posted on July 5, 2001 01:19:08 PM
I sell items from $30.00 to over a $1,000.00 on ebay. 2 years ago I started offering CCs on the purchase, and enjoyed a 20% jump in the sale price of my items. Now with the influx of items on ebay, and the so called economic slowdown. My winning bidders are paying about 20% less, so here comes my delimma. If I stop taking CCs, will I enjoy a 3% boost in profits, or will my bidders bid 20% lower, and cost me 17% in profits? Ed
edhdsn
posted on July 5, 2001 01:24:06 PM
If offering CCs results in more bidders and a corresponding jump in final bid price, then not offering CCs will result in a drop in bidders and lower final bid price.
posted on July 5, 2001 01:52:29 PM
>If I stop taking CCs, will I enjoy a 3% boost in profits, or will my bidders bid 20% lower, and cost me 17% in profits? <
I think a little more info is needed to figure that out.....
First....
> 2 years ago I started offering CCs on the purchases and enjoyed a 20% jump in the sale price of my items.<
...a year or two ago all items were selling higher than they currently are so I don't think that CC are the only reason. The selling market was much better then.
>My winning bidders are paying about 20% less<
You have bidders paying 80% which is very good right now! (I would be happy with that number)
>If I stop taking CCs, will I enjoy a 3% boost in profits<
Yes, you will make 3% more in profits, providing that all of your customers pay via means other than CC's.
I would look back over the past couple months and check to see how most people have paid.
Any time that you make it harder for people to pay you will loose some sales.
(seems to me that most ebay sales are to people too lazy to find stuff on their own in the first place.......not that it's bad for us sellers though)
posted on July 5, 2001 02:11:08 PM
I just posted this on another thread.
I've never offered PayPal, and dropped Billpoint several months back, and have never looked back.
Most of MYcustomers aren't impulse buyers, they're serious buyers/collectors that in "most" cases preferred to send a check or MO even when I offered Billpoint.
It seems a lot of sellers are starting to find that the FREE lunch is over, and that the CC fees add up over time.
I've yet to notice a decrease in bids, or in sales with checks/MO's only in my auctions.
posted on July 5, 2001 02:34:28 PM
soldat2: Thanks for your comments. After looking at my CC sales, they fall into two classes of buyers, very low end sales, and very high end, with the middle buyer $50 to $250 paying by check or money order. I think the low end buyer likes CC because its fast, no stamps to buy or check to write, and the highend buyer out of the reason of need or saftey .
REDDEER: Thats interesting! Could you give me hint on your products, and price points so I can compare markets. We sell collectibles, and some antques, and art. Most of it is California pottery and ceramics from the 20s to 60s.
I sell most everything from A-Z in the antique & collectible area. My sales seem somewhat like yours, as they vary from $10-2000+. I've yet to have anyone DEMAND to use a CC, & out of hundreds of sales since PayPal came on the scene I've only had 3 or 4 people ask about me accepting it. One person didn't bid, the others did & sent a check or MO. I don't hold checks to clear, and have shipped items for $700+ that were paid for by personal check.
spellin
[ edited by reddeer on Jul 5, 2001 03:32 PM ]
Part of the argument about loss of bids/sales has always been something along these lines.
"90% of my high bidders pay with PayPal, I'd be dead if I quit offering it"
I find that amusing. Yes, for "many" people PayPal is a very convenient way to pay, but I hardly doubt that all 90% of those bidders would refuse to bid IF PayPal was removed from ones TOS.
Perhaps if I offered PayPal/Billpoint I'd find that the majority of bidders would want to use one of those 2 methods?
The fact is I don't offer CC payments, and the bidders are still on my items, week after week after week. I can't recall the last time I had a month under 3K in sales, and have many in the 4-5K range, which is about where I like to be. I'm not a HUGE seller, but certainly have more than enough to keep me busy.
I might be just an itty bitty power seller, but here's some info you might find interesting.
A gold power seller I know who moves 25-40K worth of antique & collectible merhandise per MONTH on eBay, has NEVER accepted PayPal, or Billpoint, or any CC payment for that matter.
His items range in price from $25-2500, pretty much just like me.
posted on July 5, 2001 05:12:38 PM
REDDEER: It would be fun, if we had like items, and put them up at the same time, just to see which item sold for more. Up untill this year this has been for fun, now it is needed. One thing I remember from our days in the Barbie market in the early 90s, we were higher than most but offered a 90 day layaway for orders over $250.00, allways sold everything the first week the ad hit in Barbie Bazzar, funnnything though, 80% of the time the first check was a pay in full. Ed
edhdsn
posted on July 5, 2001 05:34:11 PM
As with so many other auction questions, I feel pretty certain that the best answer to this one is, "it depends."
