eBay buyer doesn't pay - what to do?
If the buyer of your eBay offer does not pay, you can have them warned. However, there are exceptions to keep in mind:
Report not received buyer payment on eBay
The first thing you should do is contact the buyer using eBay's messaging feature. There may be a simple explanation such as a number rotator in the account details for the transfer. If you cannot resolve the problem, you should report a problem case to eBay:
- You can report an unpaid item no earlier than 4 days after the end of the offer and no later than 32 days after the end of the offer.
- To do this, go to the overview of your sold items. In the dropdown menu to the right of the article you will find the item "Clarify problem".
- Set a time limit for the buyer to pay for the item. 7 to 10 days are reasonable in any case.
- Buyers often give in now, otherwise they will be warned by eBay. Buyers who have often not paid can also be excluded from trading on eBay.
- If you still receive no payment, you can get your sales commission back from eBay. To do this, you must close the case no later than 36 days after the end of the offer.
- At this point, your options on eBay are exhausted. You can no longer give a negative rating to buyers.
- Since a sales contract was created in accordance with § 433 BGB, you can theoretically also contest the legal process. In most cases, however, the amount in dispute is so small that you should rather discontinue the article.
- For security reasons, send your buyer an e-mail or a written declaration of withdrawal. So you can sell the article again without hesitation.
Exception: eBay buyers do not pay for commercial sales
Another situation can arise if you act on eBay as a commercial seller and your buyer does not want to pay.
- If you sell commercially on eBay, your buyer generally has a 14-day right of withdrawal.
- He can also make use of this without having paid for the item in advance.
- Within this period, the buyer can inform you without reason that he wants to withdraw from the purchase. You will then no longer be entitled to payment.
If you want to avoid the commercial restrictions, you should consider whether you want to continue to sell commercially or privately on eBay.