Accepting a Best Offer and Then the Buyer Doesn't Pay For Days

[jscott991]

I know that eBay is pushing sellers to be open to best offers, and I have had some luck with them in the past, but lately I've been driving crazy by buyers proposing best offers, I accept (or they accept a counteroffer), and then the buyer doesn't pay for 2 days or more (sometimes after the unpaid item case kicks in).

This is extremely frustrating because I switched to using "Buy It Now" listings for this very reason (too many buyers winning an auction and then only paying after an unpaid item case was opened). The biggest advantage of a BIN listing is that the item stays up on the site until someone pays, even if they add it to their cart. 

Is there a way to avoid this, beyond just not accepting any more best offers?

I notice a lot of sellers put language to the effect of "payment is expected within 24 hours" in their listings.  Is that actually enforceable?  Can you do anything to cancel a transaction with deadbeat buyers who wait 2-6 days to pay that doesn't affect your seller rating (or leave you open to absurd negative feedback for canceling)?

EBay really needs to address this.  Even if a buyer accepts a counteroffer or a seller accepts a best offer on a Buy It Now listing, it should still be available to other buyers until the buyer actually pays!

Sorry for the rant, but I really would like some recourse to this.  I have two best offers now sitting at awaiting payment because buyers accepted a counteroffer and then are just sitting on the item.

[sam9876]

Best Offer is the same as shooting yourself in the foot.

[secretsquirrelisnowhere]

Have you ever done a best offer? When you put it in, Ebay states that you will receive an answer in a couple of days. Most people are not sitting on Ebay all day. Some may not check it again for a couple days.

[jscott991]

If you don't allow best offers, don't you pay higher fees? At least I thought that was the threat the last time I tried to list an item without best offers.

[lewisburggold]

They do it to us all the time.  Best regards

[frodobagginskennedy]

I use Best Offer on just about every listing.  What I do is immediately send an invoice AND a message thanking them for shopping....we will begin packing for shipment as soon as payment is received.[

A lot of NEW buyers are not aware that they actually had their offer accepted.  They are not aware what the little bell icon at the top is for and are just generally confused with how to proceed.

Sometimes I will send a message to their regular e mail address thanking them .....yada yada yada.....then asking them to log into e bay to complete the transaction. 

I still have deadbeats but they are not as common now with all the extra steps I take..  Time consuming I know but it seems to be working

[thatsallfolks]

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@jscott991 wrote:

I notice a lot of sellers put language to the effect of "payment is expected within 24 hours" in their listings.  Is that actually enforceable?

No. Nothing that tries to override eBay policy is enforceable.

Can you do anything to cancel a transaction with deadbeat buyers who wait 2-6 days to pay that doesn't affect your seller rating (or leave you open to absurd negative feedback for canceling)?

No.

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As with auctions, there's no way to enforce immediate payment when the seller accepts an offer (at least none that buyers wouldn't mutiny over). However, eBay should be enforcing IPR if a buyer accepts a counter-offer.

eBay experimented a couple years ago with a Best Offer modification that left the item available for sale after the seller accepted an offer, but before it was paid for. This was, in theory, good for the seller. It was also, in theory, good for the buyer, because it allowed buyers to make offers on multiple similar items and then only pay for one. Unfortunately, it enraged buyers whose item was bought by someone else before they could pay for it, and it was abandoned. 

[dippitydoo]

Well...I am not certain, but once a person hits the buy-it-now button that comes with any offer acceptance, then that's when the clock starts for payment, and you can have your account set up for immediate payment once the buy-it-now button is hit.  At least that is my understanding. 🙂

[sam9876]

You can't require immediate payment on Best Offer.

[Anonymous]

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@jscott991 wrote:
If you don't allow best offers, don't you pay higher fees? At least I thought that was the threat the last time I tried to list an item without best offers.

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No.

[thatsallfolks]

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@dippitydoo wrote:

Well...I am not certain, but once a person hits the buy-it-now button that comes with any offer acceptance, then that's when the clock starts for payment, and you can have your account set up for immediate payment once the buy-it-now button is hit.  At least that is my understanding. 🙂

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You're confused about offer acceptance. Buyer offers; seller accepts. When the buyer makes an offer, they don't hit the Buy It Now button; they hit the Make Offer button, and then they wait. It's the seller's acceptance that creates the transaction. Obviously eBay can't enforce IPR when the buyer isn't even around when the transaction is created.

As I explained earlier, eBay COULD enforce IPR when a buyer accepts a COUNTER-offer. But as of now, they do not.

[thatsallfolks]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@jscott991 wrote:
If you don't allow best offers, don't you pay higher fees? At least I thought that was the threat the last time I tried to list an item without best offers.

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No.

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Some sellers were getting a message, when REVISING a listing, that they'd be charged 35 cents if they didn't include Best Offer; they had screen shots as evidence. We think that may have been caused by a promotion that those sellers were listing under, but eBay staff never answered our requests for an explanation.

[dippitydoo]

Ok....thanks for setting me straight Sam and Thatsallfolks!!!

[yuncreations]

the buyer has 2 days to pay, if they don't, then I go and open an unpaid item case. Then they have I believe 2 or 3 days to pay. If they don't , ebay cancels the transaction, and you can relist and block that buyer.

[7606dennis]

Accepting a best offer carries with it the same restrictions on paying as an auction.  According to eBay a seller is allowed to file a UID no sooner than 48 hours after the offer is accepted and close it no sooner than 96 hours later if the buyer doesn't pay.

Before eBay decided to ban the use of non-electronic payment methods my TOS allowed buyers 10 business days to pay.  However, I did reduce that time to 3 days when snail mail payments were banned.

I've never been too anxious about slow payers.  Quite frankly, if the need to receive fast payment is a major issue, I would rethink selling online.