Help - Selling - Payment Options

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Payment options are used to indicate to potential Buyers the various forms of payment you as a Seller will accept. You set up your payment options once and then these options will automatically apply to all your listings.

When you navigate to view and edit your existing Payment Options, you will be provided with several default payment options. Check the box next to the ones you would like to offer to your Buyers. The checked payment options will appear in your item listings, under the 'Payment' section. For each payment option there are two informational text boxes provided. The first box is for you to include additional public information to potential Buyers which is displayed to all browsers on item pages before a purchase is made. This could include information such as "collections are permitted for cash payments or COD (Cash on Delivery)" (do not include contact details or bank account details in this field). The second information box is for additional information to Buyers once they have completed a purchase from you. For example for "Other Payment Options" where you want to offer Inter Bank Transfer payments directly into your own bank account you can (but are not required to) include your bank details in this box. This information will only be displayed to Buyers once they have completed a purchase from you and will save you from having to communicate these details with the Buyer.

It is advisable to offer several payment options. You as a Seller are entitled to set some rules – but do offer some choices to the Buyers too bearing in mind that some of them may not have a credit card or internet banking facilities.

Other Payment Options

You can set up any number of other custom payment options in this section.

• Inter Bank Transfer or Internet Banking is an electronic payment but done off the bidorbuy site directly into your own bank account. Typically, the Buyer would have to enter your bank details into his or her electronic or Internet banking facility to transfer the funds to you.
• Direct deposit is a payment into your bank account. Since this is a broad term, you need to specify what form of direct deposit you accept (cash or cheque). Cash is problematic due to bank charges. As to cheques – if you do decide to accept them, make sure to warn Buyers in your payment terms that they will need to wait seven to ten days for the cheque to clear before the goods are dispatched. Just to make things double clear, repeat that condition in your shipping terms too.
• Cash is, of course, cash, but may mean either cash deposited into your account or the cash the Buyer hands over to you in case you accept collections, or in case you deliver to certain areas. Most bidorbuy Sellers rule out cash deposits, or require the Buyer to add one or two percent to the price when depositing cash. Some banks may charge a rather high fee on cash deposits.
• COD means cash (or cheque) on delivery. Again, you need to specify whether you accept cash or cheques. We would advise against accepting cheques due to high bounce rates.
• Credit card. If you have your own credit card merchant account then direct the Buyer to your secure credit card payment page.
• International transfers/SWIFT/Wire transfers are a good-to-have option if you envisage selling to customers outside Kenya. Since international transfers involve banks talking to each other across national frontiers, this is usually a lengthy process and as a rule an expensive exercise. Make sure to specify which of the banking charges, on either side of the border, are for the Buyer's account.

Escrow service

Involves using a trusted agent who keeps the money until the Buyer signals that the payment may be released to the Seller. Should there be any dispute, then the escrow company intervenes retuning the money to the Buyer after the goods have been returned to the Seller, if applicable. This method is rather costly for Sellers and is occasionally used for high value transactions. Please note - bidorbuy does not offer this service.

PayPal

bidorbuy is integrated with PayPal. This means, if you offer PayPal as a payment option, once you have added your PayPal Account ID to the bidorbuy system and a Buyer opts to pay using PayPal, bidorbuy will guide your Buyer through the payment process on PayPal and attempt to record completed PayPal payments against the order on the bidorbuy system. As a Seller you will need to select one of the foreign PayPal currencies in which to receive payment. At the time of payment bidorbuy will convert the total payment amount from KSh to your chosen currency using the latest exchange rate from www.xe.com.