topic Re: Invoicing in Selling

Invoicing

gnik5126 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:37:36 GMT

Hi everybody, I have never been here before and I have a question regarding invoicing as follows.......

I have sold an item at auction and the buyer has asked for another item, ie. two of the same, I am happy to oblige but I don't know how to invoice for two of the same items on the one invoice as there doesn't seem to be any way of doing it in the invoice section.

Can sombody please explain to me how to invoice the buyer as soon as possible so that I don't look like a complete idiot. The buyer is waiting for their invoice right now.

Thank you all, I've only just started selling and I just don't know how to do it!

Re: Invoicing

clarry100 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:44:47 GMT

I would just add the amount down the bottom as "Seller discounts (-) or charges (+):".

Positive for charges, Negative for discount.

Don't press recalculate as this will just cancel your changes.

Just press SEND.

Re: Invoicing

clarry100 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:45:55 GMT

Then just send a message to let them know what you have done.

Re: Invoicing

clarry100 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:51:08 GMT

Another way to do it would be to get them to go ahead and pay for the first one as-is.

Then you will have their PayPal email address.

Then you can send them a separate invoice via PayPal for the second item.

Re: Invoicing

gnik5126 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 08:41:20 GMT

Thanks Clarry100, I will give the plus & minus on the invoice a go, It seems crazy that the invoice process does not have any allowance to accomodate the simple act of just adding another of the same item to the buyer's invoice. Whatever I do it looks like it will be quite unprofessional and inneficient, maybe Ebay should look at modifiing this process to at least make it more businesslike and efficeint.

Thanks for your help.

Re: Invoicing

davewil1964 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 09:12:33 GMT

The simple act of buying a second item is supposed to be done through eBay.

At which point you adjust the postage to suit the cost of shipping both. Not invoice them outside of eBay for an item advertised on eBay. A fairly significant policy violation. Is your account worth what you save in fees?

Re: Invoicing

harley_babes_hoard — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 09:43:34 GMT

I think it is probably that way for a reason. A bit of a safe guard against dodgy sellers who like to jack up the prices for unsuspecting buyers when they shouldn't be. Unfortunately it disadvantages the decent sellers.

Re: Invoicing

jensmanchester-australia — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:14:21 GMT

dave - I had it clarified to me a long time ago by my ebay Account Manager that if a buyer asks about an item which is not currently listed on ebay then the seller is under no obligation to list it on ebay. Ebay have no control of anything which is not listed on their site.

Re: Invoicing

davewil1964 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:50:46 GMT

Lucky you. I don't have an account manager, even though that is supposed to be one of the few advantages of PS, so I just have to go by eBay's T&Cs.

Re: Invoicing

gnik5126 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 12:00:16 GMT

Well I have forwarded on the invoice to my buyer as suggested earlier by sombody more experienced than myself and I just added it to the invoice in the plus/minus box, I really don't know just what all the fuss is about, as I've added it to the invoice, the sale is going through Ebay, so I'm not doing them out of any precious cash, however my invoice can still only show one item to the buyer even though I have charged them for two. Because of the unprofessional invoice that displays this, the buyer has an invioce which does not display the true details of the sale and I as a seller have had to supply them with a **bleep**py invoice, which probably is illegal in this country anyway.

Surely Ebay could do better than this and spend a few bucks to have their software updated considering the size of the Ebay corporation and the revenue that they enjoy collecting from us lot.

I really only want to do the right thing by everybody......buyer, seller and Ebay....but.....

Thanks for all comments!

Re: Invoicing

putney32 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 12:04:19 GMT

@gnik5126 wrote:
Well I have forwarded on the invoice to my buyer as suggested earlier by sombody more experienced than myself and I just added it to the invoice in the plus/minus box, I really don't know just what all the fuss is about, as I've added it to the invoice, the sale is going through Ebay, so I'm not doing them out of any precious cash, however my invoice can still only show one item to the buyer even though I have charged them for two. Because of the unprofessional invoice that displays this, the buyer has an invioce which does not display the true details of the sale and I as a seller have had to supply them with a **bleep**py invoice, which probably is illegal in this country anyway.
Surely Ebay could do better than this and spend a few bucks to have their software updated considering the size of the Ebay corporation and the revenue that they enjoy collecting from us lot.
I really only want to do the right thing by everybody......buyer, seller and Ebay....but.....

