eBay

quicksilverdiecast · ‎07-19-2022

Ok ebay explain to me why my customers have to keep sending me messages with screen shots of your wonderful cart system that does not work, instead of letting ME the SELLER see what the buyer wants and so that I may combine it and give the customer good service and generate sales? Now as I have said before, the ONLY way I know that this customer has money in hand wanting to buy stuff is because he messaged me! OTHERWISE I would have never known and lost the sale.....YOU, Ebay, need to stay out of the middle of things and let buyers and sellers manage their sales. This is NOT something new that just happened because of the latest changes NO IT HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE YOU INITIATED THAT STUPID CART which I estimate has cost me 1,000.00's of dollars in lost sales as well as losing potential repeat customers, which will give me a bad name, as the buyer (as would anyone with common sense would) assume that I can see what was placed in his cart! And since I cannot see it, nor even know about it the buyer goes away unhappy to make his purchase somewhere else....like another platform that does not hinder commerce! NOR do you educate the buyer or guide him to be able to complete the transaction. You took something simple (before the cart system) and decided to fix something that was not broke! AND SIMPLY SCREWED IT UP. I have explained it before at how this cart system SHOULD WORK PROPERLY and keeping it simple....I will explain it again, rather so those who will read this can also advise you of their thoughts. #1 the buyer finds numerous items in my store that he want, so he begins to use YOUR CART system, once he places the first item in the cart, a window will pop up and simply ask if he would like to purchase another item, a "Yes" or "No" (button) if he chooses YES the he is prompted to continue, and chooses the next item etc. Once he has everything he wanted to buy in the cart and the yes or no button window pops up and he hits "no" the next window will prompt him to "Send Message to Seller to combine items" once he hits that button it comes to me and I CAN FINISH it up and send him back the combined deal for the buyer to make payment...once payment is made I pull items and ship...STRAIGHT FORWARD & SIMPLE....

quicksilverdiecast · ‎07-20-2022

That is the problem, It is not me worrying, it is the fact that the buyer wants a combined total, and if the seller cannot see what the buyer wants(in the cart) it makes it really hard to combined the items, the buyer does not get a combined shipping discount before he makes payment, in which case can cause a loss of sales

ittybitnot · ‎07-20-2022

It's only "randomly blocked" if the seller hasn't deactivated Immediate Payment Required on the listings

@hartungcards

No, it is "randomly blocked" also if ONE of the items is on sale, if there are fixed price listings and auction wins in the cart, if there are items from different shipping classes (that could be sent in one parcel), if ... the list goes on.

When ebay removed the option of "commit to buy and continue shopping with this seller" in favor of their cart system, sellers (and buyers) of an eclectic assortment of products appear to be at a disadvantage. You can set a business policy if you sell like items that are all the same weight or genre (CDs as the example given upthread), but it is impossible to set such policies when your product line includes books, fishing poles, jewelry and starter motors for your car.

Yes, a buyer can put all these assorted items in their cart and pay with one payment BUT they will be paying for ALL the shipping charges with a "request total" button that does not function.

I can be the winning bidder of three of the seller's auctions, but I cannot add some of their fixed price listings and request a total. IT WILL NOT work, yet as a buyer it is inferred that I am just stupid and don't know how to use the cart.

gamersbaystore · ‎07-20-2022

Yes, the solution I provided wont work for everything, but it will work if they're buying multiples of the same item. I understand shipping costs aren't the same for all products, so the discounts may not be a viable solution if they're buying a lot of alternate products with varying shipping costs.

As for combined shipping and payments, the buyer has to request the total from the checkout page. Just because they added something to the cart doesnt mean they bought it, and ebay wont notify you either; that is unless they hit buy it now, rather than add to cart.

If they follow thru with the purchase without requesting a total, they can still do so after making payment from their purchase history page, as long as the seller has combined payments and shipping enabled.

Once in a while I get buyers who rummage thru my store and purchase a bunch of different items, then whine about the shipping costs. I just tell them not to worry and that I will adjust the shipping costs after packing their orders, a very simple solution.

quicksilverdiecast · ‎07-29-2022

"Hello, trying to buy some items from you and would like to combine shipping. Unfortunately ebay "ask seller to combine shipping" is not working can you help? i need the following:" (he has a list of items)

Now while ebay says to "ask seller to combine shipping" that would be great IF ebay would show me his order in the cart so I could combine shipping!

