@digital*ghost wrote:
@purplemon18 wrote:
It bothers me though, It's not really fair to ask a business to hold something for them. People don't go into busienss to do people favours, they do it to earn an income. The first person who ponies up the money gets the item, not the one who "promises" they will come back later to pay.
I am hoping (daydreaming) that once eBay implements their payment processing system properly, presuming this also means the end of bank deposit, we'll finally (eventually) get a cancellation function that happens automatically for unpaid items. It's only 2 days before you can open a UPI in the US (no bank deposit over there, from memory) so I'm half expecting that to come here if BD is eliminated, and then once they're able to 100% verify whether payment has been made, ideally they'd have a "cancel due to non-payment" option that becomes available 48 hours after the sale, and takes effect immediately, automatically blocking feedback and crediting fees.
That would put payment terms back in the control of the seller, as they really should be (i.e., you could have 2-day payment terms, or 10-day if desired), and eliminate all this faffing about with cases, offended buyers, and other "fun" stuff like eBay asking the buyer to confirm they got a refund for an item they never even paid for (which happens with cancellations, and if they don't confirm it's 10 full days before a credit comes through).
To me, this way of dealing with it would just be common sense.
I agree with everything you said.
I think it would be a trememdous improvement if ebay did institute a system where a sale was automatically cancelled after non payment and fees automatically refunded. I suspect that at the moment, ebay makes quite a bit of money from some of the occasional sellers of smaller items, who don't bother to go through the process.
I was a bit surprised to read that at the moment, some 'buyers' have to confirm they got a refund for an item they never even paid for. I've never had a cancellation of an item I have bought, but if I had had one and a follow up message like that came through, I would not have confirmed it because I would know I was not entitled to a refund and I'd be confused by the message and worried that ticking it might in fact trigger a refund.
I think the system you envisage would be ideal because it would take the 'blame', if you like, away from the seller. It would simply be part of the ebay system.
----------------------------
Just a general comment.
I cannot imagine why anyone would 'forget' a purchase, unless they were making dozens of them and overlooked one. And it isn't logical for a buyer to feel angry for an unpaid item claim being opened, but I see the discussion is about should such buyers be given more time. I suppose if the buyer were to be given eg 3 weeks, they could not claim it was not long enough, but by the same token, if I were such a buyer, I can imagine wondering why on earth I had not been sent a reminder before the seller opened the claim.
I know ebay sends out a reminder after 2 days. To me, if a seller opens an unpaid item claim after 4 days, the buyer then can't really claim they weren't sent a reminder.
But the longer the seller leaves it, the more a buyer may expect a second reminder. I know that may not seem logical but I think some people these days do push the boundaries and never accept responsibility for their actions.
I do remember once being absolutely furious (as a buyer) when a seller opened an unpaid item claim against me, but that was different circumstances. I have to say, my immediate response (after answering the claim) was to give him negative feedback. I was fuming.
He did ring me later that morning and my response was-why didn't you ask me or send a payment reminder instead of launching straight into a case against me? Then I could have explained. But that was different circumstances as the seller had not actually had the thing he had sold and had not been able to supply it to me when we went to pick up earlier that week. I let the neg stand as I felt his accounting system was pretty sloppy. Up till that point, we had decided to just refrain from any feedback.
So I do know that opening a claim can put buyers offside, but I suspect if they are angry over a legitimate case where they have not paid, they may be angry whether it is 4 days or 4 weeks. If i were still selling, I'd probably go with either 4 days or 6 days so that ebay reminder was still valid.
