another ebay question- non paying buyer

[clc053103]

I am hoping someone can help me out here. I have concert tickets for this friday. I sold them in a three day auction to the only bidder (for less than face value), in an auction that ended saturday 6/14. they are etickets so I can transfer them instantly via email. anyway, it's now wednesday and I haven't received payment, no contact at all from the buyer! I sent an invoice and then a follow up note with no response.

Ebay says I can't put in for the refund until 7 days pass- well, 7 days is AFTER the concert. What I would like to do is relist them, but can I do that? I knew something was going to go wrong, the buyer has only been a member since April and has zero feedback.

Thanks for your help.

[KrisM]

Give the buyer a call and see if you can catch him on the phone. Not everyone is on the computer all day (can you believe that??).

If you do relist before 7 days and sell them to someone AND the original buyer pays, you will have sold the same item to 2 people and can be reported as a non-performing seller.

[luv2bmommy]

I agree with PP, that you try your best to get a phone number for the potential byer, and maybe try to send another e-mail to them "threatening" that you will leave a bad review. But I would also not recommend putting them up again for another byer, it might not be worth ro ruin your reputation.

[clc053103]

well, I tried their phone number- which is not in service!! I did confirm the address exists, but I could not find an active phone number at the residence or by name.

I'll try sending another email. I'm just so bummed. Now I'm going to be out $125. If the buyer just came forward and said she didn't want them anymore, at least I could relist!!!

I have never had a bad experience buying or selling on ebay since 2002, and now this. UGH!

[luv2bmommy]

I'll try sending another email. I'm just so bummed. Now I'm going to be out $125. If the buyer just came forward and said she didn't want them anymore, at least I could relist!!!
Sorry you are still having problems!!! I would say, you could exactly say that in your e-mail, that you could just relist and not leave a bad review if they just come forward that they don't want them anymore... Best of luck!!!

[KrisM]

Report them for invalid contact information. Maybe ebay will move fast and NARU them and then you're off the hook completely.

[clc053103]

I sent an email asking them to tell me if they don't want them so I can relist, asked that they do the "decent" thing.

How do you report someone for invalid contact info? I will go take a look!

[cmo]

I had 2 separate ebay ticket transactions go bad last month, very similar to yours, for tickets I was selling. It seems there are a lot of flaky buyers out there! And with the new feedback policy, I canoot even leave negative feedback for them. All I could do was an unpaid item strike. For one of my transactions, it was also a concert that was in less than a week. A buyer made me a Best Offer on a Saturday, and emailed me the next day asking if he could pay cash and pick the tickets up in person (before I had accepted or declined the Offer). The guy had horrible feedback, and my auction terms stated otherwise, but it was the only offer, so I waited until Monday morning and accepted it. Well, the flake had apparently gotten tired of waiting, and I saw that he had bought tickets from another seller on Sunday night! All I could do was file the unpaid item claim. I knew it was very unlikely that this guy would pay, so I ended up doing an email blast to a bunch of friends and neighbors asking if anyone wanted the tickets. I was fortunate to get face value for them within an hour!

If I were you, I'd relist or try asking friends & neighbors. I hope you are able to find an honest buyer!

[KrisM]

Reporting invalid contact info: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/identity-false.html.

[clc053103]

update: concert is tomorrow and still no word from the buyer....

I reported the false contact info. I then got a response saying they would look into it, sometimes people's numbers change, etc. In the next paragraph, it says for me to request the party's contact info and try to contact them by phone. (WHAT?? I did that, the number was disconnected- didn't we just go over this? It was the reason for my report!!) However, I am still committed to the sale of these tickets, even though the buyer is still MIA. I wrote to ebay two days ago about trying to get the 7 day waiting period waived to file a claim for unpaid item so I can relist before the concert, and they have not responded.

I contacted a friend attending the concert and she said she would try to sell them to a scalper if the ebayer didn't pay up. Better to get something back than nothing! But I am just so angry. Ebay is a happy place- I usually deal with very nice people. I sold two sets of much more expensive concert tickets two years ago without a hitch- but now, I guess I'll never make this mistake again.

[AngelaS]

Since eBay switched their policy to "sellers can't leave negatives for buyers" my number of non-paying bidders has gone WAAAAY up! I think there's been a recent influx of new eBayers who are bidding just for fun. GRR!

I'm sorry that you're having troubles. :(

[KrisM]

Since eBay switched their policy to "sellers can't leave negatives for buyers" my number of non-paying bidders has gone WAAAAY up! I think there's been a recent influx of new eBayers who are bidding just for fun. GRR!

I'm sorry that you're having troubles. :(

ITA. It's a horrible new system, huh.

I'm sorry about the tickets.

[Momof3Labs]

Can you list them on Craigslist? Not sure where you live, but you could find a local buyer quickly there. I'd just deal with the eBay issue if and when it becomes an issue - this buyer sounds like they may already be long gone.

[clc053103]

that's a great idea!! I am right now blitzing to see if anyone needs the tickets, but that's a great option if they don't.

Sadly, I've already passed up two offers while I was waiting for this flake to pay up!

[ThreeofUs]

I contacted a friend attending the concert and she said she would try to sell them to a scalper.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. I'm sure a scalper or private buyers outside the concert hall/stadium/whatever would be happy to buy the tix.

You save your reputation, and you get something for the tickets.

[elizabethkott]

Do you have a Stubhub in your area? That's another option...

[clc053103]

yes we do! thanks for the suggestion!