Anyone else furious about ebay's new "pre-checkout" before bidding?

[cresco007]

I had put a bid on an item a few days ago, just like always.

Today it was down to the last few minutes, and I was excited to put my maximum bid in. . .

But unbeknownst to me ebay now requires you to "pre-checkout" (enter all your payment info) before bidding.

I didn't have enough time to go and buy a new Ebay gift card so the item sold for a pittance.

Good job ebay you lost some money!

Ebay didn't bother to notify me of this new "pre-checkout" requirement.

having to "pre-checkout" for every single item I bid on is just asinine.

Is slow and tedious.

I mean I only win like 5% of the auctions I bid on.

This does not save me time instead of having a cart of 25 items I won to pay for at once, I need to "pre-checkout" for each one.

It's just not even worth the time for something I probably won't win anyway.

And to add insult to injury sellers can't even send you an altered invoice for combined shipping, since ebay just takes your money before they can do it.

So you end up having to pay the full amount and then wait for the seller to issue you a refund.

I know some of you are just going to post it's because of non paying bidders, you're wrong.

It's just another excuse for ebay to glom onto money faster and then hold on to it for longer before eventually paying the seller in it's own sweet time as usual.

I wish they hadn't axed the ability to be paid with paypal it's just been one problem after another since they did that.

If you're seriously **bleep** off about this "pre-checkout" like me, please chime in!

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The sellers who have chosen to limit their auctions or make an offer sales in this manner, do so because of the problems they have had in the past.

You are free to avoid their listings.

It is a natural result of bad buyer behavior. It affects some good buyers too. Fortunately, auctions are now a much smaller portion of Ebay sales than they were in the past.

[campanaelia]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:
You are free to avoid their listings.

It is a natural result of bad buyer behavior. It affects some good buyers too. Fortunately, auctions are now a much smaller portion of Ebay sales than they were in the past.

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Huh? Auctions account for 99.9% of what I buy and many sellers in computers only do auctions. I will avoid any listing with this auto-pay. If that means having to buy elsewhere, so be it.

[timneh]

If you have a limit set on your checking account with PayPal and you see something last minute on Ebay, you have no time to up your limit, then go in to pick payment, (possibly pick address) give password...item gone.  I saw something today I was going to bid on and that pre-checkout box came up. I wondered why no one made a bid; now I know. I didn't bid. After 27 years on eBay, this might be what ends our relationship. Stop punishing good eBay buyers.

[willsgarden62]

This opens buyers up to more shills, fewer combined sales for sellers, and a hassle for those who didn't know this was going to be the way eBay does things. I'm done with bidding, and my daughter, who sells on eBay, is probably going to have to find somewhere else to sell things. I'm kind of irritated about it, and I actually decided not to bid on several items today rather than deal with the hassle of it. I like buying more than one item from sellers. This basically takes away the incentive to shop other items. I always pay as soon as possible. It's like saying they don't trust me to follow through.

[willsgarden62]

Some sellers may find the little box that is auto checked to do this and uncheck it, but it's going to be too late if it drives buyers away from wanting to search the haystack for sellers who don't have the auto checkout feature in all their auctions.

[timneh]

Do sellers have the option to opt out of the pre-checkout/auto checkout feature?

[eburtonlab]

Do sellers have the option to opt out of the pre-checkout/auto checkout feature?

There is a setting in the seller's Buyer Requirements to require a payment method for offers, and another setting for bids, at least for users that are subject to that requirement.

Unchecking those boxes would allow users making offers or placing bids on that seller's items to do so without providing a payment method in advance.

[willsgarden62]

Opting out is too late though. Buyers may get tired of trying to find sellers without this Auto thing.

