Invoice E-Mail
Some auction sites, such as eBay, have features that enable you to generate and e-mail payment invoices to winning bidders. On some other auction sites, you have to create your own invoice and send it via e-mail.
On eBay, you can click on the Send Invoice button at any time after an auction ends but before the buyer completes the Checkout process. The Send Invoice button is accessible from the auction item page or from your My eBay page.
Experience shows that eBay's invoice program can confuse some buyers. The invoice picks one shipping method, such as Parcel Post, adds it to the item price, and displays the total. Other shipping options and their prices are listed in a separate column that is not totaled.
Free invoices can also be generated and e-mailed using PayPal's invoicing feature accessible from the Merchant Tools tab. PayPal offers a number of invoice templates as well; some can be stored for future reuse.
For more sophisticated invoicing needs, including customized invoices with graphics, a number of fee-based invoicing services are available, such as BillMyClients.com and SecondSite.biz. Sites such as these can be useful for large-scale auction sales businesses and online stores that include auction sales as part of their operations. Online invoicing services may also be useful if you accept consignment items for online auction sales. Research these services carefully and compare their fees and features. If possible, locate other online auction sellers who use the services and ask them for their opinions of the services.
