posted on August 29, 2000 01:16:09 PM
Okay, a bidder won my auction and she answered my emails, I gave her the payment information and left things in her hands to send payment. Well, after my 10 payment period ended I emailed her saying I hadn't received payment blah blah blah, and she replied instantly saying that she would send payment out Federal Express the next day blah blah blah. So, I replied back saying it was not imperative she send it that fast I just wanted to know that payment was on the way or will be, and that I would just like for her to keep in touch if she needed a "resanable amount of time" to send it. That was last thursday and I still not have received payment or an email response about anything. My question is: Should I send her one more email stating that she has 5 days for payment to arrive or auction is cancelled? Or should I send another email saying blah blah blah when are you sending your payment etc....?
I have been more then patient, and don't want to push to hard b/c she says her mother passed away and she is buying this item for her child now b/c the grandmother didn't get to do it when she was alive.
Very interesting Buyers are a bit more laid back on yahoo then ebay but I have found I sent my time to payment within 10 days of end inless you send info you need more time and give me a reasonable day I can look for it in mt mail.
Other wise I stick to my terms period.
here is what I do I send out EOA day one if no reply at all in three days I nicely just repeat the same email right from my out box.
if still no reaply I email after 4 days giveing 24 hour warning reply or im canceling bid. if there is no anwser at all on the next day I give them a no pay no reply neg and move on.
if I do get a reply on my frist or second notice with a promise and no payment comes in a reasonable time I email them again asking that they take time to make there payment out now and email to let me know its on the way. if I get no reply in three day I send the 24 hour warning then I neg and cancel.
I find even internaltional deals a buyer who is serious they reply in three to 5 days . only NPBs take more then two notices.
when I frist started auctions I wasnt strick with buyers at all , I was thinking at frist this is just all leasurely fun and at frist it was just selling items hanging around the house no investment but when the bids started comeing at frist it was a hoot to get $5 for things I hadnt used in years.
but it continued we my wife and I went out we started looking at everything in terms like Oh god we could sell that and started investing our money.
suddenly we had 100 200 auctions and realized we needed rules things were nuts people bidding and not paying or takeing a month to pay. tieing up our money we decided its a business or its stop but stopping is hard when everyday comeing home to the mail is like comeing home to find you have won a small lottery
we now hold all buyer to 10 for a reply with a date for payment by any means we will even take cash.
when sales get really busy for you like they are getting for me like now it also way confuseing to have slackers . a winning bid is a bill and it should be paid and treated as such. unfortunately there are as many new people on the net buying at auction that are still beleaveing these auctions are all just people selling there old stuff and today its just not so at all .
I have a over a months income invested in inventory at any one time in every month I am as serious as a heart beat about selling this stuff.
posted on August 29, 2000 08:16:12 PM
A lot depends on their feedback and the amount due. Has she been getting negs lately for non-pay or late pays?
If you accept Paypal or Paydirect tell her she must pay online within 24 hours, otherwise you can no longer hold the item.
If you don't accept online payments tell her you will relist in 24 hours if she does not contact you. If she doesn't cancel her. If she does with another promise of payment you could give her 5 days but I would firmly tell her that's it, I'm relisting in 5 days.
You have been more generous than I would be. Good Luck & don't forget to blacklist her.
posted on August 29, 2000 11:36:12 PM
Unlike the rest of you, I don't give my buyers a deadline and demand payment within 7 or 10 or 14 days.
About half my buyers pay within 24 hours by PayPal (just one PayDirect so far), another 40% send payment by snail mail during the next two weeks, and some of the rest get the payment to me within a couple months (with gentle weekly email prodding from me starting about 3 weeks after the auction closes). The final 6-9% are my deadbeats who never pay.
If you really need the money, tell her you're sorry about her loss and tell her you need to conclude the transaction one way or the other (i.e. see if she wants to back out of buying it, but doesn't know how to get out of it gracefully).
Point out the ease of using PayDirect and PayPal rather than spending unnecessary money to FedEx the payment. (I've had several buyers wait WEEKS to pay, then pay an OUTRAGEOUS postage charge overnighting it to me---have they NO COMMON SENSE?????)
If she really DID lose her mother (and you have no reason at this point to doubt her), she could be severely depressed or overwhelmed with estate details to take care of, and this purchase might be the least of her problems.
posted on August 30, 2000 02:31:12 PM
I agree with Granee. I too am pretty lenient with my customers. Her time table for collecting payment pretty much matches mine.
On a very high ticket item I might do things differently, since if you wait too long an underbidder won't still be interested if your high bidder deadbeats. But if you aren't in desperate need of the funds on that particular transaction, what harm is there in waiting a bit longer?
posted on September 6, 2000 08:14:31 AM
I'm not exagerrating on this, about an hour after I wrote this post I got an email from her saying that the payment was on the way and I did receive it a few days ago. So, I am glad that things worked out.
I have to put a time limit on my items b/c they are new and if they are not going to do well on auction then I need enough time to be able to return them if they are not a good seller. I know that sounds weird but that is just how I do things, I also charge my items and then pay it off when I receive payment and if I wait to long for payment then I accrue unwanted interest.
