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Getting Buyers To Pay
 

I was curious if those of you using merchant accounts were having a tough time getting buyers to pay? Ive only had mine about a week, and in that time Ive had to hound 90% of my buyers to submit their payment. There have been a few folks who buy and and pay right away, but the majority of buyers seem to be giving me nothing but grief.

Is this just the norm? With PayPal being so deep in Ebay's DNA, I was just wondering if this is the trade-off Im going to have to deal with now that I no longer offer it as a payment method. I clearly say in my listings "PAYPAL NOT ACCEPTED", along with a couple of lines that tell people how to use the Ebay Checkout process. So its not like buyers arent aware of this. And business hasnt slowed down. Its just that I cant get these people to pay.

Ebay doesnt give us the "Immediate Payment Required" option unless we're using PayPal, so aside from hounding these people for payment is there any better way? Ive already filed 3 NPB cases this week alone, and at the moment have 11 sales awaiting payment. I invoice, I message...and yet even on the NPB cases there's no response from the buyer.

Any advice from those of you who have been using merchant accounts for awhile? Thanks...

Re: Getting Buyers To Pay
 

It is very tough to breaking that PP mentality - have you tried Skrill for your eB accounts?

Re: Getting Buyers To Pay
 

Havent tried Skrill yet, but with all the hassle it took getting approved and set up on Authorize.net the idea of going with something else makes my head hurt. Besides, I dont really think that would be much better.

I have noticed that by loosening the AVS restrictions on my merchant account, more transactions are going through. For whatever reason, people dont ever have the right billing address for their cards. I still require a US bank and the CVV code, though, so Im not leaving myself totally open to fraud.

What I dont get is why its so hard to just click the "PAY NOW" button on an invoice. If you buy something anywhere else online, you go through Checkout. Yet on Ebay, everyone is like a PayPal zombie and theyre instantly confused if you ask them for real checkout information. Wish there was an easier way to get it through to people that theyre actually better off without PP.

Re: Getting Buyers To Pay
 

I've had this same problem with PayPal linked to my own website. For a while I thought it was technical stuff behind the scenes and they were just failed transactions (had this happen before with another payment processor). I dropped the prices significantly and low and behold the sales are going through. So basically a lot of people don't pay even when having PayPal as an option, people still are flaky. Take away the PayPal and they really don't know what to do.

Re: Getting Buyers To Pay
 

I think people are so used to Paypal any other payment method makes them think they'll be 'swindled'. I literally have to pull teeth to receive payment but most of my transactions end with me opening a case.

Re: Getting Buyers To Pay
 

Tough to get ppl off of their PP use because of the security coverage and popularity...

Re: Getting Buyers To Pay
 

Its been nearly 3 months now and the biggest thing Ive learned is that the Unpaid Item Assistant is your best friend. Sometimes it scares people into paying. But for every item I sucessfully sell I have at least 1 that ends up not being paid for. And, wow, do some people get irate when they find out they cant use their beloved PayPal.

The biggest hurdle is that Ebay doesnt allow payment on mobile devices if youre using a merchant account. And a lot of people are making purchases with their phones & tablets these days. So when you tell them they have to go to a computer to pay, they get pissed-off. And it doesnt matter how boldly you state in the listing about not accepting PP...a lot of buyers are hitting the "Buy" button from the search results and arent even reading your listing.

Overall, Im not gonna lie...its a pain in the ass. But, for me, I still prefer the trade-off versus PP freezing my account at their will. Im certainly not doing the same volume of sales that I could with PP, but the ones I do make are at least going straight into my bank account.

Re: Getting Buyers To Pay
 

If you are using buyitnow why not tick the button when you create your listing called 'instant payment required' then it should be half your problem solved.

If you want the other half solved then get more or different kinds of payment processors.