I ended up having a deadbeat bidder of sorts for my Shadow Hearts auction that ended on April 2nd.  The winning bidder did not pay me within the required 10 days and failed to respond to the invoice and 2 followup emails, so I filed a non-paying bidder dispute 12 days after the auction closed.  I guess that finally got his attention because 2 days later he responded to the dispute and sent me an e-check through Paypal.  That would have solved things except that the e-check wasn't expected to clear for at least 9 days.  Using up my last ounce of understanding, I waited 4 days just to see if the check would clear early.  Well, it didn't so I refused his pending payment and closed the dispute.  I relisted the auction with immediate payment required, sold it, and shipped it.  Peachy. 

I check my email today and I find that I have a pending payment from guess who?  At this stage of the game, I am seriously thinking about keeping this an an inconvenience fee, but at the same time the old conscience is nagging me.  Granted, I technically have another bloody 9 days to decide but any suggestions would be welcome. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi … 8271999437

And if anyone is wondering about the feedback I left him, I unfortunately got him confused with the bidder for my Shadow Hearts:Covenant auction.  Lucky him.

Cancel his payment again and email saying that you relisted since he didn't deliver payment in time.

Although I think you jumped the gun when you didn't wait for the eCheck to clear -- which you should have done, seeing as the buyer did respond to the non-paying bidder notice, although I can totally understand your reaction because I've had a couple bidders like that -- that's a moot point now since the item's already been sold and shipped to another bidder. What I think you should do now is just cancel the eCheck payment with an explanation why. The original bidder could choose to put a negative comment about you in your feeeback, or get really ugly and start harassing you for various accusations, but nothing you can do about that.

If you cancelled it and he payed AGAIN, that's fully his fault -- he basically gave you money, and theoretically you don't have to pay him back.

It's honestly all up to your concious, really.

-Joshua

That's not true at all!
He didn't say, "here, have some money"!  He gave him money in exchange for an item.  If the seller doesn't ship the item or return the money then that's called stealing, and you can go to jail for that.

-avatar!

Yeah, that's not cool at all.

What I would do is refund the payment, and lay down the law: when the auction ended he didn't pay, and didn't respond to either follow-up e-mail or invoice so you sold the item again. End of story. Even though big blocks of text are scary, he should have read your terms and abided by them! If he was going to be a deadbeat, he shouldn't have bid in the first place.

You as a seller aren't at fault here. This dude just needs to get his payment refunded and go bother someone else with his inconveniences.

Give the money back with the explanation Zane has stated.  You are under no obligation to deal with the buyer if the  buyer didn't follow proper procedures on ebay.

Next time, don't even accept late payments unless the buyer has contacted you beforehand.

I have a headache.

I refunded this buyer's payment today and sent him this message through eBay:

"Please do not send me payment for this item again. I ended up relisting this item because you failed to pay me within the 10 day limit stated in the auction. In other words, I no longer have this game as it has already been sold to another buyer. This is the second time I have refunded your payment and if you send me payment a third time, I will keep it as an inconvenience charge. If you cannot make payment in a timely manner, it is your responsibility to let the seller know. I ask that you take more accountability for your bidding in the future."

Kind of blunt, but I thought it would get the point across.  This is how he replies:

"What is happening?

I've paid twice for this item through paypal and i still see pay now on my ebay? Will i get the item and a refund for around 40$? We have a problem and must find a solution to it asap!"

ARGH!

Wow...The idiocy of that response boggles the mind. Nevermind the fact that you explained everything in detail...What kind of idiot pays for an item twice in any situation?

Just tell him to re-read what you wrote because he didn't get it the first time. Don't change a thing...Just resend it as is. If he's dumb enough to send the payment again, then keep it. It's not like you didn't warn him.

OH. MY. F-ING. GOD.

(Pardon me.)

I...just....I too am simply BOGGLED. The sheer idiocy and/or impatience (for not reading your messae, apparently) of the buyer....just....I.......I have no words for this. All I can say is, I agree with someone else's suggestion that you tell the buyer to READ CAREFULLY what you wrote in your prior email.

"I've paid twice for this item through paypal and i still see pay now on my ebay?"

This person doesn't seem to understand how a web page works, but if he knows how to bid for an item, I have to wonder if this is some kind of trick.

What is this guy's feeback rating?  If it's not 0 or a very low number, he should know how the ebay system works by now.

The way he explains it, he couldn't understand why the "Pay now!" button was available after he "sent" payment, so he kept clicking on it.  Of course, if he had actually read his emails, looked at his Paypal account, or checked the dispute I filed against him, it should have been obvious that I was cancelling the payment instead of the payment not clearing.  Basically, the guy needs to brush up on the old reading comprehension skills.

The guy's feedback is actually 53, which slightly perplexes me.

It seems unlikely that this is the first time he has used a Pay Now.

You just keeping sticking to your story.  Avoid the temptation to keep any money he sends.  That only invites trouble later.  Report him to ebay if you can, if he persists this.

I agree.

Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Remember how I refused that second payment a while back (specifically on April 30th)?  He sent me this today:

"Hi,

have you sent the refund for the second one?

thanks,

jf"

I swear the guy has the mental capacity of a juvenile gnat.  I'm wondering if that's enough cause to get eBay involved though.

This is a little drastic, but you could call him. Obviously the e-mail thing is causing miscommunication (ie: the idiot can't read), so maybe a quick call would put this all to rest.

Explain to him in small words that you had cancelled and refunded all payments he sent you, and he should check his Paypal records.  You should also explain, in even smaller words, that he failed to deliver payment on the timetable specified in the auction, so you were forced to sell it to another person.  Explain that it is not your fault, the auction was a contract and the instructions have to be followed as specifically as a printed contract.

And if he threatens to leave negative feedback, you can follow it up with an explanation that it was his fault (or follow up on the feedback you left him), and argue with eBay to have the feedback removed.  They claim not to do this, but I have had it done.  If you can argue clearly that it was one sided, all his fault, and the matter was completely resolved (they might be able to access Paypal records as well), they CAN remove a negative feedback he left you.

Send him a cd-r and be done with it.

Maybe he's trying to screw you over?  I'd send him another email, and not be bothered by this guy.  He can't really cause that many problems (he didn't pay, he doesn't get refund -end of story). 

cheers,

-avatar!