Among eBay sellers' top challenges is the problem of deadbeat bidders, also known as non-paying bidders. A service from ReliaBid promises to tackle this challenge by bringing sellers together with a collection agency. ReliaBid warns potential bidders of this consequence through a seal that appears in participating seller listings.

Seal programs on eBay have been around since as early as 2001, when ReliableMerchants.com used them to indicate to potential bidders that sellers whose listings carried the seal were trustworthy. Generally, seals are standard messages that sellers insert in their eBay listings and allow potential buyers to verify a seller's participation in the seal program.

ReliaBid uses seals to discourage shoppers from making frivolous bids by warning them that sellers will use a collection agency to go after non-paying bidders if they win the auction but don't pay for it.

Sellers who use ReliaBid may choose to initiate a collection on a case-by-case basis. If they do, ReliaBid automatically collects and pre-fills information on the non-paying bidder from the auction details. Sellers then click a button to authorize collection agency Hunter Warfield Inc. to start the collections process.

Hunter Warfield sends non-paying bidders up to four letters alerting them of their payment obligations. If sellers still do not receive payment, they have the option of asking Hunter Warfield to report the non-paying bidders to major credit bureaus, which may adversely affect the deadbeat bidders' credit.

ReliaBid offers the ReliaBid Signature Program, designed for low-volume auction businesses, and the ReliaBid Premium Plus Program, designed for higher volume auction businesses.

The ReliaBid Signature Program charges sellers a percentage of final selling prices. For an item that sells for $100, sellers pay 25 cents. For this fee, ReliaBid will handle up to three collections processes per year, and when non-paying bidders pay the required restocking fee, sellers get at least 75 percent of it paid to them. Sellers pay $9.99 per collection after three collections in a single year.

The ReliaBid Premium Plus Program costs 50 cents for every $100 of products sold, and sellers can send as many collections as needed for no additional fee.

ReliaBid says that its program not only significantly reduces the amount of non-paying bidders, but it is likely to increase the number of bidders on participants' listings. "This is because our seal not only acts as a deterrent against these non-paying bidders, it also informs honest buyers that you are a professional and credible seller who is committed to completing the transaction."

If ReliaBid can deter deadbeats from bidding on your items, and motivates them to pay if they should be tempted not to, there's some value. It's up to sellers to do the math and calculate how much money they lose from deadbeats versus how much they might gain in using ReliaBid - factoring in fees for using the service.

ReliaBid fees for sellers:
http://www.reliabid.com/public/fees.html

How the collections process works:
http://www.reliabid.com/public/collection_process.html

ReliaBid home page:
http://www.reliabid.com