automatic payments

[readingapple]

I have a quick question.   Did Ebay change their payments system?   I was wanting to buy multiple items from a seller and every time it said, "my cart is empty".   Instead, I got a message saying "we automatically charged your card."

I am not a seller and I know I didn't sign up for automatic payments.  I am the type of person who would rather control the payments especially when I usually buy multiple items.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Anne

[ittybitnot]

 I was wanting to buy multiple items from a seller and every time it said, "my cart is empty".   Instead, I got a message saying "we automatically charged your card."

@readingapple 

eBay removed the option to "buy it now and continue shopping with this seller" years ago.  You are supposed to put all the items in your cart, and then request a total.  Of course, that rarely works.  There are various reasons why not, and most often the "request total button" (which should also be a commit to buy) does not function.  A seller cannot see what is in your cart unless you can commit to buy.... If you are using an app, the request total won't even be there at all.  You can still PAY for all items in your cart at the same time, but the shipping charge will be included for each item. 

Only once, as a buyer, I had a single item in my cart.  I chose to "checkout" and a card I had on file (as a requirement to be a seller which I had not sold anything for a few years) was "automatically charged" simply by clicking the checkout button.   Actually, I thought I would have been given a choice to select my payment method i.e. PayPal, c.card, debit card, etc.  ...it was all done in the blink of any eye with no selection ever presented. 

I don't know why this happened, but I am very careful not NOT to do it again.  

At the same time, eBay is working on having your payment source used automatically for offers you accept, auctions you win, etc., but so far that program is not completely functional.  At best, eBay is requiring SOME buyers to put up a funding source prior to making an offer.  The next stage is supposed to be an auto charge if a buyer accepts an offer.  

Unless you can provide a more step-by-step scenario of what happened, and why your c.card was stored in eBay for this to happen to you, we can only guess at this point. 

[readingapple]

The cart usually works when I buy multiple items.  It's just this time I made some offers.  It didn't even give me a notice that it was accepted, and it never went into the cart.   All it said was "we automatically charged your card".

 
It never did that before.  This time I also made an offer, and it was accepted it did go into the cart.

I don't know what is going on but I don't like it when I can't control payments.

[bonjourami]

That seems to have changed lately. Now when a buyer makes an offer and the seller accepts it, the buyers cc on file will automatically be charged.Its because of all the buyers who make an offer and it is accepted, then never paid.

[eburtonlab]

The cart usually works when I buy multiple items. It's just this time I made some offers. It didn't even give me a notice that it was accepted, and it never went into the cart. All it said was "we automatically charged your card".

eBay has been experimenting with requiring a payment method be submitted with offers for some users.

If the seller requires immediate payment, the card is charged upon offer acceptance. Sellers have the option to not require immediate payment for offers in the Buyer Requirements settings.

[ittybitnot · Accepted solution]

 All it said was "we automatically charged your card".

@readingapple 

If eBay required you to provide a payment source PRIOR to you making an offer, it will now be automatically charged to the payment source you provided when the seller accepts the offer.   If you make offers on more than one item with the same seller each will be automatically charged to you with no option to ask for combined invoice to perhaps save on shipping.  You will be paying the shipping on each one. 

When eBay first started to enroll BUYER ACCOUNTS into this practice, they gave the seller the option to NOT require it.  Unfortunately, sellers were not notified that the preference was included, much less that they were all placed with it as YES to require it by default.  I would assume many sellers don't know this even exists. 

You can view the requirement that a seller sees here.  It is the last one on the page. 

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

If your ID is stuck in this program, and you wish to make offers on more than one item, you can ask the seller to turn it off temporarily.  So far it seems this lovely (not) feature is awarded by buyer ID.  If you have another you could also try using that one instead.  

Though eBay said this program was supposed to stop the problem of non-payers, they have not seemingly enrolled the chronic non-paying bidders nor the "text me" scammers that plague newbie sellers here. It discourages shopping with the same seller for multiple items for buyers that DO pay. 

