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Payment options are used to indicate to potential Buyers the various forms of payment you as a Seller will accept. You set up your payment options once and then these options will automatically apply to all your listings. It is recommended (but not required) that you offer the online payment options provided by Bob Shop (called bobPay) as these are tightly integrated with the other sales tools provided thereby making management of your sales much easier. Basic Sellers are however restricted to receiving payments by bobPay EFT only. If you would like to accept other payment options such as direct EFT into your own bank account you will need to become an Advanced Seller.

When you navigate to view and edit your existing Payment Options, you will be provided with several default payment options. Check the box next to the ones you would like to offer to your Buyers. The checked payment options will appear in your item listings, under the 'Payment' section. For each payment option there are two informational text boxes provided. The first box is for you to include additional public information to potential Buyers which is displayed to all browsers on item pages before a purchase is made. This could include information such as "cheque payments require a 7 day clearance period" (do not include contact details or bank account details in this field). The second information box is for additional information to Buyers once they have completed a purchase from you. For example for "Other Payment Options" where you want to offer EFT payments directly into your own bank account you can (but are not required to) include your bank details in this box. This information will only be displayed to Buyers once they have completed a purchase from you and will save you from having to communicate these details with the Buyer.

It is advisable to offer several payment options. You as a Seller are entitled to set some rules – but do offer some choices to the Buyers too bearing in mind that some of them may not have a credit card or internet banking facilities.

bobPay - EFT Payments

The most popular method of payment on Bob Shop is EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer or Internet banking, but also includes direct and cash deposits).
Normal EFT however comes with some inconveniences such as the up to two day waiting period for funds to be cleared when the payer and receiver bank with different banks. EFT can also be problematic in that it requires manual reconciliation and sometimes payers use references that make their payment impossible to match with their purchase (a problem compounded by the different terminology presented by each bank to payers when making EFT payments).

bobPay - EFT goes a long way to address many of the existing shortfalls of receiving payments for sales on Bob Shop via EFT. bobPay – EFT is available to all Sellers provided they can receive pay out requests into a South African bank account. Bob Shop has opened bank accounts with each of the major South African banks (Absa, FNB, Standard Bank and Nedbank) thereby allowing payers to select the bank they would like to make payments into, thus eliminating the usual delay for payments made between different banks. In order to further streamline the process payers are provided with payment instructions customised to the bank they are paying from. Bob Shop has also implemented a system to reconcile the payments received and in most cases both the Buyer and Seller are notified of receipt of the payment within half an hour of the payment being made.

Upon completing an order through the Bob Shop system, if a Buyer indicates they intend to pay using bobPay – EFT, the status of the payment on the order is set to “Awaiting EFT Payment”. Once payment has been received the Buyer and the Seller are notified and the status is set to “Payment Completed”. Sellers are advised not to ship goods until payment has been completed; “Awaiting EFT Payment” is not a guarantee that the payment has been received. Once payment has been received the amount received is credited to the Seller’s Bob Shop account and the Seller can request a pay out of the credit balance to their South African bank account of choice at any time.

The advantages of using bobPay - EFT for Sellers and Buyers include:

• No high credit card processing charges.
• There is currently no charge for the service. In future, it may however be necessary to charge a nominal fee for this service due to the bank charges and admin overheads required to run the system.
• No risk of charge backs as is the case with credit cards.
  Automatic reconciliation of payments received, usually within 30 minutes (an email notification is sent to the Buyer and the Seller once payment has been received, and the payment status of the order on the Bob Shop system is set to ”Payment Completed” so the Seller can ship the goods knowing that the funds have been received).
• The Buyer links directly to their internet banking portal so payment can be made quickly (Buyer logs in to their internet banking, thus security is not an issue).
• Speedy confirmation of payment if the Buyer pays via EFT from one of the big four banks.

Please take note of the following:

Buyers

• Please ensure you use the correct unique 6 digit reference number starting with a “3” provided by Bob Shop when making payment (this reference can also be used for direct deposits and cash deposits if the Buyer does not have internet banking, the system will reconcile the reference to the correct order). If the correct reference is not used, it may hamper the process and delay the payment reconciliation, thus delaying your order.
• Cash deposits attract a R16.50 cash deposit fee payable by the Buyer.
• If an incorrect reference is used, Bob Shop or the Seller may ask you to send a proof of payment to billing@bobshop.co.za so the payment can be traced and allocated correctly.
• bobshop does not act as a trust or escrow service, nor do we offer any guarantees regarding payments and delivery.

Sellers

• Under normal circumstances payments are reflected within 30 minutes, however, sometimes the clearing from the bank can be delayed for up to 24-48 hours. This is out of our control and is determined by the bank concerned.
• Pay out requests received before 9am on a business day are processed on the same day, payouts are not processed over weekends or public holidays. Pay outs requests after 9am will only be processed the following business day.
• bobshop may request ID and address verification documents before crediting your bank account; this is to ensure the security and safety of all our users.
• bobPay – EFT is not available to overseas Sellers, Sellers must have a valid South African bank account.

