Non payment dilemma

repeatoffender

I have not said whether i am seller or buyer as i think we are both at fault but can you advise me on outcome / procedure? Thanks

The buyer wins item in auction then emails seller an hour later asking to cancel transaction as bought in error and suggests that other bidders are offered second chance. Buyer does not pay for item.

A couple of days later, after the weekend, the seller emails buyer to say they have contacted another bidder but if they don't want the item they wont agree to cancel transaction and expect buyer to pay as this is costing time and money.

What happens if the buyer just does not pay?

I imagine that seller opens NPB against buyer who then receives a strike but unless the buyer has done this before then that will have no effect on the buyer whereas if the seller insists on payment they could receive neg feedback.

Have i answered my own question or is there more to it?

theonlywayisup

If the seller opens a NPB they can close it 4 days later assuming the buyer doesn't pay.

The buyer gets a strike and CANNOT leave any feedback.

Two strikes render most buyers unable to buy anything.

oldone_2

The problem is if the buyer is forced to pay, they can then quite honestly say their e-bay experience was not very good, and leave appropriate feedback and DSR stars.

soolin

oldone wrote: »

The problem is if the buyer is forced to pay, they can then quite honestly say their e-bay experience was not very good, and leave appropriate feedback and DSR stars.

We cannot assume all buyers are that unpleasant and as a seller if I honestly thought that buyers were all malicious then I wouldn't sell. Money is important to me, so NPB all the way and if they trash my stars I would be straight onto the phone to ebay calling this a malicious transaction.

The alternative is to let bad buyers walk all over you

Mindless_Clone

I am presuming the seller wasn't a business? If it was, doesn't distance selling regs give the buyer right to cancel? It might be a PITA for a business seller to do this, but if they accept returns anyway, surely better to cancel at the start than send it and have it sent back and have to faff about refunding anyway?

I've had a buyer cancel on me after winning an auction item (I am a private occasional seller) because "he didn't mean to bid so high". I couldn't see the point refusing to cancel. I didn't realise I could file a NPB complaint but, even so, not sure I would have as it would have dragged on and I had several bidders so plenty of possible second chance offers. I just told him he wasn't giving me a lot of choice since I could see I wasn't going to get my payment and if he conducts himself like this in future he will risk losing his account. He was quite new to ebay though so benefit of doubt that he didn't know what he was doing.

In this case they are both in the wrong as the buyer should not have bidded on it, but I can't see the point of the seller being difficult about cancelling. It's not going to get them their money and while they are faffing about chasing it, it's not actually being sold. Quite aside from anything else, if the buyer was of a mind, they could either leave negative feedback, or come up with a trumped up reason to return the item anyway. I would hope they wouldn't leave negative when the fault originally lies with them but I know if I was being forced to pay for something I now no longer wanted, I would not be thinking it was a positive ebay experience, regardless.

soolin

and if he conducts himself like this in future he will risk losing his
account. He was quite new to ebay though so benefit of doubt that he didn't know
what he was doing.

He runs no risk at all to his account if sellers allow him to keep cancelling bids. Having a mutual opened does not harm either the buyer or the seller (unless buyer continues to be dim and refuses)

Can I also please remind people that if you do a Second chance offer you *must* still do somehting about the first transaction- either an NPB or risk a mutual. If you just ignore that first transaction you pay two lots of fees.

Crowqueen

Mindless_Clone wrote: »

I am presuming the seller wasn't a business? If it was, doesn't distance selling regs give the buyer right to cancel? It might be a PITA for a business seller to do this, but if they accept returns anyway, surely better to cancel at the start than send it and have it sent back and have to faff about refunding anyway?

I've had a buyer cancel on me after winning an auction item (I am a private occasional seller) because "he didn't mean to bid so high". I couldn't see the point refusing to cancel. I didn't realise I could file a NPB complaint but, even so, not sure I would have as it would have dragged on and I had several bidders so plenty of possible second chance offers. I just told him he wasn't giving me a lot of choice since I could see I wasn't going to get my payment and if he conducts himself like this in future he will risk losing his account. He was quite new to ebay though so benefit of doubt that he didn't know what he was doing.