[zazalooie]

I have 20 + years & 100% positive feedback, Ebay's new autopay policy STINKS!  I customarily purchase in quantity from a single seller who combines shipping on the multiple purchases into one shipment. EBAY CHARGES ME SHIPPING FOR EACH & EVERY ITEM BEING SHIPOED TOGETHER! THEIR SUGGESTION IS TO CONTACT THE SELLER AND ASK FOR A REFUND OF THE EXCESS SHIPPING THAT I WAS CHARGED BY THEIR STUOID NEW POLICY! This is not acceptable, creates headaches & requires time & energy to correct what they did. Seller and I agreed to $12.75 shipping and the total Ebay charge for individual shipping  was an additional $74.25. Why is Ebay penalizing good buyers because of what deadbeat buyers that don't pay do?

[gpd222]

I have the same issue. But it's when I win an auctioned item, Ebay instantly charges the account I have on file in my ebay account. I usually buy numerous items from the same seller over a period of 3-5 days then make one payment and have one shipping change. The seller then mails all items in one envelope. Ebay also told me to contact the seller but they had no clue what I was talking about. Any solution to this?? 

[naughtyrobot]

I totally agree with you!  I also have 20+ years & 100% positive feedback.   This new autopay policy is totally wrong.  I buy mulitiple items from several dealers over a short time period-   The seller requests that I do NOT pay until I'm ready and they give me a combined  shipping invoice; however, this new system automatically bills me each time with a separate shipping charge.    eBay says it then is up to the seller to credit me back the difference-  how is that a good policy for the buyer and seller BOTH having to make extra steps?   This is another example why I have significantly slowed down my buying thru eBay and am using alternate sources. 

[naughtyrobot]

I've contacted eBay customer service and get a scripted answer.  It seems that their solution is to want long standing customers to go find alternative sources other than eBay.    Hopefully this doesn't fall on deaf ears and enough of us complain that upper eBay management will allow us the option to pay for items like we use to before this detrimental change. 

[ittybitnot]

how is that a good policy for the buyer and seller BOTH having to make extra steps?  

@naughtyrobot 

eBay makes more money.   Making more money supersedes providing a good buyer experience.   

If it was truly a matter of cutting down on those that don't pay,  it would be a simply matter to remove the members that don't pay.  

The seller that "requests that you don't pay until you are done bidding"  is likely clueless that the preference is even on their account to require this.  It is not like eBay let anyone know about the new Default to Yes buyer requirements that were placed in order for buyers to BID or OFFER.

Sure, when all buyer IDs are forced into this, non-payers will certainly decrease.  Buyers that did pay promptly and willingly for years will decrease as well.  

Going shopping now...someplace else. 

[ittybitnot]

Ebay also told me to contact the seller but they had no clue what I was talking about. Any solution to this?? 

@gpd222 

You can use another Buyer ID (for a while) as I did, but as of this morning all of mine are in the forced program.  

Perhaps, next time you can send the seller the link explaining why you will no longer be bidding on multiple items because the preference removes the possibility of combining orders for one payment. 

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.

[peddlermarks]

I have been with Ebay for 20 years and have always paid promptly i usually buy several items from one seller and they will combine shipping for me now i do not have that option i really dont think i will be using ebay for a while..... why punish m i always pay on time i bought over $1000 dollars of merchandise last week i know it dont mean anything to ebay but i have deleted all of my payment options so it will not let me bid that is just fine with me i guess i will not be bidding anymore  

[followthedragon92]

I am in pretty much the same boat as well. 15+ years, no no-payments, no negative feedback. I'm not paying separate shipping for stuff that can be combined. I just won't bid and it's bad overall for everyone.

[boxchain]

I got burned by this...I won an auction, left the invoice open to combine shipping, then ebay demanded that I link my account for automatic payments before I could bid on anything else. I won 2 other items from the same seller, and it automatically paid them, leaving the first invoice still open. I contacted the seller, and they were like, next time leave the invoice open and I will ship for free. The invoice was open! They wouldn't take anything off of the invoice. And because the seller is in Canada and I am in the US, the shipping cost per item was $21 .... so I have paid $63 in shipping! I'm furious!

The screen when I linked payments said I could change it in settings, but where is that??

I have been on here for over 20 years. I always pay immediately unless I am combining shipping. This is terrible buyer treatment and awful customer service.