Non Paying Bidders, junk accounts

Anyone else seeing a massive influx of NPB's lately?

I have setup strict rules for who can and can't bid on my items, the strictest possible at this point.

most times I can spot an NPB during the auction before it ends, and 90% of the time if it ends, I can predict who will and won't pay. most people want to pay asap for what they buy, to get it quicker. I even ship priority mail 2 day shipping for those people who pay instantly.

I have only been wrong once in the last 90 days when it came to predicting an NPB, and that still involved opening a case to get the buyer to pay, 300+ feedback account oddly enough, and he paid on the last day possible before the case closed.

I currently see anywhere from 30-50% of my auctions being hit with NPBs...

any thoughts on this? I do suspect occasionally that its other sellers with junk accounts, bidding up my items to deter other buyers to their auctions instead..

I mostly sell power tools, and occasionally new and used electronics, but power tools have been my staple last few months.

You should be able to set up ebay to automatically put unpaid item strikes on people who don't pay. Some sellers I know just relist after a certain time period. Part of being on ebay.

Unfortunately, a small percentage of buyers don't pay at the end of auctions. You may want to consider using buy it now, with immediate paypal payment required. I have never had payment issues with this method. Your items should sell but it might be a bit slower.

It's all part of the game...and ebay doesn't punish non paying bidders anymore. You used to get restrictions...not anymore. Sure, if a seller has it set up to where bidders with more than 2 unpaid items within 12 months can't bid, then you can stop them that way. Otherwise, it's a crap shoot.

I know the feeling, my mom fights this on a weekly/monthly basis selling truck parts....

I wonder how it can be fought, other then doing Buy It Now...

What type of items are you selling?


I routinely cancel and block certain suspicious buyers all the time (or ones who've left several negative feedbacks)