First sale, buyer can't pay, what should I do?

[FloydieDoydie]

It was all going so well...!

First item listed and it has sold. However buyer didn't respond to the invoice. So sent a reminder, assuming forgot with Christmas etc. She has 142 feedback, 99.3%

She replied saying so sorry, totally forgot with Christmas, can only pay next (ie this) week. I agreed, as was well within 32 days of sale.

She has now contacted me saying that there is a problem with her eBay and paypal and it won't let her pay. She has contacted them, but as may take a little while to be sorted, she understands if I want to cancel the sale and relist. Notes that hopefully she would be able to bid again.

I have been charged the fees for the sale, so don't want to pay these unnecessarily. I feel bad just reporting her as a non-paying bidder (even though that's what's happening) as (I'm a soft touch) it seems harsh to give her a black mark on her eBay.

Is there another way I can cancel the sale and not pay the fees, or should I just toughen up and report as non-payer?

She is a non-payer, and sounds like she has been stringing you along.

You just need to report as a non paying bidder - stop being so nice is my advice! And you must not feel bad. 1 black mark won't get her kicked off, but if she has a habit of doing this then she may lose her account, which is fair enough isn't it. By reporting her you are also doing a favour to other sellers, so please do report.

She has messed you around and should get a strike for it. If you try the nice approach and try and cancel the transaction then she could refuse it and you wouldn't get your fees back.

You will just have to toughen up - i'm afraid :)

Honestly a buyers feedback is pretty irrelevant anyway as sellers can't leave a neg, or even a bad comment on a positive, so it is to be read with a pinch of salt.

Okay doke. Will need to pull my big girl panties on and toughen up!

I assume I just reply saying something like, okay thanks for letting me know. Will relist item instead.

Will she be told of the strike against her? Can she leave me bad feedback, when she's not paid?

no - a buyer can't leave bad feedback after a non paying bidder case - so it protects you from that too.

Also add her to your blocked bidder list so she can't bid again.

It's nice that you are being nice - but yes toughen up is my advice. :)

She will be told a case is opened against her as it asks her to pay you, and she will be told when it is closed.

I agree with Fergoose you need to open a non-paying bidder case.

I have had a couple of similar cases recently where two buyers had committed to sales, one sale was for less than £5 but the other was for well over £100.
They were both having "issues" with Paypal. I too like to think I'm a nice seller and I offered them both alternative payment methods which were declined in both cases as they wanted to wait until their Paypal was sorted.

I gave them both a week (longer than I normally do), then sent them messages saying I was happy to cancel if they no longer wanted the items (they both declined that option too) and then after another couple of days I opened cases against them.
Amazingly enough I was paid within 24hrs by both - those unpaid item cases can sometimes be the catalyst required

I do understand that at this time of year money is often tight but I always think that if you can't pay then you shouldn't commit to bid or buy because it's very frustrating for us sellers.