How do you Buy It Now and pay cash (on collection)?

chris1

Hi, I’m about to sell a cash on collection item but the buyer can’t seem to buy it without using PayPal, which neither of us want.

The listing is set up as Buy It Now with options for PayPal (because you can’t avoid it), postal order (legacy issue) and payment on collection. I have NOT set it to require immediate payment for Buy It Now.

When the buyer tries to pay it still says ‘confirm and pay’ and they don’t want to click on it in case PayPal payment goes through which apparently normally happens automatically.

I also don’t want to cancel and relist because we have already agreed collection details (no addresses) but I don’t want to risk ebay thinking I’m trying to dodge fees.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

soolin

chris1 wrote: »

Hi, I’m about to sell a cash on collection item but the buyer can’t seem to buy it without using PayPal, which neither of us want.

The listing is set up as Buy It Now with options for PayPal (because you can’t avoid it), postal order (legacy issue) and payment on collection. I have NOT set it to require immediate payment for Buy It Now.

When the buyer tries to pay it still says ‘confirm and pay’ and they don’t want to click on it in case PayPal payment goes through which apparently normally happens automatically.

I also don’t want to cancel and relist because we have already agreed collection details (no addresses) but I don’t want to risk ebay thinking I’m trying to dodge fees.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

you could well be on the immediate payment required trial, although the fact that you have other options available seems to say not.

Suggest perhaps that your buyer unlinks their paypal account temporarily, buys the item and then confirms he wished to pay cash on collection.

Be warned though, the fact that you have discussed collection already prior to any actual finalised sale means you are already at risk of a warning, whatever you do now be very very careful and under NO circumstances end the item even if you immediately relist it.

Campden

If your buyer "puts it in their basket" then they get options other than Paypal.

chris1

Thanks to both of you for replying.

Just an update, the buyer was so put off by the faffing around he didn't buy it at all in the end! No wonder people are tempted to trade off ebay for cash on collection items when ebay make it so difficult to do the right thing!

vacheron

A bit late now, but the last five times I've had collection items the buyer has paid with PayPal regardless as they didn't read my huge red auction description sentence about cash only for collection auctions and the eBay checkout process pushes them down that route.

Each time I have just refunded the full Paypal payment and they have paid with cash when they arrived.

theonlywayisup

vacheron wrote: »

A bit late now, but the last five times I've had collection items the buyer has paid with PayPal regardless as they didn't read my huge red auction description sentence about cash only for collection auctions and the eBay checkout process pushes them down that route.

Each time I have just refunded the full Paypal payment and they have paid with cash when they arrived.

For most categories you have to offer Paypal. Your refunds have cost you £1. Not a huge amount but you can see why people don't use eBay for cash on collection.

vacheron

theonlywayisup wrote: »

For most categories you have to offer Paypal. Your refunds have cost you £1. Not a huge amount but you can see why people don't use eBay for cash on collection.

True, especially if the items being collected are a couple of quid, but in my cases refunding those 5 payments saved me a total of £126 in Paypal fees, and got my 5 buyers on the hook, so a small price to pay overall.

theonlywayisup

vacheron wrote: »

True, especially if the items being collected are a couple of quid, but in my cases refunding those 5 payments saved me a total of £126 in Paypal fees, and got my 5 buyers on the hook, so a small price to pay overall.

Absolutely. eBay isn't a good venue for COC but where else do you get the exposure? Did you try the alternatives - facebook, shpock (spelling) or free ads, freebie etc. I don't do collection/cash so can't be sure I've even got those correct....;)

zerog

vacheron wrote: »

True, especially if the items being collected are a couple of quid, but in my cases refunding those 5 payments saved me a total of £126 in Paypal fees, and got my 5 buyers on the hook, so a small price to pay overall.

Wow that would mean at least £367 in ebay fees unless you listed during a promo. Did advertising on ebay increase the final price by that much?

November2

If someone contacts me and is having problems purchasing due to paypal I find its easier just to add best offer to listing, you accept their 1p less offer and that way they purchase but they don't have to pay immediately. I tried clicking 'other payment' and unclicking 'immediate payment' but still people were insisting they had to pay with paypal!

vacheron

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Absolutely. eBay isn't a good venue for COC but where else do you get the exposure? Did you try the alternatives - facebook, shpock (spelling) or free ads, freebie etc. I don't do collection/cash so can't be sure I've even got those correct....;)

zerog wrote: »

Wow that would mean at least £367 in ebay fees unless you listed during a promo. Did advertising on ebay increase the final price by that much?

Hi theonlywayisup & zerog

Yes. One of the items was our old conservatory which was "buyer to disassemble". Similar items were selling on Gumtree, facebook etc. for under a grand and it sold it on eBay for £2200.

It was also time critical as there was a small overlap between needing the conservatory gone and the building work beginning, so an eBay auction allowed me to guarantee a sale at a certain date. The auction also stipulated the time-frame within which it needed to be gone!

The second auction was the conservatory furniture again, £100-£150 on Gumtree which sold for £320.

Another item was a named brand cast iron fireplace which sold for £350 (Gumtree equivalents were £200) someone drove all the way up from Liverpool to pick that up!

I believe due to the massive exposure eBay offers, the more specialised the item for sale, the more eBay becomes worthwhile, Especially if you aren't in a hurry to sell.

These were exceptions, but most of the day to day things I sell are quite specific industrial or IT products and would probably never find a buyer in the local sites. These are listed as "good till cancelled" and can go for months / years until a buyer comes along, but as it costs me nothing until they sell and I have the room to store them I am fine with that. However, if I had a huge leather sofa or an Ikea "Billy" CD storage shelf, I'm sure it would shift far quicker on Facebook classifieds or equivalent.