All of my current listings are Buy It Now (BIN) rather than auctions, and my experience has been that these buyers pay immediately. In fact, if you list a BIN item you can specify that the buyer pay immediately. I don't think I've checked that box, but the buyers pay this way anyway. I am notified by email: one from eBay telling me the item has sold, and one from Paypal notifying me of the payment.

Other than the above, I don't think you can specify a payment time. Why do you want to get paid quickly? Usually a week is reasonable, but most people pay sooner than that. If they don't pay in a reasonable amount of time, send them a polite note.

Don't be too quick to leave negative feedback. When I started selling on eBay (11 years go) I told myself I'd be the kind of seller I want to deal with as a buyer. You're a friendly person, Sleeperblues; bring that friendliness with you to eBay, and it will add to your experience.

I know how to do what I do, but I'm not up on all the ins and outs of eBay selling. The feedback protocol, for example, has changed over the years. Perhaps others here can give you helpful advice.

What sort of things are you planning to sell? I sell mostly books, but lots of other stuff too. I even sold a piano once. I also sell books on Amazon. Sales have been good there, although Amazon buyers are downright sluggish about leaving feedback.

Do you have feedback as a buyer? This will give buyers confidence in you as a seller.

You can have fun with this. A good, win-win sale is rewarding.

Thanks, Susan, for your valuable response. I guess I want to get paid just so I can get this big box off of my counter, lol. DD and I cleaned out her bedroom last week and donated probably 30 boxes of "kidstuff", and then I had the idea to see if any of her books were salable on ebay. Sure enough, people really seem to love the babysitter club books. So I sold a lot of 45 for her.

I really like your suggestion of doing BIN, which I think I will do in the future. I guess that when I buy something on ebay, I pay ASAP so I get what I bought quicker. I'll relax about that, I guess. I do have 100% positive feedback as a buyer and the lady that bought the books has 100% also with over 800, so I guess I should be more patient.

I have rarely left negative feedback, even when it was warranted. I don't want to tarnish my feedback rating with retaliation feedback.

How do you handle shipping?

Weeeeeeeell........first off.....a seller can not leave negative feedback for a buyer. That rule was put into place so buyers won't "chicken out" on saying what they really think.

A seller can "respond" publicly to a negative feedback and explain under the comment what really happened.

It's not a perfect system.

I buy & sell on Ebay frequently. Most sellers don't bother to leave feedback anymore. They think the system is biased.

Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion on this topic as follows....

Shipping is one of the reasons why I love to sell books--and don't love to sell breakables.

A lot of 45 books is great! Definitely ship them via Media Mail. For individual books, I put them in bubble envelopes (first sealing inside a zip-loc bag if possible to guard against rain, etc.). For your lot, I'd pack them in a box, filling any spaces with some sort of packing material, even if it's just crumpled newspaper. I always add a TO/FROM sheet inside the envelope or box so that if the contents get separated from the package, the Post Office will know where it goes.

USPS.com has a postage calculator that's easy to use. Media Mail is much less expensive than Priority Mail and most other methods. It can be used only with media: books, magazines, records, CDs, etc. Also, it doesn't depend on location. A package weighing under 2 lbs. will ship for $3.17 whether you send it to Wisconsin or California.

Yeah, it sounds like your buyer is good for the money. Sometimes these things just slip our minds.

EBay encourages sellers to use auctions rather than BIN. But I think a lot of buyers get impatient with auctions, and want the item right away. I would still do an auction for certain items, such as potentially valuable collectibles.

Thanks, Nicole, didn't know that. I'll check out the link in a minute. I was confused because there is a link to leave feedback?

Yes, I planned on using media mail. The box is 5 pounds, and I did offer free shipping. Hope it's not too much. As I said, I just want to get the label printed and the box outta here.

I keep a Media Mail price list on my desk. If it's not over 5 lbs., it'll cost you $4.61. Over 5 lbs. is $5.09.

Under notifications, Ebay will tell you when it is time to ship an item. That will only appear when the person has paid for the item.

I prefer to go to My Ebay All Selling when I am checking transactions. At a glance you can tell by looking at the symbols what is the status--whether a person has paid, shipping, feedback, etc.

The other helpful hint I have is to print the postage label on one side of the paper. Turn the paper around to the second half to print the packing slip. That way you get full use of the paper. Also if the label is too big for the package, you can shrink the size of the label by modifying printing options.

Good luck with your Ebay sales.

Thanks, Dmickey!