Ebay Bidder Not Paying On $2000 Worth Of Items

As a 'small potatoes' ebay seller, I've been fortunate to have had only ONE case where it took about 10 days to receive payment. It will never happen again to me, because ALL of my listings are 'BUY IT NOW'.

I know that might turn off the potentual customers who like the auction 'action', but I dont care for waiting 5 or 6 days for the sale to be finalized.

Huh?

Buy It Now doesn't mean any faster payment than auctions, unless you turn on the "Require Immediate Payment" option. I assume that is what you mean. It's the Immediate Payment setting that solves your issue, not Buy It Now.

Welcome to the forum Carl! Some of us prefer auctions on ebay because buy-it-now lots are kind of like shopping from a price list, but I definitely understand about not getting paid in a timely manner. I've sold a few items on ebay and Bidstart (mostly BIN OBO) but luckily have not had any payment issues.

As a seller would you wait for 3 weeks + for a guaranteed payment of around $3000 from one bidder consisting of sales of 40 auctions he won over that period? Or demand payment after 5 days?

RevenueCollector:

'Buy It Now doesn't mean any faster payment than auctions, unless you turn on the 'Require Immediate Payment' option. I assume that is what you mean. It's the Immediate Payment setting that solves your issue, not Buy It Now.'

I guess Somebody upstairs likes me, since I never selected that option, and I've always gotten instant payment for my Buy It Now sales.

I'd wait for $3000.

Speaking of faster payments I think sometimes sellers need to be a little more patient some sellers raise unpaid cases after only 5 days. I give the bidder more time and it often pays off but sometimes not. Having everything on buy it now restricts your sales level. Its better to have a mix of auctions and buy it now. This below item is what can happen with auctions this one currently at $495 if it was buy it now it may have gone to cheap. I think bidders prefer auctions

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WOW-QV-COVE...STRK:MESE:IT

I don't even inquire until after a week has passed, sometimes two. Nothing good can come of hounding a buyer.

I agree. Sometimes they are watching other items of yours, but just don't have the courtesy to let you know.

Duncan,

I think it is always the seller who sets the terms of an auction or buy it now listing, and the buyer who agrees to those terms by bidding or buying. These terms, of course, should conform to ebay policies and should be known up front, i.e. stated in the listing.

For example, if I have terms that say that payment is expected within a certain number of days, and have my automatic functions set to open
an unpaid item case after that, well, shouldn't the buyer know and expect that going in?

The larger question is just as you posed it - should a seller wait three weeks for a payment? To me, it is ridiculous for a buyer to assume that they can be a slow poke on the payment side WITHOUT prior communication with a seller. That is way too long...

Communication is the key. Buyers have a very clear obligation to pay for lots won - especially if the seller terms are clear on this point.

If I did not have specific terms for payment, I would send a polite email through the ebay system after 5-7 days, asking if they were done buying and when they planned to pay. If I did not receive a response to this inquiry, I would not hesitate opening an item not paid dispute. It isn't a personal thing at all, and ebay will change any negative received based upon non-payment.

All of the above are my not so humble opinions...

John

I think that part of the problem is ebay's autonag features, which you cannot turn off. If a buyer has not paid, ebay sends them a reminder every 2 days. The problem with that approach is that after a while, the buyer learns to tune them out, knowing they are automated bot emails rather than "real" reminders.

johnsim03 good point ~ prior communication with a seller on any delayed payments is key & not only that its just common courtesy. A lot of members that buy from me are polite and let me know if there will be delays in payment. Then there are those who say nothing two weeks later still no payment and no further bids. Try to message them and no answer so yes in those cases unpaid disputes. However if buyer has agreed with seller to bid for a longer term to combine as many as possible I think that's worth a 3 week wait. Especially if you're talking over 50 items they won in that period. Then on the other scale some buyers pay on the first ebay auto message and when they have more than one item won they over pay on postage.

I wait a week and then send them a reminder. After 2 weeks I start the unpaid item process. Almost everyone pays when they get the unpaid item dispute notice. I think they forget and then tune out the pesty ebay emails. I do appreciate it when someone lets me know there will be a delay and I am always willing to wait awhile, especially when they want to bid on more items. It is very common for bidders to offer to pay for an item but want me to hold shipment until after my next auction. I have to tell them not to pay so the shipping clock doesn't start.

It doesn't help that the PayPal ebay link has broken down two or three times in the last couple of months. Some buyers were not able to pay last weekend. A worse outage occurred during the last weekend in September and another outage occurred a couple of weeks ago, although in that case, users could not get into their ebay accounts to pay.

The one day handling requirement for Top Rated ebay sellers should not apply to buyers who are late paying. Everyone has to go out of town sometime.

Clark