Does eBay notify buyers when I accept their offer, and does it remind them to pay?

[drenchfur]

I sure hope so, because I accepted an offer recently and thought nothing of it. I did not send an invoice, because I believe eBay notifies them their offer was accepted, and the link to pay is given to them there. Days passed, but I did not send any payment reminders, because of the quote from this section below:

Resolving unpaid items with buyers | eBay

"You don't have to contact the buyer if they haven't paid – we'll send them reminders to pay. If you don't receive payment, you can cancel the order after 4 calendar days."

So, instead of badgering them to pay I did nothing but wait. After 4 days I went ahead and cancelled the order, stating "buyer hasn't paid". Within minutes, I get a message from the buyer saying they somehow missed hearing their offer was accepted, and they received no reminders to pay, and they would have paid had I only sent them an email.

I replied that I no longer send reminders because of the (above quoted), and cancel when allowed to recoup fees. (But didn't tell them they get added to my blocked bidders list.)

ANYWAY, THE QUESTION: Is this a fluke? Does eBay not send payment reminders for an item "purchased" through an accepted offer? The app is pretty on top of things like offers and such, lots of noises and notifications, and even those who use the website regularly get the corner notifications. I don't know what to think here - I was trusting eBay to handle "badgering buyers" for me as promised.

This buyer had single-digit feedback, so I'm skeptical here. Makes me wanna buy something and not pay just to see what reminders I do get.

[flipistics]

I (think) there's an option in the settings to automatically send an invoice. If you had that disabled, I'm thinking an invoice may not have been sent and therefore the buyer wouldn't have been notified to pay. I might be wrong on that. It looks like some of the links to the settings are broken atm so I can't check.

[msau4301]

I made an offer on an item a couple of weeks ago and yes, eBay does send an email/notice "Offer accepted, Pay now to receive....". And there is a "Finish Your Purchase" button. I think that is standard way it is done (I've had a few offers I've made in past and always the same. As for the reminder invoice being sent, I paid right away so I don't know for certain but I think it is the same as with all purchases and that is they (eBay) send the reminder after 2 days if not paid. It's possible that if the buyer gets a lot of emails from eBay (I know I get notice emails on everything I'm watching, or even looked at is ending is a few hours, 15 minutes, etc), so it could be that they missed the notices. It never hurts to send a manual invoice also if you are wondering. Though eBay says you don't have to and they do, you still can send one if you want an extra reminder. I send manual invoices often for people with combined purchases and the invoice looks like it is from eBay directly anyways. I don't know that there is any difference.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@drenchfur 

@flipistics 

In trying to get clarification regarding sending a random offer to a buyer there is supposed to be a way to redact/cancel if you made a mistake when sending that offer. This, by the sounds of things either did not happen or was never added to the feature when Canadian sellers got it.

In speaking to the rep the ONLY way to cancel is IF the buyer accepts they have to wait for you to send an invoice. You can cancel at that time. I explained that the invoice goes out automatically and buyer pays before you have a chance to cancel. They didn't have an answer for that. (I like how they say that they've resolved all of a callers questions when they actually haven't.)

If you realized you had made a mistake, the only way to redact would be cancel the listing. Basically a built in system flaw. Because history is so well hidden for offers (Info/buyer involved) it could be difficult to advise a potential buyer of what occured and your reason for cancelling the listing. As noted in another post the tab with history of ALL offers sent is no longer available.

Not sure if a buyer were to send you an offer and you countered with a mistake things would be available differently. I believe it has also been stated in the past that for best offers the option in "some" cases for buyer to request an invoice is hidden. Baffling and frustrating to say the least!!

-Lotz

@msau4301 

Have started to get best offers for items I have only viewed vs being added to my watch list. Possibly a system update that came with no fanfare?

[msau4301]

The item I bought after receiving offer was something I had in my watchlist (I've done  this a few times when it was something I was sitting on the fence about buying, this little bit off has sometimes been the motivator...at least for me.) There was no back and forth with the offer, so once they "accept", I think the notification to pay ("Finish your purchase" button message) is sent, I did get mine from eBay  (as per my earlier reply to OP) almost immediately. There were no changes or motifications so you're right, that would make things different!

I've never got an offer for items I just viewed (yet) but yes, with all the updates who knows what may have changed. I've only received offers from items I had included "Make an Offer", I got payment quickly so not sure what happens when there is a problem.

[drenchfur]

@flipistics The link was broken, but now works? I found the link below

Communications with buyers | eBay

Invoices are sent automatically - always - as it's not a toggle-able switch. I DO have the 2-day automatic reminder set as well. Where is the S in "reminderS"... just one is sent? I might start sending them myself after 1 day or something - but there's the risk a buyer might see this as a nuisance. 

In this particular instance I have stealth un-blocked the buyer and messaged them again about the relisted item, apologized about the missing notification, and suggested they send their previous offer again if they choose to. Honestly though, I just figured they dashed out an offer they didn't think I would accept, but did - and then didn't want to go through with the sale. It's easier to let it go by unpaid than deal with a free return later. But benefit of the doubt here, I guess. Their unpaid strike fades in time.

@lotzofuniquegoodies 

The option to "send offer" might appear for items that buyers are watching or not watching. EBay has a way to guage buyer interest (and they are really good at it) as I myself have received offers sometimes for things I was researching for price, etc, or actually interested to buy. I usually send out a random offer to these "window shoppers" anyway because a few bucks off can mean one less thing out of my place sooner.