Getting Paid without getting scammed

[Don Hanson III]

Personal checks
Bank checks
Money orders
Cash
Paypal

In that order and never a problem.

 

[lman30]

Roger made a good point about convenience.
If you make it easy to buy, you will sell a lot more.
Paypal's fees are just the cost to use their service. They make it convenient to sell to a worldwide audience.
I have used them for several years now with no problems.
I also like the added convenience for shipping. Click the link to print postage and refer to the paypal log for tracking.
The time it saves me is worth way way more than the fees they charge.

edit: (FYI the reason I'm mentioning ebay below is because they're basically one and the same as far as paypal goes)

IMO Paypal is no longer convenient now that they've adopted the "seller is the enemy" policy regarding disputes. Same goes for ebay.

Every time I make a sale on ebay or using paypal, I'm paranoid about chargeback fraud or absurd disputes from the moment I ship the item, until the deadline for filing a dispute expires. It's horrible that honest sellers should have to feel that much anxiety based solely upon a horribly broken claims system.

Just as an example, I listed a group of sales on ebay a while back. One sale was significantly higher priced than the others. They ended over the weekend, and after they ended, I used part of the funds to buy a new toy for myself. I still had plenty of funds in my paypal to print shipping labels and have some money left over.

The following monday was a holiday, so the post office was closed... evidently this didn't matter to the buyer of the high priced item, because he filed a dispute just over 48 hours after payment (and before the first business day since auction end). Evidently he expected me to ship within 30 seconds of receiving payment, and on a sunday.

Of course, paypal immediately seized my funds based upon this absolutely frivolous claim, and all of a sudden I had no way to print any of my labels since my account had been thrown into the negative. My only option was to transfer additional funds and make the other buyers wait for several days, or to pull out the addresses and wait in line at the PO for 30 minutes to purchase the labels using cash. I went with the option which was most appropriate for my other buyers, and went and hand-purchased the labels, including the one for the idiot that made the claim.



This guy had absolutely NO business making this claim in the first place. I don't even think buyers should be allowed to make claims prior to 7-10 days after payment. That would eliminate a lot of the idiotic claims which are constantly clogging up sellers funds.

I also think that the way the claim system works should change once there is a tracking number that shows delivered. They should not just be able to automatically rip the funds from your grasp on any tiny whim of the buyer. That is absurd.

I get that if I don't like it, I can go elsewhere, which is precisely what I've done. I will do everything possible to use any payment method besides paypal, and any outlet besides ebay.

 

[Robert Dark]

I am sure that someday I will probably have a dispute using PayPal. When I do, as a seller, I will probably lose in the end. At that time I will put PayPal on my Sh*t-List and never use them again.

As of this writing, I consider myself extremely fortunate in today's internet-based method of doing business.

Tomorrow is another day.......... Let us see what it brings.

Robert

 

[RogerP]

Personal checks
Bank checks
Money orders
Cash
Paypal

In that order and never a problem.

Make is as easy as possibly for the customer to give you their money - you've figured out a thing or three along the way, Don.

I'm not an E-bay power seller moving 9000 widgets a year to people I don't know. I buy and sell custom knives - mostly from and to people I do know (or who sit but a few degrees of separation away). Disputes suck no matter what the the method of payment is.

Roger

 

[Dixieblade57]

I have in the past took this option with Paypal.


Method of payment options:
1. I will take Paypal instant payments. If unfamiliar on how to do such a transaction, use the following steps in red.
My email address is as follows: _________________

Paypal Instant payment transaction steps
1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click the My Account tab.
3. Click the Send Money tab.
4. Enter the required information and click Continue.
5. Review the information and click Send Money to complete your transaction.

There are other ways of course to use Paypal and I know some folks out there literally despise Paypal for some of the reasons already mentioned!

Also while I am thinking about there is way to confirm that the money has actually been deposited into your Paypal account. I have it wrote down somewhere so I wouldn't forget the steps on doing the confirmation!

 

[jtdesigns]

Cash, paypal, and all credit cards (via Square). Absolutely love the Square app for iphone. They give you the little reader that plugs into earphone jack of phone. No monthly minimums, no monthly/annual fees....simply 2.75% per transaction. They sign on the screen and you can text or email receipt. Best of all money is deposited in your account usually in 24 hours. I just built the flate rate into my price.

 

[AWGunS]

Hey, thanks everyone, it looks like most of you use the paypal option even if like me you hate the fees.

Quote from: Robert Dark
I also accept U.S. Postal Money Orders. When they arrive, it is just a matter of stopping by the local P.O. They can instantly verify the money order and you receive the cash on the spot. No fees (they were paid by the purchaser).

Robert thanks for the info on this, I did not know it was that easy! :thumbup: I will definitely have to keep that one in mind.
That looks like a great alternative to those who don't like paypal. I have had some customers who hate paypal about as much as I hate Wallyworld! In fact I had one guy tell me that he absolutely refused to use paypal and if that was the only way he could b one of my knives he would pass! I am going to guess he had a really bad experience with them!

Postal Offices do not keep much cash in the drawers. If you have a <$100 MO, you should be OK. Anything more and you might have problems getting cash. Go late in the day if you have a larger MO. They will verify it though.

 

[quint]

One thing I find really annoying as a buyer is not seeing the various fees and inclusive shipping. Personally I like to know exactly what I am being charged and for what. The moment I see free shipping for something I know it has been added into the price of the item somewhere (nothing is free right). I know its a good gimmick for most people however I find it annoying. Kind of like how banks work with there various ways of collecting fees without people knowing about it. However society is a follow the pack overall mentality so what do ya do.

