Okay so I am trying to really clean up and balance some big expenditures I have made this year, plus just put some money aside for safety as I graduate soon and will be looking for work and being to accumulate interest on student loans.

I have been selling on ebay. A bunch of auctions ended sunday and one on friday.

The one on friday is still unpaid and the buyer is in france. The buyer requested the total immediately and has not made a peep since.

8 items were sold on sunday and 24 hours has passed. The Brits and the Aussies have paid but the North Americans have also not made a peep. I sent invoices... no payment and no communication regarding alternate payment methods or that they want to bid on other items.. notta nothing...

I haven't experienced this en masse kind of poor communication and lack of payment before. Is this normal? Is paypal not working in northamerica? (i tend to think not since I bought something on sunday and paid immediately and I sold 2 items BIN and the buyers paid immediately...) bizarre... it they take any longer they won't be getting feedback till after they leave me feedback and yes I leave feedback immediately for customers who pay in 24 hours.

The last frame I sold on ebay took 5 days before I got paid.
He said that he was waiting to get paid, like me!

Welcome to the American recession.

It's happening

Dunno.

I bought a unicycle a while back, and paid by paypal. I used the option where it's taken from your bank account, and didn't realize, that if you don't have a credit card as a back-up source, that option takes 4-5 days. (An E-check, they called it). But I think the seller still had a notice from Paypal that I was paying, it just took a while to clear. And I wouldn't think assorted buyers would ALL be ignorant of how that worked.

Make sure you don't have these people going into junk email or something.

We've also just had a pretty bad storm with power outages. Your buyers might have been affected. Even rugby practice has been canceled!

No way that is happening. Ebay would show that they had paid if they did even if it went to junkmail (which it is not). And yes paypal sends a notice immediately saying the buyer used a credit card and they notify you when it has cleared.

Ebay provides and option for the buyer to click that indicates they will pay buy check or money order as well.

I'm getting none of this and no emails saying I will be paying shortly. I hate the lack of communication these days... If I buy something and I am going to wait 3 days I email the seller immediately and tell them this or if I want to buy something else from them I will also indicate that I will be bidding on another item and ask permission to with hold payment until the other auction is finished.

It's just really annoying and I guess this thread is more of a vent although I am worried about this French fellow as I sent him a "what's up with the no payment" email 24 hours ago. I have to wait 7 days to open a dispute.

Excellent information. I am keeping that in mind.

I would chalk it up to that, unless you believe the D.C. spin doctors and those who do not understand $4.00 a gallon gasoline is not only possible..... it is here.

Now you know why ebay has revised its quarterly estimates....

Ain't buying it (no pun intended).

I've just sold a raft of stuff on eBay for crazy money, and have been paid almost instantly on all of it. From Berkeley to New York to Taiwan, the money has flowed to me without delay. Life is good.

What would a recession have to do with it anyway? A recession might prevent people from bidding, but once they bid and win, they pay. Do you people bid on items then check to see if you can afford it?

They may wait until payday to actually pay for it. The *average* folk don't seem to have a lot of disposable income, but they do have a ton of credit card debt.

From the *average* person I've met, I'd feel safe to say they buy first, figure out how to pay for it later. YMMV.

Could they have been travelling, and not had a chance to confirm that they won? I've done that myself--been on the road in places where there was no internet access...

East Hill

Cyclotoine,

These kind of complaints, from experienced sellers, concern and irk me, no-end. In the beginning, back when Ebay was a cultural phenom and the ground rules for good 'citizenship' were being made, certain protocols were adopted as proper etiquette/form.

The first rule I learned was The seller shall leave feedback for the buyer once payment has been confirmed real and good'.

The second was, and is the basis for Ebay's non-payment rules, 'The buyer shall contact the seller within 3 days and final payment is due within 7 days'. Last I checked, you cannot file for non-payment before the 7 days is up. The reasoning behind this is that, should the buyer wish to pay via the mail, sufficient time is given for the instrument to arrive.

These days, sellers put all sorts of crazy demands in their auctions and expect buyers to keep track of them. What they don't realise is that the most prolific buyers are typically participating in, and winning, many auctions at once and are not paying attention to the variance of rules 'tendered' among the auctions they've won.

If they're like me, they just pay via the rules and call that good citizenship.

Danny

I was actually surprised recently when a seller left feedback for me before the item arrived. Every other seller I've purchased from (but two) have left feedback only after I left it when I received the item. The two that didn't never left feedback at all.

