eBay

peggyfeltrope · ‎04-28-2017

I sell multible items to collectors who want to combine purchases. My sales and I am led to believe EVERYONE'S sales at this time are required to be instant payments. This does not work for me. Here is a note from a customer who is trying to buy several items for my combined shipping.

It’s an eBay problem! And they don’t know why!!!!! It’s not just a problem for us! It’s all buy-it-nows!

I sure hope this is resolved soon.

thechecklist · ‎05-05-2017

thechecklist · ‎05-05-2017

You don't have to send them an invoice to take them off ebay. The buyer just has to send a Request total from seller. It doesn't solve the problem of someone else buying it during a shopping session but it does keep someone else from buying them once the buyer asks the seller for a total.
In other words, let's say someone is looking at your listings and their shopping session is 15 minutes and the buy 4 items from you in those 15 minutes. Yes someone could come along and buy those same items from them in those 15 minutes but once the click Request total from seller, no one at any time can buy those items. Even if it takes you 3 days to send invoice. Even if they are not paid for for two weeks.

If the buyer is really concerned about someone buying them out from under them, they could theoretically click the request total from seller after buying each item. Obviously that is a pain in the you know what for the buyer, but it is at least an option.

the_sports_page · ‎05-05-2017

I did not mean to imply someone else could not buy them. Just that once the buyer Requests a total from seller, no one else can buy them. At that point when the buyer requests a total, no one else can buy the items. Regardless of if the seller sends an invoice or not and regardless of when the buyer pays for the items.

the_sports_page · ‎05-05-2017

I posted a message on the boards a couple of days ago with step by step instructions with pictures for each step to help buyers who are not as experienced with buying on ebay or for buyers and sellers who are not aware of the best way to make things no longer available for someone else to buy, using the "request total from Seller.

Anyone can send the link to buyers who may have questions about what to do. This way you don't have to keep explaining it and also wonder if they are understanding how you are explaining it. I believe this explains all a buyer's options until this issue is resolved. Click the link below.

Step By Step Instructions

thechecklist · ‎05-06-2017

Here is a bit of an update that I got when I called Ebay just now. The CSR I talked with said there is something in Immediate Payments that says if an item is less than $1000 and the buyer clicks Buy It Now, it then takes them to the checkout page and requires immediate payment.

If that is indeed one part of immediate payment, I believe the language is somewhat confused in that I think it is maybe supposed to require immediate payment for Auction style listing with the Buy It Now Option, Not the Fixed Price listings. Below is how it is worded on the ebay page.

warningflammable · ‎05-10-2017

I spoke with several CSR's about this and eventually got handled through email. None were providing proper answers. Some thought it was a glitch and resorted to suggesting I clear my cache and cookies which is something they automatically do when they don't know what the problem is but I wasted a lot of time going that route. One or some selectively quoted from the passage above about the $1,000 threshold and stated that was the reason which was just ignorance or inexperience. I also did a lot of testing to see if there was an actual threshold but there really isn't. It's generally not a problem that exists for items valued at about $200 or more. But it also doesn't affect all listings with items valued less than $200.

I eventually insisted on speaking with a supervisor and she advised that it was not a glitch but deliberately instituted by eBay. She advised that it was a continuation of a policy change from a few years ago and that it is slowly being phased in. She stated that it was likely added to some new categories of items recently and that was why I was experiencing this now when I hadn't before. If there is any truth to that, it would be more likely that they are phasing it in slowly and arbitrarily with user accounts to control/limit the backlash.

She assured me that that was the problem but I don't necessarily believe that she really knew. With so many CSR's not knowing what the problem is and providing nonsense answers, I also criticized eBay management for not preparing their CSR's to knowingly respond to the if in fact what she was telling me was accurate.

There is a workaround that exists (at the moment anyway) that does not involve the shopping cart (I normally never use the shopping cart) but I rather not communicate it here as I'm one of the ones who needs to purchase something quickly to prevent others beating me to it so it would be a competitive disadvantage for me to share it.

People (buyers and sellers) need to put pressure on eBay to resolve this. If sellers want immediate payment, they've had this option for awhile now to select it as they want to on their listings. It doesn't need to be forced on us (I buy and sell on eBay). eBay is however profiting by this with the final value fees they collect and don't reimburse to sellers on the shipping charges they legitimately choose to refund to buyers caught in this situation.

labs118 · ‎05-10-2017

@warningflammable

ebay staff on hand today at the weekly chat 1PM PT, 4PM Eastern . 5/10
These are great reps that take issues to teams for help
Might want to attend chat & post there
Can't post until they open the chat up .
Here is the link

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Weekly-Community-Chat-May-10th-1pm-PT-Gener...

warningflammable · ‎05-10-2017

So much for that labs118....

These "great reps" provided the same dubious replies that many of the "common" CSR's are providing.

labs118 · ‎05-10-2017

Ok let me ask her

@Anonymous

Above poster posted to chat, your response is below but I can't understand why we have the option to combine shipping under our shipping perferences for
for up to 30days ? This makes zero sense. they are buy it now we do not have IPR checked
When did every sellers buy it now's become IPR without us knowing?

This OP that started this thread has had buyers who buy for up to 30days then pay, now we have to have buyers purchase 1 at a time & hold shipping & refund shipping charges and ebay keeps those shipping FVF's?

