Paypal - Unique items???

[vetropod]

Hey Everyone,

So I'm just moving into the digital age and preparing to sell my work through my website. I'm thinking of using PayPal's "Buy It Now" feature for each item for sale on my site, but am wondering if this will be a problem?

Does anyone happen to know if you can set it up, so that it knows that there is only ONE copy of the item for sale? So that once the item "sells", it won't be available for sale anymore?

Obviously, I can remove the link for "Buy It Now" from an item once it sells, but what if (don't think it's TOO likely) two folks try to buy the same item within, say, five or ten minutes of each other? How would this work?

Any advice you might have for me on this topic (or generally related to selling through my own site with PayPal) would be gratefully appreciated!!!


Thanks!
Wes. :puzzled:

[eternalfrost]

Im not positive about the one item issue.I know you didnt mention what exactly you were selling, but you cant use PayPal to sell any sort of glass smoking accessory just so you know. the 'its for tobacco' thing does NOT work with them, take it from my personal experience. they will freeze your account for 6 months :(

I do know you can make custom 'pay now' and 'donation' buttons with PayPal but i dont rember what features are available. they will give you alot of options and after you fill out the form will generate a block of html code for your specialized button. the best way to get an answer is to just try to make one, if it works your set, if not contact thier help staff.

[smutboy420]

there is a way to make a custom button that has the # of items in stock. so when they are gone its listed as out of stock. So if you make a vutton for some thing that has only one of them in stock it ill show it as being out when the one sells. don't know if there is a way to make the button and the item disaper after its sold tho.

[N!pples]

I think u can fint them as behaviors for dream weaver if thats what your using... AND FROST IS RIGHT! Dont sell pipes or any smoking apparatus.. They will close your account and hold the money you have in you account for 6 monts... They got me for $1600 bucks and boy did i need that money.... :rant: My advise is get a real age verified merchant!

Jon

[vetropod]

Hey thanks for the replies. I'm giving this thing a shot tonight, so we'll see how it goes...

And no worries - no tobacco products. Just sculpture :contempla


Wes.

[wisco lala]

Hey Wes.
I use that on my website.
www.lalalandglass.com (http://www.lalalandglass.com)
It works great but I don't know how to change the quantity issue either.
If you figure it out let me know.
Until then I have a disclaimer stating the issue and if someone tries to buy one that is already sold, I will make one very similar to it. It helps if you just sell items that you can duplicate easily.

Good luck!
lala

[vetropod]

Lala,

Thanks for the input. Hope life is lalaliscious for you since the Int'l Flameworking Conference :D

I couldn't figure out a way to de-activate the "Buy It Now" buttons after a sale, other than drectly removing them from the page myself. Oh well...

I'll have to check out your disclaimer for some ideas on what to say...


Wes.

[Swampy]

Wes, that's how I used to do it, just remove the button and code from your page after each item is sold. The paypal system is easy to set up and I had no probs with it.

If like me, you check your email at sunrise and sunset, you will be able to keep on top of it.

Put a statement something like, 'these are all custom-made one off pieces, when it's sold, it's sold.' Which would be okay for your items like beads or tree decorations but the insects are reproducable, so tes you could say you'll make another one.

Just that you might get the customer from hell that says 'well I wanted the one with three green dots on it's left leg' heh heh

What would you do if 100 people bought the same item though? PayPal takes 3%, no?

Good luck with selling from your site, you are gonna do well.

Your site and your work is good looking, by the way. You would have a blast down here with all the different bugs. Our son used to have a tranny and spent a lot of time drawing it, especially when it was eating.

[vetropod]

Digzo,

Thanks for the compliments! You're the one in Belize, right? I was in Costa Rica over the holidays and some CRAZY six- and eight-legged critters. Serious inspiration for my work :crazy:

Anyways, I haven't figured any special way around more than one user at a time clicking these, but I'm on the 'net very frequently so I'm just putting a disclaimer on my "Order Terms" page and hoping that 100 folks don't all buy the same item at once :twitch:


Wes.

[Swampy]

Heh heh we also got some CRAZY two-legged people down here that are seriously inspiring in that they don't have two shillings to rub together but immensely happy.

I like your strategy Wes, that make sense; have a very clear statement of trading terms for when you meet the lion (customer from hell).

There is probably a next level of carrying out transactions via PayPal for multiple items but I couldn't suss it out. I figured that if I ever reached that level I would have turned into the corporate machine and would no longer have control over my life if say, I get up one morning and said fuck it I'm just gonna do what I want today or get run over by a bus or meet a real lion and then how will the executor of your estate handle that massive line of customers :-)

Also each item you make is individual.

It would be good if Paypal accepted a set amount of payments for the quantity of items you could specify. Then when they were all sold, no further payments would be able to be made. Perhaps set up a message that says 'sorry mate, you're too late -the best glass went to (*)' , (*) being the name of the last customer.

Keep making that great stuff Wes.


Digzo,

Thanks for the compliments! You're the one in Belize, right? I was in Costa Rica over the holidays and some CRAZY six- and eight-legged critters. Serious inspiration for my work :crazy:

Anyways, I haven't figured any special way around more than one user at a time clicking these, but I'm on the 'net very frequently so I'm just putting a disclaimer on my "Order Terms" page and hoping that 100 folks don't all buy the same item at once :twitch:


Wes.