Q: Remote Erase Request Pending

Hi - ive just bought an old iphone - when I recieved it, it has the pincode activated so I hard reset the phone and it was Icloud locked.  I have contacted the seller who has the Icloud account details.  He has initiated a remote erase to them delete the phone from his account but it stuck at his end on erase request pending.  Without seeing his end of the arrangement, I dont know what to do?  The phone says it has been lost and erased but it seems to be stuck.  Can anyone help?