LivePayments: Guidelines & Best Practices

Reduce disputes and optimize your LivePayments experience by following these best practices.

1) LivePayments offers 100% protection from fraudulent credit/debit card chargebacks as well as fraudulent ACH reversals. To be eligible for coverage, please follow these guidelines:

Provide accurate and detailed lot information. Mitigate risk of disputes by offering clear and accurate descriptions, conditions, and photographs for all lots in your auction.
Ensure lots are safely and securely packaged to prevent any shipping damage that may be used to file a dispute.
Once payment has cleared, make sure lots are shipped in a timely fashion. Shipment date cannot be later than the chargeback notification date. All required documentation must be submitted within 7 days of receiving the chargeback notification email.
Re-routed shipments are not eligible for fraudulent chargeback protection, so make sure lots are shipped to the address specified in the ‘payment received’ confirmation email sent to you by LiveAuctioneers.
Have your shipping provider collect signatures upon delivery and prohibit shipping address changes. Proof of shipment must be provided in the form of a tracking number.
Keep detailed records of:
- Pick-up information: pick-up date and time, order number, name and signature of who picked up the lot, and condition report signed by shipping agent at the time of packing if packed by shipping provider
- Shipping information: carrier, tracking number, delivery date, and received signature confirmation
- Payment terms for each lot or auction: terms of sale disclosing fees, tax/vat/customs responsibilities, and return policy

2) Have clear easy-to-read payment terms to ensure bidders are satisfied with the check-out experience.

If you decide to pass the credit/debit card fee to your bidders, here is an example of phrasing you can place in your payment terms:

If you choose to pay by credit card, please note that we impose a surcharge of XX% on the transaction amount on all credit card transactions, which is not greater than our cost of acceptance.

When using the Autopay feature, update your terms and conditions to include automatic payment collection verbiage. Also ensure that any communication had with the bidder (via invoice, phone, email, or other) references Autopay and what is to be expected with that. Here is an example of phrasing you can place in your catalog and lot terms:

If you have a card on file with LiveAuctioneers, it will be automatically charged 24 hours after you receive your invoice.

If you have not contacted us to arrange payment within 24 hours of the time that invoice is sent, we will charge the credit card you used to register for the auction for the full amount listed on your invoice.

If you have a card on file with LiveAuctioneers, it will be automatically charged 72 hours after you receive your invoice.

If you have not contacted us to arrange payment within 72 hours of the time that invoice is sent, we will charge the credit card you used to register for the auction for the full amount listed on your invoice.

Ensure your buyers are aware you can collect via credit/debit cards and Bank Transfer (ACH) through LivePayments. Here is an example of phrasing you can place in your catalog and lot terms:

Payment through LiveAuctioneers is preferred. Please note you can pay via any major credit card or Bank Transfer (ACH) by clicking the “Pay Now” button on your LiveAuctioneers invoice.

3) Allow Autopay to collect credit/debit card payments on unpaid invoices.

Autopay is a feature with LivePayments that allows you to automatically collect credit/debit card payments for any invoice (either instantly, 24 hours, or 72 hours) after a bidder receives their invoice. Thanks to Autopay, auction house partners have been able to save countless hours chasing down credit/debit card payments over the phone, while giving buyers a more secure and convenient checkout experience.

4) Consider enabling Next Day Transfers for even faster payouts.

At catalog set up, you will have the option to select your disbursement preferences. By default, Next Day Transfers are enabled, but if you prefer, you can have LivePayments balances transferred to your bank twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

With Next Day Transfers, any balance of $200 or more by 9:00pm ET will be disbursed to your bank account the following business day.

5) Learn more about internet sales tax and when LiveAuctioneers collects and remits.

To help auction houses comply with internet sales tax laws, we offer enhanced tax calculation services for purchases made through LiveAuctioneers. Auction houses are not charged any additional processing fees for this service. Review all states that LiveAuctioneers collects and remits and reach out to our support team at support@liveauctioneers.com if you have any questions.

6) Ensure your auctions are eligible for LivePayments transactions as not all goods are allowed to be paid through LivePayments.

If you sell high risk merchandise, please make sure your account is enabled for high-risk processing under LivePayments. High-risk merchandise may include but is not limited to government-regulated goods that require additional underwriting by credit card processors or potentially brand damaging products.

To learn more about what kind of merchandise can be processed through LivePayments, reach out to us at support@liveauctioneers.com.

6) Track your usage of LivePayments to guarantee you are getting the most out of the solution.

Monitor your success through the Payments dashboard via the LivePayments Usage YTD stat. LivePayments Usage YTD is the percentage total estimated transaction value processed through LivePayments. We recommend that this number always be 75% or greater.