eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎09-03-2024

So a few weeks ago a buyer in South Korea won three cheap items at auction. I combined and added shipping.

This past Sunday another account from South Korea won three more cheap items. And then I get a message after combining shipping to "combine with these items" (from the other account).

I told him the items were bought by a different eBay account. He tells me it's both him, so please combine. He points out the shipping address is the same.

I replied back that if I add tracking to one account's order I can't add it to the other account, eBay policy. It's been crickets since. The stuff from last Sunday hasn't gone long enough for me to cancel. I can cancel his two weeks ago items but I don't want to do that until I cancel everything.

In all likelihood for $5 in coins this isn't a scam. But I don't get to keep all my money by letting my guard down and making exceptions that prevent me from getting the protections eBay offers, like adding tracking to prove delivery. Even if it's not a big deal to be out $5 in coins (which probably cost $1), I'm out $12 in postage.

C.

mam98031 · ‎09-05-2024

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
You hadn't shipped the first order? After all that time why hadn't you cancelled them for Non payment?
On the auctions I don't rush to cancel for non-payment. Some people combine over a few weeks, it's just with their same eBay account. This is a first for having one buyer with two different accounts trying to combine.

Also if I cancel the first order for non-payment right now, it might make him unhappy with me with regards to the second order (which I can't cancel yet, 96 hours hasn't passed yet).

C.
I use to run auctions a lot too, but I never waited weeks for a buyer to pay for a couple of reasons. One, after 30 days you can't cancel for non payment. Two, if a buyer needed that much time to pay, they should have been in contact with may saying they needed the time.
If one of my customers is correct, they DO get a strike for non payment for waiting 30 days, I just can't do the cancel myself. eBay does it for me. I had a buyer take more than 30 days to pay (it was OK with me, I didn't realize there was a time limit), and he got a bunch of non payment strikes on those orders. Then he couldn't pay through eBay, but because we're members of the same coin club he sent me a transfer for the coins (Canadian banking transfer). Now I make sure that they pay within 30 days knowing they won't be able to pay if they don't. Generally my buyers have no other way to pay if eBay doesn't permit it.

C.

Are you saying you have the Automated Assistant set to file your Cancellations for Non Payment set for 30 days so you never miss your option to file the cancellation for non payment?

That highlighted statement is an interesting one. Do you think other sellers, of listings similar to the stuff you sell, have other options for their buyers to pay? I don't understand.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

brightlightbookseller · ‎09-06-2024

@sin-n-dex I think you probably did the right thing. I have little patience for buyers who don't respond, especially when they made a request themselves. I don't know that this was any type of scam, but it could have ended badly even if it wasn't, and it is probably best to block and move on like you did.

sin-n-dex · ‎09-06-2024

@mam98031 wrote:
Are you saying you have the Automated Assistant set to file your Cancellations for Non Payment set for 30 days so you never miss your option to file the cancellation for non payment?

That highlighted statement is an interesting one. Do you think other sellers, of listings similar to the stuff you sell, have other options for their buyers to pay? I don't understand.

No, I'm saying if buyers don't pay in 30 days eBay gives them a strike themselves, I don't have to cancel. With Managed payments if there's no payment, there's no FVF assessed. It's not like before where you got charged when it sold and had to cancel to get your fees back. Since it makes no difference if I cancel or let it time out, I often let them time out. buyer gets a strike anyway. I just have to archive it to make it go away because it will sit there waiting for payment even though the buyer can no longer pay.

I don't know what other sellers do for payments, I use eBay managed payments. If you know me IRL or had pre-existing relationships with me, then I can find items and sell them with other payment available (like Paypal or in Canada bank transfer). There's one buyer from the coin club that combines over a few weeks and has paid with Canadian funds (at the exchange rate) and I mark it paid on ebay so eBay gets their fees and it stays on site. There's a few Canadian buyers who pay by bank transfer, but most of the time their order is a request for me to find stuff, has nothing to do with what's currently listed. I do happen to know quite a few of my Canadian customers IRL.

