[78-L] He changed his mind..

[Benno Häupl]

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David (dl), be cautious. 

First, you have to wait 4 days (96 hours) after auction end, and only after that you can start the 
Unpaid Item Procedure (UIP). From that point on the buyer has 4 more days to pay. If he does 
not pay within the next 4 days, you can THEN ask eBay to credit your FVF (final value fee) - not before.  
And - most important - your buyer is blocked from leaving feedback for that item!  

If you make the Second Chance Offer (SCO) too early, and your buyer changes his mind and 
pays up, then you are stuck with 2 legal contracts - and both buyers can leave feedback. 
You may indeed make an SCO right after auction end -  if you have 2 identical items. 

So, do follow the UIP rules to the dot or you may lose your eBay privileges (if you have them), 
like the 20% discount on FVF, because your Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR) drop. You are only allowed 
to get two 1s or 2s per 12 months period. 

You would not be the first seller on eBay with 100% positive feedback and 5.0 DSRs in all 4 rating 
categories being banned for the rest of your life only because you suddenly got three 1s or 2s !!! 
eBay does not care if you've been with them for a dozen years and have always had a perfect customer 
service. The banning procedure is automated. This is why you should follow the eBay procedure. 

Now, that's for ebay.com 

If you sell, say, early vertical Pathés on eBay France, you should know that by French law any 
online auctions are not binding. Neither for the seller, not for the buyer. 

And if you sell items on eBay Germany, Austria, Switzerland (and some other European eBay sites), 
then, by law, any items purchased on the iternet (by sale or auction) may be returned FOR ANY REASON 
within 30 days of receipt - because the byuer had no possibility to inspect the object in person, like 
in a brick & mortar store.  Debatedly, this rule also implies that the buyer must not really follow-up 
with a payment because he saves money to the seller by cancelling right away. 

Moreover, if the item price reaches 40 euros, the SELLER has to pay for return shipment. 
That's not all!  All used items sold (online or not) have to be warranted for one year by the seller - even 
second hand cars. (Always wondered how you do that with a 78)
There is an exception only to PRIVATE sales - if these rights are specifically excluded BEFORE the sale (in the 
item description). 

You may be surprised, but these strict and extensive consumer protection laws have not created any 
problems in business. The trade never complained, the buyers feel safe, everything's alright. 

I am going into such details, because these German/Austrian/Swiss consumer protection laws are 
currently being made European law and will be applicable, probably as from JAN 2013 - for all 27 (or then 28) 
European Union member states - with minor changes.  

Benno