Very high feedback non payers

soolin

I know this gets rehashed a lot but I have been amazed at the amount of non paying bidders that have exceptionally high feedback- all saying things like 'super fast payment' and suchlike. If it was just happening on one account I would think I had picked up a stalker somewhere, but it is happening across them all.

It might just be that sales are very high at the moment, I'm sure it won't last but I am selling 4 or 5 times more than normal and have been for a few weeks, but it is the percentage of non payers- possibly as many as 1 in 5  that is concerning.

I rarely do auctions, and all my BINs are immediate payment required, so these non payers are all from offers I have sent, or offers I have accepted. I had one the other week, buyer had been chasing an item for a while, we finally agreed a price and item sold- then he never paid , feedback in excess of 2000+ mostly recent and virtually all mentioning fast payment. I've one about to close today, buyer sent an offer, I counter offered, and they bought it immediately- and now 4 days later no sign of payment, that buyer has just over 1600 feedback, they are a seller themselves as well which makes it even more odd. 

I have had a couple of people contact me , one said they were ill and didn't pay so could I remove the strike and allow them to buy now (that was one where they accepted the offer I sent, so must have been online to have done so), and another just contacted me to say they desperately want the item, I need to relist so they cna pay - as they 'forgot' last time. The rest I never hear from again.

tightauldgit

I'm selling a lot of stuff on Ebay at the moment and getting a lot of non-payers also. Like you I'm getting offers/counter offers, accepting them and then they just don't pay. 

It seems there is nothing that can be done other than cancel the sale and accept it as a cost of doing business? Its doubly frustrating when I lose a 80% off fees promotion or similar because of their non-payment. 

There doesn't seem to be any way to actually leave negative feedback any more? I see bidders who have POSITIVE feedback saying 'didn't pay' which isn't useful at all. 

I send reminders so there's no way they are 'forgetting' to pay. 

KxMx

One of my last NPB's was a business seller, I suspect as in US they didn't realise somehow I used GSP and so just didn't pay or respond to my contact. 

soolin

KxMx said:

One of my last NPB's was a business seller, I suspect as in US they didn't realise somehow I used GSP and so just didn't pay or respond to my contact. 

I have had GSP buyers not pay in the past- but a quick look through all the last few show all UK buyers- that is a very valid suggestion though. 

theoretica

tightauldgit said:

I send reminders so there's no way they are 'forgetting' to pay. 

If they are buying a fair bit they could have so many emails from ebay they have given up on reading any... 

[Deleted User]

This is so bad.
Why is ebay having more situations like this - is it becoming so much more used that this is representing the majority of shoppers mindsets  now ?

tightauldgit

[Deleted User] said:

This is so bad.
Why is ebay having more situations like this - is it becoming so much more used that this is representing the majority of shoppers mindsets  now ?

I imagine it's because, as far as I can see there is absolutely no downside to bidding on something and then changing your mind and simply not bothering to pay. I can almost understand it if they put a bid in for something and forget about it, or maybe they're bidding on multiple items and win another one elsewhere.

When they make an offer and you accept it immediately (or you counter and they accept it immediately) and then they simply don't bother to pay I really don't know what's going on in their heads. 

TripleH

I recently was bidding on 3 very similar items. Ideally I was only after 1 of them, but accept if I 'won' all 3 items I would have to buy them.

I suspect some would do similar but pick and choose which item they actually wanted without understanding that auctions work differently to 'normal' online purchases.

tightauldgit

TripleH said:

I recently was bidding on 3 very similar items. Ideally I was only after 1 of them, but accept if I 'won' all 3 items I would have to buy them.

I suspect some would do similar but pick and choose which item they actually wanted without understanding that auctions work differently to 'normal' online purchases.

That's kind of my point though - on Ebay auctions don't work like real auctions because you aren't actually committed to paying when you bid since they do basically nothing to non-payers. I vaguely recall it used to be the case that if you bid you had to pay. Mind you I guess its better that they don't pay than pay and then start a spurious return. 

soolin

tightauldgit said:

TripleH said:

I recently was bidding on 3 very similar items. Ideally I was only after 1 of them, but accept if I 'won' all 3 items I would have to buy them.

I suspect some would do similar but pick and choose which item they actually wanted without understanding that auctions work differently to 'normal' online purchases.

That's kind of my point though - on Ebay auctions don't work like real auctions because you aren't actually committed to paying when you bid since they do basically nothing to non-payers. I vaguely recall it used to be the case that if you bid you had to pay. Mind you I guess its better that they don't pay than pay and then start a spurious return. 

I think you misread the post you quoted. TripleH said that if they won all 3 then they would expect to pay for all 3, there is and has never been any obligation to pay when you bid- you only pay if you win the item. 

I go to real auctions , I bid on lots of things I don't end up winning and I only pay when I actually do win something. 

soolin

I've got another ending today and this time rather than just send another invoice as I often do I decided to send a message instead. I just said something along the lines of 'item hasn't been paid for yet but I am going to the PO today if you still want it, otherwise it will be closed automatically by ebay after 4 days of non payment. 

I saw someone post something similar on another group and decided to adapt it for my own use. It is very polite, not accusatory at all or confrontational, and who knows this one might actually pay (the one yesterday didn't   )