eBay have just bought PayPal a Christmas present! Having purchased a minority share in Billsafe in 2010 they’ve just acquired the rest of the company.
Billsafe provide a service which German buyer love – the ability to purchase on invoice. Customers simply select the item they want to buy, and then they receive an invoice for payment after the item is received.
Waiting for customers to pay an invoice after receipt of the goods is likely to strike fear into the hearts of many online sellers, but in truth it’s not that bad a thing. Firstly eBay and PayPal have already run trials for top buyers in the US allowing them to pay on receipt. Secondly for many German sellers it also won’t necessarily be their problem on eBay – eBay are already running a trial in Germany and Austria where eBay handle the payment collection. Plus of course the cultural difference in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where payment on invoice is much more the norm than it is in the UK.
This acquisition is a move by eBay to strength PayPal’s offering in Europe and will enable eBay and retailers in Europe to offer more payment options. That’s a key deciding factor as to whether a buyer completes a purchase or abandons their shopping cart – It makes perfect sense to make as many payment options available as possible and leave the buyer to select whichever is the most convenient for them.
6 Responses
not a bad idea we will pay ebays invoice and paypals fees, after the buyers received the item and is happy
yeah right!
and what is conveniant for the buyer could bankrupt you!
The feedback system surely has to change in these circumstances.
As long as buyers have a 100% payment track record and have made a minimum of say 100 payments using traditional methods then how is this payment on invoice an issue?
And as it reduces risks for ebay then they should consider fee reductions which may be an incentive for sellers to offer this option.
We used to have a system called “Cash on DElivery”. When the delivery was about to be made you did not get the goods unless you paid the deliverer(Postman or Courier or even the Shops own Delivery Driver). No Money No Goods.
I find myself wondering if the Billsafe system is really a variant of this. Because if the buyer can have the goods and pay later after receipt of the goods and invoice who is responsible for the many who do not pay? Is it the Seller(as I expect) or ebay, Paypal or Billsafe?
I can see this working in some of the categories on eBay like those selling to the B2B market. Businesses and other organizations are not always geared up to paying up front while they are happy to pay on invoice.
Just thinking out loud here I can see it opening up a whole load of new buyers in that marketplace.
Just my random thoughts 🙂
Have a Happy Christmas
At last – I cant wait. We have alot of Germans who want to pay via Bank Transfer…the problem has always been when I refund them – it costs £19 to refund via IBAN. I mentioned this at a seller conference – another way that ebay listen to their customers and action things in the backgound – massive thumbs up to ebay 🙂