Learn to buy and sell antiques and collectibles

Collecting From Non Paying Bidders

Face it, non paying bidders are a fact of eBay selling. Depending on what you sell between one and ten percent of your bidders will fail to pay you after the auction ends.

Up until now you didn't really have any way to guarantee the buyer would step up and pay you.

Basically, your only hope was to email the deadbeat begging for payment. You could do this directly, or through eBay's non paying bidder form and hope to get your final value fees reversed if the buyer never came through and you remembered to follow up on eBay.

Now, I am going to teach you a very powerful and quick way to get non paying bidders to pony up.

Note - I said quick. Let me tell you how quick this can be. Last week, I had a buyer send me money with paypal in under 45 minutes.

So far I've converted 100% of my non paying bidders to paid. The few friends who are also using this secret method also report 100% success rates.

That's pretty powerful.

Here's how you do it. . .

Instead of sending the buyer an email asking for the payment, or filing a non paying bidder alert, log into to eBay with AN ACCOUNT OTHER THAN YOUR SELLING ACCOUNT, and send the deadbeat an email along the lines of this template:

Hi,
I notice you were the high bidder on eBay auction 123456789 for ITEM NAME HERE. I have been looking for one of these for years, but I missed this auction and didn't get a chance to bid.

I notice you paid $$$.$$ for the item. This is less than I would have bid so you are lucky I didn't bid.

If you would like to make a quick profit, I am willing to pay $$$.$$. That gives you a profit of $$.$$

If you are willing to sell this item, send me your address and I'll get you a money order.

Thanks,
ALT EBAY ACCOUNT NAME

As soon as the non paying bidder gets this email, he'll rush you payment in order to lock in his "profits."

Now obviously, this won't work if you are selling socks or batteries, but it will work - close to 100% of the time - if you are selling antiques and collectibles.

If the deadbeat asks for a PayPal payment, tell him you don't use online payments for security reasons, but you will send him a postal money order. You'll need to string him along until he pays.

If the buyer asks your alternative ID for payment before he pays your seller ID, it could be a sign the buyer doesn't have any money. If he wants to make the profit, he'll find the money somewhere.

After the buyer pays for the item, you can either ignore him when he asks your alternative ID about the missing check, or tell him you found one somewhere else. Whatever you do, NEVER reveal to the buyer that the offer was really from you.

I know some of you readers are going to think this is cruel.

Guess what, I agree with you. It is cruel, but in a perverse way it's really satisfying.

Think about it. . .

Like you, I have never held a gun to a bidders head. Like you, and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here, I've never failed to pay for an item on eBay.

I can sleep good at night. Actually, I sleep better because I know I have been paid for everything I sell on eBay with the least amount of hassles.

Now, some of you are also going to say, "But eBay's rules prohibit offering to buy something outside eBay." That's why you are using a throw away eBay account.

There are instructions to help you create a few extra eBay accounts that will not be associated with your main selling accounts.

The best thing about this method - other than the almost 100% success rate, is it's actually faster than filing a Non Paying Bidder Alert.

Just take the template and stick the auction number, item title and dollar amounts then send it to the eBay deadbeat.

One tip, you should never make the "profit" too high. Twenty-five dollars or 10 percent of the selling price is a good "profit" figure.

Here's an interesting point about this technique. I said so far we've had 100% of the eBay non paying bidders pay for their items. Of about 30 people who've received these messages, no one has told the alternative ID they didn't buy the item and to contact the seller.

Greed.

You can also play on buyer greed and lower the chances of buyers backing out of a deal by telling the buyer what a fantastic deal he got in your initial invoice.

One note here. One of my testers had a problem with an eBay non paying bidder trying to return the auction item after the fake buyer backed out.

The deadbeat sent my friend an email saying the item was not as described and asking to return it. This is the email my friend sent that closed the matter:

Hi,
I am sorry you are unhappy with your purchase. I offer a no questions asked 20 day guarantee to insure all my buyers are happy buyers. The guarantee period starts when I send out the end of auction invoice.

After all, twenty days is more than enough time for a buyer anywhere in the world to send payment and get the item for inspection.

Unfortunately, it's been ## days since this auction ended. If you would have paid in a more timely fashion, you would have been able to take advantage of my generous guarantee period.

While I am sorry you are unhappy, I feel my policy is more than fair so I am not going to make an exception for you.

Sincerely,
Your name.

If you aren't comfortable using this powerful technique, don't use it. Go through the eBay hassle system and try to get satisfaction. Fair warning though - if you use it once, you'll be hooked.

Terry

PS. Here's something to think about. . . When I first started collecting trains I met a man who had a fantastic collection.

When I asked him how he managed to get so many fantastic items, he told me he had a reputation for the fastest checkbook of any train collector. Because of his reputation for fast payment, anyone who had something nice for sale called him first.

That's the kind of person you want to deal with. Not some deadbeat who plays games. In the future, I'll show you some ways to build relationships with collectors on eBay.

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Terry Gibbs has taught over 7,000 people how to make a good living on eBay. Terry's most recent eBay instruction manual is The Auction Revolution . The Auction Revolution is your guide to eBay and beyond. Here on Iwantcollectibles.com, you will learn about buying and selling antiques and collectibles, and about eBay.