C.

mam98031 · ‎09-06-2024

@sin-n-dex

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
Are you saying you have the Automated Assistant set to file your Cancellations for Non Payment set for 30 days so you never miss your option to file the cancellation for non payment?

That highlighted statement is an interesting one. Do you think other sellers, of listings similar to the stuff you sell, have other options for their buyers to pay? I don't understand.
No, I'm saying if buyers don't pay in 30 days eBay gives them a strike themselves, I don't have to cancel. With Managed payments if there's no payment, there's no FVF assessed. It's not like before where you got charged when it sold and had to cancel to get your fees back. Since it makes no difference if I cancel or let it time out, I often let them time out. buyer gets a strike anyway. I just have to archive it to make it go away because it will sit there waiting for payment even though the buyer can no longer pay.

I don't know what other sellers do for payments, I use eBay managed payments. If you know me IRL or had pre-existing relationships with me, then I can find items and sell them with other payment available (like Paypal or in Canada bank transfer). There's one buyer from the coin club that combines over a few weeks and has paid with Canadian funds (at the exchange rate) and I mark it paid on ebay so eBay gets their fees and it stays on site. There's a few Canadian buyers who pay by bank transfer, but most of the time their order is a request for me to find stuff, has nothing to do with what's currently listed. I do happen to know quite a few of my Canadian customers IRL.

C.

It does not work that way. Your FVFs is a completely separate issue and you are correct, if the buyer doesn't pay the seller does not get charged FVFs. But Ebay does NOT automatically give a buyer a non payment strike if they don't pay you in 30 days UNLESS YOU file the Cancellation for non payment.

You are confusing two completely separate things. FVFs is one thing, An unpaid strike is a completely different thing.

When you let the time run out for filing a Cancellation for non payment, you are also letting the buyer get away with not paying as Ebay does NOT do anything to that buyer and they do NOT automatically give them a non payment strike. What happens to that buyer is absolutely nothing.

Managed Payments also has nothing to do with this. Either you file the Cancellation for non payment and the buyer gets an unpaid strike or you don't and NOTHING happens to the buyer.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

sin-n-dex · ‎09-07-2024

@mam98031 wrote:

It does not work that way. Your FVFs is a completely separate issue and you are correct, if the buyer doesn't pay the seller does not get charged FVFs. But Ebay does NOT automatically give a buyer a non payment strike if they don't pay you in 30 days UNLESS YOU file the Cancellation for non payment.

You are confusing two completely separate things. FVFs is one thing, An unpaid strike is a completely different thing.

When you let the time run out for filing a Cancellation for non payment, you are also letting the buyer get away with not paying as Ebay does NOT do anything to that buyer and they do NOT automatically give them a non payment strike. What happens to that buyer is absolutely nothing.

Managed Payments also has nothing to do with this. Either you file the Cancellation for non payment and the buyer gets an unpaid strike or you don't and NOTHING happens to the buyer.

A buyer I know let a purchase run past 30 days and he got a non-payment strike for not paying. I was going by an account of a buyer having done this when I provided this info. Since the items were purchased from me, and I didn't give him a strike or cancel as unpaid, I'm going with eBay gives a strike if not paid within 30 days.

Generally I would cancel before 30 days are up (I usually let them know and in most cases it results in payment being made, it's all people combining over several weeks who don't realize they won't be able to pay the invoice if one item is past 30 days).

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎09-07-2024

@brightlightbookseller wrote:
@sin-n-dex I think you probably did the right thing. I have little patience for buyers who don't respond, especially when they made a request themselves. I don't know that this was any type of scam, but it could have ended badly even if it wasn't, and it is probably best to block and move on like you did.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't a scam attempt, but it was against policy to try and combine the orders, so I wouldn't do that. I tried to find a way to work it out, but with no response I just gave and cancelled. But of course I blocked too to avoid dealing with that account again. He might create a new account to bid, but I'll worry about that if it happens.

