Accepted Best Offers Nowhere To Be Found?
Hello,
There is a glitch/issue with best offers. The buyer submitted best offers on three separate items. I accepted all three offers. The buyer contacted me that the items are nowhere to be found on her end so she can’t pay for them. The offers show ‘accepted’ in my email, but the items are not showing up in the ‘waiting for payment tab’. No email confirming items were sold. If you click on the items, it shows that they have sold.
tl;dr offers accepted, buyer can’t pay, listing vanished
28 comments
selsa84
·2 years agoI've lost 2 sales over this.
dhbookds
·2 years agoSeems like, since it's a buyer problem, they should be referred to Ebay help........? We just can't see the buyer end to help them......or determine whether it is an ebay glitch or buyer error.
I understand/agree with all the comments on the problems from a seller end......but to the buyer is going to have to contact ebay......
wilsonharborsales
OP2 years agoCalling eBay is a complicated mystery in itself and I don’t think sending buyers off the beaten path is going to remedy the issue.
sumsum70
·2 years agoCall eBay enough times and you'll develop CTE.
selsa84
·2 years agoAnd people wonder why eBay is losing...
wilsonharborsales
OP2 years ago@valueaddedresource is there any information available on how to navigate this? I am very confused by this.
valueaddedresource
·2 years agoThanks for the tag @wilsonharborsales . Unfortunately, I don't have any other information at this time beyond what others here have already shared - it is something eBay has been testing for a few months but the only available info is what has been gleaned by users sharing their experiences.
I definitely agree with @ittybitnot @fern*wood and others and I'll just add - eBay's silence on this is frustrating, counterproductive to any "seller engagement" efforts the company claims to be undertaking, and incredibly harmful to both buyers and sellers as everyone involved is groping around in the dark with no answers in the face of a significant change to "the way things work" on this platform.
@devon@ebay @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay @selling_team@ebay
ittybitnot
·2 years ago@wilsonharborsales
This is not a glitch. It is a new "feature, enhancement, test, intended change that looks like a glitch" rolling out.
You can read about it here:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Received-offers-turning-into-sent-offers/m-p/34183295#M2328738
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Offers-being-accepted-then-not-showing-up-as-sold-creating-havoc/td-p/34195181
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/I-don-t-think-eBay-really-wants-us-to-make-sales/m-p/34216592#M2337429
There are more discussions as well, but these should give you an idea. Basically, when you accept a buyer's offer, it is changed into YOU MADE AN OFFER. The buyer is not notified that you accepted their offer, it shows up as YOU HAVE AN OFFER. There are two types of these "You have an offer" screens the buyer can receive, and it is eBay that decides which one they get, and it is NOT a function of the Buyer Requirements associated with the 'auto pay' scheme as originally thought. One will have an "accept" button, the other will not.
Unfortunately, eBay has been silent on this topic, so the information we have is still from members sharing experiences and screen shots.
wilsonharborsales
OP2 years agoThe buyer has 1 feedback, and unfortunately after 30 messages back-and-forth, neither of us could figure out the issue. They requested to cancel.
It says that, ‘you made the buyer the winner’ … but the buyer can’t find the item or where to pay for it.
ittybitnot
·2 years ago@wilsonharborsales
In these instances, you don't have to cancel and probably can't unless they paid. They don't have to pay either for both of the two different screens mentioned above have a "decline offer" button.
But if your 'acceptance' notice is missing for the buyer due to you being included in the new rollout, they can look here:
My eBay>Bids & Offers>Offers
You are lucky you could communicate with the buyer, some have said that they cannot unless they use some sort of "contact member>this is not about an item" flow.
wilsonharborsales
OP2 years agoThe confused buyer has requested that the sale is canceled, but there seems to be no way to do this. Has anyone figured out how to cancel the accepted best offers?
fern*wood
·2 years agoI've requested an ebay rep to please chime in to offer some clarification on this new process or give information as to where ebay describes the new process, but so far I've not seen any response. This may be just a limited beta test, but no one seems to know.
Why is information so difficult to find about this?
