Customer doesn't pay

[ladyofthecorn]

Hey folks,

first time I've used the boards, so nice to meet you all.

Anyway I've had some problems lately with frustrating customers who either don't want to pay but bid anyway and then ask to be let out (then send me three dozen or so emails ummming and ahhing about whether they want the product but can they have it at a lower price?) or they buy the item and then simply don't pay for it.

I understand there are two ways of cancelling a sale, but what I was going to ask was which is safe as far as ebay policies go? I don't want to get a black mark (or bad feedback) to my name because of bad eggs out there who just enjoy wasting people's times probably by trying to shop while drunk (only conclusion I can come up with).

So should I end the listing mutual agreement (which in my experience the other person never "agrees" to it because well I dunno, they vanished or something), or should I open an unpaid item case? I've never done an upaid item case before because I'm actually afraid the person will then suddenly pay for the item and leave bad feedback out of spite for me basically getting ebay to give them a nudge to pay. I'm only a very small seller so I'm not too clear on any of the processes and in the past have just fumbled around trying to work it all out with ebay help.

Also, I was wondering how I deal with time-wasters who keep popping back week after week trying to get me to lower my prices on items, bidding but dropping out, asking me about stock that's no longer in shop, sending me many emails and ultimately never buying anything? I tried blocking them but for some reason they are still able to message me and so forth?!

Thank you in advance for the time any of you take in reading/replying.

[clarry100]

As you say there are basically two ways of dealing with non payers.

1. A UPI (Unpaid Item) Case

2. Transaction Cancellation

1. UPI

This is our preferred model as the seller retains control. We will defualt to this process unless there has been some satisfactory explanatory message from the buyer.

On day#3 we send out a gentle reminder message.

If they do not respond or pay then on day #4 we open the case.

If there is still no payment or communication then on Day #8 we close the case.

We have never had a buyer pay then leave us retaliatory NEG FB.

If they do leave NEG FB after you open a UPI case then ebay are very likely to remove it on request.

Sometimes they do pay, in which case we mail out as usual and move on.

Also using this method the buyer is awarded a non-payment strike on their account when the case closes with no payment.

We also have our auto blocks in place to block buyers from buying/bidding if they have accrued two or more strikes in the past 12-months. This is the most stringent possible setting and will stop the serial non-payers.

2. Cancellation

This model is less preferred by us because you pass control to the buyer.

Also keep in mind that unless there has been some communication from the buyer you may get a defect for using this process.

ie you really need to have a request message to cancel from the buyer.

You also need to choose the reason that "there is a problem with the address or the buyer asked to cancel".

If the buyer accepts the cancellation request then your FVF's are refunded and the transaction is cancelled.

If the buyer rejects the cancellation request then you will lose your FVF and you would have to call ebay to sort it out.

If the buyer does nothing at all then it takes 10-days for the cancellation request to time out at which point you will be credited your FVF back. A bit like acceptance really but 10-days later.

They can still leave NEG FB during this process too. But I would suspect it might be more difficult to get it removed than via the UPI case.

Keep in mind too that once you initiate one or the other of these two process you cannot stop it or change to the other type of case. You only get one shot.

Some others may come in with some extra info on this that I have overlooked.

[clarry100]

Oh and by the way.... welcome to the boards. LOL

[foxette-in-sox]

Do you have buyer blocks in place to stop serial pests ? At least block buyers with unpaid item strikes

using this link http://ocsnext.ebay.com.au/ocs/sr

By adding buyer requirements to your listing, you can stop members from bidding on or buying your items based on certain criteria. You can block buyers who:

• Are in countries you don't want to send items to
• Have a negative Feedback score
• Have unpaid items recorded against them
• May bid on several items and not pay for them
• Have breached eBay policies

To add buyer requirements:

1. Go to Site Preferences in My eBay.
2. In the Buyer Requirements section, click Show, and then click Edit.
3. Select your requirements, and the click Submit.

You can block certain bidders and buyers if you don't want to sell to them. They won't be able to bid on or buy your items unless you remove them from your blocked list. You can block up to 5,000 users.

To add people to your blocked list:

1. Go to the Blocked bidder list page.
2. Enter the username(s) you want to block, and then click Submit.

[clarry100]

Just realised that there were two parts to your original post. I did not address the 2nd part.

It seems when you block messaging it rarely works so little you can do about this one. If we get lots of odd questions from the same buyer this quite often is an indicator of a problem buyer. We take a look at their feedback track history and if that shows problems we just block them and don't respond to any further questions.

As far as asking for price reductions are concerned....

We normally respond that we will entertain the idea of discounts for bulk quantity/wholesale orders so please advise the quantities you are interested in and we will be happy to give you a good price based on that order quantity. Mostly never hear any more.

But if we do then we can set up a special custom listing for what they want to buy.

[springyzone]

Clarry & foxette have given you the run down on all the details.

I would be inclined to do an unpaid item claim in preference to a cancellation.

As the others have said, it puts you in control.

From my experience with non payers. If they have bid but then don't pay, don't answer any messages after the sale, then it is highly unlikely they are going to agree to any cancellation or care much if you put in an unpaid item claim. They'll just ignore those emails like they ignored all the others.

For those who bid then mess around asking for extra discounts etc (and we have had that happen) they may pay rather than have an unpaid item strike. If they do pay, make mightly sure the item is all good, take extra photos, send with tracking. Just in case they try to get money back in another way.

But for sure, put in an unpaid item claim every time/

 There used to be someone here who had a great copy of the message they sent out when this happened to them. They told buyers something along the lines of they need not worry, they need not respond at all if they were no longer interested in the item, the unpaid item claim was just a technicality with ebay so the seller could get back the fees paid and would close automatically in a few days.