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What to do?

LeftoverbricksLeftoverbricks
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I'm new to BO as a seller but I'm a seller on the other site for years. A new buyer here requested a shipping quote for a 22 cent instruction manual (on Aug. 30). I replied with the shipping costs (Euro 5.75) and the quote was accepted - much to my surprise. However for some reason the UK buyer selected IBAN as payment method which is actually not available to UK buyers or not preferred since this will cost buyer and or seller dozens of Euros. So I messaged the buyer to send payment via PayPal. Never got a reply, nor a payment. What should I do?

Comments

  • 8 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • StragusStragus
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    Sounds like you shouldn't allow IBAN as a payment method for the UK, you may want to fix that. :)

    I would cancel after a week if the customer never replies.
  • LeftoverbricksLeftoverbricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Sounds like you shouldn't allow IBAN as a payment method for the UK, you may want to fix that. :)
    Fixed that already :-)
    I would cancel after a week if the customer never replies.
    Where can you do that?

  • DadsAfolDadsAfol
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    On the order page, click on "More Actions" on the top right.
  • LeftoverbricksLeftoverbricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Thanks, I cancelled the order.
  • unbrickableunbrickable
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    @Leftoverbricks does it cost the buyer money to make the payment ? I had the idea within europe IBAN is free to use ?
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    IBAN is free unless you want to do a currency conversion at the same time. It's widely used within the Eurozone but not quite universal yet. I once had a customer send me some Danish currency via IBAN, but they didn't do the conversion themselves which landed me with a fee that more or less wiped out the incoming amount.

    I believe most banks in the UK can process an IBAN payment, but as I say, they normally come with a fee due to changing currency. BACS became the British standard before IBAN became a thing (or at least before it became widely used), and the banks have stuck with it for Sterling transfers.

    I think I'm right in saying that BACS is near instant these days, even when different banks are involved, but IBAN is only same-day at best, and only then if the transfer is to an account at the same bank. Otherwise they can take up to 5 days, though I've never had one take longer than 3.
  • paulvdbpaulvdb
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    IBAN is not necessarily free. But banks are not allowed to charge more for an international transfer* in euro than they charge for a domestic transfer in euro. That's why an IBAN transfer can still have high fees if you are in a country like the UK that doesn't use the euro as its own currency. In addition to that there is also the conversion fee for converting from your country's currency to euro.

    * This applies only to transfers where both parties have a bank account in a SEPA country. SEPA stands for Single European Payments Area and consists of all members states of the European Union plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.
  • paulvdbpaulvdb
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    In response to Hoddie's last paragraph: international transfers have become faster after the introduction of SEPA. Lately I have received some international transfers the same day if the buyer transferred early in the morning. And it never seems to take more than 2 business days. In the past it was not unusual for transfers to take 3 or 4 business days, but I can't remember the last time that happened.
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