Non-paying bidder then buys another item

Babylonian_2

Sorry, it's me again with another query - you can tell that my auctions ended this evening...

I have had a non-paying bidder - today was the 7th day and so I have issued a strike.
Turns out they have bid on another item of mine which ended today and are now requesting a combined postage for both items.
My t&c ask that buyers with any negs email me before bidding (they have a neg for non-payment) and that I receive payment within 5 days.
The buyer made no attempt to contact me and explain they were watching another item etc. - if they had I would be fine about it.
Their email asking for combined postage makes no reference to the ignored invoice etc.

I don't feel good about this transaction and don't trust the buyer - do I have to continue?
(or am I just being grumpy ?)

Hintza

You can not expect anyone with a neg to contact you first that is not going to happen and is unreasonable.

Are you being grumpy? Possibly.

But why did they not contact you after winning the first. If the items are fairly cheap just send them out and be done with it. Possibly upgrading your postage service. If you are really concerned pull their details and give them a ring and see how you feel after the conversation. Start of apologising for strike etc and see how they react, if they are not reasonable decide on how to continue. Sounds a little suspect to me but you never know.

Babylonian_2

Thanks for the reply - it's the rudeness of just ignoring me that has made me grumpy. It's a real assumption that I have nothing better to do than to chase peeps for payment when all they needed to do was communicate with me like a reasonable person would

By the way - I had the "email me first if you have negs" thingy inserted to enable me to block buyers from bidding with very low feedback - is there a better way to do this? (I normally turn a blind eye to one or two negs, I'm talking about peeps with a lot of negs)

Babylonian_2

Hmm - I'll just send them off and be done with it I think - a lesson to be learned for the future

martindow

I think I would phone them. You will be able to judge them and sort out the payment details at the same time.

I was so slow replying to this that Hintza got in first!

soolin

Firstly, your terms about payment in 5 days cannot be enforced so take it out..it can make a seller look a bit unprofessional as though they don't know how ebay works. You can't do anything in 5 days, so why leave the term in your auction? Also many people have a neg,, I'm sure it wouldn't occur to many of them that one or two negs with otherwise high positive feedback is a problem, so again it is a bit offputting.

In an ideal world buyers should communicate, but this is ebay and a lot of the time they don't. Bidding on two of your items and neglecting to tell you is a little foolish on the part of the buyer, but that alone is not enough to unduly concern me, it happens a lot. If you refuse to sell now you are likely to be negged and have a non performing seller complaint rasied against you, and technically the buyer has done nothing at al wrong that you could counter claim for on ebay.

If he has won two items now, send him his combined invoice and finish the transaction, then if you are not happy just don't leave any feedback. If you ar ereally unhappy and there is any other reason for concern do as Hintza says and just upgrade to recorded to have proof of delivery.

Soo

Babylonian_2

Thanks for all your help - I'm going to amend my t&cs and I'm just going to let this one go - it's not worth the hassle - I'll send by recorded and not leave feedback

culpepper

If the invoice was the only communication you made to them ,it may be they didn't think it was a problem. If you have emailed them since without answer ,it maybe their email is not properly setup or their spam filter has 'filtered' it out. I emailed a seller for a week and she then ebay messaged me to see why she hadn't heard anything, I never did get an email through to her, we did it all by phone and ebay messages.

smartie1976

If you sell lots of different items, it's in your best interest to put in your T&Cs that buyers wishing to purchase more than one item over several days MUST contact you to advise as such, to avoid unpaid disputes and as a courtesy to yourself.

Not much else you can do.
I do ask cheque payers to advise me first so i don't hassle them

Hintza

smartie1976 wrote:

If you sell lots of different items, it's in your best interest to put in your T&Cs that buyers wishing to purchase more than one item over several days MUST contact you to advise as such, to avoid unpaid disputes and as a courtesy to yourself.

Only really valid if the second or more items finish 7 days after the first one.

But at the end of the day it would be courteous to let the seller know. I deal with a seller in Singapore from time to time ad can leave it for a fortnight between purchases but I just drop him a line and everything is fine (I am also long standing customer which helps)