When a buyer doesn't pay, it impacts your business. Changes we're introducing to the unpaid item process make it faster and more efficient to get resolution—either getting paid, or getting your final value fees refunded and your inventory "back on the shelf."

Unpaid item cases can be opened as early as 4 days after the sale date (before, the waiting period was 7 days). You can give a buyer more time if you want—a case can be opened up until 32 days after the sale date. After a case opens, the buyer has 4 days to send payment before you can close the case. That means cases can be resolved as soon as 8 days after the sale. If you've communicated with your buyer and want to allow more time, you still can.

To get you back in business as quickly as possible, we've also reduced the maximum time a case can be open to 36 days after the sale date, down from 60. Email communications with your customers will be clearer and more neutral in tone. For example, we no longer refer to "unpaid item strikes." The consequences for buyers haven't changed—just how we communicate them. Emails will come from eBay directly and there will be fewer emails, and fewer pages to fill out in general.