What if I refuse to pay for winning auction

So, let me tell you why I quit eBay many years ago, despite being a PowerSeller with over 16,000 Positive Feedbacks and a 100% rating. We had a customer from France who bought an auction and never paid for it. We got a few emails in French that we assumed were just more spam that we get every day from eBay-like emails and never responded. At the appropriate time in the sales cycle, we reported him to be a nonpayer to eBay so that we would not be charged a commission on the sale. Next thing we know, we get our first Negative feedback ever from this deadbeat who NEVER PAID FOR THE ITEM! I protested with eBay that it was NUTS to allow a deadbeat, who never paid for the item as he was supposed to, to leave us a Negative Feedback. My complaints fell on deaf ears because they said that the "buyer" felt that we were nonresponsive to his requests to cancel the order (which we had NO obligation to do, by the way) and the negative feedback stuck. I stopped selling anything on eBay ever since.

 

I hear you jrbiz! Your words have not fallen on death ears here! In live chat with eBay the other day. I asked them why they have removed the ability for sellers to leave negative feedback on buyers stating that sellers (and buyers) need to know who they are dealing with and that buyers are taking advantage of sellers by leaving unnecessary negative feedback.

I recently sold an iPhone 4S on eBay by auction and it sold for £80. About an hour after the auction ended I sent an internal message to the buyer asking them to pay. They said that I was rude for asking them to pay and that they wouldn't be paying it anymore. I sent a further reply apologizing if I appeared as coming across rude by asking for payment but it's just that I've had a skinful of non-paying bidders recently and am just being vigilant and asked for her understanding. She wrote back saying that apparently I "put pay to it" when I painted her with the same tar brush. But I wasn't rude and apologized to her anyway. Now they are saying they are not paying it and for me not to contact them again. I just can't get my head around it. This person has used a ridiculous reason as an excuse not to pay for the item she bidded on.

Here is part of the chat transcript I had with them about this person and their response on why you cannot leave negative feedback on buyers.

Me: 21:08:21
And why can I not leave negative feedback anymore as a seller?
Me: 21:08:35
People have a right to know about buyers.
Kamlesh 21:10:31
I can understand yout point.
Me: 21:11:05
But?
Kamlesh 21:11:26
However, sellers are not allowed to leave any negative feedback for the buyers because that could create a retaliatory feedback from the buyers and impacting the seller's account.
Me: 21:11:50
Sorry but that is ridiculous. How are people supposed to know if the buyer was a good buyer or bad buyer ?
Kamlesh 21:11:58
So, we chose Unpaid Item records for such members and Trust and safety team to monitor and take aany actions.
Me: 21:12:35
Now I have to wait another 3 days before I can relist this item and there's no guarantee I will get the same price for it.
Kamlesh 21:12:45
We do take actions (like warning/suspension) if the number of UPI strike exceeds a certain number, which isn’t the case for negative feedback unless the total feedback score is negative.
Me: 21:12:46
Plus I have to pay the fees involved with listing it and relisting it again.
Me: 21:13:13
Well I cannot and will not leave feedback on anything anymore. I refuse to. Not if I cannot leave negative feedback. That is just madness.
Kamlesh 21:13:38
I understand leaving a negative feedback was a deterrent to avoid non-paying buyers, however, this wasn’t much effective as the ability for a buyer to receive a negative feedback (for any other reason including retaliatory negative feedback) reduced buyer activities directly affecting the sales of the sellers.
Kamlesh 21:13:51
For this, we wanted some other recourse to tackle non-paying buyers as well as assure the buyers that they can buy on eBay without fearing about any retaliatory negative feedback.
Me: 21:14:01
But Kamless, buyers are taking advantage of sellers because of it!
Kamlesh 21:14:11
So, we took feedback as a tool for buyers to rate sellers just like in the case of a retail shop, where only the buyers have the opportunity to share their good/bad feedback on the feedback form; and Unpaid item (UPI) as a tool to tackle with non-paying buyers for the sellers.
Kamlesh 21:14:35
While I have explain the situation, if you want, I can send your suggestion to the concerned department o review it.
Me: 21:14:44
Again, buyers are taking advantage of sellers because of it Kamlesh.
Me: 21:15:11
This case here is a perfect example of that. This buyer knows that because I cannot leave them negative feedback they can do what they want.
Kamlesh 21:16:09
Yes, they can... but such incidents will send them out of eBay.
Kamlesh 21:16:34
The negative feedback from the sellers will still allow them to bid.
Me: 21:17:18
Hmm

Another case example is just before Christmas, I listed a brand new George jacket on eBay under auction style with FREE posting. The jacket had 1 bid and sold for £1.00. The jacket was worth £50 but my bad, I forgot to put a "reserve" price and thought ah what the hell, pay it forward and sell it anyway. So I sent the jacket the next day. The next thing I know I'm getting an abusive email from the buyer about a tiny stain on the jacket apparently and I apologized and offered a refund. (As far as I was aware there was no "stain"). But then the next thing, this buyer goes and leaves me negative feedback anyway even though I offered her a refund and apologized! I mean, how pathetic and spiteful can you get!? It was £1..

I contact the buyer several times asking them to change it based on the fact that I offered a refund. But they flatly refused to saying that I was out of order. I have contacted eBay about this and tried to get their feedback removed. But eBay have done NOTHING about it. I am still fighting it now. God is it really worth it? It's just the principle of the matter isn't it and this is a perfect example of how buyers are taking advantage of sellers not being able to leave a negative feedback on a buyer. I will wait until she lists something for sale, buy it, not pay and then leave a dirty negative feedback. See how she likes it! I probably wont.

So yeah, I completely understand why you left.

 

To get this back to the OP's topic, I think that the exchange between me and @Mkcoy may provide the OP with some additional insight into the other side of the auction space -- the viewpoint from the seller when a buyer reneges. There is a human on the other side of the deal, too.

 

I have had some sucky ebay experiences, both as a buyer and as a seller.

@jrbiz, I know the ebay system is far from imperfect, but since you quit selling, have you lost any revenue? If you can maintain 98%-99% seller rating, working ethically, and still making money, then dont let the few losers ruin it for you.

@op, have you paid for this? have you sold it off yet?

 

@matt_62 I have lost revenues by quitting eBay but they were mostly annoying revenues, anyway. We primarily sell cables to data center managers, network managers, and systems integrators who are buying hundreds or thousands of cables per order. eBay was mostly individuals buying a single cable or two, but we put up with those annoying customers (more work and aggravation than they were worth...don't get me started) because an occasional corporate customer would check us out first on eBay and then come to us directly after the first order there. So, I have lost a small number of potential corporate customers, but absolutely have no regrets at shutting down our eBay store. Not long after quitting eBay, I also shut down our Amazon store (they chased us to sell on their platform, by the way) because they did not seem to drive the corporate customers we really wanted all along.