In this case they are both in the wrong as the buyer should not have bidded on it, but I can't see the point of the seller being difficult about cancelling. It's not going to get them their money and while they are faffing about chasing it, it's not actually being sold. Quite aside from anything else, if the buyer was of a mind, they could either leave negative feedback, or come up with a trumped up reason to return the item anyway. I would hope they wouldn't leave negative when the fault originally lies with them but I know if I was being forced to pay for something I now no longer wanted, I would not be thinking it was a positive ebay experience, regardless.

I agree with this, particularly the bit in the last paragraph. I don't see it as a problem normally and like to reward people who make contact as opposed to those who don't. I wouldn't lecture them - that's the surest way to make sure things go wrong. I'd just allow them to cancel, like I can within about half an hour of buying something on Amazon.

I think if the seller was unpleasant about it they were on a hiding to nothing. NPBs are an occupational hazard - an NPB dispute wastes more time than a buyer who is happy to cancel will. I can get the cancellation done much quicker than having to wait 8 days for an NPB to tick through.

This is my opinion but I think it is a reasonable one. Obviously people disagree, but if we're talking timewasting here, dragging a buyer who has politely asked to cancel through the 8-day dispute procedure is the best way to waste time.

I'm not afraid of buyers but want to treat them the right way anyway. I think eBay should ideally put in place a way for buyer to formally initiate a cancellation - it's a stupid thing that they have not. This would solve a lot of these situations overnight.

Mindless_Clone

soolin wrote: »

He runs no risk at all to his account if sellers allow him to keep cancelling bids. Having a mutual opened does not harm either the buyer or the seller (unless buyer continues to be dim and refuses)

A valid point. He'd only registered with ebay a month before and only have 3 feedback so I figured I'd be gentle with him. Pretty sure if he makes a habit of it, he'll come undone soon enough. Meanwhile, at least he's been told.
All in all he was quite pleasant towards me and apologetic and, IMO, that goes a long way to how I will react.

Can I also please remind people that if you do a Second chance offer you *must* still do somehting about the first transaction- either an NPB or risk a mutual. If you just ignore that first transaction you pay two lots of fees.

Oh yes, good point. I fell foul of this; never really had to cancel before so didn't know I had to "officially" do so. Then I got my fees statement a week later and realised. Fortunately the cancellation went through the money came out for the fees.

Strapped

If the buyer paid and then asked to cancel (before dispatch) then seller would have to accept return anyway so personally, I'd agree the cancellation and move on.

repeatoffender

I confess i was the buyer not seller. I know it was bad practice but i was very polite, offered to pay the difference in bids and requested cancellation within the hour. The last communication i received was that he expected me to pay and the next day the dispatch icon was activated on my purchase history. Today the payment icon is highlighted. I have neither paid nor received the item so checked seller feedback and can see that the second bidder has received the item at his final bid price.

At the moment i can still leave feedback. Now i plan to email him and say im glad that he has sold it but can he now cancel the transaction. How do i resolve this if he does not cancel or respond, does it matter on my part whether he cancels it or not? My feedback is 100% it is the first and last time i have ever asked to cancel.

soolin

repeatoffender wrote: »

I confess i was the buyer not seller. I know it was bad practice but i was very polite, offered to pay the difference in bids and requested cancellation within the hour. The last communication i received was that he expected me to pay and the next day the dispatch icon was activated on my purchase history. Today the payment icon is highlighted. I have neither paid nor received the item so checked seller feedback and can see that the second bidder has received the item at his final bid price.

At the moment i can still leave feedback. Now i plan to email him and say im glad that he has sold it but can he now cancel the transaction. How do i resolve this if he does not cancel or respond, does it matter on my part whether he cancels it or not? My feedback is 100% it is the first and last time i have ever asked to cancel.

Your despatch and payment icon will not be 'lit' if this went to a second chance offer, the SCO will have nothing to do with your transaction at all.