Traditional Payment Methods Gone Way Of The Dodo

[imbuzzy]

Customer asks me if I accept money orders.

I say yes.

Customer hits a BLOCK WALL and complains to me that checkout can't be completed - being forced to pay electronically via Paypal or credit card.

Since all of my listings are (and always have been) set up with the "Require immediate payment when buyer uses Buy It Now" option NOT checked, I decided to dig a little deeper into the convoluted spaghetti logic of eBay selling options and hit a BLOCK WALL.

Seeing that all my affairs are in order,  I shudder and call CSR...

CSR #1 was a complete waste of time and sent me on a goose chase.

CSR #2 delved into it and stated that such traditional methods of payment are temporarily not allowed and techs are working on "fixing" the issue and that buyers will again be allowed to pay by cheque or money order sometime later in the year.

Forced to tell the buyer that it ain't happening.

Lost/missed transactions are all part of selling - I get it...

I also get why people need to fix what's not broken - it's blatant job justification.

What I don't get is why they need to break things in the first place,  although I am guessing it has something to do with the upcoming Managed Payments.

[cumos55]

Add the shopping cart option to all of your listings.

If a buyer asks if  a seller accepts money orders, a seller can accept money orders as a payment option.

The buyer will use the shopping cart  to buy and then ask for an invoice.

The seller will send an invoice  and the buyer will pay with a money order.

A seller cannot indicate in their listings that money orders are a payment option.

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The shopping cart option also allows a buyer to purchase more than one item and then ask for an invoice.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

For some unknown reason when purchasing items from a US seller a message can appear advising the customer if they have issues to use the ADD to CART option. This message does not display when a shopper is at a Canadian Sellers listings. Your average buyer, if they come across any sort of issue just use the magic next button to go to a different seller causing a missed opportunity for business.  You would think any error messages like this would be implemented across both sites unilaterally. This, unfortunately, is not the case and you only can uncover by doing a major deep dive to research.

-Lotz

[momcqueen]

If you are looking for a fast workaround....

Enable Local Pickup as a payment method. It overrides Immediate Payment Required (IPR) as they are mutually exclusive. 

But then as a side effect you will have to entertain offers of local pickup. 

[reallynicestamps]

Wouldn't Immediate Payment Required in itself mean that the customer can't use a non-electronic payment method?

When I took MOs at the turn of the millennium, they took about ten days to arrive, and with the exception of postal MOs, another week or so to clear the bank.

[momcqueen]

That's what I mean, the money order is like a pretend Local Pickup. Mark the order as paid when the money order arrives. But there also exists the problem of adding a cost for postage so the seller would have to generate a cost for Local Pickup that is equal to the postage required. Then also add tracking. It's not ideal but it would work in a pinch. 

[recped]

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@momcqueen wrote:

If you are looking for a fast workaround....

Enable Local Pickup as a payment method. It overrides Immediate Payment Required (IPR) as they are mutually exclusive. 

But then as a side effect you will have to entertain offers of local pickup. 

---

This does not work! I have Local Pick-up enabled on all my listings and it DOES NOT override eBay's forced IPR unless the buyer selects Local Pick-up at checkout which they obviously won't do if they want it shipped and you wouldn't want it either if you charge for shipping.

[recped]

FYI - eBay's forced IPR started in 2014, it is applied erratically and there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent it.

For items priced below $1,000 with a specified shipping cost and where PayPal is the only payment method offered, buyers who click Buy It Now are asked to pay immediately.

[imbuzzy]

Thank you for your speedy replies.

A couple of replies here...

cumos55:

"Add the shopping cart option to all of your listings."

I can't recall ever seeing that option in my life.  I use file exchange to post listings and there isn't any shopping cart specific instruction code.   In fact, there isn't any mention about shopping carts in its 157 page instruction manual!

A simple test using my buying account shows that I can place items in my shopping cart and proceed to checkout at a later time.  I have always been under the belief that the shopping cart was not an option to the seller, in other words, I as a seller can not opt out of the shopping cart experience.  So as I see it,  my items are available to the buyer's shopping cart.

