Why do I have to wait 5 days to cancel a non paying buyer? Why isn't it 2 days or 1 day?

[navyvetwatchseller]

I just started selling on Ebay a couple months ago, every sale I made,  the buyer paid within 24 hours, most often within 4 hours...So  why, when a buyer hasn't paid in a reasonable amount of time (like say 36 hours) why isn't that the rule....for me to wait 5 days and my product is in limbo land, and I can't sell it or anything til this deadbeat "person" either pays (which they never have) or 5 days are up an I can cancel....why does Ebay err on the side of the buyer? (it seems, anyway). Why can't it be MY decision to make if a buyer hasn't paid in a reasonable amount of time....I don't think 5 days is a reasonable amount of time...I think it is way too much time.  Or do I have alternatives?

[nobody*s_perfect]

Yes, indeed: one step and 4+ days is definitely  better than 2 steps and 6+ days.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @navyvetwatchseller 

Sellers used to have to wait 14 days to be able to close out a transaction with a nonpayer.  The time has been reduced every several years ... and is now 5 days.  [Why?  Who knows? ... but dems da rules.]

If you hate waiting to relist your items ... you can add Immediate Payment Required to your Buy It Now listings.  That way, the listings will remain active until someone actually pays for the items.

[necoastalcollectibles]

I'm now waiting for payment for a Sports Memorabilia item and I'm not into Day 3 as far as I'm concerned but I guess eBay doesn't count the day of purchase.🙄 What really **bleep** me off about this, is that the bidder sent me the best offer and then disappeared when it came time to pay. The offer was accepted on Dec 2 and I have to wait until Dec 7 to cancel. That's 6 days, eBay! So the bidder has 5 days to pay, not 4. Do the math! 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Doing the math shows that 4 days at 24 hours each is 96 hours; if the buyer doesn't pay within 96 hours after the offer acceptance, then the list of options for cancelling a transaction will include "Buyer hasn't paid."

Until just a couple of years ago, the seller hd to wait 4 days before opening a case, then two more days before they could close it.  So now the process is 1 step and 4+ days rather than 2 steps and 6+ days.  When the unpaid item claim process was originally set up, back in the days of paper payments like checks,  Sellers had to wait 7 days before filing and another 7 days before closing, for a total of 14 days.

If you can't wait for a buyer to pay, then stick with fixed price listings and immediate payment required, with no offers.  eBay is in the process of implementing required payments for offers, but the rollout is slow and it sounds like you don't want to wait for that.

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.