Problems Selling on Ebay - Buyers Not Paying!

[redman042]

I've upgraded myself and my wife annually to a new iPhone since the 3G model, and always sold the old ones on eBay for a nice price. I have a perfect sellers rating with 21 feedbacks. Never had a problem, until now.

eBay buyers are no longer paying for winning bids. They just stay silent until I have to file an Unpaid Item Case, wait a total of 8 days (wait 4 days, file unpaid item case, wait 4 more days), then try again. This has now happened 6 times in the last month! I'm selling my brother's iPhone 4, my wife's iPad 2, and my iPhone 4S.

I don't get it. On all my past sales, I always got payment minutes after the bid closed and shipped the very next morning.

Through some research I've learned that this is becoming more of a common problem on eBay. eBay does very little enforcement towards buyers, and they rarely bother to ding a buyer's record if they fail to pay. So that means a buyer can win your bid then change their mind and not pay. Or they can bid on many phones at once, win more than one, and only pay for the one they want. No skin off their backs! For sellers, yes you keep your item and can sell again, but it's a hassle and significantly delays the sale.

I don't really want to deal with Craigslist, and other online sale methods don't get enough money for the device. I've always gotten good prices on eBay.

So I'm now attempting to sell the iPad with a fixed price (Buy It Now) and see if that brings better success. I priced it a little lower this time. Hopefully I get a motivated buyer.

Anyone have advice or experience to offer here?

[Moshe1010]

Here's how to avoid that:
1. List only "Buy Now" sales and check the "Require immediate payment" in the sale listing options (you also pay less fees when you list it as fixed price listing). If you want to know the realistic price for your item, in the sale listing page, above the price, you'll get an option "searching completed listings." There you can make your mind how much the item you want to sell was sold for [look for green color prices, these were sold - comparing to red listing prices that weren't sold).

2. State in your ad that you will disqualify buyers that have less than 5 detailed feedbacks in their profiles

3. Close the listing to US costumers only.

[redman042]

Originally Posted by Moshe1010

Here's how to avoid that:
1. List only "Buy Now" sales and check the "Require immediate payment" in the sale listing options (you also pay less fees when you list it as fixed price listing). If you want to know the realistic price for your item, in the sale listing page, above the price, you'll get an option "searching completed listings." There you can make your mind how much the item you want to sell was sold for [look for green color prices, these were sold - comparing to red listing prices that weren't sold).

2. State in your ad that you will disqualify buyers that have less than 5 detailed feedbacks in their profiles

3. Close the listing to US costumers only.

I'm just now trying the Buy Now option and did price it according to recent sale values. I can't do Require Immediate Payment because I don't have an upgraded eBay account.

As for #2, I can say that, but how do I actually enforce it?

#3: I always do that too. Don't want to deal with international.

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Originally Posted by Ramio

I'm a power seller with 1285 100% positive and sell thousands of dollars worth of stuff monthly and have had my share of bidders not paying. What I do is if I don't get payment within a day, I write them a message and tell them to let me know by the morning if they plan on paying or I will relist. If you don't get a response, relist it and send them a cancelation request. If they don't reply within 7 days, you can close it and you'll get your fees back. From experience, buyers who don't write or pay within the first 24 hours usually never pay. It's much better than going through filing a non paying claim which could take a very long time.

So you relist before you have resolved the cancellation with the buyer? Do you run the risk of them paying late and then expecting an item?

[Moshe1010]

Originally Posted by redman042

I'm just now trying the Buy Now option and did price it according to recent sale values. I can't do Require Immediate Payment because I don't have an upgraded eBay account.

As for #2, I can say that, but how do I actually enforce it?

#3: I always do that too. Don't want to deal with international.

----------



So you relist before you have resolved the cancellation with the buyer? Do you run the risk of them paying late and then expecting an item?

I don't know what upgraded account toy need to have the "require immediate payment". I have an account with 65 feedbacks and have this option.
You don't need to enforce the 5 feedbacks or less rule, they just won't buy it from you because they know that you are not a sucker and can smell their scam from miles away. You can cancel any buyer from purchasing your product, especially if you stated that you are not going to sell to 5 or less feedbacks. In addition, I forgot to mention that there are rules you can establish in your listing to avoid people with negative feedback and # of violations.

[iosuser]

The other benefit of using buy-it-now only is the lower final value fee, which is 7% first $50, then 5% of the remainder up to $1000, if I'm not mistaken. It is much higher doing auction style.

[Mrbobb]

There are like >15 bids on a 4s with broken screen >$400 bux! Something is wrong.

