First sale, expensive shipping, 0% rated buyer.....

[chrisdubya18]

Ok, so I don't get my money right away apparently, the shipping for this item is $90, the item itself is $700, and the buyer has a 0% rating no buys no sells, so am I really supposed to just SHIP the item without payment? How is that fair to me? Also, how do I know if the payment went through or not, because my paypal isn't showing anything.

I refuse to ship to this buyer before I get any kind of assurance that I'm getting my money first.
This is an expensive item.

What are my options, I have no idea what I'm doing with selling!

Thanks

[theafkgamer]

You're not supposed to ship out before they pay, anyways! If you don't get paid within 4 days, you can open a Unpaid Item Dispute. If they don't pay in 4 more days, you can close the case and get your fees back.

[karl*katz]

Are you referring to paypals 21 day hold ?

https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/mpp/security/paypal-funds-availability

You ship when paypal tells you to ship and only to the address paypal tells you to ship to.

Also make sure you ship with a tracking number and signature required.

[femmefan1946]

If Paypal tells you that the payment has been recieved, you can safely ship before PP releases the payment.

As noted, use a Confirmed Delivery, Signature Required service like Expedited or ExpressPost for your own protection. However, the postal system is very reliable and there should be no problem.

The money is effectively in escrow for you, waiting for confirmation of your buyer's happiness.

It is not a good idea to start selling with high value items. You can get around some potential problems by going to your Seller Preferences and setting up some Blocks against unwanted or sketchey buyers.

- Buyers with Strikes for unpaid items

- Buyers who do not have active Paypal accounts

- Buyers from countries you do not wish to ship too. It is a good idea to start by shipping only to Canada and the USA. Overseas can come later.

Once this buyer has paid, you need to ship within 7 days to retain your Seller Protection. This is scarey but reasonably safe.

[chrisdubya18]

OK, so the ebay icons (payment recieved, shipped feedback left etc.) for the payment has an hourglass, and in paypal I do not have any sign of the money, even pending. So when do I know when the buyer has payed?

Thanks for all the answers!