I regrettably had to report a non payer in order to claim FVF credit for my listing. This was done within the 45 day window from when the item is sold so I thought (wrongly) that there would be no problems. I checked my dispute console every day and it was noted "eligible for FVF credit" for a couple of weeks, then suddenly credit not granted as report time had elapsed???

The explanation from E-Bay support was not at all helpful and stated "If the UPI dispute  is closed automatically by the system due to this
reason then the FVF is not credited to the seller and buyer also does
not receive UPI strike. As it is outside our eBay policy, I regret we will not be able to issue the FVF credit to you".

This would seem to fly in the face of E-Bays guidelines aimed at sellers, of how to deal with/prevent non sellers.  I extended every courtesy and was very patient to the eventual non payer in my case, who did not return my e-mails or messages left on their answer phone. It would seem that E-bay do not play fair and some of their policies are ambiguous at best. I would suggest that sellers state in their listing something like "Item must be paid for within 14 days or item will be relisted and negative feedback will be left". Then start the FVF claim immediatly after that and take no notice of the guidlines.