And they bid >$400 even when they are told bad ESN, Water Damaged etc. THEY STILL BID!

eBay is getting to be a waste of time.

[Rizvi1]

I just had another iphone buy it now auction get won by a 0-feedback bidder who I'm pretty sure isn't going to pay either. A search on google for answers led me to this thread. I've been trying to figure out how to get the "require payment immediately auction" back. I haven't seen that offered anymore with the auctions (as well as bolding listings, adding purple highlighting, and a subtitle).

Originally Posted by redman042

I'm just now trying the Buy Now option and did price it according to recent sale values. I can't do Require Immediate Payment because I don't have an upgraded eBay account.

...

Originally Posted by Moshe1010

Here's how to avoid that:
1. List only "Buy Now" sales and check the "Require immediate payment" in the sale listing options (you also pay less fees when you list it as fixed price listing). ....

Originally Posted by redman042

Here's an update...

Following the advice from several people here, I relisted all my items at a fixed price (Buy It Now) with the require immediate payment box checked. To require immediate payment, you need to have a Paypal Premier account. I believe there is a modest bump in seller fees for doing that but did not research this.

I have already sold both phones (within a couple hours of relisting), got immediate payment, and the items are on their way to the buyers. This was a WAY better experience than with the auctions, and eBay final value fees are much lower to boot.....

Seems the issue is that I would need to have a Paypal Premier Account. but I just checked my paypal and my account is set up for that. Can anyone give specific instructions on how to do this? It used to be easy but with ebay's new auction listing style I can't find it anywhere.

Or can I not do this because I have an auction style listing WITH a buy it now option?

Originally Posted by Ramio

I'm a power seller with 1285 100% positive and sell thousands of dollars worth of stuff monthly and have had my share of bidders not paying. What I do is if I don't get payment within a day, I write them a message and tell them to let me know by the morning if they plan on paying or I will relist. If you don't get a response, relist it and send them a cancelation request. If they don't reply within 7 days, you can close it and you'll get your fees back. From experience, buyers who don't write or pay within the first 24 hours usually never pay. It's much better than going through filing a non paying claim which could take a very long time.

Looks like I'll go this route so I don't have to lose 8 days again.

Originally Posted by zildMacjian

never had a problem with people refusing to pay ... i really wanna say your just unlucky if you get people like that !

I think the issue is with scammer decoy accounts that are designed to throw off auctions for whatever reason.

[davidjearly]

Originally Posted by Moshe1010

Here's how to avoid that:
1. List only "Buy Now" sales and check the "Require immediate payment" in the sale listing options (you also pay less fees when you list it as fixed price listing). If you want to know the realistic price for your item, in the sale listing page, above the price, you'll get an option "searching completed listings." There you can make your mind how much the item you want to sell was sold for [look for green color prices, these were sold - comparing to red listing prices that weren't sold).

2. State in your ad that you will disqualify buyers that have less than 5 detailed feedbacks in their profiles

3. Close the listing to US costumers only.

Limiting your auctions to only US based costumers is a sure fire way to limit the target audience!

[stickyfingers85]

Don't forget you can request the buyers phone number form ebay, a phone call normally gets them to pay.

I tried to sell my PS Vita on ebay this year. The buyer didn't pay or contact me and when i phoned them it turned out that the buyer was a 12 year old girl. Her parents were pretty annoyed at her after my phone call

[JayLenochiniMac]

Originally Posted by davidjearly

Limiting your auctions to only US based costumers is a sure fire way to limit the target audience!

I ebay all my iPhones internationally (except I exclude Russia, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia). Even so, I find that the vast majority of the bidders are from the US. Two of the highest bidders happened to be from APO/FPO though.

[davidjearly]

Originally Posted by JayLenochiniMac

I ebay all my iPhones internationally (except I exclude Russia, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia). Even so, I find that the vast majority of the bidders are from the US. Two of the highest bidders happened to be from APO/FPO though.

Whoosh!

[Moshe1010]

Originally Posted by davidjearly

Limiting your auctions to only US based costumers is a sure fire way to limit the target audience!

It makes 99% less hassle than dealing with fake Russian accounts, buying insurance, filing claims if something broke/got stolen, and getting your money in about 60 days time frames. Do you want an option to do all of that for 20-30% more revenue? go ahead.

