handling paypal: 1 payment for multiple items that ship at dirrerent times

[businessbuilder]

We have an item that can and will usually be ordered multiple times.
Payment is made up front for the lot.
We require signed contract to process the lot.
Shipping time is variable for each item.
Once an item is ready it is delivered to the customer online 1 by 1.
Each item is time sensitive so it must be shipped when it is available.

Because the payment was medium sized, Paypal is holding the entire funds until the entire lot is shipped...
Ideally, we should at least get the funds released for each item that was delivered instead of having to wait 21 days for the whole payment.

Options? Ideas?
Thanks!

[Harold Mansfield]

Ideally, we should at least get the funds released for each item that was delivered instead of having to wait 21 days for the whole payment.

Options? Ideas?
Thanks!

Nope. If you're charging by the lot, you don't get the funds until the lot is delivered. If you want funds per item you have to charge per item.
Maybe try billing half up front ( or deposit) and balance upon complete delivery.

[businessbuilder]

Thanks Harold.

It is possible that not all items are delivered in the allotted time.
Our contract states that we will return partial money equal to the items that were not delivered.
It also states that the customer can cancel the order with 24hr notice + fee, at which point we send back the balance equal to the remaining undelivered items.

Should this be sufficient to protect ourselves in partial delivery of the lot situations?
Is this even a good business model to pursue?
I can't think of a better way to structure the items such that ordering will still be convenient for the customer and in addition safer for our business.

[Harold Mansfield]

Thanks Harold.

It is possible that not all items are delivered in the allotted time.
Our contract states that we will return partial money equal to the items that were not delivered.
It also states that the customer can cancel the order with 24hr notice + fee, at which point we send back the balance equal to the remaining undelivered items.

Should this be sufficient to protect ourselves in partial delivery of the lot situations?
Is this even a good business model to pursue?
I can't think of a better way to structure the items such that ordering will still be convenient for the customer and in addition safer for our business.

That's a really difficult price model to sell. You're asking for money up front, yet are well aware that you may not be able to deliver as promised.
It's kind of hard to get people to pay for that.

I understand in the case of custom orders and perishables that things happen, but I think you need to find a more trustworthy way to deliver your products and payment structure based on how unreliable it can be.

You're looking at it from your end and protecting yourself, but buyers are seeing it from their end. You need to find a way to give them the confidence to spend with you, not merely look at it from how you will protect yourself.

Of course I'm pretty much just spitting in the wind without knowing what kind of product this is. Being an unknown means so are the variables.

[Harold Mansfield]

How about 1/2 down and the balance based on remaining actual deliveries?

[businessbuilder]

Thank you again Harold. I appreciate your responses.

Of course, we expect to deliver all of what we promise. I've been trying to write out a better contract agreement to fit the way this product is delivered. We'll have a maximum # of days to deliver, after witch the contract is done and we'd have to return the remaining $ equal to the undelivered items. I think the customer should also be able to cancel the order (for the remaining undelivered items) but still pay a fee for it...

The problem with delivering the product first is that this particular brand of customer is notorious for non-payments that we've suffered before. So, we need the $ up front in a manner of speaking before sending anything. Perhaps we could do half and half like you mentioned, wait for the 2nd half of the payment before sending the remaining items which would lower the burden of 1 larger order.

The worry is that since paypal invokes a 21 day wait period, the customer could somehow decide that halfway through he doesn't like the product (or just wants something for free) and asks paypal to reverse the payment, making up whatever excuse necessary...

My question at this point: Will we still be protected for the items delivered as long as there is proof that we sent them and the contract they signed is strong enough assuming this bad scenario happens?

Thanks again

[Fulcrum]

Are you talking about a digital product or a physical product? You've mentioned both shipped as well as delivered and I'm getting confused. If a repeat sale of a physical item, why are you not stocking enough to cover 2-6 weeks of sales to avoid this issue completely?

Personally, I think the root of your problem is your target customer. A demographic that is notorious for non-payment is purely COD and I mean cash - not credit card, not debit, not online transfer. If I have to make a special order for a custom job, I require that my costs leading up to the cancellation date are covered and the customer will get the material that was special ordered (if they don't want it then it just ends up in my scrap bin).

[businessbuilder]

It's a digital product. I was referring to the receipt that we get from the sent email as proof of delivery.

Maybe a subscription based pricing model would work better for this?

[Harold Mansfield]

It's a digital product. I was referring to the receipt that we get from the sent email as proof of delivery.

Maybe a subscription based pricing model would work better for this?
Wait. This is a digital product? Then why can't you deliver faster?
What are you selling? Leads gathered from a website or something like that?

[businessbuilder]

Leads gathered from a website or something like that?
Yes, something like that.
It can't be delivered much faster than it currently is..even with ideal conditions it would still take variable time.

[Harold Mansfield]

Yes, something like that.
It can't be delivered much faster than it currently is..even with ideal conditions it would still take variable time.
So you either need to adjust your sales model to match realistic production, or raise your production to match demand.

[businessbuilder]

adjust your sales model to match realistic production
I think that's what I'm working on.

Perhaps a variable recurring payment for each item when one becomes available as opposed to a fixed time period.
Customer can set an overall maximum that he'll accept.
Could also limit the daily/weekly max.
Is there anything out there like this or processor that can do this?

[Harold Mansfield]

I used to sell mortgage leads back in the day. At times we could sell fresh leads in bulk and other times people paid per lead. Like you, we could only sell what we had. So if we didn't have 100 leads from a certain area, we couldn't make that sale and everyone understood that. We sold what we had and asked them if they wanted first crack on the next 50 (or whatever) with those parameters and got a deposit on the next batch. Or we'd make them a deal for 50 stepped on leads (sold once) that we could give them now.

In our case the customer didn't set our sales policies or business model. We did. If we had it we sold it whether it was 20 leads or 200.

We came up with all kinds of creative ways to package leads based on what we had. The supply fluctuated, so our sales strategy had to.

[businessbuilder]

Indeed, looks like it'll take some creativity and flexibility to make this work too.
Thanks for all your input Harold.