When did this chance & why wasn't it announced?
You can read this entire thread you have really upset buyers not just sellers calling into to CS and sitting on hold.

What are my combined shipping perferences for? Please tell me

Hi @warningflammable - For items priced below $1000 with a specified shipping cost and where PayPal is the only payment method offered, buyers who click Buy It Now are asked to pay immediately. Buyers would need to add items to their cart in order to combine purchases/shipping where applicable. Check out: http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/require-immediate-payment.html for more info!

combined shipping 30 days-1.jpg

labs118 · ‎05-11-2017

@Anonymous

OR
@Anonymous

Can someone please give me the answer to my above post?
Why do we have combined shipping & payments for up to 1 month in our site preferences if per weekly chat we are being told everything is IPR.

This makes ZERO sense & has not always been this way , look at this thread do you see the sellers who have always had buyers purchase & wait to purchase more and pay all at one time & it is/was not auction but Buy it Nows and not letting stuff sitting in the cart either

I have always been able to offer buy it now without IPR
why have a check box for IPR if ebay is making it automatic?

Anonymous · ‎05-11-2017

@labs118 wrote:

@Anonymous

OR
@Anonymous

Can someone please give me the answer to my above post?
Why do we have combined shipping & payments for up to 1 month in our site preferences if per weekly chat we are being told everything is IPR.

This makes ZERO sense & has not always been this way , look at this thread do you see the sellers who have always had buyers purchase & wait to purchase more and pay all at one time & it is/was not auction but Buy it Nows and not letting stuff sitting in the cart either

I have always been able to offer buy it now without IPR
why have a check box for IPR if ebay is making it automatic?

Happy to clarify! We made some recent changes to immediate payment, but you can still offer combined shipping through the add to cart feature. Sellers who are listing higher priced items (like some automotive parts) would still be able to give their buyers up to 30 days to pay and receive combined shipping discounts when they have committed to buy.

Additionally, not everything requires immediate payment - this only applies to items under $1000 and would not apply if the buyer adds the items to their cart. With appropriate shipping preferences set up, combined shipping discounts would still be given via the cart function. If you check the box for IPR, then this would also apply to items over $1000. We found that most often, buyers who did not complete payment after committing to buy were actually taking sellers items "off the shelf", and then later down the road an unpaid item or cancellation would have to be processed. By requiring immediate payment in more instances, we hope to reduce the overall number of unpaid item cases.

warningflammable · ‎05-11-2017

Disgraceful. What a reply. So the issue is resolved by adding items to the cart for those sellers who select preferences for the application of combined shipping discounts - really?

This isn't possible for sellers who sell items with a vast array of items with different sizes, weights, frailty, etc. This is something that needs to be figured out on a case by case basis.

And again, if particular sellers feel non-paying bidders/buyers is a problem for them, they already have the option on their own to do something about it by selectively deciding on their listings whether or not to choose the immediate payment requirement.

Why is eBay therefore imposing itself in this manner by taking away this option and causing more angst among both buyers and sellers? There can me no other reason in my mind but the fact that the extra income that it generates on the final value fees that does not get reimbursed to the sellers who do in fact reimburse their buyers for the excess shipping that they are forced to pay by this mandatory Immediate payment requirement. With the millions of transactions that are affected, this income adds up very quickly and it is therefore certainly material in addition to being illicitly-earned.

labs118 · ‎05-11-2017

@Anonymous

Wow would think ebay would let sellers know this.
These sellers here like the OP have buyers who follow them waiting for their new listings, they can't just leave these items sit in a cart for weeks at the risk of losing them.
Sellers have been willing to wait for the buyers to finish all the purchases before payment so it makes no sense .

And as a buyer & seller here is my suggestion ebay should announce these changes
We have a sellers announcement board and it should be used, this way when something like this comes up we can advise our buyers that ebay made a change.
why oh why would ebay feel a seller shouldn't be told about this change?

How is it a great buying exprience for any buyer to sit on hold with CS as this OP's buyer did when if the seller knew they could have just adviced their buyer.

ebay needs to start making announcements just as it did for the new UA agreement & Suprise Seller update.
Please pass it on.
Thanks Trinton

warningflammable · ‎05-12-2017

They (upper management) don't announce it and are not preparing their CSR's to properly respond to the issue because they want there to be confusion about it and let people think it's a temporary glitch to help control the outcry. Same reason they're so slowly phasing it in - they feel they can get away with it if they can control the backlash.

From my experience, this was first happening to overseas buyers and maybe some new user accounts. It seems to me that they're adding new user accounts slowly rather than adding this to new categories. The slower they phase it in with uncertainty about what's going on, the less vocal and organized will be the pushback. It's very underhanded and even sinister given how they are profiting from this and leaving people to think it's a glitch that will eventually get corrected.

Further evidence of what they're doing can be gleaned from how they blocked the use of requesting a total from sellers the established way through the contact the seller options from the listing's page. For many years now when you try and use this communication channel that was established just for that purpose, you get back an automatic message from eBay that the seller doesn't offer combined shipping so the message doesn't go through. That (the seller not offering combined shipping) of course in the vast majority of situations not being true. These sellers not only offer combined shipping but many state so within their descriptions on their listings but still we have these messages to the seller blocked. That was supposed to be a glitch too that eBay was working to correct. Years later not only is it still there, but they expanded that too.