Another eBay question - payment related

Three days ago tonight, an auction of mine closed.

The high bidder either bid at the last moment, or had set up some sniping software ahead of time, since he bid just once. Since then, not a peep.

I was wondering, how long is it reasonable to wait for payment before getting in touch?

Chris - I would expect a "good" buyer to contact you or pay within 24 hours ish - has the buyer got any previous feedback ?
If there is good positive feedback you might be ok but if there is no feedback and no response then it dosent look promising.

Richard

He's got a feedback of 4 since June last year, all positive, all buying.

A couple of things. Have you sent him an invoice yet? If not he may be waiting for that. If you have, I would send an email asking if he intends to proceed. You can always get his full contact details from eBay. If still response after a week from auction end, I would send a reminder payment invoice. If nothing from that, start a non paying bidder alert with eBay. That will enable you to get most of fees back though you will have lost the listing fee.

If you need any other advice, send me a PM and I will send phone number if you want anymore.

Kim

Cheers Kim. Yes, I sent an invoice as soon as the auction closed. I'll drop him a line. I was looking at the 'second chance offer' details too, since the next bidder down was only £1 less IIRC.

Hopefully it won't come to all that though.

Thanks.

If you do go that way, you still need to file a non paying bidder alert with eBay. You will get charged another final value fee on the second chance. Also, the first buyer will not be able to retaliate with neg feedback for if the alert has been filed. However, there could be very many reasons. If I am away at auction end, I usually try to inform the seller before but that doesn't often happen. Most come back within a week.

Kim

Personally, I always give buyers the benefit of the doubt and only start worrying if I haven't heard within 7 days. Normally by then I've either had PayPal payment or a cheque - I've only had to file a non-paying bidder report once in 5 years of regular selling on there. Just my $0.02

I always wait seven days between sending invoice, sending reminder invoice, then an e-mail and then if still no repsonse the Non Paying Bidder procedure.

Sometimes people are away or genuinely have a computer problem or some other unforseen reason for not replying immediately.

Worth giving the benefit of the doubt I think.

I think you're probably right. I'll give it a bit longer.

£48 for a Takumar-A teleconverter - worth waiting a little longer for I reckon. I was expecting it to go for only about half that.

Those advising patience were quite right.

I take it there was a happy ending then?

Well, I've received payment via PayPal. Yet to ship and exchange feedback. Still find the whole process slightly nerve-wracking, to be honest. I daresay I'll get used to it.

If he has a feedback of only 4, he is probably sweating on whether he has been scammed and whether or not the convertor will arrive.

Kim

Good point. I've sent him a message thanking him for the payment. Now it's my turn to sweat, hoping that I've packed it Ok, and worrying about whether I've missed something that would make my description inaccurate.

Dont panic chris.. you've done all the right things, made contact and maintained it, shipped the goods promptly etc..

I usually send an invoice straight after the item ends, then wait 7 days before emailing them again, but most pay promptly, expecially if they are using paypal.

I always e mail someone to let them know funds have cleared and again when I post the item along with any tracking numbers.

In general I just treat others as I would wish to be treated myself, I have always found that philosophy pays dividends in all walks of life.