No signs of a payment

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

If you have a sale and no contact or hint of a payment arriving, what is the best plan of attack? Non-paying buyer or cancel the transaction? Buyer has had their account for years but no recent purchases. Phone number attached to file is not in service. Address "appears" to be valid. Your average buyer usually pays in a reasonable time-frame. In this situation, it's my spidey senses kicking in. Is it really worth waiting the required time limit to open a case?

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

The only time I use the cancellation feature is if a buyer contacts me and asks for that. Otherwise, I would file for an unpaid item.  I don't generally do something because of the feedback factor but as a fyi,  if you cancel on your own, the buyer can leave feedback. If an unpaid item claim is opened and closes without payment, the feedback option is blocked.

Also, there really is no cancellation choice that you can use in a situation like this and since there has been no communication from the buyer, you could be leaving yourself open to an OOS defect.

If a buyer can't be bothered to contact me to ask for a cancellation, I think that they deserve a strike and if it is their second one, I am hopefully preventing another seller from going through the same thing.

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

Buyer has had their account for years but no recent purchases.

Sign of a hacked account, that.

Go for the Unpaid Item Dispute.

It may galvanize a slow payer into action.

And puts a deadbeat on eBay's radar.

I assume you have your automatic Block against deadbeat Strikes set up?

The UID helps all of us.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Pretty much what I thought. Let it run its course. Yes, have the deadbeat thing set up. Most of my customers are very random. Few repeats over the years. That was why my other comment regarding hijacked accounts. Personally, it feels there is a bit more verification done with sellers vs buyers and old accounts should maybe be questioned or closed when there is no response.

On average the majority of buyers hit the buy button and pay. When there are no emails or payment makes one say hmmmm!!!

-Lotz

[ricarmic]

It depends though, if they're from Europe, I think something has to happen before they can pay.

I've noticed many European buyers take a few days before they pay, especially from Germany. I think they have to wait for the money to show up in PAYPAL before they can pay but that is just my guess.

I do know that generally they are not fond of PAYPAL over there.

I perhaps live in a happier category, but I've my UIA set for the maximum 32 days.

Generally I maybe have 1 or 2 in the to pay list for a while, rarely more than a week, I have maybe 5 a year (out of about 1,500 transactions) who don't pay before the UIA activates.

I have had an awful lot of buyers purchasing from me in the last couple months who have not purchased from me for year(s). I'm not sure what has brought them back and why so many in a short time but I am certainly not complaining!

I do know that in my world (stamps) sometimes folks quiet down for a while and later on return to the hobby so that would be an example where a previously docile account would be fine...

[greenmangoes]

Hi Guys!

How do you wait before you open an Unpaid Item Claim?  I have a buyer that purchased May 20th and hasn't paid yet.

Thanks!

[ricarmic]

As I mentioned in my comment above I wait 32 days but I sell in the stamp category...

[greenmangoes]

Oh wow! That's long 🙂

Thanks!

[travis7s]

I *hated* waiting/non payers so I more or less went Instant Payment Required for all my listing and never looked back. But, do you think this hurts many potential sales?

[kawartha-ephemera]

Like ricarmic I give unpaid buyers the full month to complete their transactions. After a week or so I send them a short note mentioning the that "this transaction has not been completed, may I be of assistance?

Most pay within hours of receiving receiving the note. The handful that do not respond are sent a final reminder after three weeks or so politely explaining that if payment is not received by a certain date a UIC will be opened and the reasons why the process is necessary.  This sparks an odd buyer to send payment, very few are simply never heard from in which case the orders are sent to the resolution centre.

I'm probably fortunate to sell primarily in the paper / ephemera type of categories where at least half of sales are repeat customers. All unpaid transactions ard as the result of auctions, never BIN even though I do not require immediate payment. Perhaps 1 in 10 auction buyers are slow to pay, perhaps 2 or 3 in a 1,000 never pay. A little patience and polite communication works in the photo, postcaŕd, ephemera categories.

[reallynicestamps]

Since many of my items are impulse buys, I don't want the impulse to wear off.

I send a polite reminder on Day Three and open an UID on Day Four.

If the buyer doesn't have the cash on hand, that's where a credit card backing the PP account comes in.

Some people are slow payers, but if their credit is so bad they can't qualify for a credit card, the chance of being paid is pretty low in my opinion.

I am a cynical and grouchy old lady.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I have my UID set for 8 days. I don't really bother sending reminders to ask people to pay since I think eBay already does that automatically every few days. I rarely have buyers who don't pay... like maybe a couple a year or less.

[hlmacdon]

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@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:
I have my UID set for 8 days. I don't really bother sending reminders to ask people to pay since I think eBay already does that automatically every few days. I rarely have buyers who don't pay... like maybe a couple a year or less.

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This. Turn on the unpaid item assistant, set it to the minimum wait time and set exceptions for any regular customers who may need it. Ebay isn't kmart layaway.