Buyer still hasn't paid after more than 48 hours, what are my options?

[ferociousvegan]

I made a sale on Saturday morning, the buyer made an offer and then accepted my counteroffer, but stil has not paid. It said he had 48 hours to pay, and he did message me saying he'd pay by Monday, but still hasn't. I sent a reminder to pay this morning, but still nothing.

What do I do from here? Do I cancel the order? How can I relist the item? I am still very new to selling. Thanks!

[ferociousvegan]

It says Pending - OK to ship. I sold 5 items pretty fast after joining so maybe that's why it kicked in now? Thank you so much for that link, it was really helpful.

How long does it take before they no longer hold funds for new sellers?

[skatesave]

Not rude at all, you need to remain calm

[lintbrush*]

3 months /$250 sales / 25 transactions

It's just a safeguard to make sure you're not going to sell bad items and try to run with the money - or if you're an established seller but have a history of issues (below standard) and eBay/PayPal simply want to hold your funds to cover those potential issues.

If you're going to continuously sell you will likely leave some money in your PP account anyway.  Buyers can open Money Back Guarantee claims for 30 days after delivery.  They have 180 on PP (from date of sale) to claim issues.

I usually keep a small buffer in mine just because I might get a regular return too.

[ferociousvegan]

Awesome, thank you for being so helpful. I'm still learning as I go and new things pop up. I really appreciate it.

[copper.boom]

Hi @ferociousvegan. Welcome! eBay is definitely a learn-as-you-go process. I would highly suggest spending time reading through all of the policy pages for both eBay and PayPal. Especially the eBay seller standards.

I took a look at one of your listings. It says you ship to the US, but there are no restrictions. Are you open to shipping internationally? If you want to stick with just the US until you get the hang of things then I would suggest going into your account seller preferences and set up exclusions.

This could be especially helpful since you are selling a lot of video games and they attract a lot of international buyers. Tracking isn't available to every country which can complicate things. If you do want to ship internationally I would suggest picking out which countries you're comfortable with, and/or using eBay's Global Shipping Program.

I would also suggest sticking to lower value items until you build up your feedback -- and definitely for the next 30 days while you still have the "new user icon" next to your userid.

If you ever have questions this board is a great place to come. The knowledgable posters here can generally offer you quicker & better advice than you would get calling CS.

[ferociousvegan]

Thank you! I'm grateful for your time. I do say in my listings I will not ship internationally. I was messaged once by someone begging me to ship to Brazil for a game. I'll look into how to set up exclusions, thank you for the tip.

[copper.boom]

I've got another tip for you. I looked at the lady & the tramp figure which is quite small and you are shipping in a Med FRB. That is really pricey for something that can ship for a lot less.

Here are a few shipping options to look into:

Padded Flat Rate Envelopes

Regional Rate A Boxes (ships at 2lb rate)

These can be ordered free from USPS.com; it's unlikely your local PO would carry them. The lady & the tramp figure you could fit in a small box and slip that into the Padded FRE. That would be about half the cost of the Med FRB.

Also, it may even ship first class depending on the weight, though I do understand wanting to use Priority for the $50 included insurance since it's listed at a high price.

Here's a price chart for reference:

http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#2746995

[ferociousvegan]

Thanks! I work at a post office and that seemed the best option. The box it comes in won't fit in a padded flat rate envelope and going by weight and zip code priority could exceed the medium flat rate cost. It would be too heavy to ship first class. Sadly shipping rates are so flippin high! I hear the gripes every day. Thanks for the insight though!

And you're correct, we don't carry the regional boxes. I do the ordering and they aren't even available to us. Very rarely even see them being shipped.

[lintbrush*]

@copper.boom

The figurine is about 4x4x3 and comes with original box I'm guess PFRE is NOT an option.

[copper.boom]

Got it. Well I would highly suggest ordering the RRA boxes online delivered to your residence. They are very handy.

I would also suggest adding 2 shipping options to the listing:

Use calculated shipping by weight and offer a second shipping option using MedFRB - then buyer can choose the option that's less expensive for them depending on which zone they are in.

[copper.boom]

Thanks Lint - I only looked at the lead image where a hand was holding it and it looked small enough to fit in a 6x4x4 box which easily slides into a Padded FRE. My fault for not looking at all the details - definitely wouldn't fit in a Padded FRE, but a RRA box would be a great option. 🙂

[ferociousvegan]

Thank you! That's a good idea and I didn't even know I had that option. I ship stuff all day but when it comes to how to figure what to charge on here I'm like ummmm. Totally different animals. I can usually figure it out at home just by how it feels but sometimes it's iffy. Thanks for helping me out, you guys have been so great.

[7606dennis]

While it is possible to file a UID after 48 hours, it is not a requirement to do so.  I ordinarily allow 3 business days for items sold without immediate payment requirement.  So if the item sold this past Saturday, the buyer would have until Thursday to send payment.  Relax, it's a holiday weekend.

[klassic*kids]

@ferociousvegan 

Good Morning.  Glad it all worked out for you and the buyer paid!

As you are new and still trying to figure out how it all works I thought I'd chime in with an opinion regarding non-payer:  

I give it three days and if they still haven't paid I send them a friendly email to thank them for their committment to buy item x-y-z and that unfortunately I still have not recieved payment.  I advise them that an unpaid unpaid item (UPI) case is going to "automatically open" on day 4 (tomorrow) and I'd hate to see this mark on their good standing account.  I also ask them if they've changed their mind to please let me know and I will cancel the order.

This usually results in immediate payment.  A few times I did have to open a UPI and then payment came after that.  Only 1-2 times have I had to close the case without recieving payment.

You may recieve other opinions on how to best handle the situation but this works best for me.  I never open a case in 48 hrs.

[tkinnebrew]

Early payments are something we never expect. Literally don't even send you a message until the 8th day rolls around then we make sure you're still alive 🙂