Ebay advice please....

[mrs.chappie]

I sold an item on 21st November and the buyer hasn't paid. I have emailed her with a polite reminder (twice).

I wondered if she had gone away but her feedback shows she has bought (and paid for) twelve items since buying mine, and her feedback is all good (very quick payment, instant payment, excellent eBayer etc) so I can only presume she has changed her mind about buying my item.

Thing is, it only amounts to £1.90, so should I just write it off and re-list it? Is it worth getting eBay involved to try and force her to pay up? Would they even get involved for such a small amount?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks peeps. x

[cathfromsaron]

i would press the 'item unpaid' option and let ebay emailers do their stuff!

[douglas9401]

What they say:

Policy overview

When a buyer wins an item or uses Buy it now to purchase an item, they're obliged to complete the purchase by sending full payment to the seller.

If a buyer doesn't pay within 4 days, sellers can open an unpaid item case in the Resolution Centre. If the buyer still doesn't pay or reach some other agreement with the seller, eBay may record the unpaid item on the buyer's account.

When an unpaid item case closes without payment from the buyer, sellers are eligible to receive a final value fee credit to their eBay seller account. Also, if they relist the item and it sells the second time, eBay may refund the insertion fee for the relisting. Learn more about how the free relist policy works.

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks Cath and Douglas. Would you pursue it for such a small amount though?

Tbh, what is annoying me more is that she won't reply to me, not even to tell me she's changed her mind. How very rude.

[old-wos-is-name]

I wouldn't bother, if you report it ebay will give the customer a bad mark, and they ( the customer) may leave you bad feedback. I have an ebay shop and this happens sometimes, just re-list the item. Ebay will have been sending them requests to pay, and they obviously do not want the item.

[mrs.chappie]

Do eBay automatically send repeat requests to pay?

[old-wos-is-name]

yes, they send a payment request a couple of times, then a nastier one, then one saying they have closed the sale.

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks OWIS. I didn't think they'd bother for a small amount. I can't understand why this buyer won't reply to me and is willing to risk her reputation for a measly £1.90.

There's no truer saying than there's nowt so queer as folk.

[joko]

if she leaves bad feedback ebay can remove it if you ask, given the transaction didnt go through

i would pursue on principle... had she emailed a reply and said sorry etc id let it go, but to ignore is just rude ... but its not like you have to do that much to launch a dispute - tick a few boxes etc...

maybe email her an tell her you will report etc , see if she pays then

it may her stop doiing it to other people

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks Joko. It's the lack of response from her that has decided it for me. I emailed her yesterday, apologising for starting a non-paying bidder procedure, but stating that she has left me no choice, due to her lack of communication.

She still hasn't replied.

[starone]

Don't bother - it is not worth the trouble. I tried to regain £25 from a seller on eBay and although they said he had repaid it it has never appeared in my PayPal account. Then PayPal said they had not received it but eBay would not let me open another complaint because they insisted he had paid it. I gave up in the end and wrote it off. In your case you could keep the article you have tried to sell for a reasonable amount of time and then relist it.

[mrs.chappie]

Hi Starbo.

It's not the loss of the sale that's annoyed me, it's the rudeness - the fact that she won't reply to my polite requests. It's quite bizarre that she's behaving like this - her feedback so far is all good, but she's only been on eBay since the beginning of November....a bit early to get into bad habits.

I doubt eBay will be bothered though, I would imagine it's all automated messages anyway.

I too got ripped off for twenty-five quid once, but it's a long story.

[starone]

They are supposed to be all protective of your sales and your money when in reality they do nothing mrs.c. I do agree with you about rudeness though. You would think she would let you know if she had changed her mind.

[mrs.chappie]

Yes, it's annoying. All she needed to do was email me and say she'd changed her mind. It wouldn't have mattered - I would've offered it to the under-bidder.

I could still do that if she'd just confirm that she doesn't want it (and obviously she doesn't - so I wonder if I can go ahead and offer it to someone else, or whether I have an obligation to fulfill).

[joko]

as you say, it is this sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone else on ebay... lack of trust, disputes, dodgy dealings etc...

she needs to learn early on that there is a way to do things on ebay, and the fact that its only £1.90, is neither here nor there... if she knows she will get trouble for even the smallest amounts she will not bid so willy nilly and be so rude in future.

are you replying to her by email - or though ebay messagiing? perhaps your message are going into her spam box?

[mrs.chappie]

I've been contacting her through eBay messaging....does that mean she will definitely be receiving my messages?

Does everybody have a spam box, or is it something you need to create yourself?