It depends on what kinds of items you sell, and in what price range, and on what type of buyers your items attract. Just like some categories/buyers are more prone to deadbeats, some categories and sellers thrive without using any payment services at all.
In my personal situation, I know that accepting Billpoint and PayPal has increased the number of my sales and probably also the amounts that are bid. I don't sell many high-end items, but I do sell lots of lower-priced collectibles...the sort of thing that you don't HAVE to have (almost an impulse purchase, and thus very enticing if you can use a credit card), but that appeals to collectors of specific patterns.
As a buyer, I prefer to use PayPal rather than sending a check, because so many sellers hold checks (I don't bother, in my selling price range, and have never had one bounce). I also like the extensive records you get when you use one of the payment services. I wouldn't NOT pay with a check, but using PayPal is definitely easier and faster.
To get a better answer to your specific question, I suspect you will have to get more specific about what you sell, at what price points, and what kind of buyers you normally attract.
I think you're correct on all counts. It really does depend on numerous factors. I may sell high end items from time to time, but my average sale is most likely in the $25-50 range. BTW - I never hold personal checks [unless it's a very high amount & the high bidder has little or no feedback], and I make that clear in my auctions. I post feedback & ship the same day the funds arrive.
Ed
I watch my competition in one area very closely. Most of them accept some sort of online CC payment service, be it a merchant account/PayPal/Billpoint, or a combination of them, and most weeks I still beat their final bid amounts hands down.
I've been watching them closely just to see if I was making a mistake in not accepting Billpoint [I would NEVER use PayPal] and so far my auctions on average beat theirs time after time.
I'm not sure why, but it doesn't appear that not accepting PayPal or Billpoint is affecting my bottom line.
Speaking as a buyer, I could care less how a seller wants me to pay, my MAIN concern is that the item is EXACTLY as the seller represented it. In todays online market, and all the fraud that one hears about, I suspect many buyers feel the same as I.
IMO a good reputation & feedback record goes a long ways further than what form of payment a seller accepts.
posted on July 5, 2001 07:45:16 PM
I absolutely agree that reputation is more important than payment options.
As a seller, I like being able to take credit card payments. A little less paper work. Fewer trips to the bank. And it's fast. What can I say - convenience is a biggy with me.
As a buyer, checks or cc's are both fine with me. The only thing I won't do is waste 90 cents on a MO - if I'm going to waste money, I'd like to waste it on insurance.
I have talked to a couple of people that really like the cc option of paying though. My best bud finds paying by check a hassle and wondered why everyone doesn't take PayPal (she finds Billpoint more cumbersome). I explained to her about the fees, and she said she wouldn't mind paying 50 cents to pay that way. (She buys mostly low-end OOP books.) Another woman I know just loves BIN plus PayPal because she gets her stuff in three or four days.
What I've seen when searching for collectible items and for things like packing supplies, etc. is that collectible folks seem to do fine if they don't take cc's - or should I say there's a lot out there that are doing very well and don't need to offer this option. For non-collectibles, I guess you have to be competitive where you can; pricing, ease of payment, etc.
posted on July 6, 2001 04:28:49 AM
I don't care how anyone pays me as long as they pay! I am a small volume seller with low end collectibles (mostly kitchen glassware) and I'll take Pay Pal, Billpoint, checks or money orders. I prefer Pay Pal because of the speed...it gets the box out of my apartment and into the mail!
As a buyer, the only auctions I skip are those from money-order only sellers. My "personal" checks are as good as a cashier's check (I use internet banking and the bank escrows the money from my account on the day it cuts and mails the check to the seller) and I will not pay for a money order (plus th e hassle of going out and getting one). I also don't have to pay for stamps.
posted on July 14, 2001 07:04:42 PM
As a bidder, I will be more likely to bid on an item that accepts CC, and checks, very rare that I bid on a MO only item, its not the cost, but the time. ED
edhdsn
posted on July 14, 2001 07:35:53 PM
I have been "shopping" today. I would have bid on quite a few items (aprox 200.00 worth!!) that had BIN, but, because the seller insists on holding my check, and/or does not accept CC or Paypal, Billpoint, whatever, I did not buy anything from any of them!
I need some shipping supplies.....peanuts, etc. The shipping combined with the BIN would have been MORE than going to Office Depot!,,,PLUS they didn't accept paypal, etc. I need them ASAP!I didnt buy those either. Maybe I will go dumpster diving for some!
I am a seller, and I do NOT hold the checks, I DO accept CC..cash, MO, etc., and I ship within three days of receipt of payment. AND I leave feedback when the payment arrives (I know, most of you will think I am nuts)
