How long is reasonable to wait for someone to pay on Ebay?

StripeySocks

Hi All,

I am a relatively new seller on ebay and really just selling things i've realised i don't need anymore/things i bought and never used to get a bit of extra money.

Someone bid on a couple of items near the start of the auction and have not paid, the auction ended on Saturday afternoon but i am still waiting for payment. I sent a combined invoice as a reminder on Monday but have yet to hear anything from the buyer. Usually people have paid within a couple of days at most but i'm starting to wonder if this person will pay at all?
The buyer has a couple of hundred feedback and all positive. It could be they are just ill or something, but i wonder what the best thing to do here is?

Does this kind of thing happen often, I guess people bid and change their minds but do they sometimes pay after nearly a week?
Being relatively new to Ebay I'm a bit unsure what the norm is.

Would be grateful for any advice!

soolin

You can open an NPB on day 4 if you wish and close it 4 days later. I do tend to go to an NPB quite early as I get tired of being messed around, but maybe wait another day or so and then just follow the options under 'resolve a problem'.

charlies_mum

I usually send a reminder after a couple of days, then a couple of days later I send them a mail asking if there is a problem. If there is no response, I raise an NPB

StripeySocks

Thanks very much for the help. I have sent a message as a second reminder, will wait a couple of days and then start a claim.

perfect10

I would always give a week - then just query it politely - there could be genuine reason - I have had buyers waiting to see what else I list over a couple of weeks so they can combine postage for instance? another wanted to sell an item themselves so they had the money in paypal etc If they have lots of good feedback then they are more than likely going to pay.

soolin

perfect10 wrote: »

I would always give a week - then just query it politely - there could be genuine reason - I have had buyers waiting to see what else I list over a couple of weeks so they can combine postage for instance? another wanted to sell an item themselves so they had the money in paypal etc If they have lots of good feedback then they are more than likely going to pay.

I really don't agree at all, letting them have a week before even reminding them is far too time consuming and just panders to poor buyers.

Also my own experience is that it is often high feedback users who don't pay, my highest blocked so far was in excess of 4000+. I have two non payers who I am opening cases on today (day 5) both with over 100 positive feedback.

If i look at my logs of buyers blocked by my '2 strikes' rule virtually all of them have good feedback.

perfect10

soolin wrote: »

I really don't agree at all, letting them have a week before even reminding them is far too time consuming and just panders to poor buyers.

.

Maybe it's because I only sell a few items at a time I don't find it time consuming - but I've never had a non payer yet - think longest anyone took to pay was 2 weeks but they were very grateful I waited and gave excellent feedback, they did have genuine reasons too.

porkev

I usually remind after 2 days (copy & paste stock email),then give 7 days until a npb, only ever had 2 non payers the rest have been genuine (or sound genuine anyway ),

perhaps I have been lucky so far

soolin

I've got 2 open at the moment, one is also a seller on her buying account and has 1000+ feedback, the other registered a couple of years and with 150+ feedback.

I'd love to know why they just don't bother to pay, the seller is still actively buying and selling as I speak yet is ignoring me.

Goldiegirl

I don't hang around when people haven't paid. I send them an invoice after 48 hours as a reminder, and then start the NPB process after 4 days. To my mind, 4 days is more than sufficient time for someone to pay. It's good manners to pay promply, I think 48 hours is ample time to pay, personally, but I have learnt to accept that not everybody on eBay thinks the same as me

I often have auctions that finish on a Saturday afternoon. The usual pattern is for a few to pay as soon as the auction ends, a batch will pay on Saturday evening, and then there'll be another flurry on Sunday morning. Normally by this time on a Sunday, most people will have paid. I had 12 winning auctions yesterday, currently at nearly 11.30am on Sunday. only 5 have paid. I think I've got myself a batch of slow payers !

Maybe they do their eBaying at work, and will pay on Monday morning.

2sides2everystory

soolin wrote: »

I've got 2 open at the moment, one is also a seller on her buying account and has 1000+ feedback, the other registered a couple of years and with 150+ feedback.

I'd love to know why they just don't bother to pay, the seller is still actively buying and selling as I speak yet is ignoring me.

It depends what it is you are selling. I collect coins and it is generally understood that it is often only economic to buy some coins as multiple items with combined postage. This is especially so if the seller has set the postage too high for a single coin.

I don't know for sure but I think the ebay system automatically sends payment reminders at a set time after the auction ends and those sometimes cross with separate arrangements agreed with sellers.

I agree that it is impolite, or very unfortunate at least, for a buyer to not ask the seller if it is ok to delay a payment like that. If there is to be a delay of more than a couple of days, I frequently offer to pay but ask the seller if they don't mind holding on to what I have already bought and then discount the postage on the last items when I am finished. Quite often they say no wait and let me know at the end and I'll send you a multiple item invoice.

Communication is the key. Firing off Non-Payment Reports without trying a polite message first is hardly going to win you repeat business. It instantly says "I'm a business and you're just a lame punter who hasn't paid as fast as I want so now I am going to make you pay immediately under threat". But then again, it depends what you are selling and how you wish to position your business.