eBay query?

John -
Sorry, wasn't pointing at you in particular, and I hadn't noticed you were in Australia - no airmail stickers on emails!
Yes, transnational contracts are more complex, and online ones even more so.
Generally jurisdiction is wherever the seller resides, unless he makes it a condition of the contract that jurisdiction is in some other country, and that place of jurisdiction may itself be negotiated between the buyer and the seller in making the contract.
But remember, until you make an offer and the seller accepts the offer, there is *no* contract, merely an advertisement, subject to the laws of the country where the advert is placed, and subject in this case to a contract between the seller and eBay in whatever country eBay resides. But eBay literally cannot make a contract that obliges a seller to follow through, unless they want to (a) have no auctions, or (b) get into the business of defining and qualifying an "acceptable" buyer, and that is a whole other can of worms.
Cheers, Steve

Okay I did that and he still didn't responded after seven days. Have now taken the unprecendented (for me) step of reporting this as an unpaid item. Have also gone into more detail about the buyer's payment record. It seems he is an average of three weeks late in paying for items yet still receives feedback comments such as "superfast payer - excellent eBayer".
So exactly how late does a buyer have to be before someone reports him as being a slow payer? Why would somebody report a transaction as being settled "promptly" when eBay's own records show clearly that it was not?
(kim)

That is exactly what appears to have happened in this case but previous sellers failed to report it that way in their feedback. It is entirely possible we are both the victim of the same "serial late payer"?
(kim)

"kim" wrote
As far as I'm concerned someone is a Superfast payer if he pays on the day that the auction finishes or tells me that his remittance is in the post and it arrives within 48 hours. Quick payment is within the three days which I ask for payment but thereafter the comments I leave are dependent upon circumstances. I once left a reluctant 'positive feedback' with a 'slow payer' comment - it took the buyer over a fortnight to pay, but as yet I've not had to file a 'non-payment report' nor leave anything other that 'positive feedback'.
John.

I sense you are frustrated with this. You don't believe what you read on the feedback, do you? Any negativity in feedback is a weapon of last resort. Everything I buy gets feedback of "excellent" even if I open the package and throw the contents straight in the bin. You think I'm gonna tell the world that I was had over?
Nowadays I prefer to get round the seller's house, look at the goods, make an offer, and pay in cash before the auction ends. Cash on the hip always talks loudest. I find that is the best way to avoid eBay problems.
As for non-paying buyers, surely the best thing is to make a decision, do what you've got to do, and relist.
Anyway, how does one "report" a slow payer? As for the payment record, how can eBay "know" when someone has paid, for instance by cheque? Only when someone gets around to clicking the "paid" button. Perhaps I should report sellers for being a bit slow to click the paid button, seeing that I paid before the auction ended. Oh, I forgot, the auction was ended early when the goods became mysteriously "unavailable".
Hope this helps,
Cheers, Steve

There's a big difference between omitting to state that payment was three weeks late and telling everyone it was recieved immediately.
In this case I was offering the item before anyone else adn thus reasonably expected to attract a premium over the same item offered later. Relisting the item would defeat the whole purpose of the exercise.
By leaving feedback. If not reporting payment as being abnormally slow then at least by not claiming it was unusually fast.
It doesn't take three weeks for a cheque to clear unless it was drawn on a foreign bank which i specifically exclude from my auctions.
In this case it was unlikely the purchaser even clicked the "paid" button or attempted to complete checkout in any way.
Not really :o)
(kim)