Well,
Doing a little more research, it looks like the 3 non-paying bidder strikes and you're out, is either a thing of the past.............or a myth.
Was doing a little surfing on the Ebay Powerseller forums:
Check out the bidding history and feedback left for the following bidder:
"christiescollections"
10's of thousands of $'s in won bids. Doesn't look like they are paying for anything. As of today, Ebay is still letting them bid on items.
They are marking items as "payment sent", and screwing sellers out of fees and the ability to file UPI's it looks like.