Again if the buyer never inquires, sellers would never know they are losing sales.

quicksilverdiecast · ‎07-29-2022

This is exactly the problem and is a result of fixing what was not broken and is now broken, causing lost sales for sellers and lost income for ebay.

onefootflipper · ‎07-29-2022

You have to create a shipping rule. I have one for my under 1 pound stuff that only charges once and doesn't charge for additional items. It works every time. Technically this will combine wildly unrelated items, including things I wouldn't want to combine such as media mail items with plush toys, but since people basically NEVER purchase multiple unrelated items in the same transaction that just never comes up.

I also have one for my trading cards that charges once and doesn't charge for additional items and that also works every time.

I don't bother with the heavy stuff since people buying multiple heavy items from me at the same time is usually only happens a few times a year.

quicksilverdiecast · ‎07-31-2022

and two more today

Buyer :"Ok, I’m confused. The two items are in my cart. Now what do I do?

I have no idea what you’re talking about. You told me to put the two items in my cart but don’t pay. So, if I don’t pay, the transaction doesn’t happen, the cart just sits there, so how wouldn't you see anything?"

Buyer #2: I have a two questions then I will make the purchase:
1. Do you combine shipping?
2. If I put three items in my cart, will you send an invoice?
The reason is I am interested in the two 2006 Ford Fusion SE and the lot of two Hummers. Please let me know as I am interested in adding these difficult to find models to my collection."

Now as well as the issues I outlined in the beginning as you can see buyers are just as confused trying to use this cart system, nor does ebay educate the buyers at how to make it work. Again you(Ebay) took something that was simple(before the cart) and turned it into something confusing and non functional on both the sellers side and buyers side.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-31-2022

@hartungcards wrote:
It's only "randomly blocked" if the seller hasn't deactivated Immediate Payment Required on the listings on which they're offering combined shipping. If IPR is turned off, then buyers don't even need to request a total when using the mobile app, because then combined shipping will work automatically.

Will never understand why the concept of a buyer requesting an invoice or a seller sending one within eBay is such a random possibility. For any seller that sells an assortment of items combined shipping is impossible to set up accurately. It requires a request for an invoice and the seller to confirm shipping options based on their location. When the buyer cannot find request invoice(that app issue thingy), they go elsewhere. And as noted recently if a buyer sees high shipping...combined or for a single item, they just go elsewhere without bothering to contact the seller. Even eBays calculated shipping when a buyer wants to buy multiples of the same item is wonky. Best workaround would be a tab with the unit weight per additional item vs the system thinking each item requires its own packaging. (Would NOT work for anything bulky/oversized).

-Lotz

As a side its also been reported that request an invoice can even be blocked when best offer is in play. Several customers have passed this on to me in the past. Not sure if this is still the case.

quicksilverdiecast · ‎08-04-2022

And another one......from today so far...funny on my overview where it says "Orders eligible for combined purchases" it show NOTHING!!!!

All of you who have carts and THINK they work fine....do you know for sure? Why do I ask that? Because you will NOT & NEVER know how many buyers have simply walked away as ebay does NOT notify you if there is a buyer with a cart waiting and if they do not message you, as in the case below, you nor I nor the buyer will NEVER know and like in the below case if he would have not messaged me the sales would have been lost, and most likely the potential buyer will think you are ignoring him or you don't combine shipping and possible go somewhere else, and it does not help that word of mouth would not be positive, nor the potential for a repeat buyer...all is lost and a NEGITIVE experience for the buyer, loss of sale for the seller and loss of any and all fees ebay WOULD HAVE COLLECTED! For all the sellers out here who THINK their carts work fine....how do you know for sure? when ebay does/will not notify you of a customer with a cart waiting for your response, gives up because YOU never knew and walks away! It has NOTHING to do with privacy or shipping setting or anything else! The bottom line is simply IF a customer has a cart with your items in it EBAY should let the seller know PERIOD.

