posted on September 4, 2000 08:42:23 PM new
Okay--I'm strictly a buyer--so my "opinion" comes from this perspective. AFTER an email from the seller, I feel I have 1-2 days to send payment, and that's what I've done, whether it's cash, check, or money order. (I've never used any automated payment system.)
I've also won actions where I never got an email from the seller until 2 or 3 days after the official auction close. So, does the 10 days so many have in their TOS refer to the EOA, OR the email from the seller giving an address, etc.?
Things CAN go wrong, mail-wise, though I don't think it's very common. I did have one situation where I sent payment right out to the seller, she received it, mailed promptly, the whole bit. Two weeks later I emailed to ask (since package hadn't arrived) if anything was amiss. She said I should wait 30 days, then she would file with the PO. On the day the notice from the PO arrived at MY house, asking about the missing package, the package arrived. So things CAN go wrong with the post office. But that's it for me so far with mail problems--mostly I expect when I send the $$ it will get to the seller within, say, 5 days within the US, and usually it arrives more like within 2 days. I also have had very speedy response from sellers, in terms of packages arriving.
In about 70 transactions, I've only been burned once, by a seller who just didn't send the merchandise, got NARU'd...then, lo and hehold! about 4 months later I received the merchandise. (Funny--it was a child's chair, and when it arrived it was in a totally beat-up carton with NO return address.)
posted on September 5, 2000 02:56:33 AM new
There are two faces on most sellers here: one face would have you believe that they bend over backward to help each and every customer. The other face is worried about minute details like paying within 10 days, getting their profits from their outrageous handling fees and making sure they are able to leave their retaliatory negatives just in case something happens to anger the lowly buyer.
Networker67 may have been trying to make his/her point the hard way, but it is a valid point and at least he/she was trying to show everyone the basic contradiction in these practices. Of course, this didn't fly well because of course, everyone's policies and TOS's are written in stone and kept in golden arks.
With networker67's suspension (for an insult that is much more a generality than anything else), I've come to realize that AW is completely a seller's clique.
No one here ever really cares about a buyer's problems or concerns unless that buyer is also a member of that little group of precocious wunderkind...the ones who see all, know all, and walk on water.
posted on September 5, 2000 03:57:37 AM new
I find that 75% of the bidders send out payment within 2 days on end of auction. 15% within 5 days. And 10% that pay when and if they feel like it.
In 2,000+ sales i have seen 1 payment actualy lost in the mail and about 100 who lied and said it was in the mail.
It comes down to a real simple answer. I DO NOT WANT CUSTOMERS THAT TAKE OVER 10 DAYS TO PAY!!!!!!!!!!!
posted on September 5, 2000 05:14:27 AM new
This is my own opinion and my reasoning.....I choose not to put any time on payment receipt. I feel like if I were to put a 10 day period, there would be people that wait until day 7, knowing it takes about 3 days for a letter to ship. Call it reverse Psch, but if you don't give the buyer the days, they don't take them. Just my observation from my dealings.
posted on September 5, 2000 06:25:23 AM new
"I've had a few blame it on poor postal service delivery but funny how the postmark tells the 'true story'."
Yes, that is true most of the time, but ...
I had a case where I brought a package to the post office on a Friday, the clerk weighed it, and because it was busy, she wrote the amount of the postage on the package instead of printing out the stamp with the actual date. About a week later the buyer emailed me asking me where the package was. I responded with "It's in the mail", and I took the usual "you're a liar" abuse. Turns out the postal clerk forgot to put the stamp on my item, and it sat there for 10 days. It wasn't until I called them to ask about the package (it was insured and I have the dated receipt) that the error was detected.
Just trying to say that in very rare cases, s**t really DOES happen
posted on September 5, 2000 06:39:14 AM new
I have a 14 day due date listed in my TOS. Of *course* to any reasonable persont that is 14 days from EOA so if *I* am slow sending out the EOA the buyer isn't penalized for that!! I always send out the EOA within 12 hours though, and usually within an hour of the end of the auction.
