How to get people to pay when selling on ebay...

For every 6-10 items I sell on ebay, it seems I have atleast one person who doesn't pay.

There are a few ways to get people to pay.

1. The first is to make them pay immediately. You can do this with any fixed price listing. There is a little box to click when listing your item that states "Immediate Payment Required". This means that if the person wants the fixed priced item, they must follow through with a payment or the item will not be sold. Of course this only works for items you are listing for a fixed price.

2. For items that are listed as an auction, the first option is not an option. When the auction ends, ebay automatically sends the buyer an invoice. If the buyer doesn't pay within a day or so, I manually send another invoice.

Here is a screen shot of how to do that:

Be sure to state in your listing when you expect the buyer to pay. My terms of sale include "Payment due by paypal within 5 days". Some people expect payment within 7 days, some within 3 days. Make it reasonable but state it clearly in your listing.

On the 5th day of non-payment, I send another invoice.

3. If something goes unpaid for 6 days, I open up a case. You can do this from the My Ebay page. Choose the option "Resolve a problem."

Choose the option: I sold an item and haven't received my payment yet and then follow through the pages to open a case.

When you open a case, the buyer will get an email letting them know. If they don't pay by the fifth day, you can close the case and they get a "strike" on their account. The strike doesn't really do anything but it sounds bad.

4. If you have an item that went for a lot of money, you can send them a real invoice in the mail. I did this recently and was shocked when it actually worked. To get the buyer's address, click into the sold item's listing.

I then make up a simple invoice in a word document and print it out. You could also click "send invoice" again and then just print that screen.

I put a handwritten note on the invoice I print that says "Please pay immediately. Log into your MyEbay and pay with Paypal." and I circle the amount they need to pay.

5. If all else fails, close the case. You can do this on the fifth day after you opened it. This will allow you to get back your ebay fees and then you can re-list them item.