[Spliff]

I'm still new to eBay but I haven't had any problems until now. An item I put up for sale was getting some bids. Then, on the final day of the auction, two buyers (neither with any feedback) started bidding like crazy, driving the price of the item way update (too high, IMO, for the item).

The winning bidder had registered the same day as the auction. This struck me as suspicious. That was on Sunday. As of today, I haven't received payment or even replies to my emails.

Why would someone bid so much for an item that really isn't worth that much and then not pay for it? I thought that maybe this person was selling the same item as me, but under a different eBay ID, on the same day and was trying to drive bidders over to his auction.

What's the best way to deal with buyers that don't pay without incurring negative feedback? Or do I need to be more patient?

[theJoKell]

Curious - what auction?

But anyway, you can report a non-paying or non-responsive buyer to ebay. They'll allow you to relist it for free.

[PurpleGiant]

You can find out their phone number by filling out the appropriate sections of eBay, when they don't pay for 7 days I believe it is. People are much more responsive when you actually call them

If that isn't successful, you can simply make an offer to the next highest bidder in the auction, for the highest price they bid.

[ReggieX]

IIRC, there's an option to disallow certain kinds of members, ie. those with no feedback. Won't help you with this one, but any future ones be sure to check those out.

[ManOfSteal]

Originally posted by ReggieX:
IIRC, there's an option to disallow certain kinds of members, ie. those with no feedback. Won't help you with this one, but any future ones be sure to check those out.

Where?

[cc_foo]

I think the best you are looking at is a free relist.

The really bad thing is that (I think) the buyer can give you a negative feedback for no reason at all, that is a bloody hassle to remove.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by ReggieX:
IIRC, there's an option to disallow certain kinds of members, ie. those with no feedback. Won't help you with this one, but any future ones be sure to check those out.

yes there is, you can dis-allow users who have 0 feedback and owe money from bidding.

it is in the seller options I think.

[mdc]

it is while you are setting up the sell. there are options for users who you want to disallow.

[Mafia]

Originally posted by Spliff:
I thought that maybe this person was selling the same item as me, but under a different eBay ID, on the same day and was trying to drive bidders over to his auction.

this is probably what is happening. i know that when you fail to pay for an item you get a strike, 3 strikes and your account is suspended by ebay. ebay is the one who needs to do something. they need to stop hiking sell prices and deal with people like that. i like the three strike system but something needs to be done about registering just to hike a product up to steer people away.

[Spliff]

Originally posted by Mafia:
this is probably what is happening. i know that when you fail to pay for an item you get a strike, 3 strikes and your account is suspended by ebay. ebay is the one who needs to do something. they need to stop hiking sell prices and deal with people like that. i like the three strike system but something needs to be done about registering just to hike a product up to steer people away.

Well, I'll give the bugger 7 days to pay and then I'll offer it to the next highest bidder. If that doesn't work, I'll relist it.

[discotronic]

Make sure you file a non-paying bidder report on the buyer. If you don't eBay doesn't even look their way until someone else files one on them. I have heard that eBay would actually lock an account if the person is new and didn't pay for an item.

[alligator]

I'm an attorney. One non-paying bidder used his work e-mail address. So I threatened to contact his employer and request payment from the employer since he must have been doing business for the employer. He paid immediately.