eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition

Keep Out Deadbeat Bidders

A little diplomacy will help keep out deadbeats and still allow healthy bidding on your auction.

Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

One of the most frustrating aspects of selling on eBay is dealing with winning bidders who don’t pay. Not only are nonpaying bidders a waste of the seller’s time and money, they end up ruining honest bidders’ chances of winning the auction.

You can always tell a seller has been recently burned by a deadbeat from the harsh warnings in their auction descriptions:

• “Don’t bid if you don’t intend to pay!”

• “Serious bidders only.”

• “If you have zero feedback, email before bidding or your bid will be canceled!”

• “A nonpaying bidder will receive negative feedback, lots of threatening email, and a note to your mother.”

The problem with all of these is that they typically do more harm than good. For example, you should never tell visitors not to bid on your item, regardless of your intentions. The tone is angry and threatening, and sends a message (even to honest bidders) that dealing with you will likely be a less-than-pleasant experience. Besides, your average deadbeat bidder probably won’t read your description anyway. Instead, start by thinking about why someone may not pay after winning an auction, and then find a diplomatic way to weed out such bidders.

In most cases, it will be new eBay users—with a feedback rating of less than 10 or so—who end up bidding and not paying, a fact due largely ...