Posted By:
jeff sLet's say I buy the card, auction closes Nov. 29. Seller's account is now at -$75k and change. Dec. 1, eBay sends him a statement for that amount. It is billed to his credit card, as MW says, a week or two later.
The Final Value Fee is charged automatically--eBay certainly doesn't wait until you've received money! So...if I were to hit the BIN, then, say, arrange a meeting in Ohio with the seller for Dec. 18th or something, he'd expect to be paid, and for that reason, would not file a Non-Paying Bidder warning and get his fees refunded.
In order to screw this guy, it'd just be a matter of stringing him along and convincing him you're going to pay by a certain time. I'm sure most eBay sellers are familiar with this -- you get an e-mail after a week saying the check is in the mail; another in a week or so...maybe payment arrives, maybe it doesn't...if you're a trustworthy person, you can wait a month, easy, before requesting the FVF.