[jon3543]

I've been a victim of this, too. After getting a few bids the first 3 days and no bids for 4 days, two new guys came in with a few hours to go and engaged in a bidding war up to the end of the auction, and they substantially exceeded my expected selling price, killing the one new legit bid that occurred in that time. They each had feedback below 25. Out of their past purchases I could still review, one had a maximum purchase of $50, and the other had about a dozen all below $10. And here they were bidding several hundred dollars more on my several hundred dollar item than a sane person would.

This is not the first time this has happened to me. Does ebay allow a seller to arbitrarily cancel bids? Because if I see someone with low feedback buying an item over 10x the cost of anything he's bought recently, I want to cancel his bid and ban him from bidding on my items. I guess I can't do anything about snipers, but it would have helped this time.

P.S. ebay sent me an email:

"A previously entered bid on your item has been retracted or cancelled. You can view the retraction/cancellation and the reason provided by selecting the (bid history) link from the individual item page."

I guess they lied about my ability to review it, because there's no record of it.

[davidjearly]

Originally Posted by Moshe1010

It makes 99% less hassle than dealing with fake Russian accounts, buying insurance, filing claims if something broke/got stolen, and getting your money in about 60 days time frames. Do you want an option to do all of that for 20-30% more revenue? go ahead.

Woooosh! Again.

Please re-read the post I quoted, and by subsequent comment very carefully.

[pommie82]

i would never use Ebay to many con artists on there now years and years a go it was really good but now its just a gamble if you are going to recieve your purchase or sell the product you are selling


I have been done over twice on there never again

[Ramio]

I'm a power seller with 1285 100% positive and sell thousands of dollars worth of stuff monthly and have had my share of bidders not paying. What I do is if I don't get payment within a day, I write them a message and tell them to let me know by the morning if they plan on paying or I will relist. If you don't get a response, relist it and send them a cancelation request. If they don't reply within 7 days, you can close it and you'll get your fees back. From experience, buyers who don't write or pay within the first 24 hours usually never pay. It's much better than going through filing a non paying claim which could take a very long time.

[firedept]

Originally Posted by Ramio

I'm a power seller with 1285 100% positive and sell thousands of dollars worth of stuff monthly and have had my share of bidders not paying. What I do is if I don't get payment within a day, I write them a message and tell them to let me know by the morning if they plan on paying or I will relist. If you don't get a response, relist it and send them a cancelation request. If they don't reply within 7 days, you can close it and you'll get your fees back. From experience, buyers who don't write or pay within the first 24 hours usually never pay. It's much better than going through filing a non paying claim which could take a very long time.

One of the best responses above. Ebay used to be easier to sell on, but has changed over the years. Sellers must be a lot smarter to beat the scams and non paying. Been selling since on Ebay since 2000 and have always been paid on literally thousands of items. But I set very clear rules in my auctions. I state all my Terms & Conditions clearly in my auction and I do not let anyone abuse them. That is why they are there. I have been fortunate over the years though and have a regular clientele base to deal with. Watch who is bidding and use their feedback to your advantage. If uncomfortable remove them as a bidder.

[ferganer]

Originally Posted by firedept

One of the best responses above. Ebay used to be easier to sell on, but has changed over the years. Sellers must be a lot smarter to beat the scams and non paying. Been selling since on Ebay since 2000 and have always been paid on literally thousands of items. But I set very clear rules in my auctions. I state all my Terms & Conditions clearly in my auction and I do not let anyone abuse them. That is why they are there. I have been fortunate over the years though and have a regular clientele base to deal with. Watch who is bidding and use their feedback to your advantage. If uncomfortable remove them as a bidder.

With eBay, your rules and policies don't matter much. If there is a dispute, eBay buyer protection policies will prevail.

I sold a brand new sealed box HP Touchpad (I sold quite a few of them). I was very detailed in my rules and made it clear that the item is brand new and factory sealed and no returns will be accepted and the buyer should contact HP with any questions since there was a one-year warranty.

So a guy bought the Touchpad. He couldn't turn it on because the battery turned out to be low (a good number of Touchpads came discharged). When instructed to charge it first, he simply opened a dispute arguing that there is no battery inside (stupid MF). The dispute was reviewed by both eBay and Paypal, and both told me to GTFO with my NO RETURN policy and forced me to take the Touchpad back.

As a result, I ended up with an open-box Touchpad (about $40-50 less than a brand new), shipping cost, at least a week of wasted time, and a lot of frustration.

Since then I have decided to never sell on eBay. I would rather sell on Craigslist even if I get less after factoring all the fees. In person, in a public place, item inspected (opened only if paid), cash changes hands, everyone's happy. No headache and no douche buyers.

