Buyers who send offers and don’t pay: the curse of eBay

Summary: The discussion concerns the problem of buyers on eBay who submit offers but then do not complete the payment. Several participants commented on the issue, sharing similar experiences and suggesting possible solutions or expressing frustration with the situation. The conversation highlights a common problem among eBay sellers and shows an interaction between multiple users who are interested in finding a solution.

Hello everyone,

One day science will give us answers about the people who send in the purchase offer and then back out without paying?! 🤔 I mean, at least contact the seller with the classic excuse of "purchased by mistake" so the poor seller, who has zero protection, can put it back up for sale.

Anyway, I think it’s a flawed system from the start; eBay should copy Vinted or Vestiarie, where the item remains for sale (so visible) until the buyer actually pays.

Or else make immediate payment mandatory (like with Buy It Now).

Statistically, I’ve noticed that if the buyer doesn’t pay within a few hours of the offer being accepted, they back out... so I’m asking you, is it possible to put the item back up for sale when you have the feeling/gut instinct that the buyer won’t pay?! (I know it’s possible to do it, I mean what does the seller face if they go ahead with this procedure?)

Thanks and have a great weekend

sharkrunner1982

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Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 5 months ago

13 comments

colombo_tenente

·5 months ago

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It happens and it will keep happening.......when it happens to me, I take the opportunity to "top up" my already long list of blocked buyers

vonbalden

·2 years ago

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It seems that science (of consumerism or post-consumerism, whichever you prefer) has already provided an explanation for this, stating that giving up a purchase is one of the evils afflicting humankind over the last ten years. More precisely, since online sales spread like wildfire. Its name? Here it is: The rethinking. The English word (everything has to be said in English nowadays, even if you don't know your mother tongue very well) means second thoughts. Everything is open to second thoughts today. Especially in an online transaction. Who usually, and slyly, plants the seeds of second thoughts is usually a family member. The wife, the older sister, the lover, even the family cat can get involved: 'look what I want to buy, honey, from Mafammilpiacere 64 ! A pair of woolly bloomers with Boy George's face on the back. It's vintage, right?? Come off it, he replies. What are you, allergic to polyamide! Have you already made the offer? If so, don't answer. We can always tell the seller you clicked by mistake. Second thoughts spare no one, especially if the cost of the item exceeds the astronomical sum of 10 euro. We are all subject to second thoughts. I myself, in writing or not writing this post and its supposed usefulness. But I felt I had to clarify it to sharkrunner. The seller's bogeyman is called rethinking now !🤐

technopartsbay

·2 years ago

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Another "flaw" of eBay is exactly this... they should do it like on Discogs: the seller "decides" how many days to give the buyer to pay (sending almost daily warning messages, unlike here where eBay sends one and Deo gratias...).
Then after the "time" has passed, they leave negative feedback for an unpaid order (which cannot be removed except by the seller) and "cut his legs out from under him" by lowering his ranking.

For completeness, between Discogs fees and PayPal, the two companies "take" almost 13% on sales, so they protect sellers a little more, but only in this case....

heavenwelkin

·2 years ago

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@technopartsbay wrote:
Another "shortcoming" of eBay is exactly this... they should do it like on Discogs: the seller "decides" how many days to give the buyer to pay (sending warning messages almost daily, not like here where eBay sends one and Deo gratias...).
Then, once the "time" is up, they leave negative feedback for an unpaid order (which cannot be removed except by the seller) and "cut their legs out from under them" by lowering their ranking.

For completeness, between Discogs and PayPal fees, the two companies "take" almost 13% on sales, so they protect sellers a little more, but only in this case....

eBay's user base has changed quite a lot; they are largely casual, here-today-gone-tomorrow users who install the app on their smartphone and know nothing about eBay's rules, and think that clicking buy without paying simply means putting items in the cart, as happens on other marketplaces.

MAYBE, and I mean maybe, with the buy proposal they might realize that they then have to commit to the purchase.

Modern users are totally different and eBay uses a soft approach so as not to traumatize these poor creatures, with a limit on the number of purchases that can be completed and a limit on the maximum amounts that can be completed.

arcobaleno2022

·2 years ago

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@heavenwelkin wrote:
eBay's user base has changed quite a bit; it's largely made up of drive-by users who install the app on their smartphone and know nothing about eBay's rules, and who think that clicking buy without paying simply means putting items in the cart, as happens on other marketplaces.

eBay is wrong about this; I'll explain why from my point of view with an example: if you, the user, click Buy It Now thinking you're putting it in the cart, but then you realize you're actually buying it, and then to fix it you use the cancel purchase option, from the buyer's side everything is fine; but from the seller's side? For every cancelled sale, eBay still takes its 35-cent transaction fee, whether it's completed or cancelled, the platform doesn't care; 35 cents per item sold; and if in one day you deal with a dozen of these users you've gifted the platform 3.50, and if this story keeps going every day of the month you've gifted the platform a bit over 100 euros without selling anything, while losing 100 euros on transactions that never actually happened; eBay's mistake is here, the moment they cancel the order, it's true that you refund me the fees, but along with the fees you also have to give me back the 35 cents, not keep them since the sale never went through anyway.
Regards

heavenwelkin

·2 years ago

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@arcobaleno2022 wrote:
For every canceled sale, eBay still takes its 0.35 cents from the transaction, whether it is completed or canceled the platform doesn't care; 0.35 cents per sold listing

Good evening arcobaleno2022

If you are a professional seller, the amount of 0.35 euros is refunded if you issue a refund voluntarily or if there is a cancellation request from the buyer.

