Should You Clear Checks Before Posting Goods You Sell on eBay? - By Avril Harper

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me that question and that way I’d probably make more money than I’ve ever lost by posting goods before checks clear – or don’t clear as the case might be!

It is a problem, especially for new eBay sellers – you don’t want to celebrate your first few sales on eBay only to find the checks bounce for goods you’ve already sent to winning bidders.

The problem for newcomers is one of fearing negative feedback for not delivering the goods immediately after payment arrives, even though checks take up to seven days to clear (or to bounce!)

Thankfully, there are ways round the problem and I can honestly say I invariably send goods before checks clear and I’ve only ever been let down twice! For tiny amounts!

My view is that most people are honest, few will bounce checks and, for small amounts (less than $20 in my books) I always send the goods without clearing checks first. The same goes for payments awaiting clearance through PayPal. My philosophy has always been: it’s not worth making the honest majority wait for their goods just because a tiny few payments might be dishonoured. You need to keep your good customers happy, lead them to buy from you again, and nothing works better than fulfilling the goods and trusting them to honour their side of the bargain.

That said, if a lot of money is involved (you must decide this level for yourself) or the buyer looks ‘iffy’, I break my own rule and let payment clear first.

With experience these are the rules I apply which you are free to copy in your business:

* Check buyer feedback, look for high feedback scores (100 plus) from sellers, look for any negatives or neutrals indicating payment disputes. Be wary of feedback representing tiny amounts of money which might indicate your winning bidder has grown feedback fast on penny items to turn tail and scam subsequent sellers of more expensive items.

* Risk low amounts to new buyers without high feedback scores, but not if feedback already indicates a problem customer. For example, I would never send goods money uncleared for anyone with negative feedback or low positive feedback with plentiful negatives. Incidentally, you can program your listings to refuse bids from anyone with negative feedback scores, -1, -2, for example. The place to do this is in the ‘Buyer Requirements’ Section of the ‘Payment & Postage’ section of the selling process.

* Decide a maximum acceptable sum beyond which you will let all monies clear before sending the goods. I use $20 but I will go much higher for buyers with good feedback who have been registered on eBay for more than a few months and for anyone with whom I have already had a trouble-free transaction.

* Bear in mind banks charge you when payment fails, unlike PayPal where you won’t be charged. I recommend PayPal for all your transactions and, as for all of those derogatory things being said and written about PayPal, I don’t believe any of it!

* There is one time I do clear checks before sending the goods. It’s when someone buys, the check hasn’t even arrived yet, and the winning bidder begins hassling me about delivery times or, worse still, threatens negative feedback if I don’t get the product to them fast. In my experience payment from people like this have always failed. I tend to ignore this rule for past buyers, and any long registered eBayers with good feedback, but not new eBayers or others with poor or no feedback.

There is a problem here, being new eBayers with low positive feedback, in which case I check feedback from people who’ve sold to them already. If those sellers also have low feedback, I smell a conspiracy, if they are well-known sellers with lots of positive feedback, I relent and send the goods. BUT I NEVER SEND THE GOODS FAST WITHOUT CLEARING PAYMENT WHEN I AM THREATENED WITH NEGATIVE FEEDBACK!

Avril Harper is a business writer and eBay PowerSeller who has produced several guides to making money from eBay, including MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: http://www.magstoriches.com 103 POWERSELLER TIPS can be downloaded with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at http://www.avrilharper.com