A reader of this newsletter dropped us a note awhile back that read:

“Hi Jim, I Love your newsletter! In your next newsletter would you consider addressing the eBay seller problem of non-paying bidders?

Since I became involved in selling *product deleted*, I occasionally run into these deadbeats. Any suggestions on how to avoid them? I don’t leave negative feedback for these people as I don’t want to ruin my 100% positive rating. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.”

Thanks!
Bonnie
———————

Jim’s Reply -
I’m happy to help you solve this problem. It’s getting easier to avoid and squeeze non-paying bidders!

…and since this newsletter is called “Creative eBay Selling” I even have a slightly “mean” way to resolve the problem that actually works quite well! I’ll save that for the end of the article.

Non-paying bidders can cause a lot of grief for an eBay seller who doesn’t yet understand their rights and resources, but once you take a few precautions and understand your options it’s really not that big of an issue. It can be reduced to a rare and minor inconvenience.

Let’s start with prevention.

The best solution is to keep “bad bidders” from ever winning your auctions.

Here are some ideas…

I’ve found that 90% of my “non-paying” bidders are NEW to eBay.

One way to avoid getting burned by these “newbies” is to monitor your auctions - especially the higher end auctions. Send an email request to bidders with less than 3 positive feedback and request that they reply to your email to “verify their identity” and to let you know that they truly intend to buy the item if they win.

Your email to the newbie might look like this:

————-(start email)———–
SUBJECT: (ebay ID of your bidder) - YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED!

Thank you for bidding on my auction #0000000″.

I noticed that you are fairly new to eBay. If you have questions please let me know.

I have a favor to ask - please don’t take this wrong, but…

It is my experience on eBay that 99% of all transactions go very smoothly, but when there is confusion it usually is the result of a new eBayer not understanding the eBay system.

MY SIMPLE REQUEST:

As a courtesy to me and the other more experienced eBay customers I have please allow me verify your identity and intentions. Please reply to this email with a simple statement that you do intend to buy the item you’ve bid on if you win the auction. Please include your first and last name in the response.

I promise to then leave you alone until the end of the auction.

Don’t be uncomfortable with this request since this is all information I’ll need if you win anyway.

Unfortunately failure to meet this request within (reasonable time frame) will result in the cancellation of your bid.

Thanks for understanding and happy bidding! etc.”
————-(end email)———–

If that sounds like a lot of work remember I said to ONLY use this idea on higher priced auctions!

If you don’t get a reply within a reasonable amount of time cancel their bid. I’ve done this MANY times and only ONCE did I upset a potential customer enough that they emailed me to complain.

NOTE TO EBAY MANAGEMENT: It would be great if you could automate the above process for your sellers! It would be a nice feature of the “Buyer Block Preferences”.

Back to our article…

EBay Sellers can cancel the bids of their customers by visiting this page:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/cancel_bids.html

Don’t want to monitor your auctions that closely? There are other options.

You can also automatically block “dangerous” ebayers (or bad feedback bidders) from bidding on your auctions by setting up “buyer blocks”. Details here:
http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerBlockPreferences

I’ve virtually eliminated non-paying bidder headaches this way.

Finally, you can opt to use the “Buy it now” option in your listings and thanks to the fairly new setting called “Require Immediate Payment” your item will remain up for sale until someone completes the payment process. In other words, the item remains up for sale until a successful payment is processed into your paypal account.

Dealing with the occasional non-paying bidder is a fact of eBay life though. When dealing with non-paying or slow paying bidders use this eBay resource page as a reference.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/unpaid-item-process.html

If you follow the steps listed on that page you don’t have to pay seller fees on non-paying bidder items.

You should also know that if a buyer gets too many “non-paying” strikes in too short a time period, their account will be suspended indefinitely. It is your responsibility to report these trouble makers. Details here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/unpaid-item.html

Finally, if you are selling low end priced products my advice is to just move on…don’t waste your time tracking down deadbeats. Just relist the item back up for sale. Don’t leave any negative feedback.

REVENGE OF THE SELLER:
I promised you a “mean” solution to the non-paying bidder problem.

The last tip I want to give you is a little “evil”, but I really like it. I have to admit I haven’t had the chance (opportunity) to use it yet myself.

To give credit where credit is due I first heard this idea from my pal Terry - http://www.silentsalesmachine.com/terryg.html

Terry keeps multiple eBay accounts active (a great idea for many reasons). One of his accounts is rarely used to buy or sell anything. Let’s call that unused account his “dummy ebay account”. His “primary selling account” is very active however.

When Terry encounters a non-paying bidder on his “primary selling account” he gets real sneaky…

For our example let’s assume Terry just sold a blue widget to a deadbeat bidder who won’t pay. The winning bid was $100. Once he’s sure the bidder is backing out he puts his “evil” plan into motion.

Terry opens uses his “dummy ebay account” and sends the winning (deadbeat) bidder a note that reads something like this:

“Dear [ebay id]-
I noticed that you recently purchased a blue widget on eBay for $100. I’ve really been wanting one of those and I’ll give you $180 for it right now if you can ship it quickly! Please respond!”

The deadbeat has no idea that the seller is sending this email. Terry says that deadbeats pay up quickly when they get his note. Pretty clever isn’t he?

Does this violate any eBay regulations?  Yes it does. But who will complain? You aren’t avoiding eBay fees since you won’t be paying the deadbeat $180! You are actually helping eBay collect their fees!

…don’t hold your breath waiting for eBay to approve this sneaky tactic.

Do I feel bad tricking a deadbeat into paying?

Nope - I sure don’t.