Buyers enter a legal contract under English law when closing a deal on ebay.

[30terrym]

Although the buyer enters a Legal Contract under English Law, and then doesn't pay, Ebay are very weak to carry out harsh sentencing.

Short of taking the buyer to court (which is an expensive undertaking) in my opinion ebay do not take strong enough action.

Protection under Ebay Rules has greatly favoured the buyer over many years. The poor old seller ends up getting a NEGATIVE FEED BACK for no particular reason, which Ebay do nothing about.

To try to get the balance back  someway towards equal, my suggestion is to Ebay that buyers who enter into a contract, and then do not pay up should receive a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. Perhaps then they might think twice before before pressing the buy button.

30terrym.

[ruby*tuesday]

It's been about 12 years since Sellers could leave Buyers Negative Feedback. The system was badly abused so EBay put a stop to it. Good thing too. If you have a Non Payer you open an Unpaid Item Case after 2 days in the Resolution Centre. Close 4 days later. Your EBay Final Value Fees would be Credited back to your Seller Account. The Non Payer receives a Damaging Unpaid Item Strike on their Account. Which is far more effective than Neg Feedback as Sellers can Block Buyers with 2 or More Strikes from Bidding on any of their Listings.