Non-Paying eBay Buyers
One of the most frustrating aspects of selling on eBay is dealing with buyers who do not pay for their items. eBay is the only place on the internet where a buyer can commit to buy an item, complete the checkout process, and not be required to pay immediately. After selling over 15,000 items, I’ve noticed 4 payment patterns:
Buyers who pay immediately
Buyers who pay within 1-2 days
Buyers who pay within 1 week
Buyers who don’t pay at all
Many sellers send 2 or more payment reminders to their buyers, in the hopes of collecting payment. I’ve not had much success with this technique. It is time consuming and an inefficient way to run your business. Use eBay automation to collect payment from your buyers.
eBay members must be 18 or older to transact business. We are all adults here, and if a buyer can complete the checkout process, he can figure out how to pay. Busy sellers don’t have time to chase down the buyers and ask for payment – buyers have already committed to pay and it is their obligation to pay.
Just use your eBay Selling Manager to file Unpaid Item Dispute and let eBay contact the buyer. Don’t be afraid to file these. Unpaid items will show up in your Dispute Console after 7 days. Since sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for non-payers, the only way we can remove non-paying bidders is to report Unpaid Items. If the buyer still does not pay after you file the dispute, submit your request for Final Value Fee Credit, relist the item and move on.
[Image Source: Flickr]
I think the UPI process is long overdue an overhaul given the recent changes to feedback.
Hi, Gemma, I agree. I think sellers need to be given back some power to rate buyers – stripping our power to leave feedback has left us rather defenseless! Thanks for visiting!
Hi,
I think they should bring back the power for sellers to leave buyers negative feedback. I used to find only about 1% of transactions failed on ebay… now i am finding around 30%, either im just being unlucky or buyers are getting away with it. I’ll continue to file for unpaid items but that doesnt solve the problem and is a waste of sellers time. I have set all the buyer requirements and i think the next option is to have ‘instant payment required’ which means the auction doesnt end until the buyer has completed the transaction.