[willsgarden62]

Ugh I just heard a shill/cancel bid horror story. A buyer was outbid. He moved on to find something else. Either the seller or the high bidder canceled the highest bid. The buyer, who was likely pressed for time due to the holidays was immediately charged. Yep, seller shills can abuse this new trick. I would hate to be outbid on Monday, know I was outbid, find another of what I was looking for, buy it, and then be charged for the original item to boot. You can't really ask the seller to cancel the sale and get a good chance they will do that. They have little incentive. You can't choose to just take the hit and get a strike for backing out of the deal. If you're buying something you only need one of like a $100 text book or a lamp for grandma, you have to wait the entire length of an auction to make sure that you aren't on the hook. If the seller doesn't accept returns, ugh. If they do because eBay forces them to, ugh for the sellers. The kicker is that when you get the popup, eBay neatly blames the Sellers for wanting it. LOL

[eburtonlab]

I would hate to be outbid on Monday, know I was outbid, find another of what I was looking for, buy it, and then be charged for the original item to boot.

Me too. That is why I don't bid on more than one of something at the same time unless I actually want more than one.

You can't really ask the seller to cancel the sale and get a good chance they will do that. They have little incentive. You can't choose to just take the hit and get a strike for backing out of the deal.

The fact that so many users were apparently willing to "take the hit and get a strike for backing out of the deal" is one reason why many sellers have been calling on eBay to require a payment method in advance.

Many sellers will cancel if a buyer requests it prior to shipping, because many sellers understand that there is little to gain by shipping something to a buyer that does not want it and who can return it at the seller's expense for a refund by claiming it was not as described.

If you're buying something you only need one of like a $100 text book or a lamp for grandma, you have to wait the entire length of an auction to make sure that you aren't on the hook.

You have to wait the entire length of the auction if you bid at the start because that is how auctions work: the winner is the high bidder at the end of the auction. Or you can wait until the end of the auction to place your bid, and see that you have either won or lost before bidding on the next auction for the same item, and entirely avoid the risk of winning more than one item.

[gurlcat]

I know this thread is just a drop in the bucket of buyers angry about this, and probably most in this thread won't even see it, but before you decide to just never mess with auctions again, you should know that NOT ALL AUCTIONS HAVE THIS PROBLEM, only those by sellers who have it switched 'ON' in their seller preferences.  

I'm a buyer and seller, and I buy things via auction all the time here.  In the months since this began, I have not yet run into the prepay thing for auctions, although I have for offers.  

So if you see something you want and it's via auction, it would cost you nothing to just try to put in a bid, to see if the seller is enrolled or not.   

[mesillakb]

I'm a regular bidder, and today was the first time I was hit with this - and I mean I was hit with this on every bid I made, regardless of the seller. I am livid, and I just provided eBay the feedback that I'm ready to leave the platform altogether. I've never had a single complaint against me as a buyer, and they just pulled the rug out from under me.

[mesillakb]

I completely agree. I was hit hard with this today, since the eBay interface with PayPal does not accept all PayPal payment options - it immediately dings your credit card or your bank account, and then you're screwed.

[gurlcat]

Let me ask you something, and please be very sure of your answer because some of us are trying to figure out how this is going to work.

Okay first, you say every seller, now I'm sure that means that all the sellers whose auctions you bid on today just happened to to have the setting 'on' in their seller preferences.  -If you bid on one of my auctions you would not get the popup because I have it 'off.'  So keep that in mind.  

But did you actually bid on any auctions today (by entering a payment method) ..... then later raise your proxy bid on that same auction?  And if so, did you have the popup AGAIN?  

[ittybitnot]

 is one reason why many sellers have been calling on eBay to require a payment method in advance.

@eburtonlab 

If you can look back a few years to when there were actually a discussions with eBay staff regarding the problems related to non-paying buyers, I don't think ANYONE called on eBay to require a payment source be put up in advance. They certainly did not advocate reducing payment options for buyers nor removing combined invoicing for multiple sales.   There were many suggestions, with many good ideas, and they were all ignored in favor of THIS program now in effect which apparently has done a great job of discouraging PAYING buyers as well.  It was so effective in discouraging sales, that eBay is  somewhat re-thinking it once again. 

Looks like the interface (at least for some) will be changing again to include (for lack of better terms at this point) ,  the "almost" auto pay delayed by three days, and for accepted buyer offers the "snooze you lose" clause.  

You have always provided great insight and information.   You may wish to visit these:  

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/eBay-Testing-Changes-To-Payment-Process-For-Offers-amp-Auction...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Auto-pay-not-working-with-winning-High-Bidders/m-p/34169879#M2...