C.

mam98031 · ‎09-07-2024

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:

It does not work that way. Your FVFs is a completely separate issue and you are correct, if the buyer doesn't pay the seller does not get charged FVFs. But Ebay does NOT automatically give a buyer a non payment strike if they don't pay you in 30 days UNLESS YOU file the Cancellation for non payment.

You are confusing two completely separate things. FVFs is one thing, An unpaid strike is a completely different thing.

When you let the time run out for filing a Cancellation for non payment, you are also letting the buyer get away with not paying as Ebay does NOT do anything to that buyer and they do NOT automatically give them a non payment strike. What happens to that buyer is absolutely nothing.

Managed Payments also has nothing to do with this. Either you file the Cancellation for non payment and the buyer gets an unpaid strike or you don't and NOTHING happens to the buyer.
A buyer I know let a purchase run past 30 days and he got a non-payment strike for not paying. I was going by an account of a buyer having done this when I provided this info. Since the items were purchased from me, and I didn't give him a strike or cancel as unpaid, I'm going with eBay gives a strike if not paid within 30 days.

Generally I would cancel before 30 days are up (I usually let them know and in most cases it results in payment being made, it's all people combining over several weeks who don't realize they won't be able to pay the invoice if one item is past 30 days).

C.

Your buyer is likely mistaken.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/unpaid-item-policy?id=4271

But things change around here without notice, so let's just get this verified. Keep in mind the team is not back in the office until Monday, so it will be a few days before someone responds.

elizabeth@ebay

kyle@ebay

devon@ebay

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

mam98031 · ‎09-07-2024

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@brightlightbookseller wrote:
@sin-n-dex I think you probably did the right thing. I have little patience for buyers who don't respond, especially when they made a request themselves. I don't know that this was any type of scam, but it could have ended badly even if it wasn't, and it is probably best to block and move on like you did.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't a scam attempt, but it was against policy to try and combine the orders, so I wouldn't do that. I tried to find a way to work it out, but with no response I just gave and cancelled. But of course I blocked too to avoid dealing with that account again. He might create a new account to bid, but I'll worry about that if it happens.

C.

Or you could end up with some bad feedback. I would have just shipped the two orders separately and gave them combined shipping if within each order multiple items were purchased. But that too in a case like this has it's dangers. I'm not sure there is a good solution to this very unusual problem. I do hope the buyer doesn't get upset with you. You did the best you could in a bad situation.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

lacemaker3 · ‎09-07-2024

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:

It does not work that way. Your FVFs is a completely separate issue and you are correct, if the buyer doesn't pay the seller does not get charged FVFs. But Ebay does NOT automatically give a buyer a non payment strike if they don't pay you in 30 days UNLESS YOU file the Cancellation for non payment.

You are confusing two completely separate things. FVFs is one thing, An unpaid strike is a completely different thing.

When you let the time run out for filing a Cancellation for non payment, you are also letting the buyer get away with not paying as Ebay does NOT do anything to that buyer and they do NOT automatically give them a non payment strike. What happens to that buyer is absolutely nothing.

Managed Payments also has nothing to do with this. Either you file the Cancellation for non payment and the buyer gets an unpaid strike or you don't and NOTHING happens to the buyer.
A buyer I know let a purchase run past 30 days and he got a non-payment strike for not paying. I was going by an account of a buyer having done this when I provided this info. Since the items were purchased from me, and I didn't give him a strike or cancel as unpaid, I'm going with eBay gives a strike if not paid within 30 days.

Generally I would cancel before 30 days are up (I usually let them know and in most cases it results in payment being made, it's all people combining over several weeks who don't realize they won't be able to pay the invoice if one item is past 30 days).

C.

@sin-n-dex,

You probably set up your cancellation preferences to give your buyers up to 30 days to pay before eBay cancels automatically for non-payment, which does give them a non-payment strike.

