NEW eBay Price Match Guarantee Feature?

[wilsonharborsales]

Hello,

I hope this message finds you all well.  Today an interesting thing occurred on the app that has never happened to me before.  I am going to write this in point-form.

1. I sell an item to a buyer

2. Buyer immediately requests to cancel sale after payment

3. I open the app to proceed with cancellation and a pop-up window from eBay shows up that must be completed.

4. The pop-up says that the buyer was shown a better deal and that the buyer wanted to cancel because they ‘found a better price’.  I am given two options to proceed.  Either cancel the sale, or refund the buyer the difference and continue with the sale.

5.  I choose ‘agree to new terms of sale’ and eBay automatically refunded the buyer a portion of the sale so that my price matches the other sellers price.

I have sold 11,000 items on eBay and I’ve never seen this before.  Has eBay rolled out some kind of price match guarantee or something?  Today was the first time I have ever seen this.

[golfingaddict]

I am speechless.  

Were you told what the price difference was before you agreed to the new terms of sale?

I'm afraid that good sellers, good terms and good history will go out the window and low price is going to be the only way to make sales.

[myfrugalboutique]

@wilsonharborsales 

https://pages.ebay.com/best-price-guarantee/index.html

Just found this tidbit.  That is an old thing. I am wondering if this was someone trying to play games with you. I have never heard of anything like that. 

[az93]

If ebay wants to match low price, that should be between ebay and buyer. Seller should keep all funds.

[wastingtime101]

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@myfrugalboutique wrote:

https://pages.ebay.com/best-price-guarantee/index.html

Just found this tidbit. 

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That's been around for a while and the OP's listings are definitely not a part of that program.

[wilsonharborsales]

Yes, once I clicked on ‘continue with sale and refund the buyer the difference’, another screen popped up showing exactly how much money the buyer was going to be refunded.  On this screen you confirm the refund amount.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Another way to dumb down sellers to the dumbest on Ebay since this is not the Best Price Guarantee which @myfrugalboutique linked to.

Must be part of making all sellers as dumb or dumber than AI.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I have to wonder if the buyer truly "found a better price" or ebay went "hey look, here's the same thing but a better price" when they made payment.

[wastingtime101]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

I have to wonder if the buyer truly "found a better price" or ebay went "hey look, here's the same thing but a better price" when they made payment.

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We've all seen how well (sarcasm) that's worked throughout the years:

- Failed eBay catalog linking different items to the same product page, different lots, different versions, etc

- Failed eBay price recommendations that compare nice quality brands to $3 junk from China

Etcetera.

[golfingaddict]

Most likely eBay showed them.  

I just wonder if they were truly the same item with similar terms.

If a seller offers a lower price but charges shipping would it be shown to a buyer that originally purchases an item with free shipping, for example?

If this is a new "test" they are rolling out, I hope they count me out.  If it is a new feature, I'm not willing to buy into it.

Personally, I think that I will cancel the orders and not accept the lower price. 

If eBay wants to offer Best Price guarantee they can fund it for the buyer, not force it on the seller.

[wastingtime101]

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@golfingaddict wrote:

I just wonder if they were truly the same item with similar terms.

If a seller offers a lower price but charges shipping would it be shown to a buyer that originally purchases an item with free shipping, for example?

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Add that to above list. One seller may charge a buck or two more, but offer free returns. One may offer a low flat ship cost and bake part of shipping into item cost. So many factors here.

I'm discouraged by what @wilsonharborsales said how they can't even see the price difference until they click through to the next screen after they acknowledge wanting to give a discount. Did you take screenshots Wilson? And did eBay give you a link to the competitor's listing so you could verify the price difference?

[bennotbill]

Isn't this a daft thing for eBay to do and contrary to their usual actions?

As price match would mean less fees.

[wastingtime101]

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@wilsonharborsales wrote:

1. I sell an item to a buyer

2. Buyer immediately requests to cancel sale after payment

3. I open the app to proceed with cancellation and a pop-up window from eBay shows up that must be completed.

4. The pop-up says that the buyer was shown a better deal and that the buyer wanted to cancel because they ‘found a better price’.  I am given two options to proceed.  Either cancel the sale, or refund the buyer the difference and continue with the sale.

5.  I choose ‘agree to new terms of sale’ and eBay automatically refunded the buyer a portion of the sale so that my price matches the other sellers price.

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Can you find out for us if this is a test devon@ebay kyle@ebay elizabeth@ebay and provide some insight and, if possible, screenshots of what the buyer sees?

[wilsonharborsales]

Here is an after-the-fact email eBay sent me stating that they have refunded the difference in order to price match the other seller.

 

[golfingaddict]

eBay has been increasing fees for several years without any of us really noticing.

Each time there is a postal increase or a UPS/Fedex increase, eBay also gets an increase in their fees.

My shipping costs go up, I charge more, eBay gets more of that percentage. 

I don't think they are worried about the selling price.  I suspect they are worried about sell through and sales velocity.