PAYMENT ADVICE
I have been asked several times for advice on the best way to arrange payment for an item bought through my site that needs to be sent by mail. After much thought and through my own experience of selling dresses to overseas buyers, I have come up with what I think is the ideal way to conduct your transaction.
If you have any questions about sending/receiving payments, please do not hesitate to email me.
Important
No matter what payment method you decide to use, please read the 5 points below and you should have no problems with your sale..
1. The buyer must always send full payment first, only when you receive the payment and it clears do you send the costume.
2. Once the buyer receives the costume, they try it on and let you know right away if it fits or not.
3. If they are happy to keep the costume, no further action is needed. Yay!
4. If for some reason they are not happy they must first send the costume back. When you receive it in the same condition in which it was sent, you then return their payment, less any shipping fees incurred by you.
5. The buyer should always pay for the postage so that the seller is not out of pocket if the sale doesn't go through.
Direct Bank Deposit/Transfer
Direct deposit is a great way of transferring money locally or overseas. Local transfers are easy and most of us have probably done this before. For overseas transfers, the buyer will usually need to know more seller details, such as their banks full name and the street address of the bank branch where the account is held, the account number, BSB or SWIFT code and the full name that the account is held under. The buyer can only deposit, they can not withdraw. Many buyers/sellers have told me that they have successfully used direct deposit and I have also used it myself several times for overseas sales. The money shows up quickly in the account, allowing the dress to be sent straight away, no waiting for cheques to arrive/clear.
Direct deposit can usually be done by the buyer at home via internet banking, or if you are unsure, go into your bank branch and the staff there will process the transfer for you. Sellers, please contact your bank and check on what fees you may be charged when receiving a deposit from overseas.
Cheque Payments
Always ask for a bank cheque/cashiers cheque. If sending your item to another country, ask the buyer to go to their bank and get an International bank cheque in your currency, this way you will not be affected if exchange rates change from when the cheque is written to when you cash it, and you will also not be charged fees by the bank to cash a foreign currency cheque. Accept a personal cheque at your own risk, if this is the only option, make sure that the cheque has fully cleared before sending your costume. Please note that foreign currency cheques can sometimes take months to clear as once you deposit it into your account, your bank sends it back to it's country of issue to clear.
PayPal
Warning: Use PayPal at your own risk. If the buyer receives the dress and informs PayPal that it is not as described, they will take the money back from you first and ask questions later. Paypal does not take in to account that you may have advertised the dress as final sale. Even if the dress is exactly as described, PayPal will still take the money back and it is up to you to prove otherwise.
Warning #2 - New Paypal Refund Policy: From May 2019, Paypal will no longer refund their fees when a payment is refunded, but will refund the full payment to the buyer. This leaves the seller out of pocket as paypal will charge the fee to you. This fee is approximately 2.9% of the amount being refunded. Because of this new policy, I would not recommend using Paypal to accept payment for your dress.
Knowing this, if you would still like to use Paypal...
Paypal payments are done online by credit card or bank account debit. You can open a free personal account that accepts payment from a bank balance and is free of fees or an account that can accept payments from credit cards, however there are fees for this service of around 3.5% of the payment received. PayPal changes its fees and conditions periodically, please read their terms and conditions so that you are aware of all fees before proceeding. Click here to go to my PayPal help page.
Scams
Before sending money to anyone, anywhere, please read my Scams Page.