how would you handle this ebay situation?

wallst32

Posted a Shaq PSA 9 auction that ended begining of May (it just so happens that it closed well below the going rate at the time so this guy was getting a great deal anyways). I sent the winning bidder an ebay invoice (I'm copied on these so I know I sent it and didn't forget) with all payment details shortly after the close of auction as I always do (except for the case where somebody paypals me immediately). One month passes, and no payment or response from the winner. At this time the Lakers were being written off after dropping a couple of games to the Spurs.

Fast forward one month later. All of a sudden I get an e-mail from the winner saying he never got my payment information and to please send it ASAP! Hrm... now in the opinion of most the Lakers are vitually a lock to pickup another title, and now he wants the card.

In my several hundred ebay transactions, I have never had anyone honor a bid beyond 1 month's time, and that is why I leave negatives or relist after this amount of time has elapsed if I choose to do so.

I used to post in my auctions "payment must be received within XX amount of days from closing date"; but have been too lazy to do that recently.

A761506

If you hadn't already relisted or left a negative, and since you didn't mention anything about the payment due date, and sounds like made only one attempt to contact the buyer, seems to me you should still honor their winning bid. Had you made repeated attempts to contact this buyer and had multiple no responses, then you probably would have already neg'd him and relisted. The fact that the value or popularity of the card has increased since the auction is entirely extraneous (it's not like it doubled or tripled in value or anything to that extreme). That is partly why people buy any card, hoping for the value to increase. Granted, the buyer could have made a better effort in contacting you or sending payment, but the way I see it, it is the sellers responsibility to do that type of follow up moreso than the buyer. Just my opinions.

pick6investments

I disagree with the above and say the ball is in YOUR court!
It is a BUYERS RESPONSIBLITY to pay not the seller to hound a deadbeat!

Do what you want! I would sell it but block the bidder from auctions to save me the trouble next time.

Out of hundreds of transactions this is the only guy wanting to pay a month later is BS and is totally up to the seller NOT BUYER

If that wer ethe case everybody who forgets to put PAY WITHIN 7 days should wait until a buyer decides whether the card is a good invesmtent or not?
Get serious- this guy is breaking it off in ya WHEN and HOW he wants to

I am just stating the facts and think it sucks

After all this I changed my mind- keep your card and charge hima non paying bidderalert!

Southsider

I had a similar situation. A buyer never sent payment after repeated requests and emails. AFTER I filed a Final Value Fee refund and posted negative feedback, I received cash payment in the mail from the buyer, a full 45 days after the end of the auction. In the end, I decided to just send him the cards because I had not yet relisted them. So, I think it's up to you. Would you rather just ship the card and be done with it or do you want to return payment and relist?

jrdolan

It sucks that some buyers do this and are willing to eat the negs that arise. But I think you have to fulfill your end of the contract because

1) No mention in your listing of a deadline for payment.

2) No reminders or warnings to the buyer (that you mentioned).

3) Just maybe it has nothing to do with the Lakers' playoff performance but is an honest mistake. (This is what he would claim to eBay, at any rate)

I buy and sell a lot of cards, and I try to keep good records so I know the status of my transactions. But occasionally something slips through the cracks and suddenly I realize "Hey, I didn't pay that guy!" or "Sh*t! I didn't ship this order!" It's just possible this guy won a bunch of auctions around the same time and is just catching up with one that got away.

Since you don't want to be the seller who changes his mind because the card is now more valuable (which would be worse than the buyer, in my mind), you should take the money and remember to state your deadline next time!

MorrellMan

Ditto JR - granted, it's not the sellers responsibility to motivate payment, but most sellers (myself included) who have a legitimate gripe over a buyer have developed that gripe after "numerous" attempts to contact the buyer. The chances are very good that this buyer got overwhelmed by things at the time of this auction ("things" being not necessarily auctions, but, like, life maybe), missed your first invoice and forgot (or maybe didn't realize) that he had won and suffered from no reminder. If you have a non-payer, you have to send the reminder in order to post the NPB -

IMHO, complete the deal and sleep well.

Peace.

envoy98

Personally, I say it is up to you. 2 months is a bit ridiculous. I will concede the fact that you apparently only sent one invoice, never filed an NPB or FVF credit and never relisted. I would be willing to bet you were even happy he didn't pay since "it just so happens that it closed well below the going rate at the time so this guy was getting a great deal anyways"

That being said, 2 months is an awful lot of time to pass, on either side. I think it is up to you what you want to do, however if you aren't going to sell it to him I would use the "it's been 2 months" reason to try and sleep at night as opposed to the "it's worth a lot more now chowderhead" excuse.

It isn't your job to persuade payment from a buyer, I can see both sides of this argument, but I would sleep at night either way.

ctsoxfan

How about payment reminders? I send one after 10 days, especially if I haven't heard that the buyer is sending the money snail mail. If you get no response to that either, 30 days is certainly the limit with me. I would have relisted the card already.

NickM

People miss emails as well - it could have been blocked by a spam filter, accidentally deleted, rejected due to a full mailbox, etc.

Then there are the situations where the buyer emails the seller and the seller doesn't get or doesn't read the email. It's amazing how often those happen when you're asking how much combined shipping will be.

Just go with the completed sale.

Nick

MrMoo

Does not ebay say that if no contact is made within 3 working days you can cancel the deal?

Dhjacks

Complete the sale in a positive manner. The guy may become a good customer for you. If he screws up again, then flog him and place him on your blocked bidder list.