I have a firm time limit in my TOS because it covers my butt for those bidders that you just KNOW aren't going to pay. If I didn't have a time frame mentioned and decided to neg someone who was clearly a deadbeat, I can just see them coming back with "Well you didn't SAY I had to pay within 2 months!!!!".. lol. So, when one of the obvious ones shows up, the kind that don't answer emails and have gained five more negs since winning your auction, you can neg them, file the NPB/FVF and move on, only having to wait as long as your TOS says you will. If I had no TOS time frame I'd be waiting forever just to get my fees back and re-list, can't have that!
The REALITY is that I am not going to neg someone on day 14, unless it is a bidder like the one described above. Any reasonable bidder who responds to my email and keeps me posted on things is not going to get a neg from me until all attempts to collect payment have been exhausted, but there are some out there that you just shouldn't have to waste your time chasing when you know they are NEVER gonna pay up. I myself have simply FORGOTTEN to pay for something right away, and have written an "oops, please forgive!" letter to the seller who was gracious and understanding, but we're not talking about huge delays here or anything though, but still past the TOS.
I do feel that the 14 day thing in my TOS gets people to move quickly who would otherwise put it off. In fact, I recently bid on, and won, an item where the seller had the "10 day rule" in her TOS. Very friendly, professional seller, but I am prone to procrastination, and I will admit that her 10-day limit got my otherwise lazy butt in gear to pay her!
C'mon, if the electric company said "Payment due sometime after you receive this bill, we don't care when, as long as you send it eventually" when would YOU pay it?? I know personally I'd be thinking "Okay, well after this birthday party I have to pay for" and then "after Christmas" and then "after this car repair, I'll send a check"... mmmm-hmmm. Human nature!
I've said it before: eBay right now IS my bread & butter, my gas for the car, my water and food bills are paid for w/eBay money. If I wanted to receive the money 30 days after the auction was over with, I'd be running 20 day long auctions!
posted on September 5, 2000 01:26:17 PM new
As a seller I personally like offering "bid now, pay when you get the money." I wonder why ebay limits me on the time to file a FVF refund. I have to void sales that could have been successful transactions, just so I can get the FVF refund in time.
posted on September 5, 2000 06:37:31 PM new
can you say paypal, billpoint, escro, x.com, this takes the ball and puts it in the sellers court..............
every 20 seconds in america a woman is giving birth:SHE MUST BE FOUND AND STOPPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................................................................
posted on September 5, 2000 09:46:51 PM new
TheRedCircle,
The other face is worried about minute details like paying within 10 days
Please tell us how many businesses you know that allow you to go in, allow you to put an item aside for you & allow you to pay whenever you want?
Please tell us how many businesses you know that consider when a customer pays for the merchandise they want to be a minute detail?
Or do you just object to it being 10 days? Would 14 be better? 21? 30? 45? How long is no longer minute?
When a business gets paid for it's product or service is a bit more than a minute detail.
Any business that plans to stay in business for long is & should be quite concerned with the time frame in which it expects or needs to be paid.
I've seen posts listing various lengths people are willing to wait for a customer's payment but I haven't seen ANYONE post that they are willing to wait forever..that appears to mean EVERYONE has a limit..some just longer than others.
Now if you can run your business without having any deadline, I think that's super. But I also think that sellers who KNOW their customer base & their business needs & use 10 days are doing what is right for themselves & their business.
posted on September 6, 2000 12:21:56 PM new
I'm thrilled if a bidder returns MY EMAIL within 3 days. Ebay buyers seem to think they can contact you whenever the he@@ they feel like it. I've listed on Ebay quite a few times ( glassgirl42 ) but this is the FIRST time anything sold. I'll probably go back to Yahoo. They bid, they buy. They return emails, they actually return feedback. Sorry Ebay people, I don't mean to offend anyone.
posted on September 7, 2000 12:08:08 AM new
This is how I sell. I no longer use "payment due in XX days in my auctions." Bids went way up. Some payments took longer, and the number of deadbeats did not increase at all.
