Seller is opening an unpaid item case against me. What are the consequences?

[furtivefeline]

I've used eBay for a few years, mostly as a buyer but sold a few things too. My feedback is 100% and I have always paid promptly.

I recently bid on and won a cooker. For various reasons I am worried that the seller is a bit dodgy and I have concerns about the safety of the item (obviously thought about this too late.)

I really wish I had never placed a bid. I contacted the seller to ask to cancel the sale and he replied that he is opening a case.

Fair enough, I understand that I made a mistake and should never have bid on this item. I don't want the seller to lose money. I am just wondering what the consequences of an unpaid item case will be...

You broke contract dont know how your views changed as you didnt see item or really know if seller dodgy. You have have to live with it.
Agree why buy on e bay when a retailer will sell you one for nothing and deliver it.

Honestly, for one non payment? Nothing.

Start racking them up and ebay will do something about it, but with one, there’s no need to worry.

PS the seller won’t lose any money

I cancel the sale if the bidder messages me and asks me to. (They normally say my child bid on it by accident etc) which I know is probably a lie, but they won't pay because they don't want it. So I don't see the point in seller escalating it to a case because it's a long drawn out process for him in the mean time. It's sellers discretion to honour a cancel sale if buyer requests it, as the cancel tab is right there for us next to the item sold. So in my opinion he is being difficult. But at the same time you can't keep bidding on things then changing your mind. It is annoying for sellers. He doesn't know if it's your first time or if you constantly do it. But if it's a regular occurrence ebay will penalise you for it.

They can’t leave a negative feedback. It happened to me just recently, it was a bit annoying when buyer wanted to cancel but just done it and relisted.

Thanks lottie, that's good. Was worried I might be banned. Do sellers see that you have a strike against your name or anything like that?

I didn't know whether the seller would have to pay fees based on the final value of the sale.

I definitely won't start racking up the non-payments - have learned to check sellers feedback etc in future, especially for anything big.

No if the sale is cancelled there are no charges

I don't think there would be a fee until the item is paid for. I agree it would make much more sense for seller to just realist the item than to escalate, it takes ages.

Nothing will happen. This allows the seller to get the sale cancelled and fees paid.

Ah so he could just choose to cancel the sale rather than escalating? Based on the feedback he left for others (which I only discovered after winning the cooker) he seems like a bit of a tricky guy - lots of issues/accusations flying around.

And the same cooker had already been sold once before a couple of weeks ago...of course that could be someone else like me that got cold feet...but another cooker he was selling was sold 4 separate times which made me think there was probably something wrong with it. Wish I had thought to search the sold listings before bidding!

If the seller leaves positive (the only choice) feedback for you but with a negative comment, contact ebay and they will remove it.

You may get some kind of strike on your account from eBay but no one else will see it.

He may have paid to list it, he won't get the fees back if he cancels.

You have to open a case to get fees back. Once you agree to cancel, then fees are returned and that’s that.

The seller will only be allowed to leave positive feedback.

It is very much a buyers market.

I do feel bad about cancelling the sale and I don't mind getting a strike if that's what's needed for him to get fees back.

So far he's said he will open a case but hasn't actually done anything yet so I will just have to wait and see. Thanks for all the advice.

It only affects you if you have done it before. I have my settings as a seller set tight and reject people that are non payers so they would get a message if they try to buy. Usually once is OK.