Another one to add to your ebay blocked buyers list (updated 10/25)

[kitkatvintage]

I've been selling g3's on my husband's ebay account to build up a good selling reputation & work through getting the paypal holds taken off & what-not. The account appears to be new-ish to ebay & particularly selling, but I've been selling under my own account since '97. Let's just say that I know the ropes of ebay.

On all of my listings I have the following payment terms:
"PAYMENT INFORMATION:
I only accept payments via Paypal at this time.  Payment is expected within 3 days of the end of an auction. Non-paying bidder cases will be opened after the 4th day, so please bid responsibly. If you win multiple auctions, please wait for an invoice for combined shipping cost before sending payment. Due to current volume of sales, I can only offer combined shipping for items ending within 3 days of each other."

I use ebay automatic non-paying bidder case opener thingie, so cases open on the 4th day.

Today I had a case open, and shortly after the buyer paid. Then sent me this message:
"Why did you open an unpaid item dispute and it has only been 4 days since I won the auction. You did not even bother sending me a message or anything. I think you would be a better seller if you bothered contacting the people who won your auctions. <removing personal info about family emergency> You have no idea what is happening in other people's lives and should really give someone a chance to pay for their items before opening a dispute. I am not new to EBay and have great transactions. Check out my rating. You could have contacted me if you we're concerned about the payment. I will never buy from you again and will describe why in my feedback. These items better be as described to the tee or you will have a major complaint from me and EBay will know. Have a great day."

I replied:
"Hi,
First off, I'm very sorry to hear about <again removing personal family emergency info>. I know how difficult that is.
I have an automatic setting to open non-paying cases after the 4th day. Here's a copy & paste of the payment information from the auction:
"PAYMENT INFORMATION:

I only accept payments via Paypal at this time.  Payment is expected within 3 days of the end of an auction. Non-paying bidder cases will be opened after the 4th day, so please bid responsibly. If you win multiple auctions, please wait for an invoice for combined shipping cost before sending payment. Due to current volume of sales, I can only offer combined shipping for items ending within 3 days of each other."

I'm sorry that you feel that these terms are unfair, but it's clearly stated in the auction listing. Everyone has their own problems, believe me. I'm selling things on eBay to make ends meet because my hours were cut back at work.

Thank you for your business."

I reported their message as "feedback extortion" then called ebay to see what my options were. The ebay rep told me to send the buyer a message offering to cancel the transaction & refund their money. I can't cancel the transaction unless they agree to this because only 1 case can be opened per item, and this item already had a non-paying case. If the buyer won't agree to cancel, I will have to follow through on shipping their items & hope they don't leave bad feedback.  IF they do leave bad feedback, I will have to call ebay to request that it be removed due to the previous threat of feedback extortion in their message.

This is very frustrating because the whole reason I have been selling under hubby's account is to establish a GOOD record, and I'm only a few weeks away from getting out of the paypal fee holding phase. 

So, if you have made it this far, I'd give you a cookie but this is all we got...
The buyer's id is: rphgray & they purchased MIB g3's for me.

---------
Updated Oct. 25th:
Ok, so it appears that the buyer has received her items & left me positive feedback. So I guess everything has blown over in the end.

Here's the rest of what happened, in case anyone cares to know:
as I mentioned in a post below, she sent me 3 additional messages within an hours time refusing to cancel the sale, demanding her items right away, saying I was ruining her kid's Christmas, ect. I reported them to ebay as feedback extortion & harassment where appropriate. The I sent her this message:

"Your items are packed & will ship out tomorrow. In your first message you threatened me with bad feedback before receiving your items. This is known as "feedback extortion" and has been reported to ebay. I spoke with an ebay rep on the phone, and was advised to offer the cancellation of the sale because of your documented feedback threat. Ebay provides the automatic non-paying case opener as a service to sellers. I'm truly sorry for your troubles, but I have done nothing but follow ebay's rules & advice from their customer service rep. I hope you enjoy your items.
Thank you."

The following evening she sent me a lengthy message that started off in the tone of an apology, but turned into scolding me as an inexperienced seller who would be losing any future business with her. I decided not to reply. Today she left positive feedback for me & presumably a decent star rating (since the feedback is fairly low on this account, anyone who leaves a rating of less than 4 stars would be pretty obvious), so maybe she felt bad in the end?? Who knows! I'm just glad that things appear to have had a happy ending.

[Dyzarktarzk]

I understand is frustrating when buyers do not contact at all. 

I just had a buyer paying a week later sincen when she won.  But as I only sold one item I can keep track of them easy, selling multiple items, it must be difficult to keep track of all the items and buyers =S

Well, in my case, buyer was sick...  But still, is way easy to write as a buyer to ask for time if one's sick, or have an emergency, as a seller, I prefer the buyer to contact me first (and also when I bought, I tend to contact the seller immediately after I won...).

And... still, they have a family emergency, but when the case opened they paid without waiting a moment?  It'll be the same as when the auction ended, I think...

