Another Non paying bidder......Just My Opinion but

[designers*n*more]

Am fed up with Non Paying Bidders. Blocks in place, but that doesn't stop NPBs who have no strikes or only have 1 strike as you cannot put in blocks for 1 strike.

The number of NPBs across the board has increased ridiculously since the introduction of not being able to leave negative feedback for buyers.

Just my opinion but I think NPBs should be charged a $2.00 fee every time they fail to pay. I'm now averaging 1-2 every week when I list in bulk. Despite buyers now being able to cancel an order within 24 hours (correct me if that's wrong, I think I read that somewhere), the number just keeps growing.

And of course resisting an item due to a NPB means 1 less free listing.

Just had another 3 in the last week. 2 buyers didn't read the descriptions properly, one clearly had the Size listed 3 times, the other didn't read the listing was for mirror only not the dresser, so this one now won't accept the cancellation which means more time wasting have to write to eBay in order to get fees credited, Yes I could have opened a NPB dispute but buyer asked for cancellation - stupid me, won't do that again.

It's just becoming a joke!

[pennyforum14]

I think NPBs should be charged a $2.00 fee every time they fail to pay.

If they won't pay for their item, how do you propose to make them pay a fine?

this one now won't accept the cancellation which means more time wasting have to write to eBay in order to get fees credited

You don't need to write to eBay at all, if the buyer doesn't respond to the cancellation, eBay will autoatically close it after 10 days and refund your fees.

I could have opened a NPB dispute but buyer asked for cancellation

Many sellers simply advise the buyer when they ask to cancel that the way they manage cancellations is to use the eBay NPB system, and that they can ignore any messages they get and the system will close the request in four days.  Personally, I prefer to cancel if the customer asks for it, (no point flogging a dead horse) but I advise the customer that they will need to respond to the cancellation request to confirm they want to cancel so that no penalties are levied to buyer or seller.  If they think there is a penalty for them if they don't respond they are more likely to do so.  Since I started doing this, I have not had a buyer who didn't respond.

It's just becoming a joke!

Only if you let it.  I personally haven't seen a significant increase in NPBs, I get maybe one a month.  If you detemine your process for dealing with them and follow it every time, it becomes part of your selling practices and you will experience far less stress. 

[red555books]

Yes I agree wholeheartedly.......there are lots of NPBs.......some who bid in the last seconds of a auction and then you never hear from them at all? What is that all about?

[springyzone]

You should be able to block people who have even one strike-it is very wrong that ebay won't allow that option.

[cathyjoyjoy]

There IS an increase in non-paying bidders, that is a fact.

Because of this, sellers can only work with the rules of ebay to minimise the impact and increasing exposure to such bidders.

Keeping current with some of the practical advice on these forums is helpful also, as this type of information is NOT available from ebay directly.  

Like many others here, Penny, you have provided some helpful strategies..

[rocket2retro]

I agree completely If the buyer were charged the $2.00 you would soon see a decrease in non-paying buyers I wouldn't even care if eBay took 50% of the fee (it is amazing they haven't done it already) Perhaps eBay will as I think they must have exhausted all avenues of extracting fees out of sellers!

[black*poppy]

Has the cancellation process changed?  I refunded a return the other day outside of the MBG process.  I fully refunded in paypal and then went into ebay, selected "Cancel order", selected "Buyer requested to cancel order or there was a problem with the buyer's address"  and it was done.  I got FVF back and no defect.  Is it because I used the options in selling manager pro rather than resolution centre?

The point is that I didn't have to wait for the buyer to confirm the cancellation. It was automatic.

[pennyforum14]

I don't know if anything has changed, but perhaps it is different because the buyer had already paid and you refunded?  Maybe if the system can see a refund has occurred it cancels automatically?  Most of the time when I cancel, the buyer hasn't paid yet.

[phorum_junkie*]

I got just as many unpaid items when sellers could give negs, more if you took it as a percentage as I only sold a fraction of the number of items I sell now. In those days there was no way to bock buyers if they had strikes and leaving a neg for them usually elicited one in exchange, far more damaging to a seller than a buyer.

I sell for six months of the year and last session I had one non payer on each of 3 selling ids. I opened a lot of disputes but all but those 3 paid before they were ended, I did not offer or agree to any cancellations.

[black*poppy]

Hi Penny, I don't think it's about the money refund thing.  I requested a cancellation recently after myself and the seller couldn't agree a pick-up time and place over a couple of weeks - was totally bizarre - anyway I just wanted to be rid of the whole debacle in the end and requested a cancellation.  So I got the other end of the cancellation message I'm assuming I sent as a seller described in my earlier post. This is it:

Hi xxx

We're sorry to let you know that xxxx cancelled your order.

We want to make sure you receive your refund back on your original payment method. When you receive your refund, go to your cancel details page to let us know.

If you haven't paid for this order yet, please let us know on your cancel details page.

Then there's a link button <See cancel details>, and after that it's only check points asking if you have received a refund or not paid or similar (I can't remember the wording exactly).  There was no option to deny the cancellation.

When I checked that I had not paid for the item, the next email says:

Hi xxx,

We're sorry to let you know that xxxx cancelled your order and mentioned the reason as The buyer asked to cancel the order, or there's an issue with the buyer's address.

You don't need to do anything else.

Also, there is no option to leave feedback in either case as the buyer or the seller.

So I thought it might be more to do with the using SMP drop-down menu rather than resolution centre, because there is no waiting for anyone to agree to the cancellation in my recent experience.  Or it's an entirely new system?

Can anyone shed any light?