Do you need to send an invoice to buyer?

[elavani2014]

Am new to selling on Ebay and have sold an item (free postage) under a different ID - do you have to send an invoice to the buyer?  I was reading on past posts that some sellers don't but just wanted to check as couldn't really find any useful info on Ebay Help.

[curraone]

It is really a matter of personal preference.     The buyer gets an automatic email from ebay saying "you have purchased this item - now pay for it".

I like to send an invoice myself - basically reinforcing that I give 4 days to pay - and outlining my bank deposit details in case they want to pay by bank deposit (yes, I know they are available to the buyer if they click on it) but I'm hoping to nudge them towards bank deposit

[horizon1907]

I always send an Invoice. Don't know any other way. 🙂

[elavani2014]

Thanks for the help horizon1907 and curraone! 

[bigbrickshop]

If it's a Buy It Now listing the buyer no longer gets any notification from eBay until they either pay (Order Confirmation email) or they get a reminder to pay on day 2. The majority of buyers pay immediately and if they haven't I usually send an Invoice a couple of hours after the purchase.

[collect247]

Ebay sends a reminder 2 days after the sale and if payment isn't made by the 4th day then I send an invoice and if payment isn't made on the 5th day then I open a non payment dispute,but I have received invoices immediately when I have purchased items but mainly from new sellers as they tend to want the money the day before the item actually sells lol.

May I make myself perfectly clear that only some new sellers not all of them.

Got some darn good abuse once or twice for putting everyone into the same category lol.

[curraone]

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@collective05 wrote:

Ebay sends a reminder 2 days after the sale

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Ah, but I have reminder unticked in site preferences - that's why I like to send an invoice - if I give them 4 days I don't want them harassed by ebay on day 2.

[i-love-my-sheep]

If my buyers don't pay straight away, I will send them an invoice when all that days auctions have finished. I always tell them not to pay yet if they are still watching other items. I also ask them to let me know if that's the case. 

[phorum_junkie*]

The buyer gets an email straight away with a Pay Now link, they then get a reminder after 2 days so I don't send an invoice to add to the clutter unless there is combined postage involved. If I haven't received payment by day 3 then I send the invoice with a message asking them to confirm how they paid as I have been unable to locate the payment. A not so subtle hint rather than outright accusing them of not paying lol.

[glenbankloel]

After day 4 with no payment we always send an invoice, and a polite message, " just to advise haven't received their funds and just wondering if they might have forgotton?" as we are all so busy these days and time seems to fly by .......but would appreciate payment asap so that we can forward your beautiful necklace, brooch, earrings .....etc etc...

We keep this message very light and polite as don't want them offside so early in the transaction. But if they haven't paid by day 8 or contacted us we just start the process via ebay and let the automatic feature do it's thing. Our reasoning is that we have given them 2 chances to pay:

First  Chance = When they BIN

Second Chance = After reminder message from us and invoice.

Third Chance= Nil

90-95% pay after our personal reminder, many with apologies and stories etc etc....and yes we know that some (not all) are just fairy dust, we don't mind, just happy that they have forwarded the funds, and the transaction can move to the next stage. Always reply politely if they message us to explain, and confirm that will be forwarding asap. And the ones who always stretch payment out to the last day are now in the Ebay structure so if they don't pay we are covered. This works for us, keeps slow payers onside and happy, but we are also covered if things go pear shaped. And don't forget in the middle of our communications they are also getting messages from Ebay too, so plenty of chances to pay.