> How does the woodworking company ensure payment? Does the specialized nature ensure only "real" customers buy?

Yes, I believe it does. These are highly specific brass tacks for making oval shaker boxes. There are very few manufactures of a proper #2 brass tack these days, so I would very much want to stay on the good side and any suppliers.

I think they said in their faq that twice they haven't been paid in 20 years or something like that. Their online "store" appears to be down right now–hopefully they are still in business.

edit: It appears John passed in 2023 :( https://blog.lostartpress.com/2023/02/07/john-wilson-1939-20...

Sad to hear. Thanks for the info.

They have your address and it would be illegal not to pay. But also if the products have little to no resale value, are good quality and replaced relatively frequently, then such a company is worth its weight in gold. Even if you "get away with it" you can obviously never do business with them again.

Not sure about the US, but in my country that's how mail order used to work for decades, and it's still pretty common to offer that payment option, though usually with some restrictions (e.g. not for your first order).

Most people are not scammers and will pay simply because it's the right thing to do.If your margins are decent, you can just eat the loss to some scammers as the cost of doing business. Especially if there's no real resale market for your product.

Cash on delivery (COD) used to be popular in the US for a lot of the mail order junk on television in the 70s to early 80s. The rise of the credit card for normal people was a cause of its decline because people now had a reliable way to pay over the phone when ordering said junk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_on_delivery

COD still protects against fraud by having the delivery company collect the money before handing over the order.

With the "pay the bill later" it's entirely up to the recipient whether they decide to pay. Some will even just forget it with no ill intent.