[achab1984]

That sucks, I have had alot of people waiting days to pay for the item. I have also had to open alot of cases on buyers to. That gets them to pay and sucks it has to be this way.

[Yurusumaji]

I can understand family emergencies and all, but like you said ... it was right there for anyone with two eyes to see. If they had read the terms of payment, they would have known that they needed to pay within 3 days. Also, with smart phones these days, it's really easy to do that stuff on the go. I understand they might not have one, but it's a thought.

She would have been better off being apologetic, rather than getting defensive and jumping down your throat. I get that she's stressed and upset, but it doesn't give her any right to be rude. I just see a whole lot of people using eBay who need to grow up.

[HorsingAround]

And this is why I’ve held off on selling on ebay!!! I think that if a buyer commits to purchasing an item from a seller then they are also agreeing to abide by the conditions set forth by the seller (i.e. payment must be received within 3 days).   That being said, it may make sense to get rid of the automatic non-paying bidder case opener thing because it may cause more grief than it is actually worth.  I know it may seem impractical, especially if you are selling in high volume but having to deal with these types of situations seem like just as much of a headache!  If I was the seller and it was day 4, I would probably shoot the buyer over an e-mail.  If they ignored the e-mail I would file a non-paying bidder complaint.  If they responded saying there was a family emergency, I would of course understand but also expect payment straight away.  After all, if they have time to send the e-mail then they also have time to send over the funds! 

[kitkatvintage]

That being said, it may make sense to get rid of the automatic non-paying bidder case opener thing because it may cause more grief than it is actually worth. 

On my regular ebay I account, I sold well over 200 auctions this year (I basically acted as an "ebayer broker" to sell a friend's estate for their family). Based on those sales, more than 10% of buyers NEVER paid. Using the 4 day automatic case opener speeds up the process of getting your fees back & giving non-payers an appropriate strike. Also, most buyers that legitimately just forgot to pay will hurry up & pay as soon as the case opens.

I totally understand that emergencies happen, but how someone conducts them-self in a bad situation speaks volumes.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Thanks for letting us know!

[Lygeia]

So frustrating!  The 4 days you gave them to pay plus the 4 days before the unpaid item case closes is more than enough time for someone to pay up.  Hopefully they'll cool off and realize they are in the wrong.   I have to open these cases nearly every week; sometimes they pay, sometimes they get a strike.  I usually message them around day 3 after the auction ends and if I get a response I'll hold off on opening the unpaid item case.  If I get no response so be it; I block them and hope someone else will buy the item when I relist    Good luck!

[steampunk]

I love how people don't bother to read auction descriptions.  Even if you had it in huge red letters in font 50 on the main page, people would still moan and complain. Good luck!

[ponylady]

*grabs cookie* Thanks!

I feel your pain, believe me.  I was complaining the other day that I think it's a bunch of crap that when you open a case that ebay allows them four days to make good.  Ummm..I already give them a week, I believe that is more than enough time to pay without ebay adding another four days. 

Anyways back to the email you received from her.  If she feels that an email should have been sent on your part before opening the case, shouldn't an email have been sent on her part telling you that she was having family issues so you weren't waiting around for payment???    I mean I think your awesome KitKat but I didn't know you were a mind reader? 

I am also glad you reported them for feedback extortion.  That was pretty immature on her part to threaten you when you have done nothing wrong. If it was wrong ebay wouldn't give you the option to automatically open the case.

[kitkatvintage]

Thanks everyone. Her ponies shipped out this morning, so we will see what happens. She sent me 3 additional messages last night within an hour basically telling me how heartless I am & that I'm trying to ruin her daughter's Christmas. I reported each to eBay for feedback extortion & harassment, where applicable.

I would like to give this person the benefit of the doubt, but so far she's used "gifts for child" & "dying relative"... if I had a dollar for every time a buyer had one of those 2 situations, I wouldn't need to sell stuff on eBay anymore.

[achab1984]

Report everything! You did nothing wrong and you had it all listed in the ads

[Dyzarktarzk]

And if she's had time to write 3 more messages in less than an hour...  I wonder WHAT really happened to her the 3 days prior of the opening of the case =S

I don't want to doubt people... but... not contacting, one can't read minds to know if the buyer has something bad happening in the live.

[tulagirl]

I know people lie about these things all of the time because I have a friend whose mother admits that she tells her buyers she was in the hospital when shipments are running late. Thats just not good to lie. We will never know for sure on this...

[Dragonflitter]

And if she's had time to write 3 more messages in less than an hour...  I wonder WHAT really happened to her the 3 days prior of the opening of the case =S

How convenient that she can't pay in three whole days but has plenty of time for harassing you for an automated feature. She's just an old bitty who wants to whine and moan because someone DARED to infer she might actually be doing something wrong! *eye roll*

I'm certainly glad you reported her for harassment and feedback extortion, though of course ebay probably won't do anything about it... At least you'll get the neutral or neg removed from your feedback if she tries to get back at you that way.

This is the chance we take with ebay... ugh, for every couple good transactions it seems like there's one who is a major hassle. 10% 'no paids' in our other account!? Yikes!