Specific Items Repeatedly Targeted by Same Non Paying Bidders

[immortalfigures]

I may be jumping the gun with this complaint, but I feel it in my bones that I am not. This relates to a post I made about two weeks ago. I have been on Ebay for approximately 24 years. I have sold approximately 14,000 items in that time. I have never experienced a situation like this before.

The recount my previous post: Two weeks ago I listed a bunch of vintage transformers for auction. At the last second someone swooped in and bid on all of them. In the instances where there were other bidders on the auction some of them tried to enter higher bids, but in each case this new person's bid was higher and they won all the auctions. In many of these cases, the price the auction went for was higher than I thought reasonable. After I looked at the buyer's feedback, they had about a half dozen "positive" feedbacks that stated the person was a non paying bidder and had bid up the items at the last minute. I posted a comment here because I wasn't sure procedurally what to do in this situation concerning second chance offers. People here were really helpful and it all sorta worked out in the end (found second chance buyers for two of the five). I also made sure the buyer was blocked and that no one with 2 unpaid auctions in a year period could bid (I thought I had that option selected, but apparently I did not). I waited the 4 days and then cancelled using the buyer non-payment option.

Two weeks later I relisted the auctions along with some new vintage transformers. Those transformers represented only about 6 of the 80 auctions I started at the same time. Today, at the last moment a new person came in and did the exact same thing to the transformer auctions. The account user was different, but both account had a lot of similarities. Only a few positive feedbacks, one of which had  a non paying bidder comment. Both accounts were from Florida (based on the phone number they provided - I can't see their address). While the auctions finished only a few hours ago, I feel as if I am in for the same treatment. The person put these bids in 10 minutes before the auction ended and were obviously right there in front of the computer. Again, this only occurred for my vintage transformer listings. 

The reason I am posting this is not to ask what should I do. Everyone was really helpful with that last time and I am good. I am posting this to see if anyone has any insight why someone is doing this? What would the purpose be? I have had non paying bidders before of course, but never this targeted and repeated. I am no longer listing vintage transformers for auction due to this pattern. 

I realize I could be overacting here and the person might just pay, but its just a lot of similarities.

Thanks everyone.

[mam98031]

I'm so sorry this is happening to you.  Auctions sometimes will draw people in that bid only for sport / entertainment.  They love the process but have no intention to purchase.  Bidding at the last minute is NOT at all unusual.  Heck when I use to shop auctions, that was pretty much the only way I bid, was in the last couple minutes of the auction.  Not allowing others enough time to bid against me, is the logic behind that.

Just make sure you follow the advice you received before.  If they win and don't pay, 96 hours after their purchase file the Cancellations with the reason the buyer did not pay.  That will create that strike on their account.  This works on both types of listings you can do on Ebay, Auctions and Fixed Price.

Now once the auction is complete, you will be able to see the name and address of the buyer.  If it is the same or too close for comfort, report the buyer.  Not just for circumventing your Block on their other user name buy you need to report them for their disruptive bidding habits.  Ebay does not want buyers doing this anymore than you do.

Now you have a couple options to report a buyer.  I'll give you a link in which you can report them on the site, but with this one, if it were me, I'd contact Ebay directly so we could have a conversation about the damage they are causing and the harm to your little business.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service.  Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is.  Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message.  It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/

Your options will be on the left.  If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options.  Not all options are available 24/7.  It will depend on staffing available.  So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't.  Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me.  If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[immortalfigures]

Thanks. Really appreciate the advice!

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Your problem is one of the reasons Ebay added Buyer Payment Requirements to your Selling Preferences

You can require they provide a payment method before they bid, and automatic payment at the auction end.

This deters some of the bad actors.

[immortalfigures]

I was wondering what that option was on my account setting. The strange thing is that I apparently had it turned on already, but I still get non paying buyers on auctions. 

[mam98031]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

Your problem is one of the reasons Ebay added Buyer Payment Requirements to your Selling Preferences

You can require they provide a payment method before they bid, and automatic payment at the auction end.

This deters some of the bad actors.

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That is not an available option on Auctions.

With that said, Ebay is testing having buyers give a funding source BEFore they bid so that if they win the bid the seller gets paid.  They are still testing this, but if you look at your Buyer Requirements, you will see two new options at the bottom.

[mam98031]

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@immortalfigures wrote:

I was wondering what that option was on my account setting. The strange thing is that I apparently had it turned on already, but I still get non paying buyers on auctions. 

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You have WHAT turned on?  IPR is not available on auctions.  Are you talking about the two new settings in your Buyer Requirements?  If you are, they are still testing this and not all sellers will actually have it activated even though it says you do in your Buyer Requirements.  But since they have already changed our Buyer Requirements, IMHO it will go site wide sooner rather than later.

[immortalfigures]

Thanks for the info. Yeah I saw that in the options and had no idea what it was or how long it had been there, just that it had been checked active.

