It’s an all too familiar scenario: an item sells and you send the high bidder their invoice. You don’t hear anything back immediately but you’re not worried many buyers take a day or so to pay. A day passes; two, three, and still you hear nothing from them. By the time a week has gone by with no contact and no payment, you are fed up and send them an email demanding payment. Still nothing. You set up an Unpaid Item Dispute with Ebay, for which you have to wait another week. The buyer still does not respond.
By the time the dispute is settled in your favor, you are left with just your listing fees and a very bad taste in your mouth. Sure, you got to leave them negative feedback, but that was no compensation for the time and irritation it cost on your part not to mention loss of income. If they didn’t intend to pay, you grumble to yourself, why did they bid in the first place?
There are many reasons why a buyer may decide to back out at the last minute and not pay; none of them are really justified. If they couldn’t pay or didn’t want to pay the price they bid, they really should not have bid in the first place. However, there...