ebay if overcharging our buyers for shipping. How do i send a corrected invoice before they pay?

[grandmascloset-4]

This is so convoluted most of you will not understand. Here goes. Ebay keeps disabling our buyer requirements despite the fact that I update them before listing items, during and after listing items.  Ebay does not apply our Ebay buyer requirement updates and turns off the reply button used in the Make an Offer process. After a buyer makes an offer all replies stop and both parties think the other is non responsive when in fact Ebay has blocked the replies. Smart buyers go to our listing and contact us via the "contact seller" option to let us know they are having problems communicating. When we work with them to complete the sale Ebay sends the buyer an invoice that overcharges them shipping. As a seller I can no longer send the buyer a corrected invoice and Ebay is successfully overcharging the buyer and unnecessarily increasing our selling costs.  I do not want to enable Ebay in this apparent violation of the Fair Trade Credit Billing act and want to know how I can send a corrected invoice before the buyer is forced to pay by Ebay.  The option for me as a seller to send a corrected invoice has disappeared.  How do I get that option back?

[eburtonlab]

If that were happening to me, I would temporarily disable offers until I got the situation sorted. That prevents buyers from getting frustrated by making an offer that apparently cannot be responded to.

I would check my Buyer Requirements to make sure that I was not requiring a payment method in advance for offers or auctions (which would force buyers to pay immediately). Make sure any changes to Buyer Requirements are applied to active and future listings.

Refund shipping overages to any current buyers that do pay, obviously.

Then try to figure out why buyers are being overcharged for shipping. Check your shipping policies, or try alternative shipping methods. Possibly change your prices and offer free or flat-rate shipping if the range of shipping costs is not too great.

And then try to figure out the problem with responding to offers.

You might try posting this on the selling board where it is likely to be seen by many more experienced sellers that may have an idea what you are dealing with and how to fix it or get around it. I see you got a couple of replies to your post on the Mentor board.

Once you have shipping sorted, re-enable offers if that makes sense.

[quicksilverdiecast]

This has been an ongoing issue for at least 2 years with the cart which fails to operate properly. I have had techs on the phone constantly over this and walked them thru it numerous times and have had numerous IT tickets written to fix which never happens...Here is where it starts.

a buyer comes to your store and begins putting items in your stores cart...Now the seller is totally unaware a buyer has a cart and ready to check out and pay, but has no idea that you the seller is unaware, which the buyer assumes the seller knows....the buyer will wait only so long and do 1 of two things...he will send the seller a message and ask to combine shipping or send him an invoice(again a common sense request, but ebay does not let seller send invoices to buyers) on his items(I do not know anyone who would NOT want a cheaper shipping cost.) OR he will simply walk away and abandon the cart...and the seller is unaware that he just lost a sale, and ebay just lost any fees! Take that one step further...if it happens to me it is happening to you...and collectively imagine the amount of fees ebay loses in just one day across the platform...now all my store settings are correct as the techs have checked it numerous times...Now if the buyer chooses to just hit the pay it now button after giving up waiting...ebay is clueless when it comes to combined shipping so they add each items shipping cost on top of the other one(s)..example 1 decal has a 4.00 shipping cost and another decal has 4.00 shipping cost...ebay charges the buyer 8.00 when actually if properly combined would be 4.50-5.00...I have many repeat customers who trust me as a seller and customer service is number 1 and have refunded as much as 60.00 in overcharged shipping induced by ebay!  YOU the seller gets the blame and possible neg feedback(which ebay won't remove but caused by them) and low star rating on shipping! UNJUSTLY. Now in the overview there is a column that states "items eligible for combined shipping" and is supposed to let the seller know...yet never once has that ever indicated anything even thou there has been many of multi item orders...I have kept a log of transactions with documentation since late last fall of buyers who have had issues with the cart and to date the entries number over 450! I have been thru this so many times I even developed an easy fix...simple for all to understand and common sense.

Once the buyer put the first item in the cart a pop up window would pop up and say "would you like to buy another item from this seller" with a yes or no button...which will repeat after each item is placed in the cart and once he say no it brings up all his choices and he can uncheck any he changes his mind about and then hit send where it comes to the seller to combine properly and send back to the buyer for payment.

[kensgiftshop]

Since shipping isn't part of an offer and the shipping charge is shown before they make an offer, how are they being overcharged?

[quicksilverdiecast]

In regards to the ebay policies on "discounts" I have been told by ebay team leaders that 2 discounts is not allowed..example: You have a "make offer" option listed with your item., which is considered a discount whether or not a buyer actually makes an offer..so that is 1 discount...then if your buyer wants to combine the shipping ebay considers that a discount also so ebay blocks both buyer and seller from going any further than ebays forced way of doing it...with that being said I have had a few times where a buyer managed to make an offer which I accepted on numerous items and did not make any payments, once I accepted all his offers I went right to the hub where it showed all his items(unpaid and not combined) I hit the "send invoice" button and all the buyers items show up with the check boxes (you know like it used to be) I combined the order properly and sent the invoice and he paid and another happy camper and potential repeat buyer!   SO MUCH for disallowed 2 discount policy!

[kensgiftshop]

I think what they mean on the two discounts is, the buyer can't have an offer accepted, then try to use a coupon for another discount.

[quicksilverdiecast]

Because ebay blocks the seller from accurately combining shipping on multiple item orders and overcharges the buyer buy adding each item shipping cost to the next item(s). example: 1 decal shipping cost is 4.00, the next decal is 4.00 shipping cost, the next decal is 4.00 shipping cost and ebay charges the buyer 12.00 shipping where in reality the actual shipping cost combined would be approx 4.50 - 5.00 which is approx 7.00 less that ebay.  If one cannot accurately combine items in the cart...then there is no reason to have a cart.

Here is a couple of feedbacks left from buyers...you be the judge.

"Prompt delivery; velvety efficient packaging; the seller also took the time to work with eBay’s awkward ‘cart’ option (especially for small, easily packaged items) where it adds in the ‘shipped as an individual piece’ for every item added onto the cart, requiring the seller to then adjust and provide discounts to the purchaser to reflect the actual shipping cost of the single multiple-item package. I received refunds immediately from the seller. Again, thanks for taking the time."

"Seller was awesome I bought a few things off him but e bay didn’t combine shipping he re did the bill and combined everything and refunded me the difference in shipping e bay is not nice I have had this problem many times now I tell e bay and nothing is done . I like to thank the seller for helping me out ."

"Items received are exactly as described. Fragile models were expertly packaged and arrived FAST and in perfect condition. Consolidated shipping was greatly appreciated. Excellent communication. This is a true 5 star seller. THANK YOU!"

[quicksilverdiecast]

The problem is not with my store...or sorting out anything...after nearly 30 years of selling on here