How long is too long?

Norma_Desmond

A buyer owes me nearly £100 for 2 Ebay items she bought a week ago.
She hadn't paid or even contacted me as of yesterday so I sent another invoice with a polite 'Is everything OK...?' reminder for payment.
Last night she replied saying she was having 'bank trouble' and would pay this morning.
Well, there's been no payment and no more contact from her today - the lack of communication is now making me cross.
How long until I send the heavies in?! (Only joking, but when should I send yet another reminder?)

VanyaHargreeves

I'd say tomorrow, give her another 24 hours to pay up, then start a dispute.

Or just dispute immediately.

chja

Start unpaid dispute after 7 days. They still have a further 7 days to respond / pay.

"problems with my bank / credit card" is second only to , "sorry, I was in hospital beacuse my head fell off" on the list of excuses.

Norma_Desmond

UPDATE

The buyer has now paid (pending!) by e-cheque; Paypal say not to post the items until this clears into my account which could be around the 11th May!
At least I'll get my cash eventually, but why bid a lot of money for something knowing you haven't got the money available?! .
I could have been desperate for the payment for all the buyer knows, and now I'll have 2 big boxes cluttering up my dining room for another couple of weeks too - AND not even an apology from the buyer :mad:
Ho Hum, the public are wonderful creatures aren't they? :rolleyes:

Astec

Do make sure you notify her that your awaiting clearance of funds, otherwise expect the stroppy 'wheres my goods' email after 2 days.

I once sent payment by bank (paypal tend to do this even though I prefer CC) and didn't realise till the seller told me.

Norma_Desmond

Thanks for that Astec - I've emailed her now!

StaffsSW

There is still no guarantee that the e-cheque will clear. I had one bounce twice on me. The first time the customer was very apologetic and polite, when it failed to clear a second time I never heard another peep from her.

Leave the dispute open until it has cleared - you only get one chance to reclaim your fees.

Norma_Desmond

Thanks Steve - I didn't open an actual dispute; I was about to when the e-cheque 'arrived'.
So, when it does clear (hopefully!) into my Paypal account, is it then OK to send items straight away?
I wouldn't normally be so annoyed, it's just that there's a fair bit of money involved.

StaffsSW

You'll get an email to say that it has cleared and is OK to send, but for some reason there is no email to say it has not cleared....

Log into your paypal account each lunchtime to check if it has gone through or not - they trend to clear for me between 9am and 11am.