@devon@ebay
wilsonharborsales
OP2 years agoWell, it is important that we are all brand ambassadors for eBay, but after 30 messages and a lot of confusion over a couple of $12 dollar items … I do not believe that this buyer will return to the platform
fern*wood
·2 years agoAll I've been able to deduce from posts is this is some new way for sellers to avoid unpaid items on offers by changing the process. It is unfortunate that this new process has received no clarification, and apparently, isn't intuitive. I guess it's a case of be careful what you ask for, since the fix can be worse than the problem.
ittybitnot
·2 years agothis is some new way for sellers to avoid unpaid items on offers by changing the process.
@fern*wood
Sellers have no control over this. When it first started it was thought to be influenced by the (auto-pay) Buyer Requirements set to the Default of YES.
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements
Buyer Payment Requirements
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they place a bid.
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer.
Click submit.
It took a while to figure out that was not the case, but as you know what information we do have took quite a while to obtain since it was garnered only by shared experiences and screen shots by many people who never have visited the boards previously. Some even had issues accusing members of "being eBay employees" LOL This wasted a lot of time trying to explain, though even if it was 'not the same as it worked last week, does not mean it is a glitch". EBAY IS NOT TALKING, and know it is just not YOUR tags that have been ignored.
This new thing with "offers" does nothing to get rid of buyers that make offers and don't pay. It does take away any penalty for doing that but only "SOMETIMES" depending on what screen eBay sends them when the seller accepts an offer, or generates an offer.
In the following thread which I quoted previously, the screen in post #1 shows ONE of the two kinds a buyer cant receive from the seller. Notice there is no accept button, either Check Out or decline on this one.
The screen shot in post #17 is an example of the other kind. (the make counter offer is a seller preference). This one has an accept button and decline button. If a buyer should accept this, it will go to the seller's awaiting payment folder. They will not be auto-billed regardless of the preferences that I posted in bold above, and nobody has to pay. The listing may or may not remain live until somebody pays for it.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/I-don-t-think-eBay-really-wants-us-to-make-sales/m-p/34216592#M2337429
I do hope @valueaddedresource will respond here as well. At one time she posted a great "think outside the box" idea of why eBay is changing things up while still apparently clinging to the Buyer Requirements that force a buyer to put up a payment source in order to proceed. It was very enlightening, and I have been looking for it for over two weeks...I am search impaired...LOL. and hoping she knows where it is!
My personal thought is eBay did not count on so many buyers simply 'refusing to comply', that resulted in lost revenue, and eBay decided to try something else. The "New Improved (FORCED) Checkout" (for the buyer's convenience) was quickly debunked by the actual results. In some speech or other published statement, eBay officials including the CEO stated the success of this program was hampered by having to change "20 years of buyer behavior/expectations" or some such, but had confidence it could be accomplished.
Overall, this whole thing is a mess, and not fair to buyers nor sellers at this point.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@ittybitnot can't find the exact post right now but was it maybe something about GMV?
eBay had previously defined GMV as "Total value of all successfully closed transactions between users on our Marketplace during the period regardless of whether the buyer and seller actually consummated the transaction."
Consummated in this context just means paid - once an auction or BIN resulted in a "commitment to buy" it as considered closed and counted as GMV regardless of whether it was ever paid for or not.
At the end of 2021, eBay changed the definition of GMV to "the total value of all paid transactions between users on our platforms during the applicable period inclusive of shipping fees and taxes (which also changed the definition of active buyer) and restated GMV and buyer stats going back to 2018 using the new definitions.
So the fact that only transactions that are actually paid for get included in eBay's financial reports to Wall Street is, I believe, a significant driving force behind the push to "solve unpaid items on the platform" (perhaps maybe even more so than user experience).
That may be why eBay can't/won't just abandon these efforts all together or at least make it so sellers have to intentionally opt in instead of opting everyone in by default. By setting it up as the default, a certain percentage of sellers will simply leave it alone, some will opt out and probably many more are completely unaware they are opted in to begin with....so eBay will get a higher number of transactions with auto-payment that way.
That mostly applies to the previous changes that can be controlled in the Buyer Requirements Settings, which like you pointed out, this current test doesn't appear to be.
But the fact that the current test doesn't seem to be able to be turned off by sellers maybe even bolsters the GMV theory more....especially since it started being reported in December when it's possible eBay could have been looking for a little end of quarter/end of year GMV "bump."
What we are currently seeing with this whole "snooze you lose" thing on offers is a bit perplexing in that light because at face value it seems to circumvent the goal of ending unpaid items on the platform but remember, eBay doesn't much care who buys the item or at what price, they just want a paid transaction to count - and keeping the item active until/unless someone pays for it may actually help facilitate that goal.
