buyer emailed me seconds after auction ending for me to 2nd chance it

[smsrks2012]

Hi,

I have a buyer that bid on an item I was selling minutes before the auction ended and then after it ended sent me an email to say she couldn't pay for it and wanted it for the coming weekend so she said I should second chance it... I told her I could wait till she got paid but she then replied that no she did not want it anymore as it would not arrive before the weekend.  If I offer it to the second highest bidder there is no guarantee that they will buy it is there?  As far as I am aware (please correct me if I am wrong) if you bid on an item and "win" the item you are obliged to follow through with the transaction yes?  So I guess my question is... am I in the wrong if I make the "winning" bidder follow through with the transaction?! In my eyes she really should have checked her bank account before bidding on the item and made sure she had the funds available if she expected it to arrive for the weekend?!

[2106greencat]

Really is your call - you can open UPI at 4 days and give the buyer a strike when payment is not received and you close the case, or you can ask for mutual cancellation and offer second chance. Not sure how I would proceed, maybe contact second bidder to see if they are interested first, then depending on the response decide which way to go. Depending on 2nd chance bidder's reply I would most liekly would go with the cancellation - you will sell now rather than having to wait, and at least the buyer contacted you rather than left you hanging? but that is only my opinion. Good Luck

[smsrks2012]

Thanks for that! I will contact second highest bidder now!

[phorum_junkie*]

No way would I let the numpty off the hook with the offer of a mutual cancellation. Did they even make a token gesture to offer to pay your fees? No I bet they didn't and if that is so I would wait the 4 days and open the unpaid item dispute and close it 4 days later if they don't go ahead and pay.

If you send a mutual cancellation request and they ignore it you will still have to wait 7 days before you can finalise the transaction and the buyer can still leave you less than pos feedback, worse still if they get it wrong and refuse the cancellation you will not get your FVFs back.

If you go through the unpaid item process and issue them with the strike they deserve then you are guaranteed your fee refund and they cannot leave you any feedback. You let other sellers down if you do not issue strikes to non payers, mist of us have sellers with more than one strike blocked but that only works if the strikes are issued.

[patchoo78]

Sometimes sellers really need to take their emotions out of eBay selling, they're not a good mix as it usually leads to these situations.. 

I can tell you, I don't envy some of the sellers on here!

[putney32]

in all fairness to yourself and all other eBay sellers..... file a non payment dispute on day 4, close it 4 days later and then, and only then offer it as 2nd chance to the underbidder.

you can contact the underbidder now and say looks like you'll be able to offer it to them next week as the buyer is reluctant to pay, but you cant sell to the underbidder until the 1st transaction is CLOSED OFF.

dont offer her a mutual cancellation, she 's just as likely to refuse or ignore and it'll take just as long and let her off the hook. 

issue that strike for Non Payment

most of us have our preferences set to block such thoughtless bidders who have strikes, so you'll be doing us all a favour!

[peternt2001]

i am not a seller, but from reading this, unless the buyer sent you a message with some remarkable reason why they bid and now could not fulfill their obligation, i would make them sorry for bidding and not going through with the sale. 

Open a non paying buyer dispute and get them issued with a strike, it helps other sellers avoid them too. Who knows if this is the first time she has done this, or the 10th time she has done this and generous sellers have let her off the hook ?

Bad buyers make people who try to be a good buyer a bad name too, just as bad sellers give good sellers a bad name.

And is it really about her not having the money, or it not arriving before the weekend ? What changed in  the couple of minutes between the end of the auction and her email, it wasnt going to make it before the weekend, before she bid either.

I wonder if she was just trying to sound out what the highest bid was, and found herself stuck with the highest bid at the end of the auction on something she never really intended on buying in the first place.

[2106greencat]

Open NPB case, they pay, leave Neg feedback (for whatever reason they choose if they feel so inclined) but hey - up to you. Me, I just like a nice quiet life, and a happy customer - and BTW depending on the outcome, why is it a given that the buyer will not respond to the 'mutual'?

Isn't that tantamount to the same sellers screaming 'why didn't they contact me?' before they left the neg?

[putney32]

Open NPB case, they pay, leave Neg feedback (for whatever reason they choose if they feel so inclined) but hey - up to you. Me, I just like a nice quiet life, and a happy customer - and BTW depending on the outcome, why is it a given that the buyer will not respond to the 'mutual'?

Isn't that tantamount to the same sellers screaming 'why didn't they contact me?' before they left the neg?

greencat in my 13 or so years on ebay I have learned that a buyer who cant be bothered to pay, usually cant be bothered to respond to a cancellation either.  but that is just my opinion.

[2106greencat]

And probably a worthwhile opinion given your experience Putney. I just sometimes feel when I read these Q's and A's it is all 'BUYER' versus "SELLER', when really it should be buyer/seller happy outcome. I don't know, it just feels to me that so many sellers (and of course some buyers) here are jaded. You have all, most likely, heard every excuse in the world, but what about the genuine 'excuse' - a buyer who REALLY lost her job, or went to hospital, or has not been able to access internet?  I have always been a sucker for a sob story, and I have hardenned up, but what if, JUST ONCE, the sob story is TRUE? I just don't see how giving someone a second chance is a bad thing. I'm not an fool - I check a buyer FB etc to see if it appears to be an ongoing thing, but if not, yes, I err on the side of caution and go with my gut, if that is wrong, sorry It is just who I am