buyers that don't pay

[cool2collect]

These last 2 weeks have been particular bad for me with non paying buyers. I have sold nearly $600 worth of items in the last 2 weeks that the buyers have not paid for, nor are they even contactable. I know this happens to a lot of sellers from discussions I have had, and these customers really do cost us a lot of time and money, what with chasing after them, then going through the steps of cancelling a transaction, waiting for ebay to refund their % of the sale, and having to relist and sell the item all over again, all while missing out on the customers that were happy to bid when it was first listed, but then are no where to be seen when you finally get the item up again. I would like to see ebay adopt some policies that protect the seller for a change, instead of the buyers, who lets face it, are worthless to ebay without us sellers. There are other auction sites I use that make you deposit the money you are going to bid with beforehand, so all bids are binding because they are made with actual money, not the promise of it. This system seems to work well, people dont spend more than they have, and sellers dont spend half their time chasing after money they are owed.

Come on ebay, you can always improve the way things are done.....

[leanne9604]

What I want to know is why can't Sellers leave negative feedback for buyers. I have had two buyers in the last two weeks who have not paid and are not contactable. It is unfair that buyers are able to leave negative feedback. How about some protection for the sellers. 

[tstore]

I have had 158 UIDs in 12 minths. Two is not much in contrast 🙂

[chameleon54]

A quick check of the forums will show plenty of examples of serial non payers, continuing to "buy" without any restrictions on thier accounts. The idea that ebay will restrict thier account for twelve months is nice, but obviously not done in practice. If through some miracle a buyers account is suspended they simply spend 5 minutes opening another ID and go on thier merry way of buying and non paying. ( could be why many sellers cringe when zero feedbackers bid on thier expensive auction items. Its happened to me several times recently with no comunication or payment once auction closes and I still like to give zero feedbackers "a fair go" )

[thoroughstuff]

I have had a bad run of non payers pre christmas too. (About 40%) Only new at selling, don't think I will continue it is very frustrating!

[chameleon54]

Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble. Have you got settings in place to block bidders with two or more non payment strikes against your account ? This is done through your settings. This does help a bit, but not a complete answer. Do you open unpaid cases against the non payers ? ( "resolve a problem" in drop down menu next to item, in sold items ) Around half decide to pay when I open these and it certainly hurries many up. It also helps to have a line in your listings requesting payment be made within XX days of auction finishing. I use four days in my listings for payment and this helps when you open a non payment dispute as you can point to the listing terms if they get grumpy. Hope this helps.

[zelly888]

You can state what ever days you want but Ebay allows 4 days so there is no point stating anything else in your listings.

[*crikey*mate*]

Generally speaking, if a seller waits until an item is paid for, they do not let it out of their posession until such time as this happens. I.e. they don't post it. If they use a trackable method of postage with proof of lodgement, they are then generally covered against claims for INR...

a B&M store however has many, many incidences of people failing to pay for their items but taking them anyway. It's called theft. They go to extraordinary methods to try and reduce this theft, but it still happens anyway.

At least an eBay seller does not have to contend with this form of non payment.
 A form of non payment where there is no chance to resell the goods at a later date unless recovered through authoritive processess.

Put it into perspective people, yeah, UID's are inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as completely llosing the item altogether.

In both scenarios, there are legal procedures to follow.

In both scenarios, there are applicable processes to minimize the potential loss, but people have to use the systems involved.

I doubt any system will ever be 100% effective, but eBay do have to work within the law.

I wonder if the number iof UID has increased as therte is now a lot more users.... I don't know, but it is a thought.

[lema38]

I feel the same way. Having not sold on ebay in a number of years, have been extremely disappointed that this feedback policy is in place. Just having sold 4 items over the past couple of months, 3 of them were non-paying. It's a joke - how can we protect other sellers from these creeps who just want a laugh?

[davidc4430]

you have dragged up a thread from 2013, congratulations your leading the oldest thread to be pulled up to the top of the list for this week competition.

[audio-spot]

I think I can beat that...