With my leather work not having a website and selling most of the stuff to people I know in person and for cash I have only had to use ebay occasionally. Knock on wood every transaction has been very good and I even have a repeat customer of a couple years from ebay. His checks clear everytime even after being laid off from his job.

 

[Charlie Mike]

Not to make everyone paranoid, but please don't assume cash is a fool proof method either. I've been seeing A LOT of counterfeits lately, and they are very well done. The last time I had counterfeits the business owner insisted that both of the bills were real (because he knew what to look for), it was just a coincidence that they had the same serial number. Pay close attention when getting paid at a show or something like that. And NO, the pens you can buy to check bills don't always work.

I used to know a guy who made some nice ones. The pen is an iodine solution that detects starch in the paper by turning dark. The answer was to print on starch free paper. I've seen the whole operation. The only way to be sure is to lightly scratch the intricate lines (president's collar) with your fingernails. Feel for ridges. That is the product of a legit printing press.

 

[tryppyr]

Can anyone shed some light on what it costs to take credit card payments directly, just for comparison?

When I looked at it several years ago the costs were not straightforward. You could work something out with your bank directly and the fees and requirements would vary. If you wanted to avoid that hassle you could work through a third party, and they charged you for things like the card reader and service fees, and so on.

Today, it appears things are improved... if you can take advantage of some relatively recent technologies. For example, iPhone users can sign up for "Square", a small card reader that plugs into the iPhone and lets you swipe cards and accept payments over the iPhone for a flat fee of 2.75% (unless you manually key in the card numbers, in which case the fee jumps to 3.5% plus 15 cents per transaction). I understand there are other similar applications and devices for other phone types too. I've seen a lot of small antique businesses use this method, as well as estate sale outfits. It can be slow and cumbersome, but it seems to work well. The downside of the iPhone app is that receipts aren't often offered by the merchants using this method.

- Greg

 

[tedinatl]

The downside of the iPhone app is that receipts aren't often offered by the merchants using this method.

The buyer can ask the merchant to e-mail the receipt to him, though (the same way Apple does in their stores).

 

[David Wesner]

Personal checks
Bank checks
Money orders
Cash
PayPal

Same goes for me, as for D.H.III , with a few thoughts to add.

In regards to cash, only for a knife sold at a show or in my shop, face to face. I won't ask or tell a customer to send cash through the mail.

In regards to PayPal, I've been using it for over 11 yrs with only one issue.
About 2-3 months ago a scammer from Germany somehow paid his "eBay fees" ?? using my PayPal account.
edited to add - the ammount was just over $90 and I've never had any dealing with this guy, ever.
I contested it and had my account frozen for about 3 weeks.
PayPal investigated, found in my favor, then unlocked me and returned the money to my account.
Problem solved :thumbup:

When it comes to PayPal fees and recovering that by adding those fees to the cost of the knife ?
IMO that's fine for the folks who pay via PayPal, but IMO not fair to the folks who pay using other means.
Granted, PayPal is convenient, it's convenient for both the seller and the buyer.
For the past year or so I've been asking customers who use the convenience of PayPal to share the 3.9% fee with me.
I cover 2% of the fee and ask that the customer cover the remaining 1.9%.

That's my take on the issue, YMMV

 

[RogerP]

One thing I find really annoying as a buyer is not seeing the various fees and inclusive shipping. Personally I like to know exactly what I am being charged and for what. The moment I see free shipping for something I know it has been added into the price of the item somewhere (nothing is free right). I know its a good gimmick for most people however I find it annoying. Kind of like how banks work with there various ways of collecting fees without people knowing about it. However society is a follow the pack overall mentality so what do ya do.

When I post a knife from my collection for sale, I always put ONE price, stating a preference for payment by Paypal, and inclusive of shipping (US and Canada) and fees. The buyer knows that this is the number to plug into the "amount" field and click "send money". Up to buyer to determine if that bottom line price reflects good value to them for the knife, delivered to their door. I appreciate that different concerns attach to makers selling knives, as consistency in pricing is important.

As a buyer, I don't have an issue with splitting fees with the maker, or covering them myself - so long as we agree to that at the outset. As I said, it's worth it to me for convenience, speed and certainty of payment.

Roger

 

[Don Hanson III]

When I post a knife from my collection for sale, I always put ONE price, stating a preference for payment by Paypal, and inclusive of shipping (US and Canada) and fees. The buyer knows that this is the number to plug into the "amount" field and click "send money". Up to buyer to determine if that bottom line price reflects good value to them for the knife, delivered to their door. I appreciate that different concerns attach to makers selling knives, as consistency in pricing is important.

As a buyer, I don't have an issue with splitting fees with the maker, or covering them myself - so long as we agree to that at the outset. As I said, it's worth it to me for convenience, speed and certainty of payment.

Roger

Make is as easy as possibly for the customer to give you their money

You've learn a bit too Roger.

 

[Don Hanson III]

Also, when I sell a knife, shipping is Free. Usually Express overnight...

 

[David Wesner]

Also, when I sell a knife, shipping is Free. Usually Express overnight...

With most of the knives I make selling for $300-$350 I couldn't take a hit like that.

Whats overnight express now, about $50+ ?

Maybe when I start making the big bucks ROTFL

When it come to the total cost, I've been trying to itemize everything in the bill as best I can.
That way the customer knows exactly what he or she is paying for.





:thumbup:

 

[Don Hanson III]

With most of the knives I make selling for $300-$350 I couldn't take a hit like that.

Whats overnight express now, about $50+ ?

Maybe when I start making the big bucks ROTFL

When it come to the total cost, I've been trying to itemize everything in the bill as best I can.
That way the customer knows exactly what he or she is paying for.





:thumbup:

Express runs $30 +/- depending on weight. And no I couldn't do it either in the $300 range.