"I have 4 items in my cart can you give me the new invoice to combine shipping so I can pay for it thanks"

quicksilverdiecast · ‎08-06-2022

And here is from today, (we are going to keep posting these till you(ebay) get the point as well as letting other sellers know that they also are losing sales they do not even know they are losing! You wonder why your sales are down beside the current chaotic mess.

Trying to get a combined shipping total on five or six items I'm wanting to buy. The system failed to send that request a half dozen times so I'm trying to contact you this way.

Thanks for any assistance.

quicksilverdiecast · ‎08-06-2022

In the 25+ years I have been on ebay I have never once chosen "Immediate Payment" as I know that the items I sell a buyer most likely will buy other related items, which they do(at least try to).

quicksilverdiecast · ‎08-06-2022

Creating any shipping rules would only lead to a bigger mess, as I sell all Car related items from Model car parts (4oz.) to Mufflers(15lbs) and in various qty's being a manufacturer of the 1/1 parts retail vendors will buy in qty's of (example) 12 pieces as well as mix and match. Now I am not along in this problem issue as there are many 1/1 car dealerships (I am also associated with Mitsubishi) who will sell everything that their parts department can list, which consists of a vast number of model years as well as models for people to purchase online rather than go out in the mess to get to a dealership. Then you have the aspect of International buyers who need these parts, which is pretty much the ONLY way they can get them. I have also outlined the stupidity of the International "Combined Shipping" issue where ebay blocks sellers and buyers from even attempting to combine items, So let me give you an example: say you are the buyer and find 5 different decals you need for your car in my store, each decal say is 5.00 each Plus shipping(International shipping is at least 10.00) so now you, as any person with an ounce of common sense would want all 5 decals combined into 1 parcel so that total would be (if able to so) would be 25.00(decals) and 10.00 for shipping making your total 35.00. BUT NO ebay want you to do it this way: 5.00 + 10.00(s&h) making each decal total 15.00 which now for all 5 decals would be a grand total of 75.00, so ebay is ripping you off of 40.00 this way(could it be that ebay likes to generate the fees to a higher level this way?). When a seller tries to combine an International order ebay throws up a big red box say No you cannot do that! Yet, and I have no explanation (neither does ebay) at how I get an International order on my sold list that has been combined and paid for!) This does happen numerous times, but not consistently! Now you cannot have it both way, buy blocking sellers from combining International order, and yet letting someone somewhere do so!. My best work around to avoid losing a sale is to spend a lot of time explaining this to the seller and telling them I will create an entire new listing as a package deal with all the items they want and shipped in 1 parcel, which usually works but is time consuming, especially if it is a large order. So tell me what the difference is if I create a package deal or if ebay would let sellers combine the order initially! NONE Other than the fact that I have to do it(pkg deal) to save the sale and make the customer happy.

quicksilverdiecast · ‎08-06-2022

That is why I post that information, yet buyer(s) say there is no button, nor does ebay educate or guide them(the response to that from one of the ebay techies said " well ADULTS should go back and read the terms of service and policies that they signed up for when joining" ) I still shake my head from hearing that response from ebay! This is NOT just a problem with my store, it is across the board and happening to you(sellers) as well, you just do not know it is happening as ebay does NOT inform you there is a customer with a cart wanting to combine his order, THE ONLY WAY you will EVER know is if the buyer messages you, as this one did today to me.

" Trying to get a combined shipping total on five or six items I'm wanting to buy. The system failed to send that request a half dozen times so I'm trying to contact you this way.

Thanks for any assistance."

boatdog68 · ‎08-06-2022

Just set up your shipping rules like everyone keeps telling you. This is a self made problem. Most of my sales involve combined shipping, it's automatic and it always works.

No eBay employees will read these posts, we are all just users like you , nobody is going to tell you what you want to hear and eBay will never allow sellers to see a buyers cart.

quicksilverdiecast · ‎08-06-2022

Just went back to process more orders and here is the second message this buyer just sent me...

"I don't have a clue what is going on with this order. I tried to request a total with combined shipping last night after work, it failed to place that request over and over, then this morning I had fifteen items in my cart. I removed the ones that it added , I initially tried to request the total for combined shipping, paid, and now these items are still in my cart and it won't let me remove them.

I wanted five individual items, and paid for them. I don't want multiple orders for any of them."

Any help is appreciated.