In summary Bob Shop recommends that Sellers set their payment options as follows:

1. bobPay – EFT. In order to avoid any possible confusion for Buyers it is recommended that bobPay – EFT is the only method of payment offered to accept payment by EFT i.e. if you offer bobPay - EFT do not include EFT as one of the payment options for Buyers in your “Other” payment methods.
2. bobPay – Credit Card. Assuming you are willing to take the risk of charge backs, credit cards are still considered the most convenient way of paying for goods online and if at all possible this option should be offered to Buyers. In order to accept bobPay – Credit Card payments you will however need to become a Verified User.
3. Other Payment Options. It is recommended that other payment options are limited to “cash deposit”, “cheque” etc. assuming you are willing to accept these additional methods of payment. In order to encourage Buyers to pay via one of the online payment methods, do not include your banking details in your post sales note, rather, include a message in the post sales note such as: “Contact Seller to arrange for payment via cash deposit, cheque, or money order.”

View the bobpay User Agreement terms and conditions for using bobPay – EFT.

bobPay - Credit Card Payments

Sellers who want to accept credit card payments (Visa, MasterCard, Diners and American Express credit cards) from Buyers through the Bob Shop system have to be approved as bobshop Verified Users and can then activate the bobPay - Credit Card payment option in their payment options in My Bob Shop. Sellers have the option to accept or reject each credit card payment. Once accepted, these funds are credited to the Seller’s Bob Shop account. Sellers can request a pay out of the credit balance in their Bob Shop account at any time. This credit will be transferred to their South African bank account.

The advantages of using bobPay – Credit Card for Buyers and Sellers include:

• Sellers can accept speedy payments for purchases, as credit card payments are almost instantaneous.
• Added convenience for Buyers, easy and quick to make payment.
• Orders can be processed quickly thus resulting in early shipment of goods to the Buyer.

Sellers offering bobPay Credit Card should be aware of the following:

• The bank charges involved (bobPay – Credit Card costs an additional 5% on a per transaction basis)
• The risk of charge backs. The Seller ultimately takes the risk for reversal of the transaction in case the credit card was used fraudulently (a charge back can take place up to 180 days after the transaction).

View the terms for accepting payment using bobPay - Credit Card - bobpay User Agreement.

PayPal

bobshop is integrated with PayPal. This means, if you offer PayPal as a payment option, once you have added your PayPal Account ID to the Bob Shop system and a Buyer opts to pay using PayPal, Bob Shop will guide your Buyer through the payment process on PayPal and attempt to record completed PayPal payments against the order on the Bob Shop system. Note however that PayPal does not offer South African rands as a currency. As a Seller you will need to select one of the foreign PayPal currencies in which to receive payment. At the time of payment Bob Shop will convert the total payment amount from rands to your chosen currency using the latest exchange rate from www.xe.com.

Currently, if you reside in South Africa and want to receive funds via Paypal, you need to open up a bank account with First National Bank (FNB) and link your Paypal account to your FNB account. FNB will convert your Paypal funds into South African Rands (ZAR) and deposit the money into your FNB account. Currently no other bank in South Africa supports Paypal so there will be no other way to withdraw your money in South Africa.

Unless you are a Seller from outside South Africa or expect to receive many payments from Buyers outside of South Africa, PayPal is not recommended as a payment option. In order to activate PayPal on your payment options you need to be an Advanced Seller.

Other Payment Options

You can set up any number of other custom payment options in this section. If however you select the bobPay - EFT payment option above, then to avoid confusing Buyers we recommend that you don't also offer EFT (Internet banking) directly into your own bank account as a payment option here.

• EFT is an electronic payment but made off the Bob Shop site directly into your own bank account. Typically, the Buyer would have to enter your bank details into his or her electronic or Internet banking facility.
• Direct deposit is a payment into your bank account. Since this is a broad term, you need to specify what form of direct deposit you accept (cash or cheque). Cash is problematic due to bank charges. As to cheques – if you do decide to accept them, make sure to warn Buyers in your payment terms that they will need to wait seven to ten days for the cheque to clear before the goods are dispatched. Just to make things double clear, repeat that condition in your shipping terms too.
• Cash is, of course, cash, but may mean either cash deposited into your account or the cash the Buyer hands over to you in case you accept collections, or in case you deliver to certain areas. Most Bob Shop Sellers rule out cash deposits, or require the Buyer to add one or two percent to the price when depositing cash. This is because South African banks charge a rather high fee on cash deposits.
• COD means cash (or cheque) on delivery. Again, you need to specify whether you accept cash or cheques. We would advise against accepting cheques due to high bounce rates.
• Credit card. Select the credit card pre-defined option only if you are not an Internet credit card merchant. Then direct the Buyer to your secure credit card payment page.
• International transfers are a good-to-have option if you envisage selling to customers outside South Africa. Since international transfers involve banks talking to each other across national frontiers, this is usually a lengthy process and as a rule an expensive exercise. Make sure to specify which of the banking charges, on either side of the border, are for the Buyer's account.

Escrow service

Involves using a trusted agent who keeps the money until the Buyer signals that the payment may be released to the Seller. Should there be any dispute, then the escrow company intervenes retuning the money to the Buyer after the goods have been returned to the Seller, if applicable. This method is rather costly for Sellers and is occasionally used for high value transactions.