Well, I said I’d be bitching here, this one’s minor, very minor in fact, but I thought it gave a pretty good illustration of one of several reasons why I prefer not to take checks or money orders:
If you don’t want to waste your color ink on me, please at least set your printer to print the entire document in black & white!
You’ll see there’s no item title, so now I’ve got to take the extra step of typing in the item number to locate the item and print out the invoice. It takes me 20 seconds, not the point though. It takes you less time to send it to me right.
I blotted out a couple of the digits on the item number here, but didn’t adjust the photo in any other way–after all, I admit this is a very minor infraction, no need for anybody to go looking the item up to ID the buyer.
Take this tiny inconvenience though and add it to the back and forth emails of the buyer requesting to send payment by mail and then waiting on the payment–which in this case arrived quick, but still took a week longer to pay then the majority of my instant payments take, and you can see why some sellers would prefer not to be bothered with paper payments.
An extra bonus in the time wasting department is that this particular payment is a money order, which my bank’s smart ATM won’t decipher, so it also neccesitates a trip inside during banking hours for deposit at a teller, but that’s not the buyer’s fault, it’s Bank of America’s.
I’m a little guy, I’m not turning down anybody’s money, but I’ve realized that there’s enough of an inconvenience involved here that while I cannot offer a paper payments option on eBay, I choose to not offer it on Bonanzle (where paper payments are allowed).
I’m choosing to think of this period as the phase-out for paper payments on eBay. Oh, we all know that they are officially banned, but it’s now common knowledge that they’re unofficially allowed. My requests for paper payments on eBay remain about the same as ever, the only difference being that the buyer cannot check out by themselves anymore. Up until last week at least all buyer’s asked first, but I finally had one who wrote requesting my address after pressing the Buy it Now button, working under the assumption that I’d take their check (I did).
So if eBay is really getting rid of paper payments, I say fine. And I initially applauded the “Don’t Tell, Please Ask” policy of non-solicitation of paper payments. But if it turns out that buyers aren’t getting that this is a phase-out period then I say either put the option back into the checkout flow or give the policy some sharper teeth. And by sharper teeth I mean better inform buyers that paper payments are no longer an option–not a call to punish sellers for accepting the requested form of payment.
In the meantime, please folks, treat me to some color ink–help me get you your order quickly and correctly.
Thanks, Cliff
Man you must be getting MY mail, LMAO. I just went to the P.O. box and there are still money orders coming in and I stopped back in mid january taking them. I have had it with paper payment.
Well, I stopped advertising that I’d take them back in September, but they’re still asking! Until now, when, well, they’re not always asking, they’re telling.
I’m hoping the requests just trickle to nothing eventually, but recently there’s actually been more. I don’t want to have to say “no,” as I hate turning down money, plus I think Ina had something at Auctionbytes recently about eBay not backing up sellers when they tell buyers no, so I don’t know.
I guess from my position, I’m just going to have to deal for now.
Doesn’t mean I can’t gripe some though
Thanks for the comment, John!
Cliff
If that was cranky and a gripe you are a pretty mellow fellow!
Bonanzle charges no fees on cash, check or MO transactions, did you know that? Of course at their fee levels you wouldn’t save much would you.
Hey Henrietta,
I’m still grandfathered in on the fees at Bonanzle, so I’m not quite sure I’m reading that right–do you mean that Bonanzle has no transaction fees (Final Value Fees) on purchases paid by mail, or just that you save the PayPal/Google Checkout fees?
Just curious on that.
But again, my point is that in 2009, I’m not asking for paper payments anywhere. I’ll take them if you ask, but any transactional fees that PayPal (or Google Checkout) is going to charge me is worth it to me to 1) have the transaction completed immediately and 2) save any paperwork and running around to the bank.
Finally, I understand some folks still won’t pay online, whether it be a PayPal grudge or just a general aversion to entering their banking/cc info anywhere online — so if you ask, sure I’ll take your money by mail.
Where I’m having second thoughts is about the way eBay has implemented the policy. At first I was very happy they made it loose, but now I’m not so sure. I think they’ve implemented with good intentions, but this might be a case where they’ve given an inch and buyers are taking a yard.
Thanks, Cliff