Sometimes, sales don’t always go to plan. Even when someone has agreed to buy from you, things can go awry. Always try to talk out a solution before you take any other measures.

What to do if the buyer doesn’t contact you

In this situation, the buyer has agreed to buy your item, but then they disappear and you don’t hear from them and can’t contact them.

We think 5 days is a reasonable amount of time to allow a buyer to contact you. If you’re feeling edgy during this time:

• Email the buyer to let them know you are ready to complete the sale.
• Check your email settings, particularly if you or your ISP uses a spam filter, to make sure you receive their email.
• Send the buyer an email from an alternative email address.

If after 5 business days the buyer has not been in touch, you might want to relist your item, or get in touch with us to raise a dispute. You’ll find more information about disputes below.

What you can do if the buyer refuses to pay

Sometimes, a buyer will change their mind about your item. This is unfortunate, but it does happen from time to time. In this instance, you have a couple of actions you can take:

• Relist your item and find another buyer, and contact people who were interested in the item to let them know it’s back up for sale
• Most buyers will want to resolve the situation to retain a good online reputation, even if they no longer want the item. So try to work with the buyer to come to a fair agreement.

How to escalate a problem

If these measures fail, here’s what you can do (in this order):

Stay calm

Losing your cool will get you nowhere. Being professional, calm and polite is far more likely to get you a positive outcome.

Try to negotiate a fair solution

Do your best to make contact with the buyer, and work with them to come to an agreement. Make sure that there’s no misunderstanding, and try to see the situation from their point of view.

Sell to another buyer

If negotiations break down, you might want to consider selling your item to someone else. You can relist your item easily, or contact our call centre on 13 26 26 to get some help.

Raise a dispute through Tradingpost

If you’ve really tried to work through the problem with the buyer, but have had no luck, you can raise a dispute. You must do this within 30 days of the selling date, and if the buyer hasn’t contacted you or paid within 5 days of the selling date. Note, however, that we will not take sides in the dispute.

To raise a dispute you will need to contact our team by completing a support form, or call our Trust and Safety team 13 26 26. You will need to include:

• a clear description of what the dispute is about
• the ad number
• the other member’s name and any other information you have about them
• details of any payments made
• any correspondence between you and the other member, or photos of the item in dispute.

Depending on the circumstances, our team will:

• contact you if we need more information and to tell you what your options are
• contact the other member to let them know that a dispute has been raised and ask them to contact you to resolve the issue.

We may take action against a member who doesn’t try to negotiate an outcome (eg. issue a warning, withdraw privileges or suspend their account). See our Dispute Policy for further details.

Ban the buyer from purchasing from you in future

If you feel you need to protect yourself from this buyer in the future, you might want to consider banning them from dealing with you again (Buy Now ads only).

If you’re not satisfied with the outcome of a dispute

There’s some action you can take if you feel the outcome of a dispute was not fair. You can contact the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in their state, or a dispute resolution service to help negotiate a positive outcome.

Office of Fair Trading

Disputes involving PayPal purchases

If you purchased an item via PayPal but have not received it you may be eligible to request assistance from them. Details of the help PayPal can offer you can be found on their website here.