Invoicing and Receiving Payment
Tips and FAQ for a Home Business

In general there are two types of eBay buyers out there. One set will watch the auction end, immediately PayPal you money, and then sit back and wait for their item to show up. Sellers LOVE this kind of buyer. It makes your life as a seller so easy, that the payment shows up all by itself and all you have to do is send out the item.

There is another type of buyer who is more laid back :) They need some prodding. So, when your auction ends, if you don't see a payment immediately, hit the SEND INVOICE button on your eBay listing to send an invoice out. Make sure the shipping cost is accurate for where the person lives. That invoice form will tell you what their location is. Also, use the notes field to enter any special payment requirements you might have, including an address if they wish to send you a check or Money Order. That assumes of course that you take those types of payments :)

For my own sales, I take PayPal, check, or Money order. I get mostly PayPal payments, but there is always the occasional person who wants to send a money order of some kind. If you get a check, you can of course wait for it to clear before you send the item out.

If you don't get a payment (or a note that one is on the way) in 7 days, send another invoice. It really is quite rare that a person simply does not respond. After all, they bid on your item because they wanted it. If you really don't hear back from the person after a week, it's time to use the eBay interface to get their address and phone number. Give them a call and see what's up. It could be their email is blocking your message as spam or something else like that.

In the end if no matter what else you do they never pay, you can leave negative feedback. To be honest, I personally just tend to relist the item at a slightly lower price, because eBay will let you do that for free as long as it sells the second time. It's not worth it to me to get into a feedback war with someone who maybe had a personal tragedy in their life to cause the lack of response. But you are welcome to give them neutral or negative feedback if you wish. I have almost a 300 rating and haven't had this happen, so it's not a common problem.

eBay Working from Home

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Working from Home