Question
For those here who believe that I am an ignorant and entirely innappropriate seller for not accepting PayPal and not placing my bank account onto the internet, my come-uppance has arrived.
In the last couple of days I have been getting emails from various buyers saying the equivalent of:
E-bay is not allowing me to proceed to your payment options until you submit me an invoice.
The only option available is an "ask for payment" option.
This particular quote was a direct reply to my email invoice which has my address and payment options listed - others have been through the "Please send me total amount...." option - and I had assumed that my emails were not getting through, even though I have dealt with some of these buyers many times. Clearly buyers have been proceeding through Ebay to pay until something has been changed in the last few days, although I do not have PayPal and my bank account details are not on file with Ebay. I need to know what the procedure has been, what is now changed, and whether I am now a non-delivering seller if I use email instead of Ebay's invoice system?
Kevin
Answer
I have not seen any recent changes. I send my usual invoice with mailing instructions for checks or money orders. The only problems I get are the occasional I did not realize you did not take PayPal response. But they always follow thru with the payment.
Answer
If I set up a "test auction" can someone here bid the start price so that I can send an invoice through Ebay's system. I need to know whether the correct postal address is supplied to buyers before I start invoicing the buyers who want me to use this system.
At the current time (for about the last two months) even though the listing form has my correct address to supply to the buyer, my end of auction notices (the ones supplied by Ebay) do not show any postal or street address, but they do show my postcode from 5 years ago - my credit card registration when last updated also showed this wrong postcode but it would not change on the record no matter how much I chanbged it on the form. There is no point in using Ebay's invoice system if it supplies the postcode for a town 400 miles away, even if the rest of the postal address supplied is correct. I need to check this address before I invoice the buyers who have requested the buyers who requested this system of payment.
If someone would like to email me on catalogs(at)natronics.com.au I will list a test auction in both Australian dollars and US dollars and supply the item numbers and ask you to bid so that I can see what address shows on the invoice.
I realise that this all shows that I am truely an ignorant seller.
Kevin
Answer
I asked the buyer that would not accept the email EOA for their procedure as I supplied a bank account number and got this reply:
PS, your question::::: When e-Bay alerts you to a winning bidder, you must send the bidder a total with postage through the e-Bay web page using (Send information) box/button beside your sold item. This then gives the winner access to the payment options you have setup. As added security, E-Bay won't reveal your bank account details until the winner re-enters their e-Bay password during the payment process. Only then, do they see your bank account details.
I sell items myself on e-Bay. For protection, I have a separate bank account so buyers can transfer funds into that, then transfer the funds out for safe keeping.
I use a Commonwealth Bank Award Saver Account. (No bank fees). About 90% of my sales end up in there, most within 24 hours of the sale. My other 10% of sales are paid by Money Order. I get the odd person (1 out of 100) sending me personal cheques, even though I say I don't accept them.
Nevertheless, save mucking around, I bank them and I wait until they clear, and then send them the item. No bounced cheques so far.
I don't know much about credit card sales, I think you can only use PayPal with credit card sales on e-Bay. (I maybe wrong) Nevertheless, when setting up a new item for sale on e-bay, under payment options you can tick bank cheque/ mail order or "other" if you have another method like credit card.
Hope that helps, nice doing business with.... (signature )
The bolding of must is mine.... the other bolding was theirs.
Kevin
Answer
I, too, was resistant to using ebay's check-out system, even though I have long accepted Pay Pal. I finally gave up about a year ago and started sending ebay invoices -- in addition to the email "invoice" I have been sending for years. In the comments field of the ebay invoice, I refer the buyer to my email for additional information and thank them for bidding on the item. I caved in to using the ebay invoice system after a large percentage of buyers would ask me for an ebay invoice. I sell vintage stuff and even those buyers now seem to assume that an ebay invoice is an essential part of the transaction. Once you get used to it, sending invoices isn't terribly inconvenient or time-consuming.
Answer
I think your buyer is just wrong. Although I admit to knowing nothing about payment where it is a direct transfer of funds. We only do paypal, checks and money order. But there is no requirement you send an ebay invoice. And you certainly can take credit cards other than through paypal. Maryanne
Answer
Kevin, If you still want to do a test auction - send me a pm, I'll be glad to let you know what I am seeing
Answer
Originally Posted by Kevin_T
I asked the buyer that would not accept the email EOA for their procedure as I supplied a bank account number and got this reply:
The bolding of must is mine.... the other bolding was theirs.
Kevin
Kevin, Where was this buyer located? Doesn't sound like a Commonwealth... Bank would be in the US.
Would they be somewhere where the ebay regulations are different????
Kevin, if you need another test person, email or PM me. I'll be around for the next 12 hrs or more.
Elaine
Answer
Things may be different for Australia checkout as compared to the US checkout because I use the eBay checkout and the bank account option did not sound familiar at all. On the US site I "think" you can use the eBAy checkout without accepting PayPal.
Good Luck.
Answer
With thanks for both the offers and help, I got the test done. The invoice system is sending the correct postal address, but the Ebay EOA's are containing the wrong postcode and no street or PO Box.
All of these buyers were in Australia, so maybe something got tweaked on the Australian site, or maybe I just had the co-incidence of a run of people wanting to do things "their" way. One of the buyers is a regular but appears to have not been getting my direct emails this week until tonight. At least I now know how to use the checkout invoice, and that it supplies the correct information.
G'day Elaine,
Australians have strongly embraced the idea of making a direct deposit into a sellers bank account either from their computer or by physically going to the bank. Most of our banks are much bigger entities than most of the USA banks. The Commonwealth Bank is one of the biggest ones here. I probably get 30% of my Australian buyers pay by direct deposit, in spite of the fact that I do not include it in my auction terms or EOA notices - I only supply it to a buyer if they specifically request to pay that way. Friends who bank on-line get about 75% to 80% payments by direct deposit. PayPal would not be nearly so viable as a business if America had embraced on-line banking in the way that Australia has.
I, on the other hand, take the rather naive view that the internet was not designed with bank security in mind, and that giving out your account details to anyone not known to you, who simply places a bid on your auction while working the internet, creates a far greater risk of an account being hacked if it is password accessible on the internet itself.
Kind Regards, Kevin