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Time payments on ebay...Have you done it? What was your experience?
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25 posts in this topic

Hi guys!

Last night I received a message from someone on ebay asking about time payments via ebay.

Ive never done time payments on anything ever and dont know how it works or if you can even do them on ebay.

So I guess Im asking this

1. Can you do time payments on ebay?

2. What is your experience with time payments on ebay.

3. What sort or rules should be imposed. The buyer asked about doing 3 payments every other week. 
 

4. Anything that you might think that would be helpful in making my decision!

and since its an Ebay question @kav will say @Buzzetta ...I got this for you kav!!!

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As a seller and as a buyer I strongly recommend never doing time payments on eBay.  There is nothing to stop someone on eBay from either end to claim that only the initial payment was for the item.

This is basically one scenario that I saw... you sell the book... accept time payments.  Once the time payments have been made, the buyer says the item is not described.  The time may have elapsed on the initial payment.  You will run into a confusion as far as PayPal is concerned when it comes to what is owed to whom.  I have seen that go sour in a facebook argument over time payments on certain toys. 

It's a bad idea.  If you have time payment and it is not with someone you implicitly trust like a Storms or Reece or Dale or one of those guys I would not do it... just charge it to your credit card and pay it off.   If someone is less than honorable there are a few ways that someone can get burned. 

Some will say to draw up a contract some will say this and that... personally I would avoid it.  When I have chased big books I saved the money and then went shopping. 

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If I was a seller it would seem a bit suspect. Why would the buyer just not save up the money first and then buy it outright? I would be concerned that they have no capacity for unexpected expenses and then not be able to follow through. 

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6 minutes ago, wombat said:

If I was a seller it would seem a bit suspect. Why would the buyer just not save up the money first and then buy it outright? I would be concerned that they have no capacity for unexpected expenses and then not be able to follow through. 

I agree with you that it should not be done, but I know that it has been done before in the past.   For example, I know Snyder offered a board member here time payments on a piece of art and I believe Burkey has done that also with art.   As a kid I once wanted to buy a $100 book and my LCS allowed me to pay off the book over time.   But those are all either with reputable people are in a physical location.  My LCS was not going to screw me over $100.

But as an adult... and over the internet... I would not be comfortable with that. 

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2 minutes ago, god503 said:

do you get the item WHILE you do the payments?  or is it like layaway and you get it only after you pay?

Most of them have a nonrefundable deposit and then you get the item after it is paid for.  I've seen terms as much as 20% in the sales threads.

You know who is good with the terms in matters like this?  I am pretty sure @shadroch has mentioned things about layaway and time payments. 

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1 minute ago, Buzzetta said:

Most of them have a nonrefundable deposit and then you get the item after it is paid for.  I've seen terms as much as 20% in the sales threads.

You know who is good with the terms in matters like this?  I am pretty sure @shadroch has mentioned things about layaway and time payments. 

I did time payments for a piece of art I wanted.  20% down and then 3 equal payments from there.  When the final payment was received the artist mailed the piece.  

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1 minute ago, wombat said:

To be clear I'm not saying it is always a bad idea. But some random transaction on ebay? Sounds like a terrible idea. 

Yeah, I would agree... too much opportunity for one person to disappear and then reappear later with problems. 

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I don’t do it nor offer it. The few times I have offered it as a seller was more trouble than what it was worth. Had to “remind” slow payers. A lot of folks spend money on other things and try to stall on payments. 

Other than real necessities or emergencies, if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. 

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49 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

 

Other than real necessities or emergencies, if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. 

That is so wrong. As long as you can afford the interest, I say go for it.  Why be denied something you want just because you can't pay for it.  Why is it horrible to discriminate against race or religion or who a person sleeps with but it's considered good business to do so against the poor? 

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58 minutes ago, shadroch said:

That is so wrong. As long as you can afford the interest, I say go for it.  Why be denied something you want just because you can't pay for it.  Why is it horrible to discriminate against race or religion or who a person sleeps with but it's considered good business to do so against the poor? 

There is no racism with money...  either you have it and want to spend it or you dont have it and cant spend it.  Its the same BS about making home ownership affordable for low income people... low income and mortgages dont mix.  hence the 2008 financial melt down.  cant own?  rent.  thats it.  dont have money to spare, then dont.  personal responsibility.  

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6 hours ago, jaybuck43 said:

I did time payments for a piece of art I wanted.  20% down and then 3 equal payments from there.  When the final payment was received the artist mailed the piece.  

So it's like layaway then. After the 20% down and 3 equal payments there was no interest or premium extra you were responsible for?  Just curious ...

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1 hour ago, SuperZar said:

So it's like layaway then. After the 20% down and 3 equal payments there was no interest or premium extra you were responsible for?  Just curious ...

No, we agreed on the price of the piece. Then I said to him that if possible I’d like to spread it over 3 payments. He said as long as all 4 payments (down payment and all three monthly payments are checks) it would be fine, otherwise tack on an additional 3% to use credit card. The agreement was 20% down which was non refundable. And then 3 additional payments of the remainder split evenly. And the final price included shipping. 

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I know of no process ON EBAY that allows for time payments.  That is, a structured payment system on eBay, such as Amazon has or PayPal has.  Now that Managed Payments is in place for some, that might have changed.  I have no experience with that yet as a Seller.

One way you could attempt to do it, since it is only a 6 week period, is this:  Put Best Offer on the item.  Accept the buyer's offer at 1 cent below the Buy-It-Now.  That keeps it from becoming an Immediate Payment situation.  Now that you have a pending transaction with the buyer, you can communicate freely with them through eBay, without having your PP email address getting redacted.  You give the buyer your PP email address.  He sends the down payment.  Each 2-week period he sends the payments to the PP address.  The buyer is protected because he has protections through PayPal and his credit card company, if a card was used.  The seller is protected, because he still holds the item. 

When completed, you mark it paid and ship the item.  You don't ship until you have all the money. 

If you hit a speed bump during the payment process, refund the money and abort.  Any dispute after the transaction, all the payments are visible on PayPal.  All the communications are on eBay messaging.  Ebay got paid their share.  PP got its fees.  So no dodging fees.

Alternatively, buyers can make time payments using PayPal Credit, if they have a line to work with.

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The only time I've used time payments is when I've used Paypal Credit. That way, the seller gets all the money up front and the buyer owes paypal the money. It also has a "no interest if paid off in 6 months" policy for the buyer. I used it to buy my current computer, and an ASM 3 a few years ago, but generally try to resist from using it for collectibles for more than a few hundred, because it could easily get out of hand.

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Just now, telerites said:

That was my first thought as well.

Was that how a certain board member got himself in trouble or was that with a PayPal loan? 

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