eBay

diecastdeb · ‎02-09-2016

Hi there, On Saturday Isold an item to the highest bidder. I didn't receive payment from him, so on Sunday I sent a congrats email, saying I would ship his item out as soon as I received payment. He replied, said thanks, he would pay on Tuesday.

Is this typical? My other auctions have seen payment that same day.

Anyhow, it's now Tuesday. I still havent received payment, and no communication from the buyer.

The runner-up bidder was disappointed he didn't win, and I'm sure that he would accept a second bid offer.

My question is this: how long do I need to wait before I send the runner up a second chance offer? If I do send him the offer, does that mean I can't begin an "unpaid item" process with the winning bidder? Would I leave negative feedback to the non-paying bidder?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I did spend quite a bit of time going through the Q&A / Help to try to answer this myself; I just want to make sure I follow all the (written AND unwritten) rules...

Cheers

femmefan1946 · ‎02-09-2016

Tuesday won't be over for another 13 hours, here in BC.

It's not usual, most buyers want their purchases as soon as possible.

At any rate, we can't open an Unpaid Item Dispute for 96 hours (four days) after purchase. And another four days to close it.

It is not a good idea to make a Second Chance Offer while you still have a customer, even a deadbeat, with a prior claim.

If you were using Fixed Price listings, you could add Immediate Payment Required, but not on auctions.

To complicate matters, if your buyer does not back his Paypal account with a credit card, or carry a balance in his PP account, his payment will be in the form of an e-cheque which will take up to 10 days to clear the Canadian and US banking systems.

Even then, your customer's cleared payment will be Held by PP against your good customer service for 21 days.

dmil8030 · ‎02-10-2016

Hello 'diecastdeb',

<<On Saturday Isold an item . . . on Sunday I sent a congrats email, . . . He replied, . . . would pay on Tuesday.

Is this typical? >>

When you sell on ebay you will always encounter slow payers. Has he paid yet? If he has paid that makes him a slow payer. If he has not paid by now, that makes him a non-payer and likely you are considering opening an unpaid case. You say you have seen this link about Unpaid Items:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/unpaid-items.html

I don't mean to be overstating the obvious, but you'd be surprised how many sellers don't know they can file a case this way to get their fees back.

On the other hand, if you kindly contacted the buyer and he confessed to having changed his mind, he may agree to a Cancellation. The only advantage that has is it would free your item immediately so you can offer it to the other bidder. You can always tell him that if he does not want the item any more, then the instant he accepts the cancellation he will be off the hook for it and ebay will stop sending him those pesky payment notices. You've no doubt seen the Cancellation link in your research, too:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/cancel-transaction-process.html#cancel

And since I have already posted well-worn links, I'll add the Second Chance Offer page because, well, we never know who else might be reading:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/second_chance_offer.html

<<how long do I need to wait before I send the runner up a second chance offer?>>

So that depends on if you go the Unpaid route or use the Cancellation. Either way, you do not want 2 payers for the same item, so be sure to conclude the first before embarking on the second.

<<Would I leave negative feedback to the non-paying bidder?>>

You cannot leave a negative for a buyer. You must not leave negative remarks with a green circle because that is against ebay policy, can be removed, and would result in a black mark on your record, not his. If you go with the Unpaid case and he does not pay, he gets a strike. Two or more of those will make it hard for him to buy on ebay. Sellers can automatically block users with 2 or more strikes, in addition to blocking individual buyers. If you have not yet seen this link, it tends to be most sellers' favourite:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#block

By now I hope he paid. Most people pay immediately, or at least immediately after they learn they are the winner. But when they don't, ebay has a solution for every problem.

Good luck