When must a buyer pay for an item won on an auction?

Question

How long should you give a buyer to pay for an item won on an auction? What can you do if the buyer is not responsive to your requests for payment.? Is there a rule or even just a guideline for this?

eastlaneave · Answer

@pinbacksandpolitical

A buyer has 4 days to pay. I am sorry that happened, it is frustrating when buyers do not pay.

-- If it has been 4 days (96 hours) and the buyer has not paid, you can cancel the order for "Non-payment".

-- Here is a help page where you can learn more, and you can cancel right here, just click the picture of your item and follow the steps.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/cancelling-transaction?id=4136

==> This process gives the buyer an unpaid item "strike", and it refunds your final value fees.

You may want to block that buyer from future purchases: https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock

TIP: When you cancel the sale for non-payment, the buyer gets a "strike". This is a hidden thing, but with enough, the buyer will be removed from eBay. And you as a seller can block these bad buyers, see the settings below.

TIP: If this was an Auction, and you have a backup bidder, do a Second Chance Offer BEFORE re-listing.

To help avoid non-paying buyers in the future, here are some settings to consider:

1) You can block buyers with prior unpaid purchases:

Set your Buyer Requirements to â€“

- block "buyers" with x number of unpaid purchases (2 in 12 months is the most strict)

- block "buyers" who live in a place you do not ship to.

- Apply the above settings to active and future listings

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

2) Make sure to exclude all the continents/countries you do not want to ship to.

https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf/excludeRegions

3) You can also block a specific Username that you had a bad experience with

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock

4) Turn OFF Best Offers on all your listings

(Immediate Payment Required doesn't work when a buyer sends an offer.)

Uncheck the box that says: "Allow Offers"

If you want Best Offers

5) Enable the new Buyer Payment Requirements here: https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

Best Offer: "Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer".

-- This feature is rolling out. They aren't available to everyone, and they don't apply to all buyers, yet.

6) Turn on Immediate Payment Required for all Fixed Price Listings. (Don't list Auctions)

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/immediate-payment-works?id=4151

7) If you want your non-paying sales to cancel automatically at 4 days, you can enable that here:

https://www.ebay.com/Cancel/Preference/UnpaidPurchase