Probably because so many sellers didn't open unpaid item cases. If they don't bother, the non-payer goes unpunished.
Let's hope that sellers will now make better use of eBay's new procedure to cancel the sale if the buyer hasn't paid within four days: https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Announcements/New-cancel-function-for-unpaid-items/ba-p/6939127
The buyer receives a strike for "causing a sale to be cancelled by not paying". As before, if a buyer receives more than one strike sellers can automativally block them from bidding.
