Does anyone else feel buyers are using pandemic as excuse not to pay?

[miss_my_granny]

I had a buyer make me an offer 25 percent below my asking price. I promptly accepted.

Then - nothing...

Let me just say I am an experienced seller, and my lisitngs are all Paypal payment with instant payment on purchase, as I got sick of waiting the drawn-out non paying bidder game that has to come to a natural conclusion x number of days later as per eBay rules..

So, when you accept an offer, this INSTANT payment process is circumvented.

I sent her an invoice right away (and so does eBay) stating 2 day terms etc.....nothing...Radio silence

Another day of non communication/payment.....Hey, did she really want this thing?

Reminder sent, and personal message saying it was all packed and reayd to send upon payment....

Day 4  - I sent ANOTHER message.

FINALLY received : " unable to purcjhase due to C-19 as hubby has lost his job"

No apology, no sorry, nothing. Just not paying. Go away..basically

This is so frustrating.

I replied i was sorry to hear, of coursse I would cancel sale and sent her my best wishes.

I cancelled sale, blocked her (she had 0 feedback and was on eBAy over a year?!)

So FRUSTRATED

I am not oblivious to the massive job losses and so on happening due to this awful pandemic - but THIS s MY JOB - don't waste my time and not even an apology?.. have some common courtesy....

I really feel she did not have any intention to purchase, and used current situation as an excuse..it was just the brick wall for 4 DAYS that made me feel cheated of some sort of recourse for a bad buyer...I think I have been had, and I do not like the fact that she gets away without a non payment strike......

Thoughts?

[davewil1964]

Does anyone else feel buyers are using pandemic as excuse not to pay?

No.

If you cancel instead of opening a non-payment dispute, that is your choice.

[countessalmirena]

I believe that non-paying buyers should suffer due consequences... e.g., being thrown to the floor and struck very roughly.

(I'm a buyer only.)

[*tippy*toes*]

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@miss_my_granny wrote:

I had a buyer make me an offer 25 percent below my asking price. I promptly accepted.

Then - nothing...

Let me just say I am an experienced seller, and my lisitngs are all Paypal payment with instant payment on purchase, as I got sick of waiting the drawn-out non paying bidder game that has to come to a natural conclusion x number of days later as per eBay rules..

So, when you accept an offer, this INSTANT payment process is circumvented.

I sent her an invoice right away (and so does eBay) stating 2 day terms etc.....nothing...Radio silence

Another day of non communication/payment.....Hey, did she really want this thing?

Reminder sent, and personal message saying it was all packed and reayd to send upon payment....

Day 4  - I sent ANOTHER message.

FINALLY received : " unable to purcjhase due to C-19 as hubby has lost his job"

No apology, no sorry, nothing. Just not paying. Go away..basically

This is so frustrating.

I replied i was sorry to hear, of coursse I would cancel sale and sent her my best wishes.

I cancelled sale, blocked her (she had 0 feedback and was on eBAy over a year?!)

So FRUSTRATED

I am not oblivious to the massive job losses and so on happening due to this awful pandemic - but THIS s MY JOB - don't waste my time and not even an apology?.. have some common courtesy....

I really feel she did not have any intention to purchase, and used current situation as an excuse..it was just the brick wall for 4 DAYS that made me feel cheated of some sort of recourse for a bad buyer...I think I have been had, and I do not like the fact that she gets away without a non payment strike......

Thoughts?

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Why didn't you give her a strike then? It was your choice to cancel, instead of opening a non payer dispute. Both take the same amount of time to go through, so why let her off the hook?

Thoughts?

Edited to add: no, my buyers have not been using a pandemic as an excuse not to pay. Mine have all been paying at time of purchase. As soon as the auction ends, they pay immediately.

[chameleon54]

No, I,m not having any problems with buyers using Covid as an excuse for anything. I am getting a few strange requests for workarounds etc. and plenty of Wheres my item enquiries, but all seem genuine and usually pretty understanding.

Unfortunately there's always a few numpties on ebay. Best just to block them, move on and try not to stress about them too much. Ebay gets very unpleasant very quickly if you engage with them and take it all personally.

[springyzone]

I tend to think you just struck a time waster, you were unlucky. I doubt most buyers are like that.

I don't believe her story for a minute, you're right, she is just using the pandemic as an excuse. The give away is she never paid and later ignored your messages.

There were some red flags throughout the transaction, though none alone necessarily signal a bad buyer. First off is the 25% discount offer. That's a lot. I sometimes suspect the lower the offer, the less motivated a buyer is, but I know that isn't always true. Also the fact this is an account over 12 months old but with no feedback history means she has no real vested interest in it or in needing to avoid a strike.

My guess is she sort of wanted the item but wasn't sure, tried her luck and got the price but still had her doubts so didn't go ahead.

She answered you only because you kept sending messages and yes, she replied so that you would 'go away'.

I do think you have been had. Luckily you have not lost too much with this transaction. She did deserve a strike but for her to get it, you would have to give it. You're probably too kindly but maybe if anyone else tries it, you could stil send a polite email but ask them to ignore the non payment requests and still go ahead with a strike.

[miss_my_granny]

Thank you for that. I totally agree.

Moving on.

Cheers.

[11dustyattic]

Look it can be annoying but if you get that upset over a simple non payment, your stress levels will be off the radar. You sent 3 messages in 4 days, demanding payment within 2 days. I always pay promptly anyway but if I had a seller do that to me, my reaction would be to say **** you. The buyer has 4 days to pay and you don't know their circumstances, they might be waiting for their pay to go in, an unexpected bill or expense. Whatever but you should seriously reconsider sending payment demands from day one

but the buyer has 4 days to pay, regardless of your 'terms'

[repentatleisure1952]

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@11dustyattic wrote:

Look it can be annoying but if you get that upset over a simple non payment, your stress levels will be off the radar. You sent 3 messages in 4 days, demanding payment within 2 days. I always pay promptly anyway but if I had a seller do that to me, my reaction would be to say **** you. The buyer has 4 days to pay and you don't know their circumstances, they might be waiting for their pay to go in, an unexpected bill or expense. Whatever but you should seriously reconsider sending payment demands from day one

but the buyer has 4 days to pay, regardless of your 'terms'

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Can you provide a link showing that the buyer has four days to pay?

[tazzieterror]

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@repentatleisure1952 wrote:

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Can you provide a link showing that the buyer has four days to pay?

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See here. 

" When you buy an item on eBay, whether you won an auction or used Buy It Now, you'll need to pay the seller. You need to pay for purchases within 4 days, but the sooner the seller receives your payment, the sooner they'll send your item. "