How long before sending a reminder

Michelle

After 3 days I send an email to say "have you overlooked payment?" and inform them that I shall send a reminder invoice to 'assist' you. That usually works!
After 7 days, I give 24 hours to respond or else negative feedback will follow.
fortunately I havent had that many problems proportionally!
I would love to know WHY people bid and then don't pay! When I win a bid, I am excited about getting my stuff!!!!!

soolin

Michelle wrote:

After 3 days I send an email to say "have you overlooked payment?" and inform them that I shall send a reminder invoice to 'assist' you. That usually works!
After 7 days, I give 24 hours to respond or else negative feedback will follow.
fortunately I havent had that many problems proportionally!
I would love to know WHY people bid and then don't pay! When I win a bid, I am excited about getting my stuff!!!!!

Negative feedback on day 8, that seems a bit hard doesn't it? I use negative feedback as a last resort only once i know I can safely relist and reclaim my FVFs, ie on day 14 at the very very earliest, although in my case usually not before day 21+.

Some of my buyers still pay by cheque and I always expect to wait about 8 days for those to arrive so remind about then.

Soo

llfoolj

Please don't forget that there may be many reasons why they have not contacted you via email:
1. Broken internet connection/computer
2. Are on holiday when bidding ends and didn't realise it when placing bid in the first place
3. Personal issues that means eBay becomes a low priority.

When I was a newbie eBayer I got impatient after 2 weeks and wrote a snotty letter to one non-paying bidder. I got a reply but the person had a genuine reason and was very apologetic. I felt really guilty about sending the letter in the first place. There are more good people than bad on eBay so best bet is to be patient. After all it's not the end of the world if an item doesn't sell, is it?

charlies_mum

Before sending a reminder, just check that the buyer hasn't updated the item with 'The buyer has marked this item as "Payment Sent" on **/**/**' - lots of my buyers do this but I don't get notified by Ebay unless I check the item.

troubrs

Please always send a polite reminder. I had a nasty experience where I paid straightaway & then 10 days later received a note saying an unpaid item strike had been made against me - totally out of the blue with no comms. I was quite upset, especially as the seller had actually cashed the cheque & it had gone from my bank account. He gave me 24 hours to respond to an e-mail he sent the day after sending the unpaid item strike - however, I was on holiday. It turned out he made a mistake as I had paid it long before, but if he had bothered to send an e-mail to me first it would have saved a lot of upset.

I always send a little e-mail asking when & how payment has sent just to make sure it hasn't got lost in the post.