Change to fixed price listings ONLY with immediate payment required?

[chezzy]

A recent item of mine was bid on and won by a zero-feedback buyer. I left the bid because "everyone has to start somewhere blah blah" and the person had said they would pay the next day if they won. Apparently then they couldn't pay by paypal because they had a minus balance in paypal...and asked for my bank account details. Which I sent them AGAIN (had also included my bank account details in the invoice I had sent them).

The auction ended Tuesday night so come tonight it will be 5 days since listing ended. In the item description I have it saying
"Payment - paypal or bank deposit - to be received within 5 days of listing end". What is disappointing/surprising is that the buyer has not sent any updates as to their intentions or to inform me that payment has been made. Though I guess technically they have until around 8.30pm tonight.

Most buyers pay very quickly - same day or next. So it strikes me as odd that a new ebayer/account is not really 'trying harder' to make a good impression (either with quick payment or good communication) in an attempt to build up positive feedback.

At this point I don't know how this transaction will end. But I am seriously thinking about changing any new listings to fixed price only - with immediate (paypal) payment required. Curious to hear what other sellers do to reduce potential problems. Do you give a strict time frame for paying, require immediate payment or what? Thankyou.

[jessicadazzler97]

---

@chezzy wrote:

While 'revamping' my listings I am looking to reduce the amount of words in the description. Have been viewing some random listings noting that some people don't even mention 'terms', time frames etc. Wonder if there is any real point - and perhaps just let ebay send out an automatic message if payment not received in 4 days (for those non-immediate payment items).

Not going to go into things like combined post either - I figure if it is important a potential buyer would send a question through.

Re setting up for immediate payments - am willing to risk reducing my pool of buyers if it means I have a smoother selling experience and can avoid dealing with slow/non payers or time wasters.

---

 Its a good idea to set out your terms & conditions. I have a very simple description and then a line at the bottom that says -

 'I appreciate payment within 3 business days. I don't offer combined postage'.

 Obviously you can change that as much as you need to, but it's simple, effective, and gets to the point. If I'm looking at someone's listing and I can't see their terms & conditions anywhere, I'm left wondering when they require payment by.

[beach_and_home]

chezzy, one reason that you will find listing descriptions are bare is the fact that a lot of buyers are shopping on their mobile phones or ipads these days. I did away with my fancy listing template to trim it right down so that it could be easily read on a phone or ipad. If in doubt, make sure to view your own listings on all types of screens, just so you know what your buyers are seeing. Definitely have a look on a phone.

As for terms and conditions, there is no point, no one reads them. And if you have instant payment set up,, there is no need for them.

I also don't believe in putting anything negative in your listing. I hate seeing listings with a big long blurb about how you must pay within 3 days, no time-wasters, we take no responsibility for items lost in the mail, etc etc. Seems negative to someone reading it before they've even bought the item.

Reducing your pool of buyers down to people that actually pay straight away and don't hassle you is always a good thing. As I said before, you can always try it and change back later if you don't like it.

[chezzy]

Thanks. Had noticed many listings lacking detail a while ago, I guessed it was sellers listing via mobile devices.

Am not a smart phone user myself, have one for occasional use/calls but am not 'savvy'. Will get my other half

to show me on his phone and then will make some further changes.

[chameleon54]

---

@beach_and_home wrote:

chezzy, one reason that you will find listing descriptions are bare is the fact that a lot of buyers are shopping on their mobile phones or ipads these days. I did away with my fancy listing template to trim it right down so that it could be easily read on a phone or ipad. If in doubt, make sure to view your own listings on all types of screens, just so you know what your buyers are seeing. Definitely have a look on a phone.

As for terms and conditions, there is no point, no one reads them. And if you have instant payment set up,, there is no need for them.

I also don't believe in putting anything negative in your listing. I hate seeing listings with a big long blurb about how you must pay within 3 days, no time-wasters, we take no responsibility for items lost in the mail, etc etc. Seems negative to someone reading it before they've even bought the item.

Reducing your pool of buyers down to people that actually pay straight away and don't hassle you is always a good thing. As I said before, you can always try it and change back later if you don't like it.

