how long to wait on an ebay buyer not paying?

[Blackthornone]

I'm going through this right now. Person outbids the highest bidder at the last minute then doesn't pay. Auction ended Saturday afternoon. I've invoiced, sent three emails asking if they needed more time to pay and no response.

Why outbid someone at the last minute and then not even pay? Offered it second chance to the next highest bidder but I don't think they're interested. The next person down is $40 less than that bidder.

Should I offer them the chance or relist the auction taking a gamble at getting even less than this for the item?

They may have used a sniping service, which means that they weren't actually there, to know that they bid and won. It's hard to say. Check the completed listings for that same item and see what it sold for. Then you will know how much it is really worth. If the winning bid was higher than that, and especially since they don't seem like they are paying anyway, you know that auction price is pure fantasy.
If on the other hand the price is within the range of completed listings, it might be worth it to relist. I would wait one week to be nice.

 

[jimmie_dimmick]

Thanks for your input. The item has been selling for $125-$150 recently.

 

[Blackthornone]

Thanks for your input. The item has been selling for $125-$150 recently.

You didn't mention how much the item ended at. You mentioned the second highest bidder was $40 down from whatever the high bid was. I was just curious where the price the auction ended was at.

 

[sparkstron73]

But you can leave them positive feedback that says "BIDS ON ITEMS AND DOESN'T PAY FOR THEM. AVOID."

That's what I just did for a non-paying bidder on 2 of my auctions. And as soon as I left the feeback I opened the non-paying bidder complaint through Ebay.

Yeah but if they know how ebay's policy works they can have that removed as it is not positive feedback lol.

I sell and buy on ebay and have had some right idiots shill bidding the prices up on their figures and mine and then not paying or sending me a message saying "I don't want this now" 2 minutes after bidding and auction ends.
I just send them a request to cancel and remain polite as there is no point in rising to it.
Fairplay they agree to cancel as they don't want strikes but why do it, just to get your hopes up?
It is pretty pathetic behaviour, but these people have no other forms of entertainment I guess.

The feedback system is a joke and it was better before when seller and buyer could leave negative feedback and rarely did unless there was a major problem.
Now it is like the buyer can hold the seller to ransom for feedback, which if they don't mention directly they can get away with.

I don't get it, how is that an improvement on the old feedback system?

Anyway don't be intimidated by people trying to get something for nothing, send with signature required proof and be polite with non paying bidders but don't leave it more than a few days without no reponse.
As soon as you can open an unpaid dispute if there is no contact do so.

 

[Mr. EcKo]

Ebay Sucks now!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've had to relist my item 3 frickin times because a zero feedback buyer won my auction and never paid .

Then i have to oepn a case , wait for that , so on and so on

and wtf is up with paypal holding your funds!!!?????????

ex. If i sell something thats $600 and the shipping is $70 bucks , no matter what paypal hold the funds for a while or until 3 days after positive feedback is left for you.

again WTF!!!!! So i have to pay shipping outta my own pocket? The whole new way it is , is BULL ____

 

[Blackthornone]

Yeah but if they know how ebay's policy works they can have that removed as it is not positive feedback lol.

I sell and buy on ebay and have had some right idiots shill bidding the prices up on their figures and mine and then not paying or sending me a message saying "I don't want this now" 2 minutes after bidding and auction ends.
I just send them a request to cancel and remain polite as there is no point in rising to it.
Fairplay they agree to cancel as they don't want strikes but why do it, just to get your hopes up?
It is pretty pathetic behaviour, but these people have no other forms of entertainment I guess.

The feedback system is a joke and it was better before when seller and buyer could leave negative feedback and rarely did unless there was a major problem.
Now it is like the buyer can hold the seller to ransom for feedback, which if they don't mention directly they can get away with.

I don't get it, how is that an improvement on the old feedback system?

Anyway don't be intimidated by people trying to get something for nothing, send with signature required proof and be polite with non paying bidders but don't leave it more than a few days without no reponse.
As soon as you can open an unpaid dispute if there is no contact do so.

