EBay is losing revenue for this stupid differentiation.
@rwybooks
I would assume that eBay is losing revenue due to both circumstances, be they offers a buyer makes to you or COUNTER OFFERS you accept.
You settings require a buyer to put up a payment source in order to make an offer to you in the in the first place. This limits the payment options a buyer can use, and dispenses with combined shipping for multiple offers accepted by you. Instead, the buyer is billed immediately and separately for each offer you accept. Consequently, many buyers will no longer initiate multiple offers to YOU since the "auto-pay" feature that results sort of defeats the purpose. Yes, you may get paid "faster" but chances are good you are getting paid less due to this most unpleasant buyer experience. It did not take long for buyers to figure out that this "new improved, streamlined checkout system" was more like another eBay 'money grab' as opposed to anything beneficial to a buyer. If non-paying buyers were such a problem, it is the non-payers who should be sanctioned for not following the rules as opposed to all having to pay more due to this.
You can see your "Buyer Rules" here:
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements
Buyer Rules:
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they place a bid.
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer.
Click submit or save.
eBay apparently started this in response to complaints by sellers regarding non-paying buyers. Instead, it was quite useful in turning away paying buyers that wanted to bid on or make offers on multiple products. It appears this is MOST useful to eBay to rid the site of "combined shipping" and make more money regardless of what buyers think. Here is a recent discussion from a buyer's perspective:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Who-else-hates-the-auto-charge-on-accepted-offers-from-the-same...
If that wasn't enough, eBay employed "phase two" of the combined shipping killer program. When a seller SENDS an offer, they removed the "accept" button from the buyer's end. They either have to pay (for each one separately at full shipping price) or not pay at all. COUNTER OFFERS are included in this as well. If a seller accepts your COUNTER OFFER, you are likely not going to find out unless you visit your "bids/offers" page on a regular basis. A seller cannot send you a reminder, or an invoice for single items or multiple accepted COUNTER OFFERS. If they can get to your regular feedback page, they may be able to contact you to tell you your counter offers were accepted via the Contact Member feature and choosing "this is not about an item". These counter offers must be paid for separately at full price as well. There is an added bonus in that a buyer doesn't have to pay for 'accepted COUNTER offers' at all. These will remain for sale until someone pays for them. A seller is unable to file the Unpaid Item Cancellation after 96 hours (or ever) and award the new breed of non-paying buyers with a strike against their account. Sort of negates the idea that this whole miserable mess was about non-payers in the first place.
While sellers can turn off the Buyer Rules (link supplied above) once they figure out the consequences for keeping them, or even figure out they have them in the first place, the latter phase two is for everyone whether they want it or not. Accepted counter offers are not auto-billed to a buyer. They don't have to pay for them at all the same as if you SENT an offer to a buyer.
