seller not responding

[lefty_al]

Hello, I bought a BIN item 3 days ago and contacted the seller twice to arrange pick up and cash of deilvery as it is located locally. I have had no response (I hope they are OK), but am curious to understand my obligations for how long I need to to wait before requesting a cancellation.

The feedback history indicates that they are not a regular seller, so maybe they are on holidays or forgot about the item.

Thanks

[lefty_al]

You mis understand me, I may not have explained myself properly.

I am not wanting to force anyone to do anything. From my perspective I committed to buying this item and if the seller responds I will finalise the sale. My concern is that I do not want to walk away from this and buy another item, only for the seller to then respond a day or so later.

One of the emails I received from ebay says that I am committed to completing the purchase and I want to complete the sale should that be possible.

All I was looking for was some guidance around how to manage this issue (how long to wait) as I am sure it has happened many times before and will not doubt happen again.

[countessalmirena · Accepted solution]

@lefty_al,

Unfortunately, being left in limbo after having won a pick-up item is known to happen occasionally - and the buyer finds him/herself committed to purchase but without recourse to proceed any further.

In that situation, I've seen several buyers post on these boards that they waited, messaged, waited, and then paid by PayPal in the hope that this would spur on the seller (or get through to the seller where the sale notification and buyer messages apparently did not). I don't think I've ever seen that tactic work out. (Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.)

If the seller is unavailable - because of sickness, death, disaster, sudden emergency, secondment, alien abduction, technical meltdown, police interrogation, imprisonment, or surprise holiday to Venice laid on by unknown friendly billionaire - then all the communication in the world  (including payment via PayPal or some other means) won't reach him/her.

If the seller is dissatisfied with the price reached, all the communication in the world is unlikely to spur him/her into reluctantly completing the sale. (In this case, deliberately ignoring all communication would be the seller's passive refusal to proceed.) Even though failing to complete the sale is against eBay policy, some sellers (either through relative inexperience or through sheer haemadementia) just won't go through with a sale if they're not happy with the final price. Paying by PayPal is, again, unlikely to result in the buyer's desired outcome, and would be refunded, unclaimed, or ignored... C'est la vie.

What I would do in a similar situation is to send a last polite message to the seller, along the lines of

❝Dear [seller],

In relation to item number [xxx] which I won/purchased on xx/xx/xxxx, I'm a little concerned that I haven't been able to reach you to organise the purchase and pickup details. In particular, I wouldn't want to be the cause of any additional stress if you're currently going through an emergency situation - which is quite possible given the catastrophic bushfires over so much of Australia.

If you're able to, can you get in touch with me no later than xx/xx/xxxx? If I don't hear from you by then, I will assume that something is preventing you from being able to reply, and I will just conclude that the sale can't proceed. If you are able to respond and are still able to go ahead, I will be very happy to complete the purchase.

Kind regards,

[name]❞

[lefty_al]

@countessalmirena Thank you for your message. I appreciate your support here. I will send off a final message based on what you have provided. 

Thank you

[collect247]

Am I right in that you haven't paid yet?

[chameleon54]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

If you haven't paid, there is no dispute you can open. You are clutching at straws. Something has gone wrong, and unfortunately, you may never know what. You can't force a seller to respond and you can't force a seller to sell you the item. I saw a person have a heart attack and die yesterday in the carpark at work, despite me commencing CPR immediately. It could have been your seller.

Was it an auction or buy it now? Can you give us the item number? No seller details, just the item number.

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I realise you are pretty resiliant Tippy, but I hope you are travelling OK. The couple of times I have had similar experiences it has taken awhile to stop thinking about it and move on. 

[*tippy*toes*]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

If you haven't paid, there is no dispute you can open. You are clutching at straws. Something has gone wrong, and unfortunately, you may never know what. You can't force a seller to respond and you can't force a seller to sell you the item. I saw a person have a heart attack and die yesterday in the carpark at work, despite me commencing CPR immediately. It could have been your seller.

Was it an auction or buy it now? Can you give us the item number? No seller details, just the item number.

---

I realise you are pretty resiliant Tippy, but I hope you are travelling OK. The couple of times I have had similar experiences it has taken awhile to stop thinking about it and move on. 

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Yeah, it sucked. Previous CPR attempts I've done have been successful, so it upset me a bit, but I'm OK now. I worry about the family, and what they are going through. Help was on hand quickly, within minutes, but it was obviously their time, despite not being "old" (early 60s). The hard part was seeing the relative there watching everything unfold, and then all attempts stopped. It was not what they expected when they woke up that morning. Then my mind games start "this time yesterday........". Despite being "trained" for this, it doesn't stop it affecting you when you turn the lights out that night.

[countessalmirena]

It's a frightening feeling - that terrifying sense of responsibility for someone's life. Seeing someone die always affects one. I hope you made sure that you had some debriefing or trauma counselling.

[urbanangles]

I got offered a discount on a laptop I was watching, took the offer and the seller just ignored me. No response, tracking. It's been 14 days and still zero reply. The seller has a 100% positive feedback! 

[sandypebbles]

Not much use posting on a topic from January 2020

Open an item not received dispute if it is part the estimated delivery date

Is this from the seller in China who most recently left you feedback?

If you don't know what you need to do, start your own topic so members can respond to your situation 

[kh-jean]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.