---

Not disagreeing with you on this one. Anything that makes ebay an easier place to sell and works for you is a good thing. Having said that I try to sell to the biggest client base possible. I dont have any blocks in place on my stores and sell to "the world" without any country exclusions. This has seen my overseas sales grow to around 25% of total sales. I also dont include any terms except the offer to combine postage. Ebays terms over-ride anything a seller puts in their listing anyway so whats the point ?

A lot of it gets back to what you sell and who your client base is. Different products attract different buyers and different problems. Non payers are not a major problem for me as I sell mainly to businesses and mature aged men with a bit of life experience. If your target market is teenage kids or woman fashion buyers, I would expect non payers to be a real headache.

There are no hard and fast rules about what works or does not work on ebay. Everyones ebay business is different. The best thing is to cherry pick the ideas from the the forums that may suit your business model and experiment a bit with these. It may be that instant payment gives you a hassle free, pleasant selling experience. (  Yes I know, what about all of the other issues ??? ) It may see your sales shrink markedly. It might be worth a slight drop in sales to retain your sanity. The only way to find out is give it a try.

[chezzy]

---

@chameleon54 wrote:

---

There are no hard and fast rules about what works or does not work on ebay. Everyones ebay business is different. The best thing is to cherry pick the ideas from the the forums that may suit your business model and experiment a bit with these. It may be that instant payment gives you a hassle free, pleasant selling experience. (  Yes I know, what about all of the other issues ??? ) It may see your sales shrink markedly. It might be worth a slight drop in sales to retain your sanity. The only way to find out is give it a try.

---

This. Considering ebay does not give me the same warm fuzzies it used to in the 1990s, I need it to be an overall good experience for me or I will be considering other options for sure.

[phorum_junkie*]

Other than explaining my combined postage terms and asking that anyone who is noot paying by Paypal withn 4 days lets me know I do not, nor have ever, seen the need to add any other terms and conditions in the listing, ebay set out their terms and so I see no point in asking for or expecting anything else. Other postage details, returns policy etc are shown under the tab for payment and postage where they should be.

Asking for payment in any number of days gives the impression you are not bothered if they take a few days to pay, say nothing and they usually pay straigt away or after ebay send the 48 hour reminder.

[digital*ghost]

Just a general comment re: terms in listings. First, eBay's terms do not (nor have they ever) overridden a seller's terms. If a seller's terms do not contravene consumer law, or any eBay policies, then they stand, simple as that. Enforcing them is another matter, and obviously eBay don't provide many ways in which a seller's terms can be enforced, so it's wise to be selective about which ones to have in place. (eg There is nothing wrong with saying 'payment due in 24 hours', but while eBay don't "give" buyers 8 days to pay, they do prevent the seller from taking any action against non-payment for 4 - 8 days, so the term is impractical in the sense that it can't be enforced). 

The other thing is, terms in listings are not always there for the buyer. Mine are mostly there for me. By which I mean forumlating, and stating, my terms gives me a sound basis to work from when answering customer enquiries. Buyers don't have to read my terms, but mine are focused on what I will do in some of the more common situations that arise on eBay, so when someone messages me with an expectation of something that I don't offer, I don't have to worry about how to respond, because such things were decided upon and clearly outlined up front. 

I do recommend being concise and positive (the former I'm not so good at, but over time I can occasionally whittle away unnecessary words  ). 

[chezzy]

Tonight I closed the unpaid item case - no payment received. I feel a bit sad as it is my first unpaid item in many years of being on ebay. But thanks to all those who have offered input here. I have made some changes to lessen the chance of something like this happening again.

[thecatspjs]

---

@chezzy wrote:

Tonight I closed the unpaid item case - no payment received. I feel a bit sad as it is my first unpaid item in many years of being on ebay. But thanks to all those who have offered input here. I have made some changes to lessen the chance of something like this happening again.

---

Hopefully this experience serves to broaden your understanding of the experience of other sellers in other markets than your own.  There are some sellers that have to close multiple unpaid items weekly and even daily - but as the market yields the best results via auctions, buy-it-nows are not a really a viable option. 

[chezzy]

Without trying to overthink, analyse or read between the lines I will just say that yes I feel bad for those who

have it 'worse' than me.