With one exception, I've paid the day the auction ended. In a few cases, I paid within minutes of it ending. The one exception was an item I didn't think I'd win, so I didn't pay attention to it. I did pay within 3 days, though.

Well Dannyg1, in one case it has been 72hours with no contact.
After contacting all nonpaying members I received a couple responses.

1) "I will pay later this week, I have to wait till I get the money in my account"
2) Sent me a "will be sending money order/cashiers check"

A bit of communication, that is all I ask.

I'm not trying to excuse anyones behavior Cyclotoine, just pointing out what is (or at least was) supposed to be standard practice. I'm also no trying to come across as too critical. I just know that you sell stuff often (and have done for a while now) and Im surprised that you didn't know the drill, that's all.

Regards,
Danny

I have been selling since late January/early February with the exception of a couple things here and there in the past.

I know the rules...

There is no enforcement of "seller must leave feedback upon payment" so I wouldn't call it a rule.

I also stated in my first post that I know I cannot file a dispute until 7 days have passed. But It seems odd to me that I had so many members who not only weren't paying soon after the auction (which in my limited experience is the norm and others also have experienced that) but were also not communicating as to their intentions of when they might pay or how. As a long time buyer I find that odd I always pay up or tell the seller when and how I intend to pay if I don't do so immediately. As a relatively new (and temporary) seller this is a first for me. Instead of panicking I just sought to ask others if this was the norm.

You are sorta saying, more or less, it is and I have nothing to worry about. Thank is good and I appreciate it.

All of us who experienced Daylight Savings time 4 weeks earlier than normal are caught in a bad dreamy fog of cognition. We don't remember what we did.

Actually, weather east of the Mississippi was pretty bad this weekend. Here in NH We had a significant number of extended power outages over the weekend and into yesterday.

Hi,
.
I won a complete bike on eBay last July and paid (plastic)
by phone the same day the auction ended. The seller didn't
ship for a week and when I inquired, he demanded renegotiating
the price because he didn't think he got as much as he
should have! I said NO! He said no bike.
.
I went online, found the website of the seller's local police
department, found a "complaint box" and wrote up my story
for the seller's police chief. Then I cc'ed the note to the
seller and to the seller's state attorney general's fraud
complaint office.
.
Next morning in my email box was notification that the bike
had shipped and a tracking number. The bike arrived in fine
shape with all the extras promised, except a frame pump but
I let that slide.
.
No feedback was exchanged.
.
I chose not to complain to eBay because my guess is that
eBay is and always will be biased toward the seller, the
source of its profit.
.
The good news here is that I rarely have problems on eBay
and so continue to buy bike and other stuff there. I have
already expressed my reservations about a few vintage bike
parts sellers in other threads here so won't repeat them.
Everybody here knows who they are anyway.
.

I have been only a buyer so far, however, I plan to sell some things over the next few months.

Question for the established sellers: what percentage of the ebay buyers out there are bad news?

I my experience selling the bad ones are a very very small percentage. I don't think I have ever had a non-paying bidder in the past couple of years I have been selling items (bike related or not). While some of them are not the quickest to pay they have all eventually paid. The longest I waited for payment has been 5-6 days after the auction was completed and I sent and invoice with a total amount. In my experience the international bidders are usually one of the first payments I receive or the first to ask for a total.

If you are selling valuable vintage bike parts open it to worldwide bidders. It is more of a pain with the customs form. If you get paid with paypal, paypal takes care of all of the filling out the customs form so it isn't that tough. Plus, I have found I get much more on many items with bidders from different countries trying to win.

I haven't had a non-payer or complainer yet. I do very detailed descriptions and photos and I never have questions aside from when I don't post international shipping quotes.

A good ebay ad should answer any possible questions.

However I am getting worried with 4 days and no communication from one buyer and 2 buyers have failed to respond to a message I sent them after 24hours of non-communication. You'd think they'd just send a little "hey yeah.. I'll get it to you in a couple days... or it's in the mail" but as there has been some serious weather lately I am exercising patience.

That's encouraging. Thanks,

I have sold a few frames and misc. parts and my experience has always been pretty good. One time a guy in Australia bid on a frame and won it, despite the fact that I said I'd ship to the continental US only. I didn't send it to him.

Recently I sold a crank set and the buyer asked if I had the spindle. I said yes and told him how much more I wanted and he got a bit irritated-he wanted it free since it was of "no use to me". He ultimately did pay and that was the last I heard of him. No feedback despite the fact I was a nice guy and gave him a positive.

No good deed goes unpunished.