How to stop people from bidding and not paying.

[j_galaxy]

This issue stops me from selling the item again for another month. At the moment the guy is attempting to scam me by saying the payment was sent and he wants me to send the item I haven't been paid yet.

[kopenhagen5]

Set blocks on your account, that will stop serial non payers.

Select account then site prefs and buyer requirements.

You can also list as Buy it Now and tick the box to require immediate payment.

If you do get a non payer open an unpaid item case at 4 days then close it 4 days later if they still don't pay.

Then you can relist after only 8 days and buyer gets a strike.

[justkidzbiz]

Ask him how he paid. It he claims via PayPal then there is proof if a payment was made. If by bank transfer ask to provide a receipt, these transfers can take a few days. 

Unfortunately there is no way to stop people bidding and not paying, despite whether you have blocks in place. The increase in NPBs skyrocketed once eBay removed the option for sellers to leave negs.

you should only have to wait 8 days to relist. 4 days for the buyer to pay, open a dispute, close it 4 days later.

[padi*0409]

If he claims to have paid by Paypal have you set it up for a premier account? If not you can't recieve payments into it for ebay purchases I believe.

[davidc4430]

call ebay or paypal, they can confirm payment.

[pancaket52]

This looks like your first sale - as previously advised - you need to upgrade your Paypal Account to Premier. 

It's easy  & free - just log into your Paypal account and upgrade.

If your buyer has paid it will then show in your Account Summary.

If there's no payment there come back here for more info on how to handle the problem.

That's a lot of money to lose if you don't recieve payment.

[*tippy*toes* · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure where you got a month from. Given you have sold a high risk item, I have to ask, is the buyer in Australia? It's been over a week since sale, open a non payment dispute now. Go to the item on your selling page and click the dropdown to the right. Then select resolve a problem from the list. On the next page select the option that says you sold an item and the buyer didn't pay. Then on the next screen, submit it.

If the buyer doesn't pay, go back to the drop down in 4 days time (not a second before) and select to close case. On the next screen will show you the transaction. Click the dropdown on the right and select the option to get your fees back. On the next screen select no and submit. If the option to click no isn't enabled, have a look at the time it tells you on the top of the screen and go back then and close it.

Of course, follow the other advice here and make sure you PayPal account has been upgraded to allow payments. If it has been upgraded and there is definitely no payment, open the dispute straight away. Once you close it, you'll get the fees credited, otherwise you will lose over $100 in fees.

[*tippy*toes*]

Further to my last message, your buyer has 0 feedback which for a high risk item, is very suspicious. I know everyone has to start somewhere and we all started with 0 feedback, but with an item like yours, you have to be extra vigilant. I think there's a high chance your buyer is a scammer. Even more so because you have low feedback yourself. Scammers target low feedback sellers with high risk items because they often don't know how the system works so are an easy target.

If the buyer asks for your PayPal address, don't give it to them. They don't need it. If they do pay via PayPal and want you to send it to a different address, often in a different country, don't do it. If they say they will pay you extra for the inconvenience, it's another trick. Don't fall for it. The best you can do now is to open the unpaid dispute and set up buyer requirement blocks to block serial non payers. I would also suggest that if you're going to be listing high risk items, also set the block to stop buyers who haven't been phone verified. Scammers don't normally verify their account, so will stop some of them.

If you want step by step instructions on setting up blocks, just say so and I, or someone else, will leave them for you.

[springyzone]

You can never totally stop people bidding then not paying.

All you can do is try to protect yourself as best you can, so follow the advice the other people have put up about blocks, opening unpaid item cases etc.

I am so glad to read that you haven't been scammed into posting off an item before you have proof of payment. Never do that as quite a few 'buyers' brazenly lie through their teeth, or that was my experience as a seller some years back.

[phorum_junkie*]

Once you get this sorted if you list it again make sure you post it with signature on delivery and extra insurance up to the value you are selling it for.  It must also be sent by regular parcel post, not in a prepaid satchel, with a road only sticker on it as it contains a lithium battery.