Thanks for all comments!

the 'right thing by eBay' would be to pay the final value fee on the TWO items sold, by listing anothr one with buy it now so your buyer could buy it thru eBay and you could pay the fvf on the two sales, and send a combined invoice that looked professional

as it is you have only invoiced the ONE item and will only pay the ONE item fvf.

Re: Invoicing

gnik5126 — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 12:35:29 GMT

I am trying to do "the right thing" and I did not realise that was the case that Ebay would only collect revenue for one item if two items ended up on the invoice, as this problem has not arisen for me before and as I couldn't find much to help me with it on Ebay after much looking, I took the advise of a more experienced member, that's why I turned to this forum for advise in the first place.

Please tell me why the invoice could not have the amount of items upgraded to reflect the true sale in one operation with all the funds going through Ebay anyway instead of going through the palarver of listing extra items especially for one person, all seems so messy and inefficient.

Re: Invoicing

jawsnine — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:37:32 GMT

When you pay to have a store you can list multiples of each item and the buyer can choose to buy as many as you have. They then get the professional looking invoice stating however many that they have purchased. Without the store you are limited to one of each item and can only relist another once that one is sold.

Re: Invoicing

digital*ghost — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:44:10 GMT

@gnik5126 wrote:

Please tell me why the invoice could not have the amount of items upgraded to reflect the true sale in one operation with all the funds going through Ebay anyway instead of going through the palarver of listing extra items especially for one person, all seems so messy and inefficient.

Because eBay doesn't work that way - a buyer purchases an item, they confirm and form a contract with you based on what is outlined in a listing, one which they expressly agree to. If, after they agree to buy an item, the seller had free reign to invoice for more items not detailed in the listing and the subject of the contract being formed, there are a variety of problems it could cause, so despite the system not being quite suitable to your need, it prevents messier situations than the ones it creates.

Re: Invoicing

gnik5126 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 06:56:46 GMT

So to carify just so that I get this right....as an example, if I have say 30 single items for sale all the same that a buyer could choose either one or want more than one, it would seem that the only way to actually do it would be to....list all 30 items in 30 separate auctions at the same price, and just let the buyer bid/buy on as many auctions as they wish and then once a particular buyer has bid or chosen the amount of items that they require, then just combine thier invoice to them? I would assume that the invoice would then show the correct amount of items and price.

I guess then it is up to the buyer to let you know when he/she has actually finished bidding/buying so that you then can forward an invoice to them.

It would seem then digital*ghost that this would be the only 'legal" way in what you are advocating, is that correct, please advise. Thanks.

Re: Invoicing

davewil1964 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 07:04:15 GMT

If they are all auctions - yes.

I would expect a buyer wanting several of an item would contact you and agree a price. You would then list as a BIN for the agreed quantity and price, advise the buyer as to the item number, they would buy and there would be no need for you to even send an invoice as all the necessary info would be in the listing and they could just proceed through checkout.

Re: Invoicing

gnik5126 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 07:24:49 GMT

Okay then, I will list them all in separate auctions and if anyone contacts me for more then I will obviously have to list a BIN for the agreed quantity and price and just hope that the paricular person gets to it before any others.

Re: Invoicing

davewil1964 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 09:18:29 GMT

Yep. And there are ways to ensure nobody else bids. Like putting a massive price on with best offer, and only accepting the offer from the agreed buyer. Easy. Or do BINs to start. They eat into your listing limits if you have multiples, but I'm fairly sure they don't eat into your freebies.

Why do you auction? Do you get better prices?

Anecdotally auctions are, at best, loss leaders these days.

Re: Invoicing

gnik5126 — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:35:04 GMT

Yeah, it is...what it is - one must get over it and move on. Thanks to all!