Not going to pay?

clearingout

Sold an item 9 days ago - buyer has good and plentiful feedback as a buyer although not much in recent months. Bid on the item right at the beginning and pushed it up over the odds in my opinion - although you can't get the item anymore so perhaps it was really wanted. A second bidder bid just a pound less so I guess two people thought it was worth it!

Anyway, buyer contacted me a couple of days later to say she was having trouble with paypal and offered me a cheque or cash via recorded delivery. Told her it was fine (I've had problems with paypal myself recently) and that I was happy to wait. No contact has been made since by her. I messaged her last night and there has been no response so far.

I am guessing if there's no response by this time tomorrow, she's probably not going to pay. Not had this before (fairly new to ebay although have sold a ton of stuff without any problems, this is the first issue for me) so not sure what to do. I notice I can 'report a problem' or 'offer a second chance' to another buyer (or something like that). Do I have to report the first buyer before making a second chance offer to someone else? How does that work?

Many thanks for any advice.

soolin

Before you do anything else you need to open the full NPB. Go to resolve a problem and follow th einstructions for 'buyer has not paid' make sure you do the full one, don't do a mutual by accident. Then exactly 4 days after it was opened, close the dispute. That gets you back your FVFs.

botanical

This transaction MUST be concluded before the item can be relisted or offered to a second chance bidder.

Ways to conclude the transaction are

1. If the buyer does not pay you can take out a non-payment case. After 4 days and they still haven't paid, the case closes and the Final Value Fees you've incurred from the sale will be automatically refunded by eBay.

2.Another way to conclude a transaction and get your Final Value Fees refunded is to agree a 'Mutual Cancellation of Transaction' (BUT this is not advisable if the buyer has become uncommunicative as you need to establish agreement for this before proceeding and if your buyer refuses you cannot take out any other case and you wont get you Final Value Fees back.)

Only after the case closes can you then either click 'second chance offer', which offers the item to that second bidder who was £1 less, or you can simply relist the item and start afresh.

Remember that opening a NP case sometimes prompts a buyer to pay for the item because they don't want to get a 'strike' against their account.
Or they may have forgotten or had a disaster etc. Whatever, ALWAYS be polite through the process because having a disgruntled buyer on your hands can be trouble.

clearingout

thanks for that. Exactly what I needed to know. I'll hang on to tomorrow on the off-chance he/she is someone who only dips in at weekends and then I'll open the case and we'll go from there. Very frustrating!

clearingout

New question - I opened a NPB dispute on 19th so can close today. Buyer contacted me through ebay but not through the dispute on the 21st saying she was putting cash in the post that day so should really have arrived yesterday/today. Very pleasant e-mail, unconcerned in anyway, saying she was still having problems with paypal. How long do I give it? At what point is it too late? It is all very frustrating - she seems so genuine about it so don't want to close until I really have to. I did warn her that cash in the post wasn't the best idea....

GregtheHammer

clearingout wrote: »

New question - I opened a NPB dispute on 19th so can close today. Buyer contacted me through ebay but not through the dispute on the 21st saying she was putting cash in the post that day so should really have arrived yesterday/today. Very pleasant e-mail, unconcerned in anyway, saying she was still having problems with paypal. How long do I give it? At what point is it too late? It is all very frustrating - she seems so genuine about it so don't want to close until I really have to. I did warn her that cash in the post wasn't the best idea....

I had one similar before Xmas, problem with paypal, did not pay or respond to dispute, then out of the blue an envelope turned up with cash. It was easier to send the goods out than just returning the money

clearingout

cash arrived this morning - more than she needed to pay by £3. Now, is there anything I need to be aware of before posting it out? I am guessing the buyer is in a pretty precarious position having sent me cash, although she did send it special delivery so there'll be a signature. Would I be sensible to consider special delivery? It's only £22 plus postage so not much in the big scheme of things but more really than I can afford to lose. Just a bit nervous as haven't done it this way before!

annie-c

Just get a certificate of posting from the post office. It is free and you can claim back the value of your parcel (up to a max of £41) if it is undelivered within 15 days.

botanical

clearingout wrote: »

New question - I opened a NPB dispute on 19th so can close today. Buyer contacted me through ebay but not through the dispute on the 21st saying she was putting cash in the post that day so should really have arrived yesterday/today. Very pleasant e-mail, unconcerned in anyway, saying she was still having problems with paypal. How long do I give it? At what point is it too late? It is all very frustrating - she seems so genuine about it so don't want to close until I really have to. I did warn her that cash in the post wasn't the best idea....

If you close the dispute and accept her money then the item would be sold off-eBay and it would be just a private sale.

The eBay transaction with this buyer ends after the non-payment case closed.

She's sent you money through the post. Either send her money back then only close the case once she's received it back.or send her the item.

She has no eBay 'buyer's protection' off eBay, of course, so if something goes wrong with the delivery, it's up to you two to sort things out between you. Any refunds you give her would have to be arranged between yourselves since you could not use refund in PayPal.

eBay messages are not supposed to be used for arrangements and details for an off-eBay sale, so move any correspondance with her to your private email address.

soolin

botanical wrote: »

This item has now been sold off-eBay and is now just a private sale. The eBay transaction with this buyer had closed after the non-payment case had closed. She's sent you money through the post. Either send her money back or send her the item. She now has no buyer's rights on eBay, so if something goes wrong with the delivery, it's up to you two to sort things out between you. Any refunds you give her would have to be arranged between yourselves. eBay messages are not supposed to be used for arrangements and details for an off-eBay sale, so move any correspondance with her to your private email address.

Actually if oP accepts payment they should remove the non payment strike as the transaction has been completed through ebay. If OP does not remove strike then buyer should appeal and get ebay to remove the strike.

The buyer therefore continues to have full buyer protection with ebay unless OP denies receipt of payment, and I don't believe the OP is dodgy at all.

clearingout

LOL, soolin, no, I'm not dodgy! although have to say, the way my ex-husband lives and profits from being dodgy, it's very tempting at times! At least I sleep at night!

I closed the case as payment received and item is in the post this morning so fingers crossed there are no problems. It would be typical in this situation that this is the parcel that goes missing, I think!