Non-payers get away too easily

[ichpen1]

Hey all,

So, long time ebay user but this is the first time I've actually encountered a non-payer. After contacting the guy a few days later a long trail of broken promises ensued. I followed the guidelines, opened a dispute then promptly closed the dispute so I could relist my item. What I discovered upon viewing the bidder's previous feedback is that 4 out of his last 6 transactions were marked as positive but with the comment (non-payer) by other sellers he's obviously taken for a ride.

I'm trying to figure out how and why sellers did that, I'm assuming to circumvent silly ebay restrictions that continue to side with the buyer in all circumstances. 

I'm also curious what happened to ebay's seller options that used to allow me to block buyers with less than 10 feedback from bidding, can't for the life of me find this.

[michaelbb2]

Just curious, why would you close the dispute to relist the item?  Just relist it and leave the case open or do a "Sell Similar" thing.  By closing the case right away, you do not get your FVF back.  If you go through with the dispute, you also put a strike on the buyer's account.

If the buyer is a repeat offender then he/she should have strikes against their account.  There is an option for you to block any buyers that have x amount of strikes against them.....provided that the other sellers went through the dispute process.  You can find this option under "Site Preferences" in your account tab.

[femmefan1946]

If the seller relists without ending the first transaction, he could end up with two paidup buyers. Now he has two annoyed customers. Double trouble!.

When the dispute is closed, and the seller has to wait a short period to allow the buyer to respond, the seller gets his FVF back. He does not get his listing fees, since it is deemed that the sale never happened.

If the buyer did not pay up, he gets a Strike no matter how quickly the seller ended the Dispute.

Now if the OP means he opened a Dispute and then ended it without waiting for the buyer to respond, then yes, he still has an open transaction, he can't reopen the Dispute, he doesn't get his fees back and the buyer doesn't get a Strike. As a result, other sellers cannot automatically Block the deadbeat. He walks free.

Canadian sellers have to wait four days to open a Dispute and another four to close it. Annoying.