eBay

mindmyownbusiness · ‎01-13-2021

eBay telling us "managed payment doesn't slow trade" rests entirely on sellers accepting more risk. But no one wants us to look at it like it is.

It takes 2 days for buyer payment to clear the buyer's account. From a seller's perspective it is the time it takes for a buyer payment to move from "pending" to "available".

Sellers are told to ignore those 2 days because PayPal "spoiled" us by fronting money. So don't blame eBay for the extra 2 days. But spoiling or not, that eBay doesn't front the money, is a degradation of service.

Those 2 days SHOULD result in slower trade if sellers continue to live by the previous admonition, "don't ship until you receive payment."

Instead, eBay now tells us to ship while funds are pending. They've changed the admonition, because they don't want to front money AND they don't want buyers to feel inconvenience or pain as a result of managed payments processing. That is reserved just for sellers.

In a recent thread on this board, sellers who baulk at shipping before the buyer's payment has cleared are challenged, "what, you don't trust eBay?" But trusting eBay has nothing to do with it. If the buyer's payment does not clear the buyer's bank, say because of insufficient funds, who pays sellers for the item lost for shipping early? NO ONE.

So eBay now tells sellers it is time to ship while funds are pending. That is, take the risk of buyer payments not clearing. The only alternative is to extend handling times (and be the odd man out for doing so), which entails lower search results and less buying from buyers who care about handling time.

All of the burden of those extra 2 days "don't slow trade" because we sap sellers simply have to accept the additional risk, and buyer's are none the wiser about the real cost of doing business on eBay.

It is a sick world that so many people are okay with misdirection substituted for fact, both spewing it and accepting it. But just because the vocal posters and eBay say something is so, doesn't mean that it is so. In fact, most of the time when eBay's mouth is moving, I know to watch out for increased cost or risk.

Just because MP is just the way it is with eBay "my way or the highway", doesn't mean MP shouldn't be described honestly and its costs shouldn't be explicit.

airdzi · ‎01-13-2021

EBay sold its soul for profit!

mtgraves7984 · ‎01-13-2021

I'm one of those sellers who doesn't cotton to shipping before I have useable funds. My remedy was to set my Handling Time to 5-Day. As long as you ship within your stated handling time, you're gold with eBay. With that being said, it appears that monies move from my buyer's a$$ pocket to my a$$ pocket in 4 business days. And know that this is not an eBay 'best practice', but one that is my practice for now.

I'll also add that I've never experienced a sale not moving to 'Completed' once it says it's 'Processing'. I haven't shortened my Handling Time yet (Covid and all), but I do ship now before my deposit shows up... I don't have to, I just feel comfortable with it. It's a matter of adapting to what works best for each seller. Good luck.

mindmyownbusiness · ‎01-14-2021

Thank you for the reply, @mtgraves7984 Part of the trick to MP is learning the new lingo.

You said, " it appears that monies move from my buyer's a$$ pocket to my a$$ pocket in 4 business days. "

Do you mean from buyer payment to "available" in or to "paid out" and in your checking account in 4 days?

dhbookds · ‎01-14-2021

take the risk of buyer payments not clearing

How many cases on this board/any other place have you seen any payment "bounce"?

I've seen none.........

mtgraves7984 · ‎01-14-2021

@mindmyownbusiness wrote:

Thank you for the reply, @mtgraves7984 Part of the trick to MP is learning the new lingo.

You said, " it appears that monies move from my buyer's a$$ pocket to my a$$ pocket in 4 business days. "

Do you mean from buyer payment to "available" in or to "paid out" and in your checking account in 4 days?

@mindmyownbusiness

My timeline goes from the day the buyer pays to the day the payment is deposited in my bank. So... YES, 4 days.

It begins 'Processing' on the payment received day. It shows 'Completed' two business days past that, and is available in my checking account on business day number four.

Example... A Monday payment received (then, 'Processing' to 'Completed') will be deposited on Thursday.

oldtymer63 · ‎01-14-2021

and there's the fact that if there's a complaint/chargeback eBay can just take the money out of your bank account now so it can cause bounced payments and overdraft fees there if you don't have enough cash flow or have spent the sales money in your account. Paypal holds prevented this from happening. It's a bad system.

If Paypal was 'fronting" the money to sellers then they were worth every penny I paid in fees to them because the higher FVF and this managed payments **bleep** feels like a big valueless rip off from eBay.

mtgraves7984 · ‎01-14-2021

"... and there's the fact that if there's a complaint/chargeback eBay can just take the money out of your bank account now so it can cause bounced payments and overdraft fees there if you don't have enough cash flow or have spent the sales money in your account."

@oldtymer63 , @mindmyownbusiness

The workaround to overdrafts is to set another payment method for your eBay invoice. In the case of refunds/chargebacks, they'll go there. I added a CC as my monthly invoice's 'Automatic Payment' method.