Made an offer, seller accepted, My CC got charged automatically and item ready to be shipped?

[w6tod2nt0]

I don't want "auto" pay from my credit card when I make an offer to a seller, and that seller accepts. I want to manually finish the transaction myself and have funds taken from my checking account, NOT automatically charged to my credit card. How can I configure this to not happen, step by step, exactly? Is there something I missed on the auction or buy it now that states it's going to automatically charge my card? If so, where do I find that so I can avoid all buy it now's that have that auto pay enabled. Is this new? I never had this ever happen before, ever. Please help.

[woodland_gnome · Accepted solution]

Allowing buyers to opt out of pre-authorization of payment when they make an offer would defeat the purpose of the program (which is NOT to make checkout "smoother" or whatever else the PR types are trying to spin it as this week).

eBay had been "experimenting" with requiring pre-authorization of payment for Best Offers for over a year and a half (started prior to Halloween 2021), adding more and more users into the test group required to do so (sellers can opt their listings out of it which some do who depend on attracting buyers by offering a discount for combined shipping). Too many users were making offers and then not paying when it was accepted, and too many of those were scammers who would try to get the seller to text or email them to get their number/email address to send fake payment messages to.

They have in Fall 2023 officially made it permanent and all buyers are now required to pre-authorize payment for Best Offers they make on listings for sellers who have not opted out of the program. They started trying it out on auction bids (with a smaller group of buyers that is growing) in Spring or early Summer 2023 but that seems to have been discontinued. They are also now (Spring 2024 update) experimenting with requiring immediate payment to accept an offer or counteroffer from the seller.

You can try to find a seller who opted his/her listings out of the pre-authorization requirement for offers. Unless s/he says s/he has in the item description you'd need to actually try to make an offer and if it goes through without you having to add or confirm (with links to edit) your shipping address and payment method then s/he has opted out (or if a bid then you haven't been put into the group of buyers required to pre-authorize to bid).

[tinsoldierunderground]

Sorry, no can do.  You have zero control over this.  It's all down in black and white as woodland_gnome states.... I've been in the test group for about a year now.  Welcome to the new ebay.

[broto_64]

I think part of the problem is a buyer needs an item but doesn't want to pay full price, however there exists a time constraint and there are plenty of listings so the buyer places offers on a good number of items...
Depending which seller(s) accept the offer the buyer then decides which one to pay for.

This is an abusive form of buying as all the rest of the sellers unfortunately are left with an unpaid item which it will take several days for the transaction to time out and be cancelled due to non-payment and only then can the seller put the item back up for sale, having cost that seller numerous days of lost potential sale because another buyer could've came along...

This was also an easy way for a competitor to take a number of competing items "offline" while they sell theirs.

You of course are not one of those buyers I just described but that is the reason why this was instituted and it's not just the sellers losing sales because when a seller loses a sale ebay doesn't get their fee either. So the blame lies with those who abused the system, as always this is why we can't have anything nice in this world.

[ise710]

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@w6tod2nt0 wrote:

I don't want "auto" pay from my credit card when I make an offer to a seller

How can I configure this to not happen, step by step, exactly? 

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How? You have to set yourself up for failure, that's how.

When the seller accepts your offer but your auto payment fails, eBay waits for you to select another way to pay. eBay expected your autopay would succeed on your offer that the seller chose to accept (from among the multiple offers if any from other buyers) so your failed payment locks in your offer until the deadline to pay.

This happens all the time -- your card is declined because it has insufficient credit available, you locked it on purpose, it specifically refuses charges from eBay, your parents have set a spending limit, or you suddenly had to buy groceries after you provided that card for your autopay.

But @w6tod2nt0 be sure not to select PayPal for your default payment method, as PayPal will hunt among your funding sources for a successful auto payment. Instead, provide that credit card as your defunct payment method on the autopay panel, then when payment fails you can "manually finish the transaction myself and have funds taken from my checking account" as usual.

[mudshark61369]

@w6tod2nt0,

The last piece of advice by ise710 is bad.  Since you most likely have a PayPal account if you have more than one funding source stored in it, you can select which payment method you want to make your default/primary one. Then when an offer is accepted that card or account will be used.

Go to your my ebay page, click on account,  look under Payment Information and you should see PayPal.

[therogue-trader]

Huh this might be the way to use paypal credit again for offers.  I assume that the system still prevents you from doing so via autopay.

[jfkf64]

Yes my problem is if you want to use paypal credit for purchases over $100 and get six months to pay interest free  this feature makes it come directly from checking, without giving an option,That sucks and you cant contact anyone at ebay to learn how to  change this.