Winning bidder NOT paying Two times in a Row

[ronnie_yvette]

I started selling on Ebay back in 2004 and was fairly successful.

However, I stopped selling in 2014 when the competition drove me out of my business.

Fast forward to 2023.....

Three weeks ago, I listed an iPhone 12 Pro Max for sale as a Bidding item.

The winning bidder was aggressively bidding in the last few minutes. I am not sure if it was being bid with bot software or simply manually?

Long story short, the bidder never paid. I sent him numerous messages. He finally responded and told me he never bid on my phone and to move on. Yeah right, Ebay's software mistakenly listed this buyer who never bid. Not a chance.

Anyway I waited four days and notified Ebay that the buyer did not pay and moved on.

I relisted the phone again and the same thing happened.

Another agressive bidder within the last few minutes who won the phone.

Once again, I never heard from this buyer.

Incidentally both buyers have between 17 and 19 positive feedbacks and 100% ratings.

Is this merely a coincidence or is this something that has been going on for a while with other sellers?

I am going to relist the phone one more time. If this happens again, I will list it with another website.

I know selling iPhones on Ebay is a very lucrative item. I see businesses that are listing dozens of phones in the same listing. 

Please reply with any information or experiences that you have had with thie issue of winning bidders never replying or not paying the sellers. Your reply can be about any item but preferably iPhones.

Thank you

[clemowbooks]

First-- do you have your Managed Payments account set up so that, when you do get a real buyer, eBay can transfer the payment to your checking account.

Paypal and eBay ended their association in 2015 and eBay moved to MP a couple of years ago.

Buyers can still buy with PP as well as Google Pay and Apple Pay and several credit cards.

EBay needs your SSN and checking account info for this.

Second, it's not you or eBay, but iPhones , and cellphones in general are scammer bait, especially for new ( and returned ) sellers.

Don't list it anywhere until you have much more current experience.

You have a limit on the number and value of listings you can make while you (re)learn how the site really works these days.

With the restriction you may also find it useful to drop those collector plates, which are almost unsaleable, when your 30 days end. If you can only sell 10 items, why waste the listings.

I'd suggest not listing the phones until you have at least 10 DSRs, know what DSRs are, and why they are unimportant.

EBay and other online venues are reacting to some new laws about online resellers, and you should be sure you have the receipts for those Monster High dolls, because of the highish price.

On the whole, although it is definitely frustrating to have failed transactions, you may decide you were lucky the buyers did not complete their scams.

Oh-- You can add Immediate Payment Required to any Fixed Price listing, but if the customer goes for Best Offer, the IPR dies and he has 96 hours to pay.

But.

Only 96 hours, after that the transaction is immediately and automatically cancelled - four  days sooner than when you were selling last.

[dbfolks166mt]

     A couple of notes. 

     First and foremost cell phones are probably one of the favorite targets for scammers on eBay, especially international buyers. If you are going to list cell phones I always advise that you retain the IMEI number and if you are scammed out of the phone you can report the IMEI number to the IMEI blacklist which pretty much renders the phone useless to the scammer. 

     For the buyers that did not pay you should potentially add them to your BBL especially if they do not respond regarding why they never paid for the item. There are lots of reasons bidders do not pay some are legitimate some are not. For the buyer that claims they never bid on your item you should report that to eBay, while I suspect the bidder is simply lying there is the possibility that their account could have been hacked and they are not aware of it. 

     There is an option in your account settings that you can turn on that requires bidders/offeror's to provide a payment method before they bid or make an offer which is akin to the BIN/IPR function. It is still in the pilot phase I believe and it does have some drawbacks but it is an option. In your account settings under selling preferences edit the following. 

Near the bottom you will see the following two check boxes. Simply check them to apply the settings to your listings. 

[stephenmorgan]

I get about one out of ten non paying bidders.  The seem to always be low feedback bidders.  They have never replied they did not place the bid, they just do not respond anything.  I just take it as they do not know what they are doing or even understand that placing a bid ties up the item if they do not pay.  Not much you can do.  Just wait the four days and cancel the order.

[inhawaii]

Winning  bidders who do not pay is a very common thing.

Lots of people will suggest not listing auction style and listing with buy it now/immediate payment required instead.

[soh.maryl]

"Only 96 hours, after that the transaction is immediately and automatically cancelled . . ."
Only if the seller has set up his listings that way.  Otherwise, the seller has to cancel the transaction, citing "Buyer didn't pay" as the reason.  

[mam98031]

The OP's issue has nothing to do with MP or if they are set up for it.  It has to do with a non paying buyer.  

FYI, while Ebay and PayPal did split in June of 2015, here on Ebay the vast majority of sellers continued to use PPs services as their money processor through the middle of 2020.  Ebay started onboarding sellers to MP in the summer of 2020 and continue to do so through 2021.  Now everyone is in MP.

Electronics is likely the hardest category to sell on successfully on Ebay.  Full of buyers trying to scam sellers.  And that in and of itself is likely the problem the OP is having.  

[mam98031]

Now that your buyers have not paid and you have cancelled the transaction have you tried sending a Second Chance offer to the next highest bidder?  

[sextons-sweet-deals]

You might want to entertain pick-up only / pay then. 

dbfolks166mt said it best. 

[mam98031]

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@sextons-sweet-deals wrote:

You might want to entertain pick-up only / pay then. 

dbfolks166mt said it best. 

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That would really limit their customer base.

[ronnie_yvette]

Thank you. I appreciate your reply. What did you mean about having the receipt for the Monster High Dolls?

[ittybitnot]

I know selling iPhones on Ebay is a very lucrative item.

@ronnie_yvette 

I don't think "lucrative" is the word I would use.  Though non-payers are truly annoying, in the scheme of things it is truly better than having someone purchase it and THEN play some scam on you to get the product for free and a refund from your proceeds.  Know going in that ANYTHING can be had for free at the seller's expense with the right kind of phony claim. 

Advice: 
*List it fixed price, immediate payment required, and DO NOT use the best offer feature 

*List it locally (someplace else) for CASH. 

Since you are a returning seller, eBay is going to hold your payment for month anyway. 

  

[ronnie_yvette]

I know a few forrmer Ebay sellers that quit selling on Ebay. They claimed that Ebay was strictly on the side of their buyers. I agree with them after perusing their policies etc.

Appreciate your help.

[mam98031]

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@ronnie_yvette wrote:

I know a few forrmer Ebay sellers that quit selling on Ebay. They claimed that Ebay was strictly on the side of their buyers. I agree with them after perusing their policies etc.

Appreciate your help.

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That is a pretty broad statement and not completely correct.  Yes there are some policies that most certainly are and others that aren't.  It is a mixed bag.

[albertabrightalberta]

If you have a non-payer, after canceling the sale for non-payment, block that ID. Why would you ever leave them with the ability to bid on another of your items. 

For non-payers, one strike you're out! 

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock?&hm=vo.rp73%28%3F310%60%3Eb&hc=1&guest=1