When to ask for payment.

[luckykey3]

When do you start asking people to pay for an item they've bought?  And when to you contact ebay when they haven't paid?  Thanks.

[dtexley3]

Look up information on Unpaid Item requests.  You can file a UPI as soon as 48 hours after the item has been purchased and close it as unpaid 97 hours later.

You can choose to give people more leeway, or start the process 48 hours and one minute after they commit to purchase.  Up to you how long you give them.

[emerald40]

I put in the description my time table for expecting payment so as to give my buyers some guidance.

[rixstuff]

I can wait a couple of days but the unpaid item dispute is open at 4 days automatically.  I must have set that automatically in my preferences a long time ago.

[luckykey3]

I usually send an invoice the next day.  Then give them until day 4 because I have in my auction that it must be paid in 3 days.  I am patient if they contact me, but I wasn't sure how long Ebay gives me to open a case for non-payment if they end up not paying. 

[Anonymous]

Buyers know what they owe and it's their choice to pay or not. I open a dispute only when it's clear the buyer has gone past my very clearly stated payment requirements. When you, as a seller, make your terms of sale very clear, you don't have to question how to proceed when a buyer doesn't pay.

[luckykey3]

Thanks ya'll. But still, now long does Ebay give me to open a case for those who have written with excuses and keep ya hangin? This hasn't happened very often by the way or I'd be more versed on the subject.

[leo*spride · Accepted solution]

eBay auto-invoices successful bidders/buyers as soon as an item listing ends (or they opt for BIN).  Generally, sellers don't need to send an additional invoice

eBay's Unpaid Item Dispute case is manually controlled by the seller. There are two basic time-frames sellers have to abide by:

-] The UPI can't be opened for a full 48 hours after the listing's end time;

-] To close the case & receive a credit for Final Value Fees, and give the buyer a non-payment strike, sellers must wait a full 4 days from the time they opened the case.

Both of these are timed to the nano-second, per eBay's computer data, so it might be better to say the seller has to wait until the beginning of day 3 to file, and the beginning of day 5 to close the case. Ultimately, sellers have 36 full days to close their case... on day 37, eBay auto-closes it for them. At this point, the seller does NOT receive a FVF credit, and the buyer gets away scott-free. Moreover, the non-paying buyer can still leave less than positive feedback to the seller.

Maximum time for a seller to submit a UPI dispute before it expires = 32 days + one minute.

eBay also offers the Unpaid Item Assistant that you can set up (it's free) within your Site Preferences. This automatically opens and closes cases for you, based on the time frames you select. This is a useful tool, as long as you monitor the opened cases in your Resolution Center... like most everything in the world of computers, it can glitch. The link below contains a separate link to eBay's UPI Assistant:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/unpaid-items.html

While you're at it, also read eBay's info about managing your bidders/buyers. It's important to make sure your Buyer Requirement auto-blocks are properly set up, as well as knowing how to use your personal Blocked Buyer/Bidder List.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html

@luckykey3  ...Good Luck!

[rixstuff]

Just open the unpaid item dispute and leave it to Ebay.  At some point, enough is enough.

[fern*wood]

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@luckykey3 wrote:
Thanks ya'll. But still, now long does Ebay give me to open a case for those who have written with excuses and keep ya hangin? This hasn't happened very often by the way or I'd be more versed on the subject.

---

You can open a case up to 32 days after the listing has ended.

[luckykey3]

Up to 32 days.  That's what I needed to know.  The other was just curiosity as to how long ya'll wait to start bugging them to pay.

[jklfindings]

After a few years I have learned that for the most part, if someone is going to pay, they do it within 48 hours.  There is always the person that strings it out, but it doesn't happen very often.

After they buy eBay sends an invoice.  24 hours later I send a reminder invoice.  After 48 hours UPI is filed.  That gives another 4 days for them to pay.  If you can't pay in 6 days, you probably shouldn't have purchased in the first place.  After that close the UPI, get your fees back, relist, and block the offender.

[Anonymous]

There are requirements on this board on how to speak to people. There might be 100,000 folks out there saying WIPE YOUR OWN BEHIND but we aren't allowed to say that, in so many words that might be actually intended... so we politely suggest that you stick to your terms of sale.

[luckykey3]

I just had one that I had to contact, and they said they'd pay on day X. When it came and went I asked again ... always nicely ... and they said their check didn't come in and they could pay a month later. I told them I was going to have to follow ebays and let them know what was going on because of the time involved. They thought I was being pushy and I didn't think they'd pay, but when I contacted them the next month they ended up paying.  I just wasn't sure of the amount of time ebay gave for me to open a case.  I like to give people time because unforeseen things can happen.   Thanks for all the info. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Cool. thanks.