[Ramio]

Originally Posted by ferganer

With eBay, your rules and policies don't matter much. If there is a dispute, eBay buyer protection policies will prevail.

I sold a brand new sealed box HP Touchpad (I sold quite a few of them). I was very detailed in my rules and made it clear that the item is brand new and factory sealed and no returns will be accepted and the buyer should contact HP with any questions since there was a one-year warranty.

So a guy bought the Touchpad. He couldn't turn it on because the battery turned out to be low (a good number of Touchpads came discharged). When instructed to charge it first, he simply opened a dispute arguing that there is no battery inside (stupid MF). The dispute was reviewed by both eBay and Paypal, and both told me to GTFO with my NO RETURN policy and forced me to take the Touchpad back.

As a result, I ended up with an open-box Touchpad (about $40-50 less than a brand new), shipping cost, at least a week of wasted time, and a lot of frustration.

Since then I have decided to never sell on eBay. I would rather sell on Craigslist even if I get less after factoring all the fees. In person, in a public place, item inspected (opened only if paid), cash changes hands, everyone's happy. No headache and no douche buyers.

Trust me, I feel you. I'm a power seller with 1291 100% feedback and I'm sick of how eBay always sides with the buyers and how they don't care about what the seller wants. I've quit eBay for good about 2 weeks ago after 10 years and will never go back. Fuxx eBay.

[isephmusic]

me and my friend have been good sellers on ebay since we were freaking mini entrupenuers haha like seriously selling our video games and bikes since age 13 on ebay. now that we both are 21 we QUIT THE F outa ebay because its such a scam city, asian market overrun by foreigners and hackers with 100+ accounts in some remote area of israel LOL im not trying to be so judgemental its just what we've seen. we both switched to amazon this year and could not be happier. direct deposit right into your credit card nice and easy, shipping with usps comes right out of your total fee no big deal. BUT

amazon got greedy. they started taking WAY too much money out. i just sold my htc one x for far less then i could of then it got like 30 bucks taken right out of it. luckily the buyer always pays a certain amount of shipping and you usually make a profit on it. since amazon started getting real greedy ive been buying on craiglist. have gotten SUCH good deals you guys can not even imagine. i built a mini studio of things people put as used but were really new. the sucky part is how these adults have no idea how to communicate. they are not like teens who love to keep you updated they just tell you oh yea lets meet this and this day and never show up... but craigslist has been real good otherwise. cash in hand walk out the door and boom your off . you get to test the product out put your sim card in it see it works pay the dude and walk out. its so awsome. someone really needs to come up with a real secure site. i woudlnt mind if someone partnered with UPS or something for free shipping and you had to enter your social in to create a one time account and only the most legit people could sign up. til then aftermarket sales are just a fantasy

[travis.hansen]

Originally Posted by Ramio

I'm a power seller with 1285 100% positive and sell thousands of dollars worth of stuff monthly and have had my share of bidders not paying. What I do is if I don't get payment within a day, I write them a message and tell them to let me know by the morning if they plan on paying or I will relist. If you don't get a response, relist it and send them a cancelation request. If they don't reply within 7 days, you can close it and you'll get your fees back. From experience, buyers who don't write or pay within the first 24 hours usually never pay. It's much better than going through filing a non paying claim which could take a very long time.

You are a strong person to deal with eBay.

[Ramio]

Originally Posted by travis.hansen

You are a strong person to deal with eBay.

To be honest with you, although I sell on eBay, I really don't like them or Paypal at all and would stop using them in a second if I could find a viable alternative. I tried looking at other sites but they all seem to not have as many users or traffic.

[chrisperro]

personally i will sell on craigslist ,easier and you get cash right away,with ebay fees and shipping and paypal wait for 21 days to get your money is just too much.ebay always favours the buyer ,seen cases the buyer just claim they got an empty box...
i mean i sold stuff on ebay before (25 items)all apple stuff but craigslist is better ,make sure you meet in a coffee shop or a public place.
i just file a claim with canada post because the buyer said he never received the item good thing i had $100 insurance but it could take up to 2 months to get that $100.

[JayLenochiniMac]

Not much you can do except re-list it. Last year, I had an iPhone 4 non-payer who changed his mind after the auction ended and he was happy to honor the cancellation request. Re-listed it and it sold successfully for $30 more.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by chrisperro

personally i will sell on craigslist ,easier and you get cash right away,with ebay fees and shipping and paypal wait for 21 days to get your money is just too much.ebay always favours the buyer ,seen cases the buyer just claim they got an empty box...

Agreed. I prefer Craigslist to ebay.