One annoying problem that eBay sellers must deal with on a regular basis is non-paying bidders. A while back, eBay came up with an option called "Immediate Payment." According to the eBay help index:
A buyer who clicks the Buy It Now button in your listing is directed to pay immediately for the item using PayPal.
Until the buyer completes payment, the item remains available to other buyers to purchase for the duration of the listing. The first buyer to complete their PayPal payment officially wins your item.
Once a buyer completes payment, the listing ends and you are directed to ship the item.
Sounds good in theory, and I tried using this option for a while. One problem that I encountered was the difficulty of combining shipping on multiple items purchased. If a customer purchases multiple items, the buyer must check out and pay for each item individually and trust that the seller will refund any overage. This can be especially frustrating for international buyers. Also, if you use this feature, Paypal must be the only payment method you offer. (Remember, there are other payment options on eBay.)
After using the immediate payment option for a few months, I went back to the old way. I was spending way too much time answering emails about combining shipping. It became a hassle for me as a seller.
What has been your experience? Do you use the Paypal immediate payment option?
Happy Selling!
6 comments:
I have used it in some circumstances. It really depends upon the item. I have also purchased many items this way.
The items I have sold that way have been dolls and doll books.
I could've written that post, that was my experience exactly.
Recently I've had too many buyers, NOT pay, so I've started using Immediate Payment again, to try & avoid this issue. I also limit where (only select international locations) that I will sell too.
I'm a fan of immediate payment, as it does away with the hassle of non-paying bidder right off the bat.
Perhaps the convenience of this for me is biased by the fact that most people don't buy multiple items from me since I often sell wildly different types of items. I'm at least glad to have the option.
It is precisely for the 2 issues you raised regarding the immediate PayPal option that I have not opted into this. I want the flexibility of combining items into one shipment without any hassles and giving my customers the choice to pay via check or money order.
I agree with you. I've gone through the same thing. Combined shipping was a real problem, so I removed the immediate payment option. Non-paying bidders is still a problem, but the immediate payment option was a bigger issue, at least for me.
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