Also, as a follow up, the buyer still hasn't paid and has about eight more "positive" reviews say this person bid up items and then never paid. I really feel this is the same person from two weeks ago. They have been effective as I do not intend to put any more Transformers up for auction after the 1 or 2 running now end, if that was their goal. 

[dbfolks166mt]

I was wondering what that option was on my account setting. The strange thing is that I apparently had it turned on already, but I still get non paying buyers on auctions. 

     The option is still in test mode at the moment and seems to have a few nuances. When you turn on the option it appears it only applies to future offers and possibly not current listings/postings. As your auctions end an you repost them I am not sure if it picks up the option or if you have to sell similar or create a new auction for it to be picked up. It also implies that it is only applicable to a select group of buyers. I am not sure if that is a misprint by eBay and they intended to say sellers but it is confusing. 

     Since it is in a test mode there is not much available in the help files that I could find. 

[ittybitnot]

I am not sure if that is a misprint by eBay and they intended to say sellers but it is confusing. 

@dbfolks166mt 

All sellers have had those new buyer requirements placed on their accounts with the default to yes.  The settings only work when eBay forcibly enrolls the BUYER ID into the program as well, and requires them to pre-select a default payment source in order to proceed.  It is displayed to buyers as "New Smoother Checkout".  Unfortunately, it does not inform buyers that by using this "New Smoother Checkout" their ability to combine multiple auction wins from the same seller will be removed and their payment options will be limited. 

The little pop up warning displayed in the screen shot in message #9 shown to sellers does not mention that  NOT removing that option 'may lead to LESS bids in general from buyers that DO pay' and lead to more fees due to the removal of the combined invoice option being removed.   

If non-paying bidders are truly the problem, eBay should simply dispense with the buyers that are causing the problem.  The technology is available to prevent the miscreant member from simply getting another ID. 

If sellers DO NOT WANT to provide the opportunity for a buyer to combine multiple wins for one shipping price, they are free to list BIN with immediate payment required.  The buyer will still have to pay full price on shipping for each, but they will be able to utilize more payment options, and choose a shipping method if more than one is offered. 

[mam98031]

@ittybitnot 

"If non-paying bidders are truly the problem, eBay should simply dispense with the buyers that are causing the problem."  If sellers consistently report these buyers as they experience them it would go a long way to stomping out this problem.  But many sellers don't have their Buyer requirements set to the strictest possible on non paying buyers and others don't use the Cancellation process for non payers.  If all sellers did both, we would have a much smaller problem with non payers.

"If sellers DO NOT WANT to provide the opportunity for a buyer to combine multiple wins for one shipping price, they are free to list BIN with immediate payment required.  The buyer will still have to pay full price on shipping for each, but they will be able to utilize more payment options, and choose a shipping method if more than one is offered. "  I've heard this statement made a few times on various threads and while it can be true that a buyer doesn't automatically get a combined shipping discount, that part is true, just the balance is NOT true.

While sellers that have IPR on their listings or are part of the test and require a payment source before buying or bidding, they can't offer an automatic / automated form of combined shipping.  It is however wholly and completely UNTRUE that the seller can't give that buyer a combined shipping discount.  It just requires a little more effort on the Seller's part to accomplish.

This kind of issue is not a new one and is not only due to IPR or any newer program on its way to all of us.  This is an issue that sellers have dealt with for many years.  

I'll speak on a more personal level, what I have personally experienced.  I do not have any listings with IPR on them, yet I get buyers from time to time that purchase one item, pay for it, purchase another, pay for it, and on and on.  So I have multiple purchases with multiple payments which bring the 30 cent per transaction fee into play as well as charging the buyer too much for shipping because certainly I will ship their items together.

I have an email I created years ago sitting in MS Word just for this purpose because it happens so often.  I message the buyer and let them know that they have overpaid me for shipping and that I will be issuing them a refund for said overpayment.  However it will be less the fees that I can't recover even with the refund.  Then I go on to tell them that I have instructions for buyer in all my listings on how to obtain Combined shipping and the best discount.

I have done this for 20+ years.  It is always met with a Thank you from my buyers and they are grateful that I'm so honest with them.  It has also resulting in many repeat customers over the years.

Now some buyers have told me it is there preferred way to shop.  Purchase and Pay.  So I tell them fine as long as they understand I can't give the the best refund that way and they all understood.

I have had others that adjusted the way they purchase so they can get the better discount.

In all, every single one of my buyers has walked away happy.  And I even did it this way during the years in which Ebay did not give us back our FVF on partial refunds.

One other thought to remember as well.  And that is with sellers that offer FREE Shipping and this same situation happens.  Buyers don't ask for or expect a refund for overpayment of shipping because they don't expect to get a combined shipping discount at all.  

Rather a double standard as the shipping the seller rolls into the price of their product is still there.  The seller is going to make even more of a profit because they WILL do combined shipping, just not refund the buyer.  So the seller in these situations make extra money they wouldn't if they did stated shipping.