eBay

always2l8 · ‎07-09-2023

Hopefully I am continuing the thread from October of 2021, when eBay implemented a "test" of an automatic payment system for offers to buy items. The test was limited to a group of buyers and resulted in 58 comments, with the thread ultimately being closed. Now eBay has implemented a policy of requiring that the buyer set up an "automatic payment " prior to even bidding. Comments on a recent thread indicate that this is the default setting for all sellers, and that to do otherwise the seller has to opt out. I think it likely that sellers will not understand what has been done, and even if they realize it, want to go to the effort of undoing it. Unless someone tells them, they won't even know someone attempted to bid. And buyers who don't want to give eBay blanket authority to charge them will not go to the trouble of repeatedly trying to bid in order to figure out what sellers might have "opted out" of the scheme. You can extrapolate the consequences from there.

From my perspective, I am never going to give eBay continuing authority to access to my PayPal account or credit card accounts. Prior to this, if I won an auction, made a purchase or accepted an offer I then paid via PayPal, after providing PayPal my password and confirming to PayPal my desire to pay. I am not going to unnecessarily add to the number of places my financial accounts can be compromised by giving eBay the credentials to go and get payment. I have never failed to pay for a purchase I agreed to make, and I refuse to be penalized or increase my own risk of fraud. eBay already has mechanisms to address buyers who don't follow through on agreements to purchase. Why would you want to penalize long time members who are not the problem?

I can only hope the corporate board carefully evaluated the changes, given the increase in potential civil liability and the implementation costs arising from the security and storage of additional customer financial data that would be highly valuable for exploitation in the event of a breach. The results for both the customers and the company would be devastating. The remaining question I have is what value does this change bring to the company's business, unless there is a way for the company to monetize possession of the data. I see costs and risks, but I can't see the financial benefit. What I can see is the prospect of angry buyers and sellers abandoning the platform.

heckofagame · ‎07-10-2023

Account Settings>Selling Preferences>Your Buyers>Managing Who Can Buy From You (edit).

ms.rodriguez* · ‎07-10-2023

This is for sellers. The poster is a buyer and does not agree to give ebay his credit card /paypal #.

To the poster, Frankly, I hope that ebay makes this permanent with the exception if the buyer has an interest in buying multiple items from the same seller and wants combined shipping. If you are willing to make an offer on 1 item, you are willing to pay for that item at the moment. Breach. Did you know that paypal has been breached several times. I have changed my paypal password at least twice in the last 2 years and they are reminding me everytime I sign on that I should change it again.

This policy is set by the seller thanks to the millions that do not pay. Congratulations if you are like me and promptly pay for your purchases. But unfortunately, not everyone is like you and I.

always2l8 · ‎07-11-2023

I understand and respect a seller's right to require that an automatic payment system be implemented on their sales. But that decision is apparently now being made by eBay, absent the seller opting out by changing the setting. Unless the seller got more notice than all of us buyers (none that I know of) the seller may not even be aware of the change. Moreover, with this change, the seller will not even be aware that someone attempted to bid and that they have lost the opportunity to receive more for the item than they ultimately get. And finally, the dialogue box that pops up does not say "this seller requires an automatic payment method", it appears to offer the bidder the option of setting it up, but then does not allow the buyer to bid if they don't proceed with setting it up.

Perhaps when dealing with international sales this is necessary for a given seller, but I have to believe that most sellers don't have this as a big problem. If it is, then eBay is apparently not utilizing the sanctions they already have for buyers who repeatedly fail to follow through and pay.

mtgraves7984 · ‎07-11-2023

@always2l8

Pretty lame, but when I realized how unhappy this was making buyers, I removed OBO from all of my listings.

always2l8 · ‎07-11-2023

H, MT. I appreciate the sentiment and response. Just to be clear, this was a situation where I was trying to bid on an item. Again, thanks.

somanypcs · ‎07-17-2023

eBay checked the new box for "Require buyers to provide a payment method before they place a bid" in both my stores without any notification to me. Luckily these discussion boards made me aware of this egregious action taken by eBay to ram through immediate payment required for auctions. Only sellers should be able to set this option, not eBay, particularly when they do NOT inform sellers.

I'm a high volume, low cost seller who relies on combined orders as a means of keeping prices low and a major contributor to profitability. I have very few unpaid items and lots of combined orders, frequently exceeding the invoice maximum of 40 items. If immediate payment is required for 40 auctions won by a buyer, shipping would cost the buyer $36.00 (40 x $.90) vs. $4.80 ($.90 1st item + $.10 x 39 additional items) for a combined order. As a seller I would pay transaction fees of $12.00 ($.30 x 40 payments) vs. $.30 ($.30 x 1 combined order) plus final value fees on the $35.20 higher shipping costs.

Buyers have mentioned a number of valid reasons they object to immediate payment required in other discussions. Now that eBay is making this the default for auctions, many buyers will just stop bidding on auctions, especially since they are NOT told in advance if an auction will require them to provide a payment method before bidding.

atlasesattic · ‎07-18-2023

I just checked mine and they are still unchecked so ebay didn't opt me in them without my permission, strange how they are doing it to some and not others.