Non-paying bidders/buyers on eBay is not a new trend for our hobby. We deal largely in commodities that fluctuate in price with any given day; and we know that buyers run hot and cold. Some people buy with emotion and make a purchase when they think they’re getting a good deal. And then afterward they back out of the purchase agreement with a myriad of excuses …

-My son bought this with my credit card – I did not approve.

-My child has a birthday coming up, I need to sell some other stuff first.

-I thought this was for a whole collection, not just one card

… you get the point.

Personally, I had a pretty good track record in this arena. Most of my buyers came through and made their payment within the first 24-48 hours, and sometimes it would drag to three days. But for whatever reason, I’ve had three of the last five items I’ve sold end or appear to be heading toward NPB status.

One of the excuses above was actually used 6 weeks ago when I sold a Chris Sale 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects auto. The buyer claimed to be a “breaker” from the east coast and appeared to be putting together a buy-back product when he made the purchase. I accepted his offer and then I waited … and waited. I hit him with two reminder notices via eBay and then he shot back that he’d be paying at the end of the week, which of course came and went. I hit him with a third reminder and then came the the most ridiculous excuse I had heard to this point. In summary it went like this:

His daughter was having a birthday soon, and he was trying to sell some items to make sure she had a present. He was asking me if he should sell his gold chain so that he could pay me for my Chris Sale card.

I stepped back from my computer when I saw this and laughed because the scenario seemed so far-fetched. I mean how did we go from him being a breaker, to not having enough money for the card right now, to needing money for a birthday gift AND he was adding a guilt trip of asking me if I wanted him to sell his gold chain. I should add that this was a base Sale Chrome AUTO under $100 at the time.

I digress, the reason this came up today is I am dealing with a new NPB who has not even responded to my two reminders. This buyer has some 1,500 positive feed backs and made an offer for one of my items; the offer was for $200. I pondered it for 30 minutes but ultimately accepted. This was on Dec, 29, a week ago today. I figured the buyer would pay Sunday, or Monday. Then realized me might be waiting for his eBay Bucks to kick in, which as most of us know happened on Wednesday. And when no payment came then I figured he might be waiting for Friday, Jan. 4 for payday.

But here we are, Jan 5 and no payment or communication. So frustrating.

Anyhow, I’ll leave you with this: If you’re buying something from someone and need an extra day or two, communicate that to the buyer. Don’t leave them in the dark — I mean we all love when eBay throws us a bone with special deals. But also don’t be one of those guys who makes an offer or hits a Buy It Now knowing you can’t pay for the item within two or three days.

This entry was posted on January 5, 2019 at 9:40 am and is filed under Misc. with tags baseball cards, eBay, eBay issues, hobbies, non paying buyer, NPB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.