Has my buyer got the message?

[moonlight-rhapsody]

Re an auction that ended on Friday evening, I've sent the buyer 3 messages but haven't yet been paid. The buyer has only been a member for about 6 weeks. I clicked the box asking for a copy of the message to be sent to me as well, but I haven't received any of them. Has this happened to anyone else, and it possible that the buyer hasn't received the messages either?

[m25jet]

eBay has been a bit glitchly recently, so it's possible that the buyer hasn't received the messages yet.  However, given that you say the buyer has only been an eBay member for six weeks he/she is no doubt still gettting used to how the site works and may not yet be familiar with where to look in order to check for incoming messages, especially if he/she has not used his/her account that much since opening it.

If you still haven't been paid after four days since the end of the auction then open up an Unpaid Item Dispute.  If the buyer pays for the item whilst the dispute is open then the case will automatically close.  Once the money is in your account all you need to do is post the item to the address supplied by PayPal on the payment confirmation e-mail.  Just make sure that you send it using a fully tracked postal option and upload the tracking details as soon as possible after posting the item.  That way if the buyer tries to open an Item Not Received case against you but you can prove without a doubt that the item has been successfully delivered to the address that PayPal told you to post the item to eBay would decide the matter in your favour and the buyer would not be able to leave you negative feedback.  Any negative feedback left prior to a case being decided in your favour ought to be removed by eBay if you contact them quickly enough and request its removal, pointing out that eBay closed the Item Not Received case in your favour and therefore the negative feedback should not be allowed to remain.

In the event that the buyer still doesn't pay for the item after you open an Unpaid Item Dispute then close the case at the first opportunity that you get in order to receive a full refund of your Final Value Fees.  The buyer's account will be hit with an Unpaid Item Strike, so add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List in order to prevent him/her from purchasing anything else from you in the future and causing you any further problems.

[tobiasd4]

Buyer have gone away for the weekend, wait until tomorrow.

You can then open unpaid case, close 4 days later to get fees credited.

https://resolutioncentre.ebay.co.uk/

[m25jet]

In addition to my earlier post on this thread, with regards to sending buyers messages there's not really a great need to send a buyer any messages at all, unless the item sold was a Collection In Person Only item and you need to exchange e-mails with the buyer via eBay Messages in order to arrange a mutually convenient time for the buyer to come and collect the item, and also to pay you for it if you're being paid in cash.

Although some buyers won't mind receiving one or two messages in relation to the transaction, some people can get very easily wound up if they're sent messages relating to the transaction, and in some cases may well just decide to become awkward just for the sake of it, possibly as a form of "punishment" for having been sent messages relating to the purchase.  Some customers can even be inclined to leave very venomous feedback as a result, so in light of that I'd be inclined to keep the messages to a minimum and only when you need to send them.  Sending a buyer a quick message along the lines of "Thank you for your purchase.  Your item was posted out via Royal Mail First Class Signed For at 10:00am today, so you should have it soon" should not come across as harassing in its nature and most buyers would more than likely just see it for what it is - a polite thank you note for purchasing something from you, with a quick update included with regards to despatch and when the buyer can expect to receive the item.

[rusticrye]

Sending messages to buyers is totally unnecessary. They receive a payment link from Ebay along with the payment confirmation, and a payment reminder is sent after 2 full days.

Frankly, if you'd sent me 3 messages in 2 days, and over a weekend too, you'd be lucky to get paid at all...! And if I did pay, I would probably wait till the last possible minute to do so. And my feedback left would not be pretty. Buyers have two full days in which to pay before a seller can open an Unpaid Item case, and a further 4 days once one is open.

Buyers are not glued to Ebay and their screens 24/7, especially at the weekend. So please exercise some patience in future, or your account will suffer the consequences.

@moonlight-rhapsody 

[moonlight-rhapsody]

This is what I mean by messages: Ebay tells you to send an invoice, which I did, and also thanked them for buying. That was the first "message", which I didn't get a copy of. When I looked at Contact Buyer again (probably the next day), ebay was still offering me the opportunity to send an invoice, so I sent it again with the same message. I still didn't get a a copy, so as I said in my original post, I wasn't sure that the buyer was receiving them either. After the third time of sending, which was after the 2 days was up, and when I still didn't get a copy, I posted on here to see if anyone else was not getting copies, and whether it was possible that the buyer wasn't getting them either.

I would have thought it was better to give the buyer opportunities to pay than report it as an Unpaid Item. Everything I've said has been pleasant and helpful. It never occurred to me that someone might object to being asked to pay for something they'd bought, or have attitude about the seller contacting them pleasantly about it, or be vindictive in their feedback.  It's not what I would do so it's helpful to point out that other people might, thank you.