Ebay Sellers: how long does it usually take for buyers to pay?

[Puffy2]

I'm a new seller on ebay and was just wondering about how long does it take most ebayers to pay for their items? I only accept pay pal but I have two winning auctions that have not paid yet. Any advice and how long do I wait? (they have been invoiced)

 

[fam4jc]

Hi. I'm a new ebayer seller myself. I have some people who pay immediately with paypal and others that need to send money orders. How long has it been since they won the auction? Did you give them a time frame of when they must pay by? You can send a reminder invoice and change the instructions to ask them to pay immediately. Like I said I'm new, so maybe someone else has other suggestions. I have several I'm waiting on myself. Have you made a little money? I've made some but the fees are killing my profits!

 

[Puffy2]

I've just started. I homeschool so I'm trying to unload some text book bundles and so far (three autions) have all sold for a little . It's only been two days and maybe with the 4th weekend it might take some people a little longer to take care of business. I think I'll wait till Tue. before sending out a second invoice. This is one reason why I only accept the pay pal - I didn't want to be dealing with checks/money in the mail, etc...

You are right about the fees - I figured it up , with the pay pal credit card fees and ebay fees, it's about 7% of your total . I also don't have this shipping thing figured out yet (I don't want to underestimate and end up loosing money) but in time I'll probably work it out. If the items will sell - it's better than a garage sale. At least that is my initial impression.

 

[momm2four]

I give someone three days from the end of the sale to contact me, and then I send a second invoice. I then give them about two or three days to respond. If no response is given after 6 days or so, I start the non-paying bidder alert with Ebay (If they write and let me know they are mailing the payment, I will wait another week)

I agree about the fees. There's one thing that bothers me...if Ebay now owns Paypal, then aren't they double dipping by charging listing fees, selling fees, and PayPal fees? I would think they would give PayPal account holders a discount if they sell on Ebay.

Lori P.

 

[fam4jc]

I have figured out that if you prepackage your books (or other items) and weigh them at the post office you can put the shipping calculator on your listing based upon the weight of the package and the buyers zip code. That way you don't have to calculate shipping and it's automaic. There is not an aditional fee for using the postage calculator. One of the other things is that our post office gives me all the supplies I need for free for priority mailings. (not tape or packing materials) That helps alot.

I am bothered by ebay owning paypal also. They are double dippng and then some... I am all for making a profit, but they are really pouring on the fees to sellers. I am not sure if I will stay with ebay. It would cost me another 3% to open the paypal merchant account and I just can't see paying that on top of the ebay fees. So for now I have the free paypal account that I can only accept bank payments, no debit or credit cards. Been a pain to wait for money orders, but they do come!

But, Iam determined to be able to pay for the trip we have scheduled, oh in 500 or so days!!

 

[verchad]

Knowing how not all people check their email frequently I used to allow 5 days, but recently I started stating that payment was required within three days of the end of the auction. I had a few items that dragged on for payments. I only accept paypal. If someone is that interested in bidding, they should be ready to pay. I know that I leave feedback as soon as I receive payment and try to ship as soon as I recieve payment. One tip, you can ship a lot of things with the post office as priority mail. It's not too expensive, I use priority mail, with insurance in the amount of the sale plus shipping and packaging costs, and get delivery confirmation. Delivery confirmation can be used as a way to track the package. I also send the del. con. number to the buyer so they can track their purchase.

 

[Robinrs]

I give them 3 days then send off the payment reminder. If he is non responsive you can file a Non-Paying Bidder's Alert. Follow the steps here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/bidders_overview.html

As for fees, I roll them into my handling fee with the use of the Ebay calculator. I bought a shipping scale after making too many boo boos in shipping and not wanting to drag my stuff to the PO. That way you can hit the right amount and not risk losing your profit.

I've been doing eBay for over a year now and it is now more than half of my income. Every business have overhead and you must take that into consideration. Ebay's overhead is quite tiny compared to the cost of opening a b&m business so I'm glad I found them.

Look over the FAQs at the top of this page. Priority Mail products are all free and you can have the PO ship them to you at no charge. I've ordered everything they offer! The buyer pays for the shipping and handling and everyone is happy because the product gets to them in 2 to 3 days. Books I always ship media mail, which can be slow so make sure you let your buyers know. I've sold books that the buyers REQUESTED Priority and paid for it. As long as they pay for it I oblige!

HTH,

Robinrs

 

[Puffy2]

Just wanted to mention, the pay pal fees that come close to 3% are for the credit card processing which is charged by the credit card companies so really I can't fault "pay pal" or ebay for passing those fees along (in other words, if you had a merchant account for your private business, Visa & Mastercard, Discover, Amex, ect... would all charge you a percentage for each purchase processed through the merchant account - pay pal is pretty much just passing these fees on to their customers - give or take a fraction of a %) Hope this helps explain things.

 

[disneysteve]

I've been selling on ebay for over 7 years and PayPal totally revolutionized the payment system. In the days before PayPal, payment sometimes took 2 weeks to arrive. Today, however, most buyers pay within 24 hours, sometimes within an hour of the auction ending. If I send an invoice and haven't heard a reply after 3 days, I send a reminder. Some people either don't check mail regularly or are bidding on so many items that one gets lost occasionally.

As for postage, I agree with Robinrs. If you plan to sell with any frequency, buy a postage scale. Hauling everything to the post office to have it weighed is a pain. With your own scale, you can quote the buyers exact postage, not an estimate. That will prevent a lot of upset customers (if you overestimate and they pay more than postage actually cost).

 

[bigbabyblues]

I've never sold anything, but when I buy something on Ebay, I pay within 24 hours after the auction ends, usually sooner than that, depending on the time of day.

 

[inkkognito]

Although I'm mainly a buyer, I see our excess Castaway Club towels and the occasional pins and my planner CD, so I'd consider myself a "casual seller." Like most others here, I expect to at least hear from the person within three days, and so far I've been very fortunate and have always had prompt contact. After the initial email, I've waited maybe a week for money order payment, but now that most people are moving to PayPal, it's instantaneous. I think you can restrict your auctions to PayPal only, which might help with payment but could cut off some potential bidders. If you accept checks, put a note in your auction that you will hold the item until the check clears.
Barb