eBay

quicheandpony · ‎02-25-2014

A buyer "purchased" my item 4 days ago. Immediately after, they requested a lower rate for shipping and I refused, explaining that the shipping rate is already less than the actual cost I incur to ship the item. They later informed me they would pay by Sunday Feb. 23.

Today, I sent a friendly reminder message to please pay. The buyer responded by saying that when they proceed to pay, they receive an error message along the lines of "we are unable to process your request at this time."

The buyer claims they have contacted ebay several times to inquire about this "technical issue" and claims that ebay hasn't offered any solution to the problem.

The buyer is requesting that I cancel the transaction.

After looking through the buyer's feedback, I see they have not paid a couple of times in the past.

What is my next move? Should I cancel the transaction? Should I ask to see a record of their supposed communication with ebay? Or should I open an unpaid item case?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

ricarmic · ‎02-25-2014

If it were mine, I would cancel, they are going to be more trouble than they are worth. If you try to push ahead there will be other problems, including the possibility of feedback DSR problems.....best to cancel, get your fees back and sell to someone else who isn't a problem...opening a case is a possibility too, I see the cancel process as less confrontational but it does open you to risk if they do not accept the cancellation, then I think you do not get your fees back....

recped · ‎02-26-2014

Cancel and move on.....

A technical issue with payments do happen but if that's just a story then you absolutely want to cancel because forcing the issue is more than likely not going to end well.

Confirm to the buyer you will cancel, let them know to expect a message from eBay. if they agree, fine, if they ignore then wait a week and close to get your fees back. If they refuse, well if they asked for the cancellation in an email and you want to spend the time you could call eBay several times and get a courtesy fee credit (maybe).

Personally in the rare instances that this happens it's usually goes smoothly, if I have a real bad feeling about the buyer I'll just let the transaction go away on it's own, no need to stir the pot over a couple of dollars in fees. Different story perhaps if it's a high value item.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

rose-dee · ‎02-26-2014

@recped wrote:

... if I have a real bad feeling about the buyer I'll just let the transaction go away on it's own, no need to stir the pot over a couple of dollars in fees.

By "let the transaction go away on its own", were you referring to just letting the item remain unpaid and eventually expire after (what would it be?) 60 or 90 days?

I had personally never thought of this as a viable solution because I'd be concerned the buyer would keep getting payment reminders from eBay, but I suppose it doesn't really matter if the buyer seems troublesome to begin with.

Aside from not being able to relist the item until the transaction expired, would there be any other disadvantage to the seller in doing this?

By the way, I agree that the OP should start the cancellation process if the buyer has asked for it in this case. There's no way of knowing if the buyer is telling the truth or not. I'd say that opening a UIC would just upset him even more (and if he did eventually pay, might lead to nasty DSRs/FB).

recped · ‎02-26-2014

@rose-dee wrote:
Aside from not being able to relist the item until the transaction expired, would there be any other disadvantage to the seller in doing this?

There is no need to wait, buyer has told you they don't want it.

If you really don't want the buyer to see it hanging around or get a reminder from eBay then you can just mark it as paid and it will go away at both ends.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

rose-dee · ‎02-28-2014

@recped wrote:

If you really don't want the buyer to see it hanging around or get a reminder from eBay then you can just mark it as paid and it will go away at both ends.

Hmmm, thanks for this suggestion! It had never occurred to me that marking the item "paid" would end the limbo, but you're right -- it would solve everything if the FVFs weren't an issue.