People bidding on my items and not paying

[donbolts_trains]

What is going on??? Are there bots or scammers bidding on items and not paying? How do I get it to stop? Why can’t I leave negative feedback either? It automatically shows up as positive and then my comment.  Help! I have been an eBay seller for over a year, this just started happening.

[kensgiftshop]

Those buyers should start reporting the feedback you leave.

Ditch the auctions, list a s a fixed price with immediate payment required and it'll solve the not paying.

[inhawaii]

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@donbolts_trains wrote:

 I have been an eBay seller for over a year, this just started happening.

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People bidding and not paying has been happening for 29 years since the inception of ebay.

[isaiah53-57]

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@donbolts_trains wrote:

What is going on??? Are there bots or scammers bidding on items and not paying? How do I get it to stop? Why can’t I leave negative feedback either? It automatically shows up as positive and then my comment.  Help! I have been an eBay seller for over a year, this just started happening.

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I believe the problem has exploded and I do believe it is bots and/or bogus accounts...

[fashunu4eeuh]

@donbolts_trains 

With auctions, you run the risk of non-payers. It is not a new thing. Consider that the other seller’s ads a buyer may see on your listing can draw attention away from yours. During and after the auction, buyers may see a better buy and abandon the auction they just bid on or won.

What to do?

1) For all incidences of non-paying, wait the 4 days eBay gives buyers to remit, then cancel the transaction with the reason “buyer didn’t pay.” Doing this gives the deadbeat buyer a non-paying strike, which can prevent that shopper from bidding or buying from sellers who have their Buyer Requirements set to block such serial non-payers.

2) Set your own Buyer Requirements to the strictest levels that will block buyers with 2 or more non-paying strikes. They won’t have access to your listings for a year. See the link below for more info about Buyer Requirements.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/setting-buyer-requirements?id=...

3) You can stop non-payment problems by listing in the fixed price format and setting it up for Immediate Payment Required. One cannot have Best Offer on those lustings bevcause it voids the IPR option. See below for additional info.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/immediate-payment-works?id=415....

4) Don’t forget to place non-payers on your Blocked Buyer’s List to stop members from buying from you again (with that ID). Link below:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/buyer-blacklist?id=4082#:~:text=You%20can%20block%20indiv....

Good luck with your sales snd come back anytime for help from your peers. Best wishes for your continued success!

[simba6]

You might want to list as fixed price / buy it now set to require payment right away.  That will solve that.

[fashunu4eeuh]

@donbolts_trains wrote:

”Why can’t I leave negative feedback either? It automatically shows up as positive and then my comment...”

Sellers are forbidden to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers, including a negative statement under a positive. It is a policy violation. This has been the case for many years. 

It is considered bad business to name and shame a shopper. Publicly criticizing one’s buying population creates a negative  culture that can lead to buyer migration.

(One can argue that this is not a loss for the platform to chase off bad buyers. But good ones may also be put off by a culture of poor customer treatment and take their spending power elsewhere. This is a debate for another time, another thread.)

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/leaving-feedback-buyers/leaving-feedback-buyers?id=4078

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-policies/feedback-policies?id=4208

”Neither can they influence another member's feedback through a series of repeat purchases, or by leaving negative comments with a positive rating.”

[janet9988]

First tell us what is the difference in meaning between all the different feedback for buyers?

It is NOT new that sellers can NOT leave any form of negative feedback. The only thing violating ebay policy is YOU.

[donbolts_trains]

Thanks that is very helpful, I think I’ll be going to fixed prices.!!! 

[donbolts_trains]

I guess that makes sense, thanks for the explanation. 

[donbolts_trains]

Lol, than I guess I’ve been lucky.

[donbolts_trains]

I’m taking your advice!

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@donbolts_trains wrote:

Thanks that is very helpful, I think I’ll be going to fixed prices.!!! 

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@donbolts_trains 

You are most welcome.

I had taken a look at your completed listings to see your auctions are successful ones with brisk bidding and major attention from multiple buyers.

Of course it is a frustrating waste of a seller’s time and effort when a non-payer fails to remit. But there is another option for you to consider that i failed to mention in my post upthread.

You also have the option that, once the winner does not pay, you can offer the item to the next highest bidder. Below are instructions with more info in the link for Second Chance Offers.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-auctions/making-second-chance-offers?id=4142

[dbfolks166mt]

     As a seller you can now also turn on auto-pay for auctions and offers which is basically the same as the IPR option for BIN. There are some tradeoff's to using this option but it will stop the non-payers. In your account settings under selling preferences edit managing who can buy from you and check the following two boxes. 

     There is no perfect solution for dealing with buyers and payments and there are trade-offs for every scenario. Even BIN/IPR has some drawbacks and tradeoffs.