You can set it up for eBay to cancel unpaid items automatically using the slider button on this page, and choose from varying time intervals between 4 to 30 days, by opening the drop-down list:

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

sin-n-dex · ‎09-07-2024

@lacemaker3 wrote:

You probably set up your cancellation preferences to give your buyers up to 30 days to pay before eBay cancels automatically for non-payment, which does give them a non-payment strike.

You can set it up for eBay to cancel unpaid items automatically using the slider button on this page, and choose from varying time intervals between 4 to 30 days, by opening the drop-down list:

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

I checked my settings, it's turned off. No automatic cancellation.

The buyer who told me is someone from the coin club, he asked if he could take longer to pay and I didn't know there was a time limit imposed by eBay. I assumed as long as I didn't cancel it was fine. I got up one morning to a message from him asking why he has non payment strikes on a bunch of items he bought from me when I said he could take as much time as he needed.

That's when I found out eBay gives a strike when they block payment from happening after 30 days.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎09-07-2024

@mam98031 wrote:
Or you could end up with some bad feedback. I would have just shipped the two orders separately and gave them combined shipping if within each order multiple items were purchased. But that too in a case like this has it's dangers. I'm not sure there is a good solution to this very unusual problem. I do hope the buyer doesn't get upset with you. You did the best you could in a bad situation.

Since I cancelled for non payment, I think feedback is out now.

I was willing to ship each order separately combining the items on that account, but as suggested, I offered to cancel the older order and give him a chance to repurchase with the second account so everything could be combined. Nothing was paid for, so nothing's getting shipped at this point until I get payment.

If he is upset with me now, I'll never see it, I blocked both accounts. If he buys with a third account I will deal with that when that happens. I've had people who were blocked try to purchase again and actually had the account that purchased shut down almost immediately. That's one good thing about having a handling time, I'm not required to ship immediately when someone pays.

C.

12345jamesstamps · ‎09-07-2024

We both have those same kind of buyers(age-thing).

And we both want those 'repeat buyers' even if they are slow at paying.

I don't do auctions now but did a lot in the past.

And for some odd reason...Asian countries tend to take their time to pay.

I would usually do the two week and then mark 'not paid'.

Somehow I got into enjoying that. LOL.

kyle@ebay · ‎09-09-2024

@mam98031 wrote:

@sin-n-dex wrote:

@mam98031 wrote:

It does not work that way. Your FVFs is a completely separate issue and you are correct, if the buyer doesn't pay the seller does not get charged FVFs. But Ebay does NOT automatically give a buyer a non payment strike if they don't pay you in 30 days UNLESS YOU file the Cancellation for non payment.

You are confusing two completely separate things. FVFs is one thing, An unpaid strike is a completely different thing.

When you let the time run out for filing a Cancellation for non payment, you are also letting the buyer get away with not paying as Ebay does NOT do anything to that buyer and they do NOT automatically give them a non payment strike. What happens to that buyer is absolutely nothing.

Managed Payments also has nothing to do with this. Either you file the Cancellation for non payment and the buyer gets an unpaid strike or you don't and NOTHING happens to the buyer.

A buyer I know let a purchase run past 30 days and he got a non-payment strike for not paying. I was going by an account of a buyer having done this when I provided this info. Since the items were purchased from me, and I didn't give him a strike or cancel as unpaid, I'm going with eBay gives a strike if not paid within 30 days.

Generally I would cancel before 30 days are up (I usually let them know and in most cases it results in payment being made, it's all people combining over several weeks who don't realize they won't be able to pay the invoice if one item is past 30 days).

C.

Your buyer is likely mistaken.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/unpaid-item-policy?id=4271

But things change around here without notice, so let's just get this verified. Keep in mind the team is not back in the office until Monday, so it will be a few days before someone responds.

elizabeth@ebay

kyle@ebay

devon@ebay

Hey @mam98031 I agree; it sounds like that buyer was mistaken. eBay does not assign an unpaid item strike if the seller never cancels the order. My best guess is the buyer genuinely thought they got the strike because they knew they didn't fulfill the payment, but they didn't actually get an official record of one.

Kyle,