When a customer only sends you half of their payment do I mean they're sending you half of the total payment? No, I mean something different. Half of a payment is the full payment itself, and the other half is the Item Number of the auction.

When you're selling on eBay the Item Number is just as important as the actual payment itself, sometimes even more. When you receive the payment you need to be able to locate the item that this person is sending the payment for. If you don't have the item number, you'll be looking a long time, especially if you have hundreds of items posted.

So when you're sending out your Winning Bidder Notification, make sure that you make it very clear that the person sends the Item Number with payment. I even go as far as to tell them, just to send the payment and write the item number down on the check.

It's not really needed for them to send all the printouts of the auction with their payment. I guess it's ok to send the paperwork but what happens if the money order is separated from that paperwork?

Then you're stuck looking for the paperwork, not a fun situation. With each and every transaction, impress upon your customer to write the item number down on their check or money order.

So why wouldn't you ask them to send their email address too? The reason I don't tell you to do this is because alot of people will have their email address they used to register with eBay and use a different email address to communicate with you. Which can be very frustrating. Why? Because you get access to only their eBay email address, and if you do a search with the email they're using, you won't find the auction.

Be sure to tell your customers to always include the Item Number of the auction with their payment. It will save you a lot of headaches.

Vera Raposo has been making a living with online auctions since 1997. With thousands of completed auctions under her belt, Vera is now sharing some of her best auction strategies in a free 90-minute interview at http://www.auctionstrategists.com/special.