How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

Besides an auction item, how does one buy something and not pay right away?  Is it the "commit to buy" option that allows you to do that?  I've never used it so I don't know.

I'm asking because I have someone who bought something about 3 days ago and I'm still awaiting payment.  With an auction item you can send a reminder to pay but with whatever option they used I don't see the option to send a reminder.

 

Thanks!


You only fail when you don't try!
Message 1 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

Well, you could just send an email to them through Contact Buyer but I think that eBay has probably already sent them a reminder. I think they send one around the third day? Anyway, it's only been 3 days, not really that long, maybe they are waiting for payday in order to pay you. If you need immediate payment you can use IPR.

Message 2 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

I kinda figure they may be waiting to get paid 🙂  How would I know if ebay sent a reminder?

 

What is an IPR?

 

Thanks!


You only fail when you don't try!
Message 3 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

What is an IPR?

 

 

IPR is Immediate Payment Required. Something the seller can include on their Buy It Now listings.  The item is not "purchased" by the seller until they pay for it and it will remains available to others if they hem and haw.  (that phrase looks just as fun on screen as it sounds)

Message 4 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

Found it! Payment reminder is under Manage Communications With Buyer. Click on "If your buyer hasn't Paid after a couple of days" then check off Yes or No. I have No checked off so don't know if eBay sends a message back to the seller.

 

IPR is Immediate Payment Required and you can add it to a BIN item.

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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

Most slow payers will respond to a polite note.

But in my opinion, a polite note on Day Three should be followed by an Unpaid Item Dispute (Resolution Centre bottom of this page) on Day Four.

 

I detest the waiting for payday excuse.

If you are living from paycheck to paycheck, what are you doing buying on eBay? Most of the stuff for sale here is not a necessity of life.

And if you are not all that close to the edge, why are you not backing your Paypal account with a credit card?

The card company is in the business of extending credit, I am not.

And the customer can pay off the card when it is due, never needing to pay any interest.

 

 

 

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Message 6 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

There should be a send invoice link in the drop down next to the item in your purchase history.

Or, just send them a message. 

Message 7 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

Thank you guys - really appreciate the help.

 

femmefan1946 you always speak your mind eh!!

 


You only fail when you don't try!
Message 8 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay


@femmefan1946 wrote:

I detest the waiting for payday excuse.

If you are living from paycheck to paycheck, what are you doing buying on eBay? Most of the stuff for sale here is not a necessity of life. 

 


It is one opinion. I have a different one, because sometimes I'm one of those buyers living from paycheck to paycheck (as a collector, some items here may not be a necessity of life, but most of the time, they are here just once. So if you want it, that's now or never). Maybe that's why if the buyer communicates with me*, I will be more understanding than others.

 

 

* That's the most important part: communication. If there is none, I open an UID on day 5.

Message 9 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay


@femmefan1946 wrote:

 

I detest the waiting for payday excuse.

 

If you are living from paycheck to paycheck, what are you doing buying on eBay? Most of the stuff for sale here is not a necessity of life.

And if you are not all that close to the edge, why are you not backing your Paypal account with a credit card?

The card company is in the business of extending credit, I am not.

And the customer can pay off the card when it is due, never needing to pay any interest.

 


Many of these people likely can't get credit. Like you I hate the payday excuse. I'm more than willing to work with international buyers who are regular customers and may be waiting for some incoming new products to combine with an existing order given the high cost of international shipping these days. That is the only exception I make, otherwise the unpaid item assistant and block buyer features can deal with it after a polite reminder has been sent. Ebay is not a layaway program. You don't go into a brick and mortar store and ask the retailer to hide away stock until you can afford it unless you have an existing personal relationship with them. Why people think it is ok to treat ebay purchases differently is beyond me.

Message 10 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

 

I'd like to present another viewpoint regarding buyers who are slow to pay and occasionally never pay at all.

 

There is the occasional person with no FB who comes on here and buys stuff they never pay for, and they probably get kicked out of the system very quickly, but there are also some buyers who are slow to pay because they’ve spent more than they should (Oops).

 

My view is very different from the opinions I read here, so please don’t attack me (you know who you are ;- ).  I'm not saying that other posters are wrong, but I have a very different point of view.

 

There are all sorts of buyers here. Some ask a lot of questions and make very careful choices. Some make absolutely sure that they have cash on hand before they commit to buy. Then are those who are crazy about shopping and buy up a storm because they love to consume and always have to have more (the consummate consumer).

 

This is type of buyer who earns nonpaying strikes now and then.

 

It's also the type of buyer that most retailers love but eBay sellers tend to hate.  Most of the time these buyers do pay but now and then they slip a little behind.   For someone who buys a lot that "sometimes" could be several times a month or enough to get them quite a few strikes.

 

For me non payers are at worst a little annoying but not even a blip on my radar.  I suppose if non payers really stress you out a lot, then blocking them might make sense for the sake of your mental health.

 

However, blocking them either means that your sales stay the same or that you have fewer sales. If the blocks mean anything at all then the desired result is that you have a decline in sales.

 

Of course I realize that sellers with physical stores get paid right away so there’s a difference, but the difference IMO isn’t meaningful because at the end of the day, to me preventing buyers from giving you their money makes no sense at all.  

Message 11 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

Sellers with stores getting paid right away depends on the kind of store.

 

I expect if you ask any owners of antiques, or collectibles etc type stores, they have stuff set aside waiting for people to come up with the cash.