Then I added in my email after the auction: "I will hold your merchandise for 30 days," at the bottom of the email.
And if I haven't received the money I send a friendly reminder. If that doesn't work, I send a NPBA and I pick up the phone and CALL. Something that doesn't seem to be used too often. Emails get lost. Computers crash. Mine did. Not a fun thing to go through.
Pick up the phone. I sell small items and the added phone costs have not been much.
I really dislike the TOA that state, "Payment due in 7 days." Yeah right. I have a life and need at least a little while to get payment out. In most cases I get payment out in one to 2 days after an auction closes.
Negative feedback should be used as a LAST resort. Not that it shouldn't be used; it's an important part of ebay. I just think people should first try to communicate and work it out.
posted on September 7, 2000 06:38:21 AM newwhynot - Contacting the bidders ISP? That's pretty cruel.
What business is it of the ISP? I don't recall seeing anything in my ISP's TOS about giving them the right to receive notice on my behalf or to arbitrate commerce for me.
If you want to take it to another level, go to court and file papers. Otherwise, that's business life.
posted on September 7, 2000 06:55:56 AM new
I am a seller that also requests payment in 10 days. I seem to eliminate more deadbeat bidders that way. When i used to run auctions with no time limit, i routinely had about a 75% success ratio. After i started to request payment in 10 days, that ratio has jumped to over 90%.
posted on September 7, 2000 07:36:14 AM new
If you make the statement in your TOS then bidders are obligated to comply with your TOS when they bid. If they don't like the TOS then they should not bid.
Here are our TOS.
1)Payment must be received 10 days after the close of the auction.
2)Payment must include shipping address.
3)Buyer promises to contact us to resolve problems prior to leaving feedback.
4)Payments received before of after the due date (10 days) will be considered donations to my retirement fund. [Note that in 1) it's not within 10 days but exactly in 10 days, not before or after]
5)Payments must be in the form of a cashiers check drawn on the 3rd National bank of Moscow.
6)Buyer must include a hand drawn picture of the item. Likeness must be perfect.
7)Seller reserves the right to add a handling fee of up to $50 for any reason at any time.
Buyers who fail to comply with these conditions hereby pledge all their worldly goods to the seller. Buyers who's worldly goods have a value less then one million dollars promise to become indentured servants to the seller for a period of 300 years. Buyers descendants will complete this obligation should buyer pass away at any point.
posted on September 7, 2000 07:45:25 AM new
Aside from the "credit card payment" options and the friendly reminders... does anyone have any creative ideas for encouraging prompt payment? I'm a small time seller but need the income from my auctions for basic neccessities and (hopefully) a little left over for more inventory. I've waited... and waited. Most eventually pay but in the meantime, I'm sweating the electric bill. I've tried all your suggestions about reminders and I never threaten. This morning I got a response to my reminder... "I'm sure I mailed it and you should get it soon" and another one that said " I'll send it out real soon". Both auctions ended 2 1/2 weeks ago. Right now I have 14 auctions that ended at least 10 days ago and no payment.
posted on September 7, 2000 08:16:07 AM new
Well since eBay EOA e-mails seem to be taking 4 days now (I just received one for Sept. 3), it makes their 3 day period meaningless. Actually, I have already received a Bidpay payment from Australia for an auction that ended Sept 3 & the item was mailed yesterday!
I stipulate payment with 15 BUSINESS days from end of auction. Most are prompt and come in before that time, some around that time, some straggle in later, some need reminders, some are very late, and 3% never pay & receive my negative comment.
Whatcha gonna do? Neg 50% of your bidders, or 30%, and endlessly re-list, or live in the turmoil of upset. Most try to pay on time, there are always going to be slowpokes, life is just like that.
When I worked for a corporation long ago before discovering the joy of eBay & home alone, our accounts were exactly the same, only I think we had more "deadbeats" ultimately, they tend to call them bankruptcies there.
I figure if 85-90% of my sales are paid within my range, I can tolerate the few that straggle in, as long as they are paid, I'll be happy.
