Buyer purchased on the 21st and didn't pay. Now eBay falsely shows purchase date as the 24th.

[spiffy*dynamo]

As a result I wasn't able to select nonpayment as the reason for cancelling the order. I spoke to rep who said that they have been getting numerous calls about this issue and it is one that needs fixing on their end. In the meantime she told me to select problem with buyer's address as the reason for cancellation and that the buyer would be notified about the real reason the order was cancelled (whether that's true or how it would be done I'm not sure). Anyone else experiencing this issue? Can the buyer still leave negative feedback for cancelling? While not the most serious problem it certainly doesn't inspire confidence using this site and my guess is a lot of non payers are avoiding non payment strikes right now.

[toysaver]

Is that when you sent the buyer an invoice?

[wastingtime101]

As the other poster suggested, that date/time is accurate if you sent an invoice at that time.

There's no reason to send an invoice unless you have to make an adjustment, for example combined shipping costs or adding another shipping method the buyer requested.

eBay sends out payment reminders to buyers automatically. Sending invoices is a duplication of efforts and clogs the buyer's inbox.

Sending an invoice locks in the shipping cost. That could have a big financial impact on someone that uses calculated shipping. The shipping price gets locked in based on the buyer's default location, but if they change the address at checkout to have that item shipped to Mom across the country, that shipping cost can change by leaps and bounds and seller is out the $$.

Finally, sending an invoice resets the clock on when an order can be cancelled for non-payment when sellers handle UPIs manually. The automated system will cancel based on the seller's settings regardless of sending an invoice, but when you use the manual process and an invoice is sent it resets the clock, giving the buyer an additional 4 days before the system will let the seller cancel.

[monica-sells]

Looks like you sent the buyer a 'reminder' invoice on the 24th....

If so, that "resets" the 4-day clock.....

if you did not, then disregard this reply

[rainbowcomicsandcards]

We actually had this happen with 2 orders one sold 05/06/2023 and 05/11/2023 was waiting on payment and then the date updated on both to being sold on 05/24/2023. When I spoke to eBay about it they said it was a known issue along with the no invoice issue. They just had me cancel the order as issue with buyers address. 

[dbfolks166mt]

We actually had this happen with 2 orders one sold 05/06/2023 and 05/11/2023 was waiting on payment and then the date updated on both to being sold on 05/24/2023. When I spoke to eBay about it they said it was a known issue along with the no invoice issue. They just had me cancel the order as issue with buyers address. 

      There seems to be a trend lately of sellers contacting eBay and being told "it was a known issue" but they never seem to fix any of them. Good that you could cancel due to buyers address problem but that let the buyer off the hook for the non-payment strike. Not sure if they could actually leave feedback that you canceled the order when there was nothing wrong with the address. 

[spiffy*dynamo]

On the fourth day of nonpayment I always send a reminder as a courtesy with a personal message that says "Thank you for your purchase. Please pay by (the fifth day) to avoid cancellation of this order." If they don't pay I cancel it but I've never had this issue. I typically do it thru the phone app but this time it was from my laptop as a manual invoice.

Are you saying that when you manually send an invoice, the actual date of purchase jumps forward to the date the invoice was sent, the four days of nonpayment is now erased, and the option of cancelling for nonpayment goes away for another four days? Also, apparently you know this but the customer service rep not only doesn't know but will just kind of make up a reason I couldn't cancel for nonpayment?

Thank you for replying, your posts are amazingly helpful.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@spiffy*dynamo wrote: ... Are you saying that when you manually send an invoice, the actual date of purchase jumps forward to the date the invoice was sent, the four days of nonpayment is now erased, and the option of cancelling for nonpayment goes away for another four days? ....

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Yes.   

[spiffy*dynamo]

I can't say I get it, not really sensical or intuitive IMO but valuable to know.

Thank you everyone for responding, always great insights in this community.

[chapeau-noir]

@spiffy*dynamo  I think that date reset is left over from the old auction days when very frequently people would be bidding on several auctions at once, ending on, say, several successive dates. eBay may have automatically sent an invoice after each auction was won, but the seller was able to decide how long they would allow buyers to win auctions before they themselves would send a combined invoice after the auctions were done.  That would again start the clock but it would be the final invoice. It's just kind of an automatic thing.

Sellers who do auctions here now still have this ability, as do sellers who use IPR.  The seller is able to decide how long the buyer has to pay through their buyer preferences, anywhere from 4 days to 30 days (one can automate that, too).

Anyway, my theory.

I think eBay could make whatever reason for this more clear.

[stuff4divas]

@spiffy*dynamo   here is the ebay link to read up on re unpaid items>

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/resolving-unpaid-items-buyers?id=4137&st=3&pos=1&quer...

[allthingssurplus]

That is exactly what they are saying.  This is not a glitch.  I called on this two weeks ago when I saw that a invoice needed to be sent for an order.  There are five people in the office that deal with listings.  When anyone of us sees a invoice being requested for an order we just automatically send it.  What we did not know and was not true in the recent past if you send an invoice 2-3 days or even more that resets the sales date.  What mindless person in eBay thought that was a grand idea.  When I called CS I was told as usual that this change, that no one knew was coming, was great for the Seller.  It would allow for the Seller to alter and resend the invoice if changes were needed.  If that were the case all eBay had to do was allow the Seller to edit the invoice and not change the actual date of the sale.  eBay allowed that when they owned PayPal and it worked just fine.

Now in my 23 year view of this platform there is only two reasons eBay wanted to do this.  The first, which is bad for Sellers, is that it now allows a Buyer way more time to pay which ties up the Sellers inventory and extra non productive work time keeping tabs on the sale.  The second really bad thing and I don't think eBay is smart enough to know they did this, is they allowed drop shippers to kick the can for payment down the road for a long time by asking for an invoice.  For drop shippers they now have more freedom to find a buyer for something they have not paid for but did tie up from being sold.

The people that write code for this program either have never used the platform or are so young they have no business sense.  I guess both.

[spiffy*dynamo]

Thank you. According to this link, I should've been able to cancel due to nonpayment 4 calendar days after the listing ended, not 4 days after the invoice was sent. It says different for a combined invoice but that's not what I sent, I pretty much followed steps 1 thru 3 exactly. Either I am missing something or this is an overlooked inconsistency on eBay's part. 

[wastingtime101]

We managed to pull details on unpaid items from reps on this board @spiffy*dynamo.

1. If you use a manual process to handle UPI cancellations:

- System makes you wait it out 4 full calendar days and you can cancel after midnight on the 5th day.

- Sending an invoice resets the payment clock, and yes, the date on the order.

The assumed reason is because sending an invoice is generally only done if the amount has to be adjusted. So eBay gives the buyer 4 additional days once they receive the revised amount. The system isn't looking at whether or not you actually changed anything, only that you sent an invoice. Since eBay sends payment reminders automatically, there's no reason for the seller to send an invoice with the purpose of issuing a payment reminder.

2. If you set up automated rules for handing UPI cancellations:

- System will automatically cancel after 4 days (96 hours) sometimes with a few minutes lag.

- Sending an invoice won't affect the cancellation clock, but it will still affect the date on the order.

Why are automated and manual processes handled differently? eBay didn't say. If I had to guess I'd say it's because sellers using the manual process are more likely to give buyers longer payment windows, more likely to be used by sellers that use auctions, more likely to have combined shipping situations where invoices can change that ship cost.

[wastingtime101]

Forgot to include: automated UPI cancellation can also be customized to cancel after more than 4 days. 4 days (96 hours) is the shortest window option.