I always have to suppress a smile when you get that first email and it says “in the unlikely event the buyer does not pay”…I’d say that’s about 20% of the time…
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Yep, I had one of those this morning - the customer said she couldn’t get the payment to go through.
Yes, a sale last night, but the payment hasn’t come through.
I’ve had people say they have had this trouble on my page, that’s the last think we need on here as sales are so slow , it stops people from being confident in buying on the site x
I think about half my sales this year on here (albeit that is not a big number!) have had problems paying. Most were resolved by sending a Paypal invoice or relisting the item so they could try again. This really doesn’t ever happen anywhere else I sell. I would imagine the vast majority of people would just bin the idea and shop else were if it all became too difficult - I know I would!
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I think most of my problem payers have been using phones or Ipads. The others have for one reason or another realised they needed to change address details either on Folksy or Paypal and have of course then lost the payment thread.
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Oops yes I meant to type Folksy - I have never had any issues ordering on Etsy, always straightforward!
So pleased (and yet frustrated!) that this isn’t just happening to me. I’ve been on and off folksy for a few years now and although I love the site, I find it so annoying that I regularly have emails saying people have bought an item but then receive no payment. I can only think that the checkout isn’t very clear that payment hasn’t been finalised.
I think it looks really unprofessional to have to chase payment from a customer, who either has changed their mind and then is embarrassed to reply, or someone who thinks they’ve ordered something then feels they have to apologise for not paying and re-order. In most cases, I’ve found it’s a payment issue rather than just not completing the sale.
Sorry for the rant - but it keeps happening and just puts me off using the site more which is a real shame as there are so many lovely things about it, not least all the lovely people on it!!!
I’m new to folksy but very very alarmed about all this talk of items being sold but not really being sold or paid for. Folksy should be doing their utmost to make sure all customers that are wanting something actually pay straight away with no dallying around, no typing in addresses again , no breaking of links etc etc.
I was so excited the other day when I saw one of my items “being bought now” but nothing , no payment , no sale, zilch. This should not be happening , its like sales disappear into thin air.
I have been selling on that other site for a few years and nothing like this happens.
Hello @sandranesbitt,
Please don’t be alarmed. There’s a previous thread on this issue here:
However, in a nutshell some people decide not to buy an item after they have ordered it (but before they pay for it) and this is very common across a great many retail sites. We make the mistake of telling you someone has bought your work before they pay, something we’ll be rectifying soon.
Best,
James.
I’ve only had one non-payer who didn’t want the item after I’d contacted them. Others had had problems paying for some reason or another and we’ve been able to sort it out between us, often with me sending them a Paypal invoice. I’d like to be informed if something has been bought but not paid for, it beats someone giving up with me because they’re having problems…Perhaps you could give sellers the option one way or the other.
What failure is this Joy?
@DaisyWings @kernowclaire @LynnroseDesigns @OrchardFelts @LyntonLeaKnitwear @talulahblue @EileensCraftStudio
To provide some context we have <2% of sales that fail at the PayPal stage for whatever reason (and we don’t get to know the details). Re: use of a card. PayPal’s user interface is changing regularly but does allow you to pay via card.
Thanks @JamesB for replying, I appreciate you looking into it and that sometimes customers do change their mind, but I’ve just lost another sale because the buyer tried 4 times to pay last night and when I contacted her today she said she had really wanted the item but because she needed them quickly she’d had to find an alternate. I do think it needs to be a very simple process to complete payment because I’ve had to chase 2 of my last 3 orders in the last week and I can’t afford to lose that many sales.
I have to say though - it will be a lot less annoying when we don’t get the first email and don’t know when it happens! 
Have to say we prefer receiving the email letting us know that someone has bought an item and payment is pending. Reason being that every time this has happened to us we have quickly followed it up and every single time the person has encountered problems when trying to pay. We have in each case saved the sale through personal contact with the buyer. If we didn’t get an email then we hate the thought that somewhere there was a frustrated buyer trying to purchase without success as this would no doubt reflect badly on not just our shop but on the selling platform too. So please @JamesB don’t be too hasty in making any changes.
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sounds like there are 2 issues @JamesB
-
When we get the “Being Bought Now” message on the front home page. From what I gather this is when people put something in their shopping basket /cart , sometimes ordering & paying sometimes not. This is what I saw , got a little excited and then found out that I had no sale. Whilst everyone is entitled to change their mind or put in their cart for later , its frustrating for a seller to see these on the front page.
-
Sellers getting emails saying their items have sold and yet there is a problem with the payment. Until the link between ordering and paying via paypal is sorted it sounds like sellers REALLY need these emails so they can personally sort the payment out. So keep the emails but work on the issue as well.
@IsobelRobinson and @littleRamstudio @JOYSofGLASS
Our plan is not to send out the first order email as:
- Technically and legally the order is not complete
- Some people who never intended to buy have been upset by sellers contacting them and being unpleasant - it happens - and it stops that buyer returning
- It seems it is legally dubious whether sellers should actually receive contact information of the (non-paying) buyer at this point and it seems right to err on the side of caution (and what most buyers would expect)
Instead we are going to have better communications to potential buyers - people who place an order but do not pay - stating that if they need any help to complete payment to get in touch with Folksy support OR the seller (and provide contact information). This way we get to understand the reasons why people are not completing and can pro-actively help them when they want the help. This seems to be best practice in the marketplace industry and it’s what we’ll be moving to soon - and we will, of course, outline this in the seller email and on the blog when we do.
As an aside, we’re still waiting for clarification from PayPal about whether the PayPal Postage feature is supported in their ‘new’ Classic API payments before we move over. This new API may or may not reduce the <2% of non-paying orders that get as far as trying to pay with PayPal.
Best,
James.
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Hey,
Yes, the first issue is because an item is in the process of being bought when in the basket but actually we know that over 50% (and sometimes far far higher) of people who put items in the basket never convert in to buyers. So “being bought now” may not mean “bought”! We want to show activity on Folksy and if this particular event (being bought now) is unhelpful or unwanted we can remove it.
I think I addressed the second point in the earlier post a second ago (posted just after I saw your post, sorry).
JB
If you have encountered issues of buyers not being able to pay it would be really helpful if you could email support@folksy.co.uk with the subject line “PayPal Payment Feedback”
Stating:
- What the buyer’s reasons were for not being able to pay via PayPal
- Any details of the buyer’s browser / platform (e.g. “chrome browser on a mac laptop” or “chrome on android phone”)
- The date and time of the failed purchase
Would you do this? It can then help to understand any issues that do exist beyond human error or usability problems of using PayPal.
Thanks,
James
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maybe its just the wording “being bought now” that is wrong @JamesB , maybe something like “Being added to a shopping basket” or something like that would be more appropriate and reflect what is actually happening.
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Part of the reason for starting this particular discussion was because the whole checkout process seemed to be very long and had extra steps that I wasn’t really expecting.
What if I had items from several different shops in my basket? Has anyone tried this recently? Do you have to go through the whole typing in your address and confirmation and divert to Paypal thing for every shop?
I was stubborn enough to keep on trying for one shop, but if it was three or four different ones I might well “leave until later” and maybe not come back.