posted on January 7, 2001 10:14:53 PM
Has anyone had an inquiry as to layaways on auction items? This is a new one on me! The high bidder on one of my items wanted me to do a 30 day layaway with payments. She said this was being offered by other sellers (is this something new?). I refused. Should I have? I really don't want to deal with weekly payments and she was bidding at auction,not buying at a shop. What would you have done in this case?
posted on January 7, 2001 10:17:24 PM
I only had 1 person ask me to do that. I told them I would, and then they never sent even one payment. If anyone asked me now, my answer would be no.
posted on January 7, 2001 10:30:17 PM
Payment plans are useful if you are selling an item that is highly desired by a specific group of collectors. However, you need to know the bidder.
I can give you at least one example. I belong to HCIF, Haviland Collectors Internationale Foundation. I believe the membership is in the thousands. Each of us has a membership list of names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
About four months ago a seller offered a complete fish set, 19th century, CFH/GDM in the Egyptian motif. There was a lot of bidding. However, bidding on the high end items by collectors can be limited by their cash funds at the moment. One HCIF member got around her cash flow problem by emailing the seller, told him she would bid high enough to win if he would accept three monthly payments. He agreed. The set sold for over $4,000. He ended up with a higher dollar amount. She made her three payments. He shipped. She is happy.
posted on January 7, 2001 10:32:31 PM
I think that we do this now (layaway), without even realizing it. What about the buyers who wait a month to send payment. Same thing in my books, they just don't bother to ask first.
posted on January 7, 2001 10:58:15 PM
I've noticed a few very professional sellers of high end items explictly offer layaway terms, but it sure isn't common, standard, expected, nor a viable option for any significant percentage of ebaY sellers.