I disagree. The old system allowed the seller to hold the buyer ransom for feedback. It happened to me many times. The seller refused to give feedback until I left him feedback, and some sellers actually said this in their auctions. With that system, the buyer never knows if the seller they are dealing with will actually deliver what they promise.
I also had 4 times when an item wasn't as described and I wanted a refund and I would return it, and ebay was no help, even with a claim.
I spent $130 on a Discman because the seller said it was mint, but it came with a huge scratch on the display you could easily catch your fingernail in. I wouldn't have bought it at all if it wasn't mint, since I already had a non mint one. No response from seller.

Personally, I see no reason for a buyer not to leave positive feedback if a seller delivered as promised. All a buyer really has to do is pay, like any other customer buying from any other type of store, which has been the case for thousands of years.
A lot of ebay sellers get the notion that they can just sell stuff easily for profit online without having to deal with the customer service issues that every store in human history has had to deal with for thousands of years.

They think they can use poor pictures and vague or misleading descriptions designed to make the items seem the best possible condition even when they are far from it, and then have a laissez- faire attitude as if somehow they did not deliberately misrepresent or they did not care at all about being accurate in their listing.

I don't know much about the new system, but boy could I have used it when I bought stuff. I got a few bad deals from sellers.

 

[jimmie_dimmick]

I use eBay to print labels. You get a discount and they don't charge you until the funds clear the PayPal holding. I admit that the policy sucks but it's held until the item (if identified with a tracking number) is received by the buyer. After-which, the funds are available a couple days later. I've sold 4 items in the last week. 1 didn't pay; the others all received their goods. I left feedback for them, but have not received anything return.

I'm new to selling as well so I would like the positive feedback. Especially since I pack well and send stuff next day.

The person who has not paid, well that sounds like a common occurrence. Pretty crappy if you ask me.

 

[sparkstron73]

I don't get how the old system held you to ransom as a buyer.
If the item was defective then you opened a case and usually got your money back right?
Obviously you would leave negative feedback if you felt cheated and then the seller would respond likewise probabley saying your talking rubbish to look innocent.
Most people can tell the scammers out there.
Nowadays sellers have to cover themselves against deadbeats and scammers so how can that be better, for the seller anyway?

Paypal usually sides with the buyer even when proof of postage is provided and the seller has definately sent the item and the postal service loses it.
It has happened to me recentley as a buyer and seller, luckily I have dealt with mostly descent people.
Paypal is part of ebay and as long as they are making money they don't really care about the buyer or seller.
I won't give feedback to a buyer who dos'nt leave me positive feedback.
Why should I?
I describe everything well and show detailed pics of what I sell and send securely.
I have had only a few problems with buyers in 5 years and most leave feedback that is fair and accurate.
Sorry if you've had problems but you need to open cases with ebay and then escalate to a claim if your not happy with an item you bought or service you received.
Feedback is not really relevant except as a quick guide to buyers and I have seen that faked before, with sellers selling small items for 1p to build up their feedback rating, only to rip somebody off and then receive negative feedback and then voila, they are no longer a registered user and have probabley switched to another account.

Ebay is one of my bug bears and I could go on and on about shill bidders etc.
The point is be carefull and know the rules

 

[sparkstron73]

Hmm I'm a private seller so unless your a buisness seller you have to pay for shipping labels don't you?
I know waiting for money to clear is frustrating and recouping selling fees from non paying bidders is a pain, but unless we can find an alternative what choice is there?
Personally I would love to never use ebay again but thats not an option for me.

 

[Blackthornone]

I don't get how the old system held you to ransom as a buyer.
If the item was defective then you opened a case and usually got your money back right?
Obviously you would leave negative feedback if you felt cheated and then the seller would respond likewise probabley saying your talking rubbish to look innocent.
Most people can tell the scammers out there.
Nowadays sellers have to cover themselves against deadbeats and scammers so how can that be better, for the seller anyway?

