Ebay

Post by **Avi** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:39 am

I recently set up an Ebay account for my boss, who wants me to start selling some random collectible stuff that he has laying around his house. The boss is on vacation in Italy for a few weeks, so I'm running his Ebay store at the moment.

Our very first sale was a set of collectible beer bottle openers from local New Orleans breweries, one of which is a now a historical landmark and has been out of business for decades. The person that won the openers has had 8 days to send payment, but has yet to do so.

How long do you think is "too long" to receive payment? Should I give 10 days and then give negative feedback? It's not a large sum of money, so I don't understand what the holdup is. So far, I cannot contact the winner of the auction.

When my boss gets back in town and finds out that our first auction was a bust, I'm sure I'll hear all about it for a few weeks. We listed that we only accepted Paypal, so there's no chance that there's a check in the mail somewhere.

YouTube · Post by **TronFAQ** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:18 pm

I think most sellers set a condition of 3-4 days until payment due. So 7-10 is more than reasonable.

Post by **win3k** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:56 am

Should I give 10 days and then give negative feedback?

Heh. Good luck with that:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7228460.stm

Online auction site eBay has said it plans to overhaul its feedback system and will ban sellers from leaving negative comments about buyers.

Also:

http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/new.html

In May, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative or neutral Feedback for buyers

This is the new, fairer, shinier and much improved ebay. Give it 14 days, then file an unpaid item dispute. Then ask ebay (very nicely) to remove the almost inevitable negative feedback left by your non-paying bidder. Wait. Rinse. Repeat. Best of luck.

win3k

Post by **Avi** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:47 am

I heard something about that recently...which sucks, because now you'll have a bunch of guys that are putting bids on things just to jack up the price, and if they win with no intentions of paying, there is no real recourse.

YouTube · Post by **TronFAQ** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:47 pm

Wow. Now crappy buyers will no longer have a reputation to worry about. And they're free to put in bids, without worrying as much about repercussions if they weasel out.

That "new, improved" eBay policy sucks balls.

Post by **Avi** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:47 pm

I'm going to boycott Ebay and go old school.

I'll be at the flea market this weekend with my card table and folding chairs.

Post by **win3k** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:21 am

Apparently, a fair few folk from the ebay seller community have already terminated their accounts and switched over to craigslist as a result of this nonsense. Your mileage may vary.

win3k

Post by **Avi** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:39 pm

Just to wrap up this thread, I finally got the payment from the buyer (after 10 or so days).

I sent a secretary to the post office to mail the package, only to have her misunderstand my instructions. I said "Make you you get a receipt", and she understood what I said as "Make sure you get a return receipt, and pay extra money for the f*%&ing shipping so that it eats into our tiny profit and we actually LOSE money!"

So yeah, that's what happened.