What would have happened?

[Kazzellin]

I'm selling some items on ebay for my older brother (who doesn't have an account) and have someone there ask me questions about the large lot of gaming materials.

First he asked if we could trade; I said no, as my brother doesn't have any one to play with and can no longer afford the hobby. The guy (who happened to be the high bidder at the time), recommended a website my brother could find someone to play with on. I thanked him and said I would pass the information along. His reply was to also let him know about the trade offer as he'd "have more luck selling the Chaos." I thank him but let him know my brother is basically getting out of the game completely, so isn't interested in trading.

A couple days go by, and this guy is still the high bidder, when I get a message on eBay from him saying he gets paid on the first, but the most he can pay is $100. Since this auction started at $100, as we're not offering free shipping on it, I reply that I'm fine waiting the extra day for payment, but the total would be $100 plus shipping (which is about $35 given the size of the lot; I'm seriously shipping this out in one of the small moving boxes Home Depot carries.  ). His reply to this was, "let me see if I can swing the extra $35 I doubt it though."

Seriously?? 

I decided to wait and see how the auction ended, since it only had a few hours left, instead of replying to that last one.

Luckily, someone else outbid him, so I don't have to worry about it, but if he had won, and then refused to pay the shipping cost, am I correct in thinking my only course would have been to file a NPB and relist it? I can tell you right now that from his "tone" he would not have been pleasant to deal with if he had won.

Honestly. Some people. 

[Ringlets]

ugh! he sounds like a nightmare to deal with - I'm so glad that someone else outbid him
Had he won and still refused to pay the shipping then yes you would have had to open a NPB case. He then *may* have paid up since he wasnt going to get away with having the shipping free and he might not have wanted to have a NPB record ..or if he didnt  care then he just wouldnt  have paid or responded and you'd have ended up with waiting it out to open/close  the case , get your fees back then relist (which is also a pain)
yes its definitely best  for you that this guy didnt win

[Sarahlacewing]

I believe you can withdraw someones bid before the auctions ends if you feel like they are shady and you don't want to deal with them.

I went to ebay- customer support- searched removing a bid- two options (I want to remove a bid I placed on an item/I want to cancel a bid on an item I’m selling)- from there it brought up a selection of my for sale items.  I didn't go farther but I'm pretty sure you could have just bumped him.  Yes, you would have gotten less for your auction, but if he never had any intention of paying, that might have been preferable.

[flying_narwhal]

I believe you can withdraw someones bid before the auctions ends if you feel like they are shady and you don't want to deal with them.

I went to ebay- customer support- searched removing a bid- two options (I want to remove a bid I placed on an item/I want to cancel a bid on an item I’m selling)- from there it brought up a selection of my for sale items.  I didn't go farther but I'm pretty sure you could have just bumped him.  Yes, you would have gotten less for your auction, but if he never had any intention of paying, that might have been preferable.

^This! I would have canceled the bid and then blocked his account from bidding. If you feel weird about questions someone is asking or feel like they are going to be difficult to deal with based on correspondence you have every right to take this route to avoid a potential headache later on.

[Kazzellin]

Huh. I didn't even know that second option was available.

Thanks a ton everyone! I appreciate it!