Paypal usually sides with the buyer even when proof of postage is provided and the seller has definately sent the item and the postal service loses it.
It has happened to me recentley as a buyer and seller, luckily I have dealt with mostly descent people.
Paypal is part of ebay and as long as they are making money they don't really care about the buyer or seller.
I won't give feedback to a buyer who dos'nt leave me positive feedback.
Why should I?
I describe everything well and show detailed pics of what I sell and send securely.
I have had only a few problems with buyers in 5 years and most leave feedback that is fair and accurate.
Sorry if you've had problems but you need to open cases with ebay and then escalate to a claim if your not happy with an item you bought or service you received.
Feedback is not really relevant except as a quick guide to buyers and I have seen that faked before, with sellers selling small items for 1p to build up their feedback rating, only to rip somebody off and then receive negative feedback and then voila, they are no longer a registered user and have probabley switched to another account.

Ebay is one of my bug bears and I could go on and on about shill bidders etc.
The point is be carefull and know the rules

The old system allowed sellers to control their feedback by them refusing to give you feedback until you gave them feedback. This basically meant that if you didn't give them positive feedback, they wouldn't give you positive feedback. Since buyers WANT positive feedback, they would simply give the seller positive feedback even when they actually deserved neutral feedback at best. This was particularly the case when the seller did not deliver as promised and ebay gave the buyer no satisfactory recourse anyway.

I did in fact leave positive feedback to these feedback extortionists a couple dozen times. I also gave fair but neutral feedback and fair but negative feedback to sellers and they left retaliatory negative feedback for me, even though I paid promptly and it was they who took a month to ship me an item, ect.

 

[sparkstron73]

I still would'nt have given the bad sellers positive feedback but see your point.
As a new buyer you want people to trust your a good user and pay on time, but letting the bad sellers sway your feedback is wrong.
I joined before the new feedback rules and I did mostly leave positives or none if I had a bad service for the same reason as you so I suppose that the new way is better for the buyer but still stinks if you are a genuine seller.

 

[hydrobud]

require immediate payment in the future

 

[Porko Rossi]

As an Ebay seller, I had 1 buyer say they never received their item and another said the item was broken when it was not.....

Im definitely getting insurrance next time.

 

[jimmie_dimmick]

As an Ebay seller, I had 1 buyer say they never received their item and another said the item was broken when it was not.....

Im definitely getting insurrance next time.

Take photos of your items before you ship them. I do.

 

[Darth Madden]

Maybe all these non paying people are trying to sell the same thing so they win an auction making everyone else that lost now have to bid on theirs instead?

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

Listing of mine ended on friday last week, i sent him the invoice the next day, sent him a message asking if there was a problem on Monday night.

There's still been no reply.

've never had this before so how do i open an unpaid item case?

If i leave Neg feedback for him as a timewaster can he Neg me back?

I'm going through this right now. Person outbids the highest bidder at the last minute then doesn't pay. Auction ended Saturday afternoon. I've invoiced, sent three emails asking if they needed more time to pay and no response.

Why outbid someone at the last minute and then not even pay? Offered it second chance to the next highest bidder but I don't think they're interested. The next person down is $40 less than that bidder.

Should I offer them the chance or relist the auction taking a gamble at getting even less than this for the item?

Exactly what happened to me

 

[SwedishHeat]

If i leave Neg feedback for him as a timewaster can he Neg me back?

You can't neg him. Buyers can't receive negative feedback. But sellers can. . . grand, eh??

eBay made that policy a few months back.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

I've opened the unpaid item case. Can i relist now ir do i have to wait the 4 days?

 

[jimmie_dimmick]

I've opened the unpaid item case. Can i relist now ir do i have to wait the 4 days?

I think you have to wait, which is what I did.

 

[Adoptedscot]

I've opened the unpaid item case. Can i relist now ir do i have to wait the 4 days?

I think you have to wait, which is what I did.

Yep, I believe it's a 4 day minimum that eBay have a in place.
They are giving the buyer time to respond to your non-paying bidder claim. If you go into your claim it should actually show you when, on what date and time you can re-list them item and close the NPB claim which automatically gives you a credit of your listing fees.

I went through this myself recently, a few times, that's the only reason I know.
Hope it all works out for you
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