It could also be that eBay is experimenting with some variations on the process because if there is too much friction introduced by auto-pay, buyers may just abandon the platform all together - as much as they want to get that GMV on the books, they have to walk a fine line to get it.
So that's my current working theory behind the other test we were seeing where some winning auctions were being given a 3 day countdown timer before charging the payment on file. It still locks in that the order will be paid, but provides time for the buyer to request a combined invoice or change their shipping address if needed, which may help to mitigate buyer resistance to auto-pay.
krazzykats
·2 years agoI did a best offer this morning. Everything went smoothly as always. Am I not seeing what you are? What changed?
User name was purposely removed.
Next screen:
And my orders page:
I accepted the offer, and it was paid almost immediately after. Are you saying some best offers are auto-pay and some are not? I'm not clear on the issue being asked. 🤔
wilsonharborsales
OP2 years agoApparently this is being beta tested and it only impacts some sellers. I don’t even know what question to ask because I don’t understand what is happening.
The tl;dr is: seller accepts offer, items disappear and buyer can’t pay
ittybitnot
·2 years agoWhat changed?
@krazzykats
It is rolling out to users. Not all users are affected at this time, and those that are seem to have random occurrences regarding the same.
Basically, once you are "in", and the buyer sends you an offer that you accept, it either morphs into an offer you sent, and the buyer gets no notice that you accepted the offer. Instead, they get a message "You have an offer" which they can accept or decline OR check out or decline depending on which one eBay sends them. Though not in any order, you may wish to view some of these:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Received-offers-turning-into-sent-offers/m-p/34183295#M2328738
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/I-don-t-think-eBay-really-wants-us-to-make-sales/m-p/34216592#M2337429
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Offers-being-accepted-then-not-showing-up-as-sold-creating-havoc/td-p/34195181
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Buyer-makes-counteroffer-I-accept-its-not-in-my-awaiting-payment/m-p/34225612#M2339699
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Major-Bug-with-Accepting-Best-Offers-Accepted-Offers-Didn-t-End/m-p/34265807#M2349722
selsa84
·2 years agoI contacted them twice and even the report tech issues in community and was told it " would be forwarded to the appropriate people" , which means it's a long term glitch. As are all the problems with the app that have now been going on 2 to 3 weeks
ittybitnot
·2 years agoI contacted them twice and even the report tech issues in community and was told it " would be forwarded to the appropriate people" , which means it's a long term glitch.
@selsa84
It is not a glitch. It is a new "experience" rolling out. eBay didn't bother to inform CS reps apparently, because they continue to "write tickets" and send it on to the appropriate team. They certainly did not inform sellers and buyers about their "improvement, enhancement, test, intended change that looks like a glitch". Apparently, they prefer to annoy both buyers and sellers equally this time by remaining mute on the subject.
selsa84
·2 years agoIf the new "experience" is supposed to lose money then they've succeeded. My buyer sent an off which I accepted , she then went to her purchased items page and it wasn't there and saying awaiting payment. She clicked on the item in my active store and it said it had sold to her but with no way to pay. She has over 6000 feedback so it isn't user error. It's eBay trying to fix what isn't broke.
ittybitnot
·2 years agoIf the new "experience" is supposed to lose money then they've succeeded..
@selsa84
Did you bother to read any of the links provided in message #16? They give quite a bit of history about this, and it has been going on for a couple of months now.
When you are added to the new "experience", and you accept a buyer's offer, they don't even get a notice. The offer you accepted is RENAMED "You sent an offer", and the buyer will find it in their My Ebay>Bids & Offers>Offers if they happen to look there as a "You have an offer". You don't know this happened, and the buyer doesn't know if you accepted their offer or not.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoAccepted offers, the listings stay active until the item is paid for.
Something new they are trying.
Even though you accepted their offer, someone else can still buy the item.
selsa84
·2 years agoAs he and many of us have said, the items literally disappear, they are NOT in awaiting payment lists. They just disappear. Quite a few people have reported this issue, quit acting like its a user problem. It's an eBay tech issue
selsa84
·2 years agoThen explain why it isn't in the buyers awaiting payment page?
sumsum70
·2 years agoYou must not be paying enough Promoted Ransom to your overlord. Now your sales are being held hostage.