Buyer claiming they have paid

[feliz_da_kat]

Looking for some advice.

I've been selling off and on for the last few years and I've been lucky enough not to come across someone who hasn't paid.

Last Thursday one of my auction ends and I get notification that night that the buyer will pay via direct deposit.

Saturday I send a polite message to get confimation if they have paid and if not when.

No response
Tuesday I message again to touch base as I didn't get a response. This time I mention that if I don't get a response within 24 hours I will need to open a dispute as I can only assume there is no intention to pay. Once again all polite and not in a demanding way.

No response

Next day I open a dispute and within a few hours I get a message to say that they have paid and they want me to send out the item asap.

I start to think that maybe I missed the deposit into my account or that eBay has my details incorrect (it's been a while since someone opted for direct deposit). No, no money and details are correct.

I write back to ask if they can confirm what bank details they used and if they could send proof of payment. I also mention that I can't send they item until the money is in my account.

As of now I still haven't received a reply.

How should I handle this? Write back and give them another 24 hours to reply and let them know if I get no response I will sell to the next highest bidder?

If they don't pay can they still give me a negative rating? To be honest I don't really care about that as I don't intend to sell much more but it's just frustrating I haven't done anything wrong.

Oh, and the buyer only joined this month and has one rating.

[clarry100]

We had a buyer a few weeks back that sent a message on two of our selling IDs asking if we accepted bank deposit.

We sent back our standard response saying yes we do and once they have placed their order we will provide the account details.

She sent right back asking for the details NOW so she could just pay straight away. It seemed to us she wanted to buy without going thru ebay. So we sent bank the details and she shortly sent back a copy of a transfer receipt and asked if we could mail her item out straight away to an address she had specified in the message. She did the very same thing on the two selling IDs.

We said we will mail out when her payment shows up in our account.

So 2-days goes by and nothing shows up. So I took a closer look at the receipt she sent and the account number was wrong by a single digit. So of course it was never going to show up. But we had not mailed out the items she had asked for.

I sent a message back asking her to double check the account details she had used as they looked wrong to me. We never heard any more. So this one seemed like an attempted scam that failed. Trying to con us into sending out before payment came in.

She is now on our special lists.

[character_parties_aus]

I hope you reported the buyer although I am sure eBay would have thought it was just a poor old buyer getting confused and making an error as buyers are never wrong.

[clarry100]

For that very reason I tought it would be time wasted to report the buyer, so I didn't bother.

Just added her to all our special lists.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I had a buyer the other day that I sent a reminder to, asking if he could confirm which method he had used to pay as I couldn't find his payment (I knew he hadn't paid). He sent a message back apologising that he had tried to pay after close of business and it hadn't gone through. HUH?? Next day I received a PayPal payment. I wonder if he realised that it doesn't matter what time of day it is, you can make a payment of both direct deposit and PayPal. Either way, I got my money and his items got sent.

Earlier in the year I had a rather hefty vet bill and the vet said to save the 45 minute drive to go and pay it, I could direct deposit it (it was a home visit, else I would have paid at the time). When I got paid the next week, I deposited the money via EFT and didn't give it another thought. About 2 months later, I got an invoice from the vet asking for payment. I wondered what it was about, so I went into my bank and checked the transactions so I could ring them and let them know what date I'd paid, and sure enough, I'd put the wrong BSB in and the money had bounced back, which I didn't know at the time. I rang them, told them what happened, apologised profusely and repaid to the correct BSB.

Sometimes it is possible to put a wrong number in, but I don't think it's as common as buyers would have you believe.

[feliz_da_kat]

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

I'm not sure you understand how Second Chance Offer works, I have used it plenty of times and most times the underbidder does take up the offer.  It offers the item to the underbidder at the amount they had bid to before the final bid.  So if the winning bidder had outbid them with a bid of say $10 and the increments were 50c, the underbidder would receive an offer for $9.50.  Seller makes a sale at almost the same as the original selling price, underbidder wins the item at a figure they had been prepared to pay anyway (or they wouldn't have bid to that amount).  The BN price doesn't come into it at all because it disappears as soon as a bid is placed.

Like sheepie said, though, it is best to wait until the UID is finalised first, though, in case the winning bidder does in fact end up paying.

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I understand. I've used it before when the winner of one of my auctions decided they didn't want the item any more.

Bit of an update.

I got another message from the buyer yesterday and they wrote once again that they have the paid and I was to send out the item that day. I once again explained that I cannot send until payment is received. At the end of the message I told them that I will need to relist the item if I don't hear back within 24 hours. Well, that got a response straight away!  The still want the item and asked if I wait until COB Monday so they can check with their bank.

I agreed. So this is sorted.

Thanks all.

[i-love-my-sheep]

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@feliz_da_kat wrote:

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

I'm not sure you understand how Second Chance Offer works, I have used it plenty of times and most times the underbidder does take up the offer.  It offers the item to the underbidder at the amount they had bid to before the final bid.  So if the winning bidder had outbid them with a bid of say $10 and the increments were 50c, the underbidder would receive an offer for $9.50.  Seller makes a sale at almost the same as the original selling price, underbidder wins the item at a figure they had been prepared to pay anyway (or they wouldn't have bid to that amount).  The BN price doesn't come into it at all because it disappears as soon as a bid is placed.

Like sheepie said, though, it is best to wait until the UID is finalised first, though, in case the winning bidder does in fact end up paying.

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I understand. I've used it before when the winner of one of my auctions decided they didn't want the item any more.

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I think Penny was replying to lozyginns as he has it in his head that Second Chance Offers are a scam. It sounded like he didn't get the concept of it, so Penny explained it for him.

Great news about your buyer. Hope it's all sorted and you get your money!

[feliz_da_kat]

Oh, sorry. I thought it was a strange comment directed at me.

Thanks, me too!

I hate to think the worst of people but I get the feeling I was being stalled for time. I just seems strange that I've asked three time now for the buyer to confirm the bank details they used and they never respond to this question. Lastly, I don't know for sure but I think with most banks you just need to call the call center to check transactions (most seem to be open weekends) you don't need to go into the bank.

Either way, just hope I get paid and they don't leave neg feedback.