Buyer hasn't paid after 2 months of accepting their offer, cannot longer contact them

[bluechel15]

Back in August, I tried to sell my first item via accepting offers for it, which in hindsight I see was a mistake. I had someone offer to buy the item at 2AM the next day, which I accepted later in the morning. This buyer has never contacted me after that, and I was relying on eBay itself to remind them to pay me so I can ship the item, but they never did. It has been over 2 months at this point, and still nothing has happened, and I cannot re-list my item. I believe the buyer is either a bot or a scammer taking advantage of new users. What should I do?

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Did you read any of the rules of this site before jumping on and selling?

Just asking because they clearly state that you can cancel the "sale" after 4 days of non payment. Why on earth did you wait 2 months?

[fern*wood]

Why can you not relist?  It’s too late now to file the non payer cancellation, but you can block their ID so they can’t mess with you again.

[soh.maryl]

You had 96 hours after the sale to cancel, citing "buyer did not pay" as the reason.

Now, after two months, you have no recourse.  

There is absolutely no reason you would be unable to relist. What happens when you try?

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

First you have to cancel the sale as Unpaid.

It's probably too late for the UID (Unpaid Item Dispute) to give them a Strike, but at least it will allow you to relist.

Or you could relist the item as Sell Similar.

Now.

Go to your Seller Preferences/Buyer Requirements and automatically Block bidders with Strikes for non-payment. The strongest is two Strikes in the past 12 months.

[femmefan1946]

BTW- did you set up a Managed Payments account so that eBay can transfer your customer payments to your bank?
They need your SSN and checking account information to pay you.

[bluechel15]

Thank you, I just now set buyer requirements to block users with strikes. I'll try relisting again when I have more time to go ship the item, I figure now it was a network error of some kind.

[soh.maryl]

Please do some more reading.  Your buyer had 96 hours to pay you.

You had 30 days after the end of the listing/auction to cancel, using "buyer did not pay" as the reason.

ETA:  You believe the buyer is "either a bot or a scammer"? Why?

You were not scammed.  You just were not paid.  And you waited too long to do anything about it.

What would a "bot" gain by offering and not paying? 

Please do not toss the word "scammer" around just casually.