Right now I don't know if there have been any further changes or updates, I should check.....

heavenwelkin

·2 years ago

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@arcobaleno2022 wrote:
With every cancelled sale, eBay still takes its 0.35 cents transaction fee, whether the transaction is completed or cancelled the platform doesn’t care;

Anyway, on this point I agree with you, cancelling a payment and the related reversal isn’t free and until March 2023 all sellers had to bear the cost.

Now things have changed and I think these options are also valid for non-professional sellers but I’m not 100% sure.

see here:

https://www.ebay.it/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fee-credits?id=4128

arcobaleno2022

·2 years ago

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Hi heaven,

I am a professional seller; I read the link you shared with me and I have to say that I am pleased with this change made for refunds of the fixed listing fee of 0.35; I found it rather unfair to have to pay it no matter what if a buyer asked me for a refund after 5 minutes for a mistaken purchase, because why should you deduct this fee from my account if I haven’t sold anything and haven’t received any benefit? I’m glad that this misunderstanding between the platform and the seller has been resolved.

Thank you for the useful information and I send you warm regards.

homonostalgiens

·2 years ago

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Hi, you're not alone, I have an item sold but with a pending payment (which by now definitely won’t be paid anymore), for over 10 days. Instead of canceling everything, 48 hours later I opened an identical listing, because I had already figured out how it was going to end. I let him “expire,” just in case the buyer might pay when you least expect it.

As for me, though, in the past it’s happened that I placed an offer a couple of times that was accepted, but then I asked to have it canceled, and there were two reasons:

-- The first time I found the same item for less from another user (fair enough, and I asked for the cancellation by sending a message)

-- The second time I wasn’t completely sure what to do. And that’s my fault. I didn’t do anything, but I wanted to wait a few days.....out of simple indecision. Then urgent expenses came up that month, and let’s just say I’d “lost the mood” for it. But after a few days of waiting, the seller canceled on their own. I definitely came across as a “time-waster,” but oh well. I doubt there are people who do it just for the sake of doing it.

sika700

·2 years ago

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@darricovero wrote:
...I have an item sold but with payment pending (which by now definitely won’t be paid), for over 10 days. Instead of canceling everything, 48 hours later I posted an identical listing, because I had understood how it was going to end. I let him "expire," just in case the buyer might pay when you least expect it.
...

Ok, but don’t let it "expire" for too long because then eBay charges you the fees anyway, even if you haven’t received the payment.

Cancel it yourself before 30 days from the sale!

Kind regards.

sika700

·2 years ago

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@sharkrunner1982 wrote:

... so I’m asking you, is it possible to put the item back up for sale when you have a feeling/inkling that the buyer won’t pay?! (I know it’s possible to do it, I mean what does the seller face if they carry out this procedure?)

I’d say you don’t run into anything... since eBay gives you 4 days to pay for the item and you can cancel it whenever you want... the only problem is that before the 4 days are up, you won’t be able to state non-payment as the reason for the cancellation and so the buyer won’t receive any warning... so I’d say the 4 days are “almost” mandatory...

Kind regards.

sharkrunner1982

OP2 years ago

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Thanks.

So, at the moment I decide to put the item back on sale again (because I’ve realized that the buyer won’t pay), does the acceptance of the purchase offer also automatically get canceled?!

Just to avoid any misunderstandings, the buyer won’t be able to leave negative feedback... right?!

You know, claiming as an excuse “the seller didn’t wait 3 days and 23 hours and 59 seconds for me to pay”

bye!

sika700

·2 years ago

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@sharkrunner1982 wrote:

...So when I decide to put the item back up for sale (because I’ve realized the buyer won’t pay), does the acceptance of the purchase offer automatically get canceled too?!
Just to be clear, the buyer won’t be able to leave negative feedback... right?!
Like, saying something like "the seller didn’t wait 3 days, 23 hours and 59 seconds for me to pay"

No, the offer remains in force until you cancel it... you can safely put the item back up for sale, but of course there’s the risk that within those 4 days you’ll receive payment for the offer and also sell the one you put back up for sale...

Then, the risk of negative feedback remains only until the cancellation of the order for unpaid item; if you cancel it for other reasons, so before the 4 days, the risk remains.

Best regards.