Special Orders -- How to Pay for them?

[clarry100]

We operate two ebay stores selling in the same category of baby headbands and accessories.

We very commonly get requests from customers asking if we can make up a special order.
It might be different combinations of what we already have listed or bulk quantities etc etc.

We are happy to negotiate a price but when it comes time to pay this is where the problem lies.
eBay don't like off-ebay transactions and will block passing of email addresses.

Bank transfer is an option but some customers don't feel comfortable with doing this.

So here is a thought on how we might do it. 

Set up a special BIN listing with a price of say $1.00 (could be any $$ increment you wanted really).

Make up a good descriptive listing title.

Include a picture that just says "Special Orders". This may contravene the new picture requirements???
In the description area write about what the listing is for and how to use it.

Then when we negotiate a price with the customer, say $10 (or whatever in whole dollar amounts).

All they have to do is goto this special listing and order and pay for qty 10x of these "special" items.

qty 10x = $10.00. Or whatever qty = the dollar figure we negotiated.

Once they pay we mail out as usual.

Ebay/PayPal get their fees and everyone is happy.

Q1. Is this going to work or will it get blocked or taken down by ebay?

Q2. Does it contravene any ebay policy/rule?

Q3. Any thoughts or other ideas?

[jawsnine]

Clarry I can see problems not only with the new picture requirements but also possible Paypal disputes for INAD. I know they would be special orders but it still wouldn't stop people.

Although I don't do special orders, I sometimes do special prices for quantity purchases and I just use the seller discount part of the invoice. The downside of this is that I still pay fees on the whole amount (but eBay did help me sell them for that price). I don't think that this would work if the price is more though as eBay would be missing out on fees.

The other alternative that I have used is to make a listing just for that purpose and have it ready to go. I make an agreement with the buyer as to what time I will list it and it is then up to them to make sure they purchase it before someone else.

[clarry100]

Thanks jawsnine for your input.

We did think about using the discount option for bulk orders.

But since all our listings are FREE postage ebay don't allow invoiced discounts against the total price.

The only way you can discount then is to do a partial refund thru PayPal.

But that means your customer has to pay the full amount first then trust that you will give the partial refund.

It's hard to have a special listing ready as we don't know what the order will be until we have negotiated it wiht the customer.

[phorum_junkie*]

I used to sell OOAK home made clothes and if anyone wanted a special order I would make it then list it with a one word title, a photo of just a small area of the fabric and a full stop for the description. I would warn the buyer in advance that I was about to list so they could be ready to purchase straight away, Nobody else ever tried to buy that very nice full stop, if they had I would have been more than happy to send them one lol.

[jawsnine]

Sorry Clarry I did mean a template for a listing that I copy and paste the appropriate things into.

Your right, it is harder with the free postage.

[dazzlingrosettes]

with a special order for a customer, I make another listing for them only, with their ID in the heading.

so it is only that person who can purchase,( hopefully no one else) also make sure you say that inside the listing also.

you can discuss prices etc before you make the listing, so they are happy with what they are buying.

 I also sometimes send a photo in messages to make sure its what they want.

[clarry100]

Thanks Dazzlingrosettes appreciate your input.

It's easier for an order that really amounts to a discount for a bulk quantity of an existing listing because the customer can already see what they will be getting from the current listing. In this case it's just a matter of haggling over price until we both agree.

In the case where it's a customer asking us to make up something special for them we will not already have pictures as we won't have made it up until they have placed an order. What they have probably seen in our listings is other similar products and wish us to make up something with a different combination than what we already have listed.

So in such cases we would be unable to send them pictures until after we have it made up. And we wont make it up until we are sure the order is fixed in place.

Of course if we get repreat requests for the same, or similar thing, then maybe we should consider including it into our standard product range anyway.

[clarry100]

Hmmm! A high quality DOT in a bag. Might send 'em some QLD air as well. Note to self. "New Marketing Idea". LOL.

But I do like the idea tho phorum_junkie.

But it would still be easier for us if my original idea of the special BIN listing would not contravene any ebay policy.

[*crikey*mate*]

Hi Clarry.

In those situations, I do very similar to above

In the title I write something like "Special Order for Johnny"

and then list it with a very high BIN, and Make an offer option.

I tell the buyer what I have done and reassure them that when they make an offer for the agreed upon price, that I will accept it.

The way i figure it is

1) If someone else makes an offer, I am free to reject it.

2) If someone else buys it, if they want to pay that exorbitant amount, I am happy to honour that sale and will just relist the item again for the intended buyer.

My stock isn't held up with the probable non payer as I go through the UID process, and my intended customer gets what they want. Or maybe, I got a few orders at an obscenely high price that I wasn't expecting.

(No one but the intended buyer has ever purchased my items listed like these, but undoubtedly, one day there will be someone who does so for mean or ignorant reasons)

[digital*ghost]

I think the bigger problem would be people buying from a listing like that before any negotiations took place and expecting things you wouldn't or couldn't provide for X amount of $'s. (I know instructions can be very clear, but you will always get a few that don't get it).

Also, I suspect it would be in breach of policy because what you'd essentially be offering is a variable choice listing, with multiple values.

I get custom orders relatively frequently, and I do it in a similar way to PJ, however I provide a full description and photos. I was told "custom orders welcome" in listings is a breach of policy (apparently that's an offer to deal off eBay), so when I mention that it's an option, I have to be clear that custom orders will result in a listing on eBay, but what I'm actually going to do (when I get around to it) is create a FAQs page that outlines all the relevant details for what kind of custom orders I can offer, and how it will work, and put a link to it in listings and store pages.