Clarification on cancel vs NPB

DD265

I have been messed around by an eBay buyer and after all of it they don't want to pay for the item they bought. They seem nice enough and offered to pay any fees so in theory I should be able to come out of it with my eBay account unscathed.

I just want to confirm my understanding of the following as I've not found a very clear comparison:

Raise a case for non-payment
If I do this, the buyer has 4 days to make payment via PayPal.
If they pay, I have to ship the item and will more than likely get a case raised for the return.
If they pay, they can leave negative feedback.
If they don't pay, after 4 days I can escalate and get my FVF back.
If they don't pay, they can't leave feedback.

Raise a mutual cancellation citing the buyer as the reason
If I do this, the buyer has to agree to it.
I get my FVF and the buyer can leave feedback.
No mark gets put on the buyer's account.
If the buyer doesn't agree to the cancellation, do I get a defect? Do I still have the option of a NPB case?

They don't appear to be experienced with eBay (low feedback, no concerns for them except they've only left one feedback and it was a neutral, apparently they hadn't read the auction). I'm thinking of suggesting that I raise a NPB case and they let it sit there until the 4 days are up, at which point I'll escalate and it'll all be resolved without costing them, or me, any money.

I will of course, be blocking them as soon as this is resolved (I have no currently active listings).

Is that the best approach?

forgotmyname

Stuff keeps changing Soolin said they have stopped people closing accounts to prevent them opening another one with a clean slate.

I dont think you can open a NPB case after the cancellation?

Buyer paying your fees very unlikely. If they were that nice they would have paid for the item and resold it themselves.

Ive bought stuff i didnt want. Bought several this week. The listing i really wanted didnt end for 5 days and some were fetching £40+ where most were just under £20. Not wanting to pay £40 for it i bought one for £16. Then the one i wanted finished at the same amount so i bought that as well. It contains something none of the other listings had. Just impatient. So now i have 2 of the main items and only need 1.
And i bought some small electronic items only £3 to fix a power supply. Between the order and them arriving i managed to suss it out and it wasnt the part i ordered.

These things happen. I have them for future projects. Or they will sit in the draw .

Easy for me to say NPB but its your choice.

theonlywayisup

You can cancel with three reasons on eBay.

Buyer requested, problem with address or out of stock.

It is entirely your call whether you opt for a NPB or a cancellation. Whatever option you chose you will be at least left with the 20p Paypal fee.

Personally if a buyer hasn't messed me around I will cancel and refund through the cancellation, suck up the fee. To date I haven't been left a neutral or negative for doing this and I've over half a million feedback.

mrcol1000

I have had to cancel a few sales lately (it is easier than forcing someone to pay for something they don't want). Each time it has been instant and not needed the buyer to agree.

Your comparison is correct. If they have communicated that they want to cancel the sale then I would do that. As I said you shouldn't need them to confirm. As you said, with the non-payment case, they can still pay and cause you problems when its delivered. If they already have a strike for non payment they may not be keen on getting another.

DD265

Thanks all, I have decided not to take the risk with NPB and just cancelled it. I'd be less irked if they hadn't asked me to hold the item for two weeks for them! I didn't need them to confirm, so I just sent them a nice message afterwards commiserating with their unexpected bill and confirming the cancellation.

I'm not expecting any PayPal fees as I never received any payment.

Now, off to block them. :wall: