preventative measures?

hampshirebabe

I sold something on ebay for £11ish, but heard nothing from the buyer for a week, despite sending her 2 messages asking when she wanted to come and get it, so I used the 2nd chance offer and sold it for £1 less. But when I tried to cancel the 1st one to get my fees back, she declined my request and has now asked when she can collect it,
Its only about £1 fee, Ebay have said I cant get it back now, so I'm prepaired to put it down to experience, but how can I stop it happening again? If someone doesn't respond to my emails, can I cancel the transaction in a way they will have to pay my fee's back? I'm thinking its not worth the hassle for small things anyway now. I had someone not reply to me a couple of weeks ago but managed to get my fee's back for that one. This is the 1st time I've sold anything for about 2 years, so I'm not a big seller or anything.

starrybee

The only other way to get your fees back is to open a non-paying-buyer case. The buyer cannot decline this, the only way they can get out of it is to actually pay. If they don't pay then you can close the case and receive your fees. You cannot a NPB case after opening a cancellation case though, you need to do one or the other.

soolin

You need to do a full NPB when someone doesn't pay. Yu can open that on day 4 and close it exactly 4 days later. Then if they don't pay you get your fees back automatically , buyer gets a strike and buyer cant leave you feedback.

As it stands now you have 2 winners and both are able to leave you feedback

theonlywayisup

In future open a non paying bidder dispute NPB, you can do this on day 4, then 4 days later if they don't pay you can get your fees back, block the bidder and then and only then you are free to relist or offer to the next bidder.

Currently your first buyer can leave negative and give you a non performing seller mark.

Crowqueen

To add to the strikes, lock out serial NPBs by using the systems in place to block buyers with 2 or more strikes in 12 months. That will ensure you don't encounter too many problems - there is always the first time, or people who have slipped through the net because sellers don't always do strikes. But it will cut down on the number you encounter.

You can't unilaterally cancel items - if you could, then you could always get your FVFs back and eBay wouldn't stand a chance of collecting them. The buyer always gets a chance to respond, which is reasonable - most people want the sale. eBay refunds fees because if it's hard to get buyers to pay, there is no way to force them to pay any costs etc.

As it stands you have a problem - you need to be ultra-diplomatic while sorting it out, and perhaps be prepared to swallow the fees .

Also consider selling collection only items on other venues - Facebook, Gumtree and so on - which give you an opportunity to resolve these kind of problems without becoming beholden to a single buyer or incurring fees on a no-show. eBay is inefficient for selling collection items where you run a high risk of no-shows and the Paypal on collection scam.

hampshirebabe

She had a feedback score of 1, so I had thought she might have been someone who had been blocked before and starting again, but now she's got a feedback of 8 things bought, so maybe she's just new to it all. She sent me a message saying she was very unhappy, so I sent a nice email back saying sorry but after no reply for a week I needed the space, so I'd had to get rid of it. She's not replied, but she's not left bad feedback so that might be ok and I'll just have to pay the fee myself. Thanks for your advice for next time. :-)