Ebay and whether to give someone a strike or not...?

[Lowryn]

Okay, I don't know what to do. Basically I sold an item on ebay for £36 and waited for the highest bidder to pay up. Nothing happened and after sending a few emails and waiting three weeks I logged an Unpaid Item Dispute.

Finally the bidder responded to the dispute saying that her 12 yr old daughter had put the bid in and not her. She said that she had "Explained all this 2 or 3 times already" and wanted to pull out.

Okay - I understand that things like this happen, and was prepared to just re-list it. However, ebay now only give you the option to close the dispute and pay your final value fee, or give the ebayer a strike and not have to pay your final value fee.

Well. I don't want to have to pay a fee on the £36 price and then pay to relist it all over again (and pay for that final value fee too)
Do you think I should give her a strike or not?

You could always give her a negative and say in your comments something along the lines that the e-bayer's 12 year old daughter made this bid, she has not kept her account secure. ?

I'd give her a strike TBH. Did she "explain all this 2 or 3 times already" ? It doesn't sound like she did from what you say so I'd be doubtful that she's telling the truth about her daughter placing the bid.

We never received any emails from her. She is a new ebayer though, she had no feedback when she won the bid, now she has one item of feedback.
Maybe she doesn't know how to reply to emails?

That is an old cliche. I wouldn't buy it. However, obviously you don't want to risk a neg, so give her the option. It's her fault that her 'daughter' placed the bid, so say to her that in order that you are not out of pocket, could she pay you the final value fee or else give her the option of you giving her one strike, as it is not really going to affect her. She could easily set up another account as she hasn't got any feedback on this one. Make sure you get your money back one way or another as it is not your fault.

Strike. Be wary of leaving a neg though- if she's got no feedback she's got nothing to lose by negging you and then reregistering another user id. It's so not fair that people can do this and seem to be able to bloody blackmail you if you want to keep a good rep. But definetly strike her- she should control her daughter. You could also report her to ebay for not keeping her account secure. Go girl

Have just checked the ebay help and on the page 'unpaid item process' it says:

Closing the dispute
The seller can close the dispute after the buyer has responded at least once, or if the buyer does not respond within 7 days. The seller has several options to close the dispute:

• We've completed the transaction and we're both satisfied. With this option, the seller does not receive a Final Value Fee credit and the buyer does not receive an Unpaid Item strike.
• We've agreed not to complete the transaction. With this option, the buyer does not receive an Unpaid Item strike, the seller receives a Final Value Fee credit, and the item is eligible for a relist credit.
• I no longer wish to communicate with or wait for the buyer. With this option, the buyer receives an Unpaid Item strike, the seller receives a Final Value Fee credit, and the item is eligible for a relist credit.

A dispute can only be open for 60 days after the transaction date (i.e. the date when the buyer commits to buying the item and the seller commits to selling it). If the seller has not closed the dispute within 60 days, it will be automatically closed. When this automatic closure takes place the seller does not receive a Final Value Fee credit and the buyer does not receive an Unpaid Item strike.

I have just logged a final value fee credit today and found it very confusing. You have to close the dispute ten days after logging it in order to receive the final value fee credit, but I had to go to the selling board to work it out as it wasn't in the ebay help pages. And I've been ebaying for 2 years!

luckily i haven't had to do this since they refurbished the system but dh has and says it's awful

Ahhh! I will get a credit then, and she'll get no strike.
I must have read it wrong (in my fury)
I'll go for option 2 then and hopefully avoid negative feedback too.
Unfortunately the two bidders below her had gone and bought the item from the states...damn.
I'll just have to re-list it.

pain in the backside when this happens. it's so unfair