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This is a little long, but please bear with me. Had an auction end Jan 17...a big ticket item for us...over $200. Sent winner an invoice; no reply. Waited a couple days, sent email. No reply. Waited another couple days and sent another note. Guy wrote back and said that was the first time he'd heard from us and that his "office" told him the payment had been made, and he'd be out of town until the weekend so couldn't tell us anything else. We waited til the weekend was over, wrote again. Nothing. Wrote one more time, then started NPB process. On the very last day, a pending e check shows up. That was Feb 4. The check is still uncleared (today's the 15th), with an expected clearance date of Feb 22. Paypal won't tell me what the problem is, but it's pretty clear there's not enough money in his Paypal account. Wrote to him again and asked him (nicely) to please see what the problem was and what he could do to expedite. He got nasty, saying he doesn't have time for this nonsense, Paypal sucks, yadda yadda. The other bidders he beat out have already bought similar items, so a second chance offer is not an option. Should I reverse the echeck, relist and hope somebody out there wants the item? Or should I hang on and see what Feb 22 brings? This guy has been a PITA right from the start. He's a relative newbie and maybe doesn't know how Paypal works. Can somebody tell me what they think? In over 5 years of eBay selling, this has never happened before. Thanks in advance. - Maria
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I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN ABOUT THESE KINDS OF THINGS. I HAVE GOTTEN ALL KINDS OF STORIES...LIKE THIS LATEST ONE, FAMILY EMERGENCY WILL PAY AS SOON AS I GET BACK. I EMAILED THEM AND ASKED WHEN THAT MIGHT BE. WELL, THEY DON'T KNOW. I SAID I WOULD WAIT A WEEK AND WAS VERY NICE ABOUT IT. THEN WITHIN THE WEEK I NOTICED THIS NPB WAS PAYING FOR OTHER AUCTIONS THEY WON AFTER MINE. I EMAILED THEM AGAIN, POINTING THIS OUT. THEY SAID THEY WERE JUST WAITING FOR THEIR CREDIT CARD. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON OVER TWO WEEKS, EVEN THOUGH IT SAYS PAYMENT IS EXPECTED WITHIN 5 DAYS. SO, AGAIN I EMAIL AND ASKS WHEN THIS SO CALLED CREDIT CARD WOULD BE DONE(I DID IT IN A NICER WAY THOUGH. LOL) THEY EMAILED AND SAID GEEZ, JUST DO WHAT YOU GOT TO DO. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO RELIST, WAIT OR WHAT. ANY SUGGESTIONS? THANKS Confused
I have been selling for a very short time, 3 months so, this is all new to me. Here's what happened to me very similar to your story, sold item, no response from buyer, finally placed "Item not pd for" seller sent me an email a long sob story...laptop stolen, credit cards stolen... on an on & if they sent me a money order would I release my claim against them because they can not sell on Ebay now because of the 2 strikes against them that I placed. I said yes send the $$'s and I will clear everything up. Well, within a short time I received a payment through Paypal from the buyer I then sent the package out the next day. Low and behold 8 days later buyer says never received package.Put a claim against me in Paypal and just this week Feb 12, was refunded all of the money they paid me. I told PayPal I thought this was a fraudelent claim and Paypal told me because I did not insure the package there is nothing they can do but, take the monies out of my Paypal account and refund the buyer (who I hope rots in Hell for this)!!! So good luck and if they end up paying you be sure to INSURE your package. Word to the Wise!!!!
I always thought that if the buyer doesn't purchase insurance, that we sellers are not liable! Why would we purchase insurance for them if we have the item for sale with insurance optional. In a way I keep thinking to just wait a month or two and then put it up for sale again. I am afraid if I relist it or make a claim they will leave me negative feedback and right now my feedback is 100 percent. I would like to keep it that way. I guess I will just suck up the fees and realize that there are all kinds of liars and cheats. Thanks for your info though, something to think about! Roll Eyes
Ultimately, it is the seller's responsibility to get the item to the customer. If there's ever any question about the trustworthy-ness of the buyer, you should ALWAYS insure the package, especially if it's something expensive. Insurance is just as much about protecting the seller. Also, I NEVER ship out of the country without insuring the package.

