Does anyone have tips on deterring dead beat bidders from auctions on eBay?

I think you have the best approach - limit your auctions to people with feedback of 10 or greater. You should also be willing to negotiate with any buyer who says he has less than 10 feedback but wants to bid.
As a buyer I also appreciate auctions like that. I hardly ever buy from Ebay so my feedback is only 11. But when it was under 10 I'd Email a seller and sometimes one would make an exception for me (usually just because I took the time to Email him).
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What you're doing is about all you *can* do. Put a clause in there that says "If you have less than 10 feedback but want to bid, you must email me first." Anyone who takes the time to sent me an intelligently worded message can bid all they want in my opinion.
Deadbeat bidders piss me off. I tried to sell a laptop 3 times and it finally went on the 4th try. The problem is, EBay won't refund your listing fees. Auction fees, yes, but not listing fees. This is bullshit, IMHO. I had to pay my listing fees 4 times. Worse, EBay doesn't really do anything about tracking these assholes down. They'll disable their accounts after x violations, but nothing is stopping them from simply creating another account.
I think EBay needs to be more vigilant about going after these bastards. At the very least, they should log their IP and sent a threatening letter to their ISP...
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-Ryan (http://www.ryanwright.com )
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you do criticize them, you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

 

When I win a bid I always immediately write the seller and tell him when to expect payment. If I don't think I'm going to be able to send a payment right away (never more than 10 days from winning) I often offer a few extra bucks for the trouble.
My problem with Ebay is that I paid for something I won and the guy wont send it to me, and wont return my email. Because the value was less than $25 (but not when you add shipping and the cost of a money order) Ebay will not help. Because they closed the guy's account, I can't even leave negative feedback, so I have no one I can complain to.
Ebay did give me the guy's phone number, but naturally it's disconnected.
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These chicks know how to party! - MoJo JoJo

 

Bullet-point your conditions in HTML. Make them stand out. Mine go like this:
[*]My conditions as a seller:[*]Will ship to UK only (unless prior arrangement is made by email BEFORE bidding)

 

I always put--
"Ebay is for REAL, not a game, If you are a non-paying bidder you will be prosecuted to the highest extent of the law.."
I hate deadbeats too..
Nathan
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"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com

 

I have a 38-0 positive record, although I've bought about 55-60 items. I can't understand why people are bidding if they do not want the item? Are they kids? Drunks? Assholes?

 

Baseball bat??
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"Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam."
(I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.)
My DVD List

 

I must be very lucky - in over 500 auctions, both buying and selling, I have had only three non-payers. One of them I'm pretty certain was a kid, or at least very strange. Another I believe died or was incapacitated in some way as he had a long unblemished feedback record and then suddenly racked up a string of negatives. In fact, I've found that low/no feedback bidders are some of the best, contrary to everyone else's experience.
Lately, I've won a couple of auctions where the seller didn't contact me for many days, but they worked out fine in the end. I did give one recent seller neutral feedback because the actual condition of his item didn't come anywhere near matching his auction description, plus he took three weeks to ship and did an extraordinarily poor job of packing. He threatened to retaliate in kind, but he had forgotten that he had already given me positive feedback. That's about the worst experience I've had.
Maybe it's because I deal mainly in laser discs. The above makes me scared to go into other areas though.
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They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa To the funny farm. Where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats and they're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!!!!
- Napoleon XIV

 

I usually put "will leave negative feedback on deadbeats" is capitol letters.
But I like Robs idea above, saying you will remove bids at your disgretion.
You may also want to say after a certain amount of time, the auction goes to the next highest bidder.Contact that person adn tell them the item is theirs if theyre interested and you may not end up with a loss. Most times, they will still be interested.
Ive had quite a few people send me a email days later saying the high bidder never came through and if I still want the item its mine.