Non paying bidders.

[easysell2001]

Have now 2 back to back, one with 0 feedback and once the auction ends, he sent a cancellation request i accept. The second one at least have 15 feedback, and start communicating before the auction ends and ask for more pictures of the item, and once the auction ends, he send a cancellation request. For this one i didn't accept the cancelation. but what going on, now is a thing to enter and bid on items to not pay and request cancellation? im loosing possible buyers. There is a way to put items like only user with 100 feedback or more can bid?

[reelworks]

I was wondering the same thing myself, back in April we had 6 of NPBs that bid, then asked questions after they won who never paid or asked for a cancellation.

I canceled the first two wanting to just relist them asap, but left the rest go, within a week all of those bidders were No Longer Registered users. We never saw a refund on the FVF's either on any of the sales either.

I contacted ebay and was told that if the seller cancels an item even at the bidder's request they do not refund the FVF. The buyer made it clear they didn't intend to pay. (One said they couldn't pay, the other said they're kid bid without permission, the four I let ride and filed on said they just weren't going to pay.

They were the last 6 bids we got, since those  we haven't had a single bid or watcher on any items as if all the ads are invisible.

[pixzee]

I thought that there was a requirement you could set for buyers with less than 10 feedback.

"I'm loosing possible buyers"  the operative word is "possible" you could just a possibly have been saved the grief of a return from that buyer who change their mind but sent it back Not As Described.  Non payment is annoying and depressing, but you can never be sure if it wasn't a blessing. I believe that eBay  allows you to "cancel and relist" for non payment and that will refund your fees. When you sell on eBay, that comes with the territory.

We want our listings to be like honey and attract as many interested buyers as possible, but the fact is some of those buyers are going to be common houseflies and not busy bees.  There are some sellers who have come to these help boards that would love to have a buyer not pay because that would mean somebody is paying attention to their listings. 

At an auction, even if I could set it to discourage those bidders, I wouldn't because I don't know how many real paying bidders they are going to bid up. On Buy It Now, you can set the listing for immediate payment.

As far as auctions go, I always wonder if those zero feedback , just created yesterday users are competitors who want to get your item off the site so that their own item doesn't have competition. I wish eBay would automatically check when ever an account is set up, bids and doesn't pay for that kind of activity/computer relationship.

I would suggest that eBay changes it so you could BIN as a "guest" but you had to be registered and verified in order to bid.

[soh.maryl]

Any buyer has 96 hours to pay, 4 days.  On the 5th day, why not cancel, using as the reason "buyer didn't pay"?

eBay doesn't offer sellers many tools to use if a transaction goes wrong, but why not use what you have?

[soh.maryl]

There is not and never has been a way you can refuse bidders/buyers with less than 10 FB.

[easysell2001]

Good point about competitors, im more buyer than seller, i think the last time i sold something was a year ago, but even before that i remember that i could cancel bids, i took all those 0 feedback and cancel them. But it seems thats no longer an option.

[femmefan1946]

Buyers don’t like Auctions. Don’t use them. 

Switch to Fixed Price and opt for Immediate Payment Required 

Problem solved. 

[pjcdn2005]

Was it an 'official' cancellation request sent through the system shortly after the auction was over or did they just request to cancel in a message? If it was an official request and you declined it, I believe that the transaction sits in limbo for a certain amount of time. You won't be able to cancel due to it being unpaid.   I haven't run into this myself as I always accept cancellations but a couple of other posters on these boards have had this happen. I'm not sure how they handled it in the end but if I knew that the buyer was not going to pay, I would put the buyer on my blocked buyer list and relist the item.  

Refusing to cancel rarely ends well.  If a buyer no longer wants an item and you send it to them anyway, chances are that they will fine something wrong with it and you will end up having to pay for a return and refund. I realize that it is frustrating but cancelling is usually the best way to handle it.

[pjcdn2005]

I canceled the first two wanting to just relist them asap, but left the rest go, within a week all of those bidders were No Longer Registered users. We never saw a refund on the FVF's either on any of the sales either

-----------

Sellers are no longer charged a final value fee until the buyer pays so there would have been no fvf to refund.

[pjcdn2005]

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@easysell2001 wrote:

Good point about competitors, im more buyer than seller, i think the last time i sold something was a year ago, but even before that i remember that i could cancel bids, i took all those 0 feedback and cancel them. But it seems thats no longer an option.

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You can  cancel bids for any reason when an auction is still active.   But once an auction has ended you are supposed to cancel only for very specific reasons.

[pburn]

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@easysell2001 wrote:

. . .  once the auction ends, he send a cancellation request. For this one i didn't accept the cancelation . . .

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@easysell2001 

Keep in mind that if you do not accept a cancellation request received through eBay's "official" cancellation feature (within an hour of the transaction), you will not be able to cancel the transaction based on "buyer didn't pay" on the fifth day. The option to cancel based on "buyer didn't pay" simply will not ever appear.

eBay is a buyer-centric online retailing marketplace platform. They want buyers to be able to cancel transactions within the first hour without consequences.

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@easysell2001 wrote:

There is a way to put items like only user with 100 feedback or more can bid?

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No, there is no such block available; however, there are a number of ways a seller can reduce or avoid nonpaying customers. Perhaps you've already relied on a couple of them, but 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.
• For  now, 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)--unless you have  sent additional invoices or if you have declined a formal, official cancellation request . 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. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@easysell2001 wrote:

Good point about competitors, im more buyer than seller, i think the last time i sold something was a year ago, but even before that i remember that i could cancel bids, i took all those 0 feedback and cancel them. But it seems thats no longer an option.

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Cancelling bids for low or zero feedback users is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The purpose of being here is to sell. Cancelling bids in an effort to manage possible outcomes interferes with the selling process. 

One cannot tell a scammer or deadbeat thru a feedback score alone. More info is needed. But the time to deal with a non-paying buyer is after they fail to pay. Forbidding new buyers from completing the sale benefits no one. 

Attracting new buyers to the platform is crucial to the health of the marketplace. If we only allowed buyers with a sales history to bid or buy, eBay would cease to be profitable and eventually would fail. New buyers should be welcomed not shunned. 

Cancellations and failure to pay are two consequences of the auction or Best Offer formats. The best way to avoid these issues is to list fixed price with Immediate Payment Required. Otherwise, let the auction run and give it a chance to end successfully, knowing that you risk the consequences.

It is time to stop fearing new buyers.

[dmw2005]

What is the point to the zero or low feedback "buyers" bidding up high dollar items?   I know everyone has to start with zero feedback, but putting in 10 bids on an Iphone 12 or new laptop?  These are not shillers, because I see multiples of them in the same auction.  I'm sure they never pay either.  Are they just trolling/messing with sellers for fun?