 

I also have no problems with the "payday excuse".

 

A while ago I had a customer that was on a number of "bad lists" for not paying.

 

The customer often paid quickly, but sometimes it could take weeks or months, which is what got them in trouble.

 

Being patient and waiting sometimes for a few months from that customer generated well over $10,000 in sales from that customer and I never ended up with anything unpaid....."blocking" them would have cost me a lot of sales.....

 

 

Message 12 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

I like to pay with $US directly from my PP account when the purchase is from the States.

 

Occasionally I'm short $US and want to delay payment until someone buys something and I have $US in my PP account again.

 

I realize that sellers don't see that I've been paying steadily for months on end and that it's just a little glitch, but the way some sellers hound and lecture me is, IMO, outrageous.

Message 13 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay


@ricarmic wrote:

Sellers with stores getting paid right away depends on the kind of store.

 

I expect if you ask any owners of antiques, or collectibles etc type stores, they have stuff set aside waiting for people to come up with the cash.

 

 


That is done so on the basis of having a relationship with the customer or dealing with a mature customer base that has the ability to pay for the item. When someone can't pay for a $10 purchase in a timely manner they get zero sympathy.

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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay


@sylviebee wrote:

I like to pay with $US directly from my PP account when the purchase is from the States.

 

Occasionally I'm short $US and want to delay payment until someone buys something and I have $US in my PP account again.

 

I realize that sellers don't see that I've been paying steadily for months on end and that it's just a little glitch, but the way some sellers hound and lecture me is, IMO, outrageous.


To play devil's advocate, why should they wait to get payment from you because you are trying to save a few bucks on currency conversion? I agree that hounding or lecturing someone is not a good idea however. A simple polite email is all that is required, and if that doesn't elicit a response a seller can follow up as appropriate.

Message 15 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay


@sylviebee wrote:

 

 

 

Then are those who are crazy about shopping and buy up a storm because they love to consume and always have to have more (the consummate consumer).

 

This is type of buyer who earns nonpaying strikes now and then.

 

It's also the type of buyer that most retailers love but eBay sellers tend to hate.


Ebay manages this with unpaid item strikes, but from the looks of it this metric is going to be focused on more closely in the future and those sort of buyers could find themselves banned by more than individual ebay sellers.

Message 16 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

I'm going to stand my ground on this.

If you can't pay immediately, add a credit card to your Paypal account and pay with that.

The bank is in the loans business, I sell books.

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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay


@hlmacdon wrote:

@ricarmic wrote:

Sellers with stores getting paid right away depends on the kind of store.

 

I expect if you ask any owners of antiques, or collectibles etc type stores, they have stuff set aside waiting for people to come up with the cash.

 

 


That is done so on the basis of having a relationship with the customer or dealing with a mature customer base that has the ability to pay for the item. When someone can't pay for a $10 purchase in a timely manner they get zero sympathy.


 

Yep I understand, however I'm not going to go insolvent over a $10 sale, and waiting the full 32 days (I picked) before the automagic process kicks off the UID takes no effort from me.

 

Generally folks from Europe often take a few days to pay, I assume something different happens over there that delays them having the money in their PAYPAL account (I know from another site I sell on they really don't like PAYPAL over there, and I have lost regular customers because of the problems they've had with using PAYPAL in Europe).

 

In a given year, despite my very long wait time, I maybe have 2 or 3 unpaid items.

 

One of my very best Australian customers at one time didn't pay and didn't respond to messages. I just turned off the unpaid item process (it wasn't her first purchase). She contacted me when she got out of the hospital a few weeks later and was very appreciative that I held the items for her.

 

Given in my (stamp world) the propensity for delayed sales to ultimately be successful and the fact that as of late I'm running about 20% below normal sale levels, I'm not going to turn any of them away... (I actually have a "next payday" one on the go right now).

 

Nothing wrong with acting faster but the wait and see approach works ok for me....

 

 

Message 18 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay

I'm selling on eBay for one reason only:  It's the money.   The more I make / hr. , the better.

 

Blocking buyers runs counter to that purpose. 

 

If my efforts to block unwanted buyers is a waste of time, then my eBay income will stay the same.

If I succeed and prevent certain shoppers from buying my items, then the outcome is that my income is reduced and that runs counter to my purpose here.

 

Makes no sense to me.

 

 

Message 19 of 29
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How To Nudge Buyer To Pay


@femmefan1946 wrote:

I'm going to stand my ground on this.

If you can't pay immediately, add a credit card to your Paypal account and pay with that.

The bank is in the loans business, I sell books.


I agree with you, femme.  And it's not because I have no patience or desperately need the money.  eBay has been doing everything in its power to place themselves alongside the "big boys", large corporations that sell on line and, as sellers, we are constantly being asked (forced) to make changes to the way we sell in order to comply with eBay's vision.

 

There are no lay-away plans on-line or delayed payment.  The closest a buyer is going to get is a 2 or 3-payment schedule with the Shopping Channel.

 

Buyers should be expected to purchase on eBay as they would any other on-line merchant -- immediate payment required.

 

I appreciate that there are some long-time sellers who would like to hang on to the way business was conducted when eBay was more of a community -- honest and fair and friendly -- with buyers so appreciative to have found an antique or a sale item.  Those days, unfortunately, are gone.  As much as we might miss it, that selling platform no longer plays well with the future of eBay.

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