If you have a BUY IT NOW option on an Auction you should . . .

If you use the BUY IT NOW option on an auction you should add the "immediate payment required" option.
I don't usually use this option on my store items or regular BIN listings, but if you are running an auction, and you have a store, the point of the auction is to try and drive business to the store right?
I've known this forever and used it quite a bit when I was selling costumes around Halloween, but totally forgot about it last week.
I was selling a Tiffany bracelet and necklace set for a friend. It was several days into the listing and I had quite a bit of traffic although no bids yet. It had watchers in the double digits. I had a potential customer write to me and made me an offer as he/she needed it by the weekend and couldn't wait for the auction. I asked the consignor what they would like to do and she said she would accept the offer.
So, I added a BIN but didn't click "immediate payment required" this was my mistake. So, the guy/girl went in and purchased the set but never paid for it. I knew that they needed it by Saturday so all day Friday I kept going back in and checking my PayPal account and left my schedule open because I may have to make a second trip to the post office (I do my shipping in the AM) but no payment. I checked my PayPal account again at 5:40 because the last FedEx shipments go out from Kinkos at 6. Nothing.
So, beginning around 6:30PM I start getting a barrage of emails with various questions and requests (like FREE shipping). During the transactions this person indicates that they are still expecting the set to arrive by the next night! I had to explain to them that it was absolutely impossible to get a necklace & bracelet from the East coast to the West coast in less than one day.
So, the buyer backed out.
I now have to pay a second set of listing fees and go through all the marketing steps that I had already taken to get traffic....AGAIN. Do you think that those watchers will come back again? or do you think they will probably just surf over and buy from my competitors?
Errrr.....
The unfortunate thing is that I have 4.9, 5, 4.9, 4.8 on my stars and really NEED the 15% discount and now I'm worried that this deadbeat is going to leave me a garbage rating and ruin all my hard work. I searched his/her feedback and it seems that they have a history of doing this. Several sellers have left messages in the past that say things like "asked for discount after purchase"!!! Oh jeez.....
Ok, so learn from my mistake, make sure to use the "immediate payment required" option on auctions with BIN.

If you wanna see the NEW listing for the Tiffany bracelet & necklace set, CLICK HERE