Does anything happen to a buyer when you report them for not paying?

[bryo_3145]

I don't like to report a buyer for not paying. It may be just my store, but it seems like a lot of buyers are not paying lately. I don't know if other sellers are having problems. Does ebay do anything to buyers after you submit a report. I know I can add them to my block list, but what punishment do they receive if any if you do report them for not paying?  What stops them from purchasing other items from other sellers.  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

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@pls-consignments wrote:

Why would eBay "bite" the hand that feeds them? All the buyer will receive is the obligatory "slap" of the hand. 

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Because on ebay, unlike some other sites, any buyer is a good buyer, even the BAD ones.

[frankenhobbit · Accepted solution]

Well, sometimes this happens.....

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/I-can-t-BID-the-item-I-wanted/m-p/34315590#M478789

That's why it helps to report a non paying buyer rather than just shrugging it off.

[soh.maryl]

Can I respectfully ask why you don't like to report a buyer for not paying?

Maybe you don't mind for yourself, but have you considered the disservice you're doing to your fellow sellers? 

[bryo_3145]

Great EXAMPLE what could happen. THANK YOU!

[a_c_green]

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@bashort wrote:

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@bryo_3145 wrote:

I don't like to report a buyer for not paying. It may be just my store, but it seems like a lot of buyers are not paying lately. I don't know if other sellers are having problems. Does ebay do anything to buyers after you submit a report. I know I can add them to my block list, but what punishment do they receive if any if you do report them for not paying?  What stops them from purchasing other items from other sellers.  

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what happens is that ebay reminds them to leave feedback on the non transaction😁

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If the transaction is automatically cancelled for non-payment, the deadbeat buyer cannot leave feedback: 

"Hi [seller's name here],

We’ve notified the buyer that their payment wasn’t made within the required time frame. Any applicable fees will be credited to your account, following our fees credit policy.

Any feedback left on this order will be removed."

@bryo_3145 : Just to clarify: after you have waited four days and then cancelled a sale for non-payment, there is no further "report" that needs to be made. The Unpaid strike has already been applied to the buyer's record at the time the non-payment cancellation was done.

[bryo_3145]

This is very helpful. Thank you for your kindness and your help. 

[chariot_badges]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Can I respectfully ask why you don't like to report a buyer for not paying?

Maybe you don't mind for yourself, but have you considered the disservice you're doing to your fellow sellers? 

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Considered?

Yea, I considered that I have that "buyer" on my BBL list - I won't have to deal with him again.

And, that he may cause time-wasting on my competition?

Never thought of it that way before ... but, yea ... something to think about.

[isaiah53-57]

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@bryo_3145 wrote:

I don't like to report a buyer for not paying. It may be just my store, but it seems like a lot of buyers are not paying lately. I don't know if other sellers are having problems. Does ebay do anything to buyers after you submit a report. I know I can add them to my block list, but what punishment do they receive if any if you do report them for not paying?  What stops them from purchasing other items from other sellers.  

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I dont know what the deal is with buyers not paying - Seems its becoming epidemic and the only way that happens is when nothing is being done about it.

My take is, since the site needs buyers so badly,  they are virtually untouchable, regardless of what they do..

Still though, I dont see the point of people(maybe its bots?) wasting time bidding on stuff they never intend to pay for - I mean there is so much to do in this world you would figure they could find something better to do with their time... I mean really, its just flat out weird - I believe there has got be something more to it - That leads me to this gnawing thought in the back of my mind that there is some kind of benefit for the site from all these bad sales where at least they are able to show higher sales numbers? (please correct me if I'm wrong)  Or maybe other benefits? Anyone?

[mam98031]

If sellers would work TOGETHER and make sure when they have a non paying buyer that they file a Cancellation using the reason the buyer did not pay AND they have their Buyer Requirements set to the strictest setting possible [2 strikes in the last 12 month], it would go a LONG way to helping with this problem.

If sellers would do this, more and more buyers would be blocked from buying because they have too many payment strikes against them.

Also Ebay tracks payment strikes and they will sanction a buyer when they start racking these thing up.  Many sellers will say they don't do anything to buyers, but that is not the factual.  What is factual is that sellers CAN'T see when a buyer has been sanction or what the sanction was, so many assume there was no sanction because they can't see it.