In your case, there's no reason that you should just have to "suck up the fees". Just file a non-paying bidder claim against them. In my experience, payment comes quickly after an NPB is filed, often with a profuse apology from the lazy buyer.
I thought if you can provide tracking info. then as seller you have a case to argue and that insurance was not the issue. Having said that, I ship from Thailand and there is no tracking even though I register my post. That in itself seems to deter false claims of non-delivery as I have very few so far. The few I have had I don't dispute anymore. It is a waste of time as Paypal will never let me win. I even had one case where the UPS website confirmed delivery in the USA!!But I could not confirm that I had shipped in the first place as they couldn't be bothered to log into the Thai postal website and enter the nunber I gave them That said all my items are low ticket so now I just consider it a business expense and try not to let it make me angry.
The unfortunate thing is that being a successful seller on eBay, where Feedback is King, takes the saying "the customer is always right" to a whole new extreme because you are not protected from unwarranted, negative feedback from a buyer, that is clearly making things difficult for you as a seller. In most cases, killing the sale would probably result in this.

Although unfortunate, if feedback is important to you (which no doubt should be), then you should at least wait until the 22nd and see what happens. At that point, if there is still no cleared payment, then "politely" ask the buyer if he/she would like to agree to mutually cancel the transaction. But, make it sound like you are doing them a favor to benefit them more than yourself.

Jack
That sounds like the thing to do, cancell the transaction if the buyer wants to. But then what? And, do you have to go about it on paypal, or ebay, or just forget about it. If I don't relist though, I will be out my listing fees only, not anything else because the buyer never paid, right? Geez, so much to learn, but I am selling smalltime things, and I want to learn. Thanks for your imput.
You do it through eBay's Dispute Console. File an Unpaid Item dispute with the reason: "We have both agreed not to complete the transaction." Just make sure the buyer agrees to do it and understands the next steps.

From there, you will receive all of your eBay fees back - Listing & Final Value Fees. Then with PayPal, if you cancel the payment or refund it (if it later does go through after you agreed to end the transaction), you will receive all of your related PayPal fees back as well.

Jack
thanks jack and rick.I am more worried about negative feedback than gerting the $. that is kinda screwed up on ebay for doing it the way they do...If the buyer never completed the transaction, then they<<<can still leave negative feedback and I wouldn't know why,if they never paid and never received the item how they are allowed to do that! I must be STUPID! AND YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID! Frown
If your domestic package has a delivery confirmation or signature proof, you should be protected by the Paypal Seller Protection policy. Unless your package is international mail.

I am still wondering the Paypal Seller Protection policy. So please let me know your situation.

quote:
Originally posted by flowersbygenevieve:
I have been selling for a very short time, 3 months so, this is all new to me. Here's what happened to me very similar to your story, sold item, no response from buyer, finally placed "Item not pd for" seller sent me an email a long sob story...laptop stolen, credit cards stolen... on an on & if they sent me a money order would I release my claim against them because they can not sell on Ebay now because of the 2 strikes against them that I placed. I said yes send the $$'s and I will clear everything up. Well, within a short time I received a payment through Paypal from the buyer I then sent the package out the next day. Low and behold 8 days later buyer says never received package.Put a claim against me in Paypal and just this week Feb 12, was refunded all of the money they paid me. I told PayPal I thought this was a fraudelent claim and Paypal told me because I did not insure the package there is nothing they can do but, take the monies out of my Paypal account and refund the buyer (who I hope rots in Hell for this)!!! So good luck and if they end up paying you be sure to INSURE your package. Word to the Wise!!!!
Per PayPal's Seller Protection Policy, the seller is only required to have delivery confirmation (Online Tracking #) for items under $250 and signature delivery confirmation for items over $250. You are not required to insure the item. That is the responsibility of the buyer and does not affect your protection from PayPal.

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