Once I view all the items in my shopping cart and trying to proceed with my checkout, there are no options presented for any non-electronic forms of payment.

momcqueen:

"Enable Local Pickup as a payment method. It overrides Immediate Payment Required (IPR) as they are mutually exclusive."

I tried your suggestion and it failed.

All it did was provide another option to checkout page that states: "See more payment options".  When I click on that link, it sends me to a revised checkout page with no payment options and states that Paypal has been chosen and wants me to sign into Paypal to proceed.

[momcqueen]

I beg to differ. 

If the buyer in question wants to pay via Money Order, they have already communicated that. My method involves hand-holding as a workaround but it will work.

Enable Local Pickup as a PAYMENT OPTION and not a shipping option. Perhaps yours is as a shipping option, recped. 

Use the field next to Local Pickup to add your postage cost when you Send Invoice. Use the comment field to clarify this with your buyer.

Tell your buyer this is how you will handle a money order.

Mark the item as paid when the money order clears.

Remember, there are two places to add Local Pickup. You want to use the payment one not the shipping one if you want this to work this way. 

I have Cash on Pickup enabled on all my listings and it disallows Immediate Payment Required. 

If you stick your Local Pickup with shipping, I can't help you with that; it's not how I do things. 

[momcqueen]

"momcqueen:

"Enable Local Pickup as a payment method. It overrides Immediate Payment Required (IPR) as they are mutually exclusive."

I tried your suggestion and it failed.

All it did was provide another option to checkout page that states: "See more payment options".  When I click on that link, it sends me to a revised checkout page with no payment options and states that Paypal has been chosen and wants me to sign into Paypal to proceed."

Did your buyer already purchase this? It won't work afterwards, your listing needs to be revised before purchase. 

[momcqueen]

I need to see a screenshot of your active listing and also the error messages in order to offer any additional assistance. Otherwise, all I can share is what I've already said. 

[imbuzzy]

Thanks for your input recped.

I shall soon mark it as the accepted solution.

Too bad...  I always used to enjoy getting money in the mail!

[momcqueen · Accepted solution]

You could also tell the buyer to make an offer and then sell by Accept an Offer. There is no earthly way IPR is enabled on that. Then it waits until you get your money order in the mail to be marked as paid. 

[imbuzzy]

Willing to take screen shots, but....

What part of my active listing do you wish to see?

Here's my payment options:

Here is the checkout page:

And here is what I see when I click on more payment options:

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

If a buyer were to send a money order and it does not arrive in the acceptable timeframe for payments, would it not put it the unpaid loop from the warm place or is there a way to change payment time so that doesn't happen. Haven't dealt with a money order from a customer in a few years, but the last time I did it took 3 weeks to arrive. Customer was in no hurry so it was no issue to me or them. With everything in eBay difficult to over-ride this could cause problems that are NOT intended. Pickups and optional payment methods seem to be becoming nightmare scenarios!!!! To quote Chuck from Last Man Standing, "Not Cool!!"

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

If you have your account set up to automatically start an unpaid claim after so many days, then it could be shut off manually for that transaction. Otherwise, I'm not sure what sort of problems you are referring to.

[pjcdn2005]

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@cumos55 wrote:

Add the shopping cart option to all of your listings.

If a buyer asks if  a seller accepts money orders, a seller can accept money orders as a payment option.

The buyer will use the shopping cart  to buy and then ask for an invoice.

The seller will send an invoice  and the buyer will pay with a money order.

A seller cannot indicate in their listings that money orders are a payment option.

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

The shopping cart option also allows a buyer to purchase more than one item and then ask for an invoice.

---

What add to cart option are you referring to? A buyer can add items to a cart if they want to do so, I've never seen or heard of anything that a seller can do to enable or disable the option.  Perhaps you are referring to the  allow combined payments option?  Also, there normally has to be more than one item from the same seller in a cart before a buyer can ask for an invoice.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Mine is set up for 5 days which I believe is reasonable. Other sellers may be different or never have actually set it up and using whatever the default is.  Next would be the surprise if a case were to be automatically opened.

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

  I don't recall that it was ever turned on automatically when I hadn't asked it to be but its been a long time so its possible that I just forgot that I turned my off. However, whenever I've heard anyone refer to a default time, it was over 30 days.