shipping help

What to Do When eBay Buyers Won’t Pay? What’s the Deal with Shipping Notifications?

January 13th, 2011 |

Author: admin

Dear eBay Queen:

Two weeks ago I listed an item. The winning bidder did not pay, so I filed a non paying bidder dispute. The case was closed with an unpaid item strike.

After losing a week of possible selling while waiting on the bidder to pay, I listed the item again this week. It attracted a bid from a newbie with 0 feedback, who had only been a member of eBay for a few days. I was hesitant to allow this person to bid, but after they responded to my message confirming they have a PayPal account with a confirmed address, I allowed the bid to stand.

This morning, I got the following message from that bidder: "I am going out of town tomorrow morning for a week, which is before your action ends. If I win this item, can you wait until the week of January 24^th for me to pay for it, or do you have a buy-now price?"

The auction never had a Buy-It-Now and of course I am not going to end it early. I am really tired of this poor item getting won and not paid for. I am leaning toward just blocking this person, canceling his bid and being done with this buyer. What do you think?

Leslie

Dear Leslie:

What is your gut instinct? Do you believe they will pay? I know how annoying it is to have a buyer not pay. I would probably wait it out, the auction isn’t over yet, and your newbie buyer may not even end up as the high bidder. Most people who do not intend to pay would not communicate with you like this buyer has. Chances are they will make good on their bid.

Dear eBay Queen:

I shipped a Priority box on the 15th (received payment Saturday; shipped Monday); tracking shows it will be delivered today, the 17th. I use third-party software to manage my transactions, so eBay never knows if I've shipped something. I sent the buyer the tracking info (via direct email) and have no reason to think there's a problem.

Today, I got a reminder email from eBay to upload the tracking info so they can inform my buyer. Here’s what it says:

"Don't forget to ship your item! Based on the handling time you selected, your buyer is expecting you to ship this within 2 business day(s) from when you received payment. Ensure buyer satisfaction, and protect your feedback score by following the steps below."

This is the first time I've gotten such a request. Did the buyer initiate it, or is this the new eBay standard? Will there be any consequences if I ignore this reminder?

I know you may wonder why I don't just follow eBay's request and upload the tracking info. Well, it's not easy to explain, but I've been managing my sales on my own computer for all these years, and I like to think of my buyers as MY buyers — they seem to appreciate the personal communication and one-on-one customer service, and I think they probably get a little annoyed by eBay's/PayPal’s canned emails full of links to this and that.

Rebecca; Olathe, KS

Dear Rebecca:

I received a few of those emails on a Sunday, when the buyer paid on Saturday! My shipping policy is that I ship within 24 hours. The problem with eBay’s new shipping notification system is that it doesn’t seem to recognize that 99% of all post offices are not open on Sundays. You can turn off those notifications if you do not want to receive them. They are generated from eBay and not by the buyer.

You are completely within your right as a seller to keep taking care of your buyers the way you always have. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, and felt much the same way you did. I called eBay to complain about the notifications and explain to them how it would be impossible for me to ship an item on a Sunday. The customer support person explained to me how if I would enter the tracking information for my items during that 24 hour period I promised to ship, the buyer would not be allowed to leave anything less than 5 stars on my shipping time DSR. This little tidbit totally changed my mind, and we now package and make labels within that 24 hour promised shipping time period.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 280610977454(enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): How much is an 8 year old teddy bear worth? Check out this Disney Duffy Bear 2003 Valentines Day Hidden Mickey SOLD $2550.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/Disney-Duffy-Bear-2003-Valentines-Day-Hidden-Mickey-/280610977454

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com