How Many People Here Have Had An E-bay Buyer Disappear?

G

Gene

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I was wondering if some folks here have had a E-Bay buyer disappear after they bought your item?

I just sold an item on E-Bay and it's into the 3rd day and he hasn't paid. I've sent him a couple of e-mails but he just won't answer and I had this happen once before but they paid after about 10 days.

I understand now that buyers have 4 days to pay.

What would you do as when I buy something from E-Bay, I pay immediately?
 
I pay immerdiately as well but I've had 2 people
pay slow out of a couple dozen sales, One just paid
after 4 or 5 days and the other one e-mailed me and
asked if I wouldn't mind waiting until he got paid the next
week, I was ok with it since I was glad the item sold.
I would give a buyer about 7 days max and then I would report
them to e-bay if I could not get a response by e-mail.
But it's up to you.
 
As soon as you can (4 days after the sale), open an unpaid item case.
The buyer will get a notice from eBay that this has happened.
If the buyer doesn't pay in 4 days from the opening of the case you can close the sale as unpaid and eBay will refund your final value fees.
eBay has already charged you the fees for the sale, weather you get paid or not doesn't matter to them.

The listing fees for this sale will be lost, but if you close it as unpaid, re-list the item and it sells, you will get the second listing fee back.

I find about half of the unresponsive buyers pay when I open the unpaid item case. Hopefully this buyer is just inattentive and will "wake up" when you report the item as unpaid.


Good luck.
 
I've had the high bidder back out the day before the auction ends and have the item bring much less than I thought it would
 
Ive never had one, but wait until Monday and follow FLymon's advice.

Ebay should help ya out. Despite all the hate they get, ive had pretty good interactions with them.
 
I had one guy who won an item, and didn't pay me for about a week. I forget what transpired, but i remember getting his phone number from ebay and calling him. He was SUPER apologetic and paid me while we were on the phone. I had to actually tell him the description, my ebay name, etc.. for him to actually find it in his huge list of items to pay. You could tell from his demeanor/short stories that he had a huge ebay addiction of just "buying things". Real nice guy, just floored me though.
 
Two in the past month, of which one eventually paid after having an unpaid item case opened on them. The other one kept making excuses and strung me along for about a month. After I got my fees refunded, I resold it. Never heard from them again, so I added them to my "blocked" bidder list. Over the years, I've added a few names to the blocked list. You never know when the trolls want to come out to play, and it's almost always a bidder with a very low feedback score. You can prevent the low feedback buyers from bidding too if you want. Just a couple of my personal strategies after-the-fact. I also pay immediately after winning. My biggest problem after that is the excuses that start streaming in for not shipping as promised. Good luck in the future and take solace in the fact that it doesn't happen very often (usually).
 
I haven't had any buyers default but I've had a seller I've been trying to get to send me my item for more than a month now...I opened a case last week and he said he would ship it monday....so far nothing but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since It is only weds....
 
I've had two buyers on two items flake in the same week. It has happened to my son as well. I now post a polite note in my auctions that I expect payment by pay pal only with in three days of the close of the auction or the buyer will be reported as a non paying bidder.
 
Flymon has it right on what to do. I enabled that whole proces to be automatic on my eBay account. Unfortunately I see about 1 or 2 a month (I sell frequently there) and yes about 50% wake up and pay when the filing process gets going. I try invoices and inquiries to the buyer but that filing process is what usually gets their attention. Some people (a minority of them) just don't feel obligated to pay what they committed to. That whole thing got worse once eBay took away the ability of sellers to leave any negative feedback on a buyer. Buyers who back out do not suffer any outwardly visible consequences. If you sell enough items you will get some buyers who back out. Sometimes it is for amazing reasons indicating that the buyer had not read the auction details at all.
 
I auctioned a Spyderco DODO on Ebay once,had a bidder contact me about ending the auction early and selling it to them.I ignored the contact and when the auction ended that bidder actually won for a very high price.I waited 3 days and still no payment.I sent him an invoice and he paid the next day
 
This has happened to me twice. I had to open a case on both to get my seller fees back. I think I would rather deal here than the bay.
 
Had to open a claim last week regarding an ebayer not paying. After one week and several emails, I was forced to open a claim. I know he was blowing me off when he continued to purchase items from other sellers and they were giving him positive feedback on prompt payment.

When selling motorcycles or other high value items, I note on my auction that buyers under 5 feedback must contact me prior to bidding or I remove their bid.
 
Had a buyer wait for 12 days before paying. He didnt respond to the 6 emails I sent him until the tenth day. His excuse was he was waiting to see what else I was listing so he could "buy it and I would ship him the items in one shipment" like I'm going to do this idiot a favor. I told him pay up and don't buy from me again ever. I opened a claim and got paid 2 days later. He tried to contact me a few days later to see if I was going to have anymore listings. He just didn't get it:mad:
 
Happens all the time, unfortunately. In the past 30 days, I have had to cancel 4 transactions, 2 were accidental purchases, 2 were non paying bidders.

Be patient, send the buyer an invoice, be professional in your wording as you don't know what the buyer's circumstances are, but give them a deadline too. I give the buyer 7 days from the sale date, unless they contact me with valid reasoning.

If I don't receive payment within 24 hours from the initial sale, I will often send an invoice to the buyer, somtimes sooner and sometimes later.

With regards to the "4 day rule", that is the earliest time you can open an Unpaid Item dispute with eBay. As mentioned prevously, I typically wait 7 days before doing so.

Currently, I have a buyer that has two days left before I open yet another Unpaid Item dispute. It is just part of doing business on eBay.

Hope this helps,
Rob
 
Thanks folks for all the replies! He paid today and I'm grateful! WHEW!!! I was so sure he bailed out as I sent him 2 e-mails and 2 bills for for payment and never heard a word.

I guess I'm lucky compared to some of you folks. :(
 
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