[dbfolks166mt]

     Other than the strike that others have mentioned eBay does not appear to do anything with non-paying bidders/buyers. Ironically sellers have screamed about this problem for years, especially when it came to auctions and offers. With the BIN format eBay has had the Immediate Payment Required (IPR) option available to sellers for quite some time. EBay attempted to address the sellers concerns by implementing a process that required an offeror or a bidder to provide payment information before making an offer or placing a bid, which in essence equates to a quasi IPR. The process is still in place for offers but not for auctions and bids due to seller complaints and some issues that needed to be fixed. I am not sure if eBay is still working on implementing that. 

     Unlike BIN where you know the buyer is sitting at their computer or on the app when they hit the buy it now button with auctions and offers a lot can happen between the time the potential buyer makes the offer or places the bid. Bidders could have died, had a medical or family emergency, been impacted by a natural disaster, changed their mind, found it cheaper elsewhere........ 

     I use the auction format almost exclusively and get the occasional non-pay but I tend to be optimistic and will usually reach out to the bidder or buyer and ask why they did not pay for the item before I automatically add them to my BBL. I have had bidders respond in some cases, one had died and family contacted me, one had been in a serious accident, some had been impacted by weather or natural disasters, lost power, lost internet service................. Several of  those that responded still wanted the item and I worked with them to setup a special BIN listing which they purchased, paid for and were happy with the transaction. Several have become repeat customers. 

     Those that don't respond of course I place on my BBL after a couple of attempts. I accept non-payers as part of doing business on eBay and prefer that over buyers who purchase something and immediately request to cancel or who follow through  and then once they have the item open a return request because the bought it by mistake, found it cheaper elsewhere, changed their mind..................   

[soh.maryl]

Two strikes.  

And, for this to be effective, two things have to happen:

When a seller has not been paid in 96 hours, he has to cancel, citing "buyer didn't pay" as the reason.

And the second thing that has to happen, every single seller has to have his buyer requirements set so that they don't have to deal with such nonpayers. 

When someone comes here and reports that they "don't like to report a buyer for not paying", or that they do not have their buyer requirements set so they don't have to deal with this nonpayers, all I can do is shake my head.  

[mam98031]

Other than the strike that others have mentioned eBay does not appear to do anything with non-paying bidders/buyers.

Ebay does not share private account information with any other member.  So you are assuming that because Ebay doesn't tell you that they have sanctioned a buyer that they have not or are not doing anything.  

[dbfolks166mt]

Other than the strike that others have mentioned eBay does not appear to do anything with non-paying bidders/buyers.

Ebay does not share private account information with any other member.  So you are assuming that because Ebay doesn't tell you that they have sanctioned a buyer that they have not or are not doing anything.  

No more of an assumption than those who think eBay is doing something. EBay would not have to go into detail but high level information such as eBay suspended 5,000 buyer accounts in Q1 of 2024 but I can imagine the shareholders reactions to that. 

[brightlightbookseller]

We see posts here sometimes (on the Buying board) of "customers" saying they can no longer buy or have even been NARU'd for strikes, so obviously sometimes eBay does something.  They don't report it because that's not something that would get a good reaction, as you pointed out.

[mam98031]

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@brightlightbookseller wrote:

We see posts here sometimes (on the Buying board) of "customers" saying they can no longer buy or have even been NARU'd for strikes, so obviously sometimes eBay does something.  They don't report it because that's not something that would get a good reaction, as you pointed out.

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Great point.  When we are always in the mode of trying to get more buyers to the site, advertising / stating how many get sanctioned for whatever reason it might be is clearly a negative.  Not a great marketing plan to dwell on negatives when you want more buyers to come to the site. 

What we need to remember is these buyers are a very small percentage of the overall buyers we have active on the site.

Ebay doesn't want them around anymore than sellers do.  Ebay doesn't make any money off them when they don't pay for something they purchased either.  

Sellers just need to use the system we have in place and allow Ebay to do what they do with the information.  They will never share the stats, it simply would be bad business to do so.  FYI, they don't share stats on how many sellers get sanctioned for specific reasons either.