A buyer wants to pay $50 now and the balance ($366) at the end of the month. Can this be done?

[onthealley]

This is the mesage they sent me. 

I will take this but am wondering if you can do me a favour and hold it till the end of the month because of a budgetary issue. I can place a $50 deposit right now. 

Is there a safe way to handle this through eBay?

Thanks

[pjcdn2005]

There is no way to do this through eBay. They would have to use a credit card or something like Paypal credit and pay all at once.

[byto253]

And thankfully it cannot.  Do not like the idea of providing banking/credit facilities to buyers.   There are lots of ways for a buyer to finance over time and the fact they are asking the seller to do it sends up red flags and flares for me. 

[ricarmic · Accepted solution]

I have buyers asking similar things somewhat regularly.

I also am a very patient seller in terms of awaiting funds.

What I do in these situations is advise that I do not hold items for folks. The option they have is to purchase the item and not pay for it, they can wait till they have the full amount but they only have 30 days (I have my automagic unpaid case timing set to the maximum 32 days).

Normally they're waiting for their next pay/pension payment to purchase the item.

I have had some very good customers using this model regularly over the years, I have had very few (I don't remember any at the moment) who didn't pay in the end.

It does mean though that the item is unavailable to anyone else to purchase, if it is something that is likely to sell quickly to someone else, that would be something to consider.

[onthealley]

Thanks for all the feedback. Much appreciated

[femmefan1946]

@onthealley 

What I hear him saying is that he doesn't have a good enough credit rating to get a credit card.

Or enough money in the bank for a debit card.

If he pays you in full with a credit card, he can pay off his balance at his leisure. There will be interest, if he misses the end of the month deadline.

[intimewithmusic]

Hi. I used to take deposits in my brick and mortar. 50% of the time the sale would go through.  Face to face with customers at a counter for 40 years gives you a good idea if you are wasting your time. In a large metropolis area you are right about 50 % of the time.

I thank the heavens I don't have to do this selling online. 

Christmas time always brought out the difficult transactions. Parents would do this tying up inventory with good intentions. Christmas Eve rolls around. They didn't pick up so you're forced to clear out the unsold instrument on Boxing Day. 

My worst experience was a single mom who came in to pick up. She had a 10% deposit to lay it away.  She came in a day or 2 prior to Christmas and she didn't have the balance owing. Being Christmas I succumbed to her sob story and her promise to pay right after.  She said she was a nurse.  I  gave her the present based on her promise. She never paid.  I was a single parent scraping nickels together too and had with 2 young  of my own.  AFter Christmas  I had to go to her house and repo the instrument which was a present for her daughter.   It was a considerable amount and I couldn't afford to forfeit it.

On another ocassion I was let into a group rental home for a repo. I took back a complete drumset from a guy who was 15 feet away sleeping on a couch.  Who can sleep on a couch 15 feet from a guy packing up a full drumset and cymbals? Maybe I could have been shot but he didn't wake up. 

I had to repo another  instrument on a different occasion. Went to the house. The owner wasn't home.  Fortunately his son was and he let me take it. Close call.  I had no idea the guy was a very bad dude.

I could go on and on.  November and December is the time when financing is at it's peak. 

Please say "I'm sorry, eBay has no lay-a-way". Thank you"  If they persist  "Thank you, It's not possible". 

One of the best things about eBay (some sellers take for granted) is not having to grant Christmas wishes.  approve credit and then repossess from bad dudes and sometimes even well intentioned single moms.  This is for good reason. Then again 50 % of the time you might make someone happy. 

And then you do it again....

PS. The daughter, whose present I repossesed told me she didn't want it in the 1st place.  At least I felt another child would benefit from having it. 

[onthealley]

You make some valid points. It's a tough call and I can be a softy for a sob story. The way I look at it is the item hadn't sold yet, things just aren't like they used to be 15-20 years ago. 

Also I have a near identical set that I will also be listing soon. It may backfire, time will tell. 

[femmefan1946]

If we take a deposit, does eBay consider that we have accepted a  Best Offer and penalize us if we don't ship within five days?

Less important-- If the buyer does not pay, do we get to keep the deposit?

[intimewithmusic]

I always returned them voluntarily. It was similar to accepting an eBay return when it was a no return item. Those customers sometimes came back and did more business as a result of your honesty.

[intimewithmusic]

You're right. Each instance is different. You do have to be a risk taker sometimes. It's part of the fun!

That was a good topic!

Thanks for posting!

Speaking of risks,  I notice you have 10 x $44 items with no tracking. .. 

I can't tell but it appears you may be able to ship those out under 200 grams which would qualify them for Canada Post Expedited Light with insurance and tracking... Just a suggestion

[onthealley]

As a Canadian shipping with Canada Post, I find as I am sure everyone else does that rates are high. I find myself subsidizing rates through the final sale price in some instances. On occasion I have upgraded shipping to something other than listed in the listing. I am hoping that the 10 items listed will not be purchased individually but rather by a few people purchasing multiple issues. 

[byto253]

Having group purchases is not that common.  Collectors are usually looking for that item missing in their stash.    Plan for individual and take group buys as a bonus.    

