “warnings” in feedback in hopes to reach future sellers. It is a policy violation to leave anything but a positive comment for buyers.

[luckythewinner]

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So, are there any actions sellers can take against buyers who don't pay/communicate.

The only action you can take against them is to cancel for non-payment after four full days. none of the other actions you can take - like screaming, stomping, waving your arms, or posting here - will force them to pay or communicate.  

 Can they simply ignore a seller, until the seller simply cancels the purchase?

Yes. eBay cannot force a buyer to pay or to communicate. 

Doesn't seem fair?

It isn't. Many sellers who have that problem simply stop allowing buyers to make purchases that do not require immediate payment. That means avoiding auctions and accepting offers. 

[kiwiatnmh]

Thank you, very helpful.

[kiwiatnmh]

Many thanks. Much to think about as I move forward.

[kiwiatnmh]

Thank you for replying. I appreciate this.

[kiwiatnmh]

Thank you for helping out here.

[kiwiatnmh]

Thank you for taking the time to help out here.

[rebotix]

*Please note that this does not block sellers from watching your items. If you send an out an offer they can accept and let it just sit. For some reason it overrides the block with buyer with strikes. I just had a buyer with 30+ non-payments (I read all the feedback posts) in a year. She accept my offer and now it's just sitting in limbo until eBay auto-cancels. No way this should be happening.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.