During the last couple of weeks I've had two auctions end up with different non-paying bidders. That's out of maybe a couple dozen items that I listed during that period, not thousands. These were not big ticket items -- both sold for less than $50. I have heard zip from either bidder in spite of repeated invoices, messages, and ultimately filing unpaid item claims. In both cases the bidders had been on eBay for some time and looked to have good records. One had over 1500 feedbacks, including several recent positive ones.

In 13 years on eBay selling about 2000 items I've had a total of maybe 10 deadbeats, so having two in such a short period seems unusual to me.

Has anybody else seen what looks like a rise in bidders that vanish like like a fart in the wind when the auction ends?

John

The last time I did any real selling on ebay was when we moved here, to clear the decks, as it were. Now that we're planning on moving again, I've started selling again.

Last time (about 4 years ago) I didn't get a single deadbeat. But in those days, sellers could leave negative feedback for buyers.

Now, it's such a common occurrence that I just have the "Unpaid Item Assistant" turned on. Winning bidders get one invoice then, after 3 (more like 4) days the system automatically starts an unpaid item dispute. Some of them pay up, some don't, but it seems to be the only way to deal with this without wasting so much time and energy that the game wouldn't be worth the candle.

I was thinking the same thing 2 weeks ago when I had 3 unpaid items. I opened a unpaid item case on all 3 then 2 of them got paid. The last one I did a Google search of the person name with city and state and found a obituary 1 day after the auction ended so I was pretty sure he would never pay.

Yes, just recently I had a buyer (fixed price, not auction) with a 4 feedback rating not pay for the radio. After 4-5 days and three invoices I contacted Ebay a initiated a no payment claim. I don't know what Ebay sent to the buyer but two days later the payment was made.
Now, I know that many of us complain about Ebay fees, etc., but I have been helped by Ebay's policies more than have been harmed. As a result, I continue to list my radios for sale on the Bay.
Now I see that Ebay has begun a new addition to their portfolio of businesses, called MogentoGo. For as little as $15 per month a person can have their own web site hosted by Ebay. A seller can use their own domain, and there are no fees/commissions involved- just the monthly subscription fee. I would like to know more about this and will start a new topic on this thread.

I guess I have a deadbeat every 6 weeks or so, and that is more than I did a couple years ago. I blame it on people who just don't take Ebay seriously, as if it were as freewheeling as CL. It bothers me a little that when I look back I see that most of the deadbeats are still registered users, despite going through the unpaid item wringer.

I have won eBay auctions from time to time, where I get a prompt telling me that the seller requires immediate payment. That might just be a good tool to employ in the present climate...It would quickly flush out them that don't wanna pay.

78 rpm record buyers seem to be pretty deligent in paying. Maybe 2 non-payers/month out of 75 transactions per month. 99% of my sales are BIN so I think that does make a difference. Auctions will get more buyers with eyes bigger than their Paypal balance.

Here's what I don't understand in regard to non-payers with fixed priced items, as was my case.
If you are at the computer making a fixed price purchase, why not pay using the paypal account?

I thought almost all items on E bay had to sell using Pay pal?
Stan Ski

I remember when Paypal was like a special feature... that only a few big sellers offered. Nowadays, it's usually the primary and/or ONLY accepted payment system.