Excuses from Non Paying Buyers

mrmr37

Hi all,

I don't normally need to worry about NPB's as 99.9% of my listings are Buy It Now with immediate payment via Paypal required. However I recently listed something with the Best Offer option. Someone made me an offer which I accepted and guess wot..... they never ended up paying for the item.

I'd never had this problem before so was quite patient with the buyer. I sent several reminders/invoices and after no response after 3 weeks I opened a NPB case in ebay. The buyer responded almost instantly apologising and came up with the excuse that he'd been made redundant and now couldn't pay for the item. Even if this excuse is true then why couldnt they have replied to one of many many polite emails explaining the situation? Anyway, Im 99% sure they're lying as looking at their history they've bought (and paid for) many other items (some quite expensive and none a life necessity) since they were made 'redundant'.

I was just wondering if anyone had any excuses from NPB's which are more imaginative than mine?

nicole163

I had a buyer once who claimed she was going through a divorce and thought her husband had locked her account so said she couldn't pay till she had sorted that out. Then she sent another e-mail saying on the way in to see her divorce lawyer in town she would post a cheque that never arrive. I eventually gave up a hope of recieving a payment and opened up a dispute, it annoys me when they bid and have no intention of buying!!

poppyjay

My whole family have just die.
why you looking at ebay then!!!!!!!!!!!

cyberbob

Why did you wait 3 weeks? NPB after 7 days no excuses is my policy

mrmr37

cyberbob wrote: »

Why did you wait 3 weeks? NPB after 7 days no excuses is my policy

I know, I should have raised it earlier. Like I said, it was my first NPB so wasn't exactly sure how long I should wait. I think in future I'll probably do it in after 7 days like you mentioned!

babyharry5

I've had sisters killed in road accidents, relatives funerals, car written off and so now cant afford to pay, employer not paid their wages, blah blah blah.
On another thread a lady used the excuse that her baby had died, and therefore didnt need the baby clothes any more!! thats sick!
:mad:

*Scottish*Lass*

babyharry5 wrote: »

On another thread a lady used the excuse that her baby had died, and therefore didnt need the baby clothes any more!! thats sick!
:mad:

And also possibly true?
My friends 4 day old baby died in her arms 3 weeks ago, the day after he died she got it into her head that she had to cancel her Next order that she'd placed the day after he was born.
There are a lot of people who take the mickey on ebay, but there's bound to be some people who have real, unexpected problems?
My family live on an island over 250 miles away from me, if something happens & I need to go over there I'm not going to have the time to cancel all my bids & I'm guessing it wouldn't be foremost in my mind to check my ebay when I'm there.
Surely everyone deserves the benefit of doubt?

hazey31

*Scottish*Lass* wrote: »

And also possibly true?
My friends 4 day old baby died in her arms 3 weeks ago, the day after he died she got it into her head that she had to cancel her Next order that she'd placed the day after he was born.

...

Surely everyone deserves the benefit of doubt?

And the rest of the story that babyharry5 (excellent handle btw) mentioned- after the buyer had told the seller that the clothes/equipment weren't required after the baby died was that the buyer continued to bid on baby stuff and leave appropriate feedback.


I've only had one thing go wrong on eBay, when a newbie bid on about 5 of my auctions for DVDs and didn't pay, nor offer any type of excuse. I do hope the 5 strikes she got as a result of that will make her think again!

Lobell

I've had a couple of NPBs but none with imaginative excuses...they simply haven't paid and ignored all correspondance. I like these ones best

My most recent one emailed me a few days after end of auction to say that she was having problems signing into her Paypal account to pay. No worries, wasn't a high value item so I didn't open a dispute immediately at 7 days and gave her several more days grace. Got a couple more emails saying she was still trying to get into her account. Said I would accept cheque/PO but she went quiet then. Admittedly, I had a lot on so wasn't terribly concerned but when I realised that it had been almost 3 weeks since the auction ended with still no payment, I sent a polite email sayng that if I hadn't received payment within 48 hours, I would assume the matter closed and relist the item. 47 and a half hours later, she paid...So not worth the hassle for a fiver :rolleyes:

The one before that was even worse...no payment or response to dispute. Excellent, thought I. Closed dispute....end of story. Not so....she paid by echeque a couple of days later, saying she had been on holiday with no internet access. I wonder how she managed to bid on dozens of other items at the same time then... I cancelled echeque and sent a message telling her so. She sent another. I cancelled it and sent another message. She sent another echeque....I swore a lot, let it clear and then refunded. I am still deciding whether to leave feedback or not. If I do, it will say just.......TSFE :rolleyes:

alison999

Lobell wrote: »

.....I am still deciding whether to leave feedback or not. If I do, it will say just.......TSFE :rolleyes:

a seller can only leave positive feedback :rolleyes:

mrcol1000

I often have "brothers" or "sisters" of bidders mailing me to say that the buyer has been involved in some terrible accident and is on life support and from their hosptial bed they managed to summon just enough engery to ask for their relative to go on Ebay and ask to cancel the thing they are bidded on.

To be honest I always offer to mutally cancel the transaction but if I was involved in some terrible accident the last thing I would be worrying about is getting an unpaid strike on Ebay. But you just never know.
Although there was one I reported as their "sister" said the buyer was involved in some accident and was on life support but the date they said the accident happened was two days before they bidded. They never responded to my messages asking how they bid from their life support machine so I reported them.