[intimewithmusic]

@onthealley wrote:

As a Canadian shipping with Canada Post, I find as I am sure everyone else does that rates are high. I find myself subsidizing rates through the final sale price in some instances. On occasion I have upgraded shipping to something other than listed in the listing. I am hoping that the 10 items listed will not be purchased individually but rather by a few people purchasing multiple issues. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

No and Yes.

Canada Post prices have improved so much in the past 12 months I'm finally competing with my US competitors. After 10 years I finally got Top Rated seller status in the US. I can't agree with you prices are too high for light weight shipments. 

Shipping online is a science of grams. Expedited Lite and Tracked Packet USA  are new opportunities and you must sculpt your domestic items to 200grams. Focus on that.  For the USA chisel everything into 2 kg. Focus on that. for myself it meant looking at and refining my packaging. 

With respect to combined shipments.  You rarely get a random customer buying multiples. For them  I have CS  instructions in every listing. When collectors buy a bunch of rare ephemera they don't squable over a few dollars for shipping.  bE sure you refund if the difference is substantial.

More often than not combined shipments come from Repeat Customers.  With respect to your 10 X $44 auto related ephemera they have a huge cross border attraction.  You can ship one of those to Orlando for under 10 bucks Canadian ($7.40 USD). You have nothing to subsidize. A buyer who buys three at, say  500 grams isn't going to ask why shipping is $10 Canadian instead of $8. 

For a domestic sale sculpt safe packing to under 200 grams and ship Exp Lite AND keep prepaid CP boxes on hand for orders that exceed 200grams.

It's never necessary to  subsidize light weight "one offs" that have little or no competition.  Today I sent 120 grams to Orlando from Kelowna for $8.20 tracked with $100 ins.  How can you complain about shipping cost? Florida sellers charge $18 to ship the same item to me. via eBay US.

Word of caution: Never sacrifice packaging  to reduce weight. For expensive ephemera look into things like a piece of Ramboard (heavier than cardboard & much thinner with no flutes to collapse) at 40cents/50grams/sq ft from Rona.

The item I shipped today was a single page that sold for $24.97. I'd never consider sending it lettermail because it was irreplaceable for a repeat collector. If I sent it lettermail I couldn't use Ramboard and cardboard. Chances of one piece of paper getting damaged during a trans continental ride are pretty high. If that happens you lose your repeat customer. 

---

[byto253]

Nice post.   I chuckled at "sculpt  ...  chisel"   for packaging as I just trimmed back flaps on a box to get it under the 250 gram limit for small packet.   If you are not frakenboxing you aren't trying!

I also make good use of Dollarama foamboard - nicely rigid and very light and easy to cut to fit.  I will use a sheet in lettermail as well to provide backing for items, and for a thinner item 2 sheets as a sandwich will come in under 2 cm.   I also use craft envelopes and use a foamboard  sandwich on a lot of small packet items where it provides great protection and is much lighter than a cardboard box.   Way better protection than a bubble envelope as well. 

It takes trial and error and a willingness to experiment and fiddle to find what works for you.   

For the OP, I would really recommend buying some super cheap items to boost your feedback to at least 10.  Visually, a lot of folks will look at 4 and just move on for your more expensive items.  Almost all of the big volume sellers of cheap stuff have auto feedback turned on. 

Some examples.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/225309120187

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/375048442984?hash=item5752a11468

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/186069514173

[intimewithmusic]

Hi @byto253 

Ha ha. I bought some foamboard today at Dollarama.  Price is up.  It's $4.00 a 20 x 30" sheet or over $1 per sq foot.  I'm not putting that in packages.

Not the only change.  They started coating one side with a high gloss vinyl. Not good for photo shoots.  the other side is matt like before but they made the sticker bigger with nasty glue and you have to use heat to remove it.  If you have old stock in your store and you use it for photo mats you might want to grab a few!

You're right. the OP could buy a lot of cheap stuff to bump feedback. I saw a single guitar pick on eBay for $1 w free shipping so I tested that theory out.  It came speedily all the way from Japan in a stiff 7x 10 with a thank you card... 

Best wishes

[byto253]

That is actually the eraser board foamboard.  A lot of the time they don't have the standard $1.50 foamboard and have that crud instead - it really comes and goes and I stock up when it is in.    Hope your area has not discontinued the cheap one totally. 

But the .87 chocolate bars and flat pack of peanut butter cups can dilute the saving!!!

This is the one:

[onthealley]

I did start by listing and selling some less expensive items but then I decided to try some more expensive items. I have sold a $75, $220 and now $416. When I first started in '99 that is how I started then as well. 

I didn't realize dollarama sold foamboard. I will have to pick some up. I used to get more than I could use for free when I worked in the building as an art studio. Unfortunately that is also in the past!

[byto253]

I was actually referring to buying cheap stuff to push up the feedback.   '99, a few changes since!  

[onthealley]

When you refer to Ram Board are you referring to the rolls of Ram Board floor protection or the Ram Board Stair Armor? 

Thanks