Buyer can't buy multiple items

[fenryswulf]

Sometimes I'll have a buyer say they can't request combined shipping and instead are being asked for immediate payment. I don't have my listing set to require this, so why do some buyers have this issue?

[slippinjimmy]

It's not a bug it's a feature!

Nobody has been able to figure out why sometimes the Request Total button is available and sometimes not.

It's was a "feature" that was (quietly) announced in 2014 (I think all traces have been scrubbed) to "help" sellers avoid non-payment issues. It was supposed to apply to sales under $1000 plus some other more obscure terms.

Some people have said that it happens if you have items from multiple sellers in the cart.

Some people have said that is the items have any sort of promotional discount it happens.

Some people have said that if any of the items have free shipping it happens.

Some people have said that if you offer Local Pickup it doesn't happen (not true in my experience).

Bottom line, nobody knows why, ebay reps deny every hearing about it but the fact is that it continues to (apparently) be randomly applied.

Oddly I've noticed a couple of recent sales that buyer were able to click BIN on a single item and NOT pay immediately I have not seen that for a very long time as most buyers who only want a single item either use the cart if they want to delay payment by minutes/hours or they BIN and go to checkout immediately by choice.

to buyers with a linked PayPal account

[carlqsportscards]

tyler@ebay 

I remember a while back ebay started requiring immediate payment on some listings even if the seller didn't check that box. Don't know if that's still the case. Tagging an ebay employee to answer that.

[ra_201044]

It was supposed to apply to sales under $1000 plus some other more obscure terms.

This was the part I never understood. Most people who buy multiples are NOT going to buy multiple 1000.00 items. But they WILL buy multiple 1.00-30.00 items.

[tyler@ebay]

Thanks for the tag @carlqsportscards!

When it comes to requesting a total there are a number of things at play. There are certain situations when a buyer won't be able to request a total:

• A seller has set up a combined shipping discount profile.
• The items are on sale.
• A seller doesn't accept combined payments. (This one is really rare nowadays)
• The item has immediate payment required.
• There is only one item in the cart.
• The item(s) already have free shipping.

 @slippinjimmy is correct that most items that are less than $1000 and fixed price should require immediate payment as opposed to the old 'commit to buy'. This was implemented to reduce the rate of UPIs that you'd experience, effectively keeping the item 'on the shelf' until they paid for it.  

[somanypcs]

---

tyler@ebay wrote:

Thanks for the tag @carlqsportscards!

When it comes to requesting a total there are a number of things at play. There are certain situations when a buyer won't be able to request a total:

• A seller has set up a combined shipping discount profile.
• The items are on sale.
• A seller doesn't accept combined payments. (This one is really rare nowadays)
• The item has immediate payment required.
• There is only one item in the cart.
• The item(s) already have free shipping.

 @slippinjimmy is correct that most items that are less than $1000 and fixed price should require immediate payment as opposed to the old 'commit to buy'. This was implemented to reduce the rate of UPIs that you'd experience, effectively keeping the item 'on the shelf' until they paid for it.  

---

Why on earth would I want immediate payment when that triggers the Managed Payment $.30 transaction fee?  If  sellers know they want to buy multiple fixed price items from me, then they should NOT have to use the immediate payment, especially for low priced items.  When I had a PayPal micropayment account for sellers whose sales averaging $10 or less (5% FVF + $.05 transaction fee), immediate payment wasn't as bad.  Now that I'm in Managed Payments with a $.30 transaction fee and over 200% increase in fees for sale of a $1.00 item, I think it is terrible advice to say "fixed price should require immediate payment."  Managed payments should offer a micropayment option or stop recommending immediate payment for low priced items.

[carlqsportscards]

---

tyler@ebay wrote:

Thanks for the tag @carlqsportscards!

When it comes to requesting a total there are a number of things at play. There are certain situations when a buyer won't be able to request a total:

• A seller has set up a combined shipping discount profile.
• The items are on sale.
• A seller doesn't accept combined payments. (This one is really rare nowadays)
• The item has immediate payment required.
• There is only one item in the cart.
• The item(s) already have free shipping.

 @slippinjimmy is correct that most items that are less than $1000 and fixed price should require immediate payment as opposed to the old 'commit to buy'. This was implemented to reduce the rate of UPIs that you'd experience, effectively keeping the item 'on the shelf' until they paid for it.  

---

tyler@ebay 

Not sure what you mean by "should require". Do you mean ebay should automatically require it, whether the seller added it or not?

[tyler@ebay]

Sorry @carlqsportscards - yes, it mean eBay would require immediate payment from the buyer, whether or not the box had been checked. 

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

---

tyler@ebay wrote:

Thanks for the tag @carlqsportscards!

When it comes to requesting a total there are a number of things at play. There are certain situations when a buyer won't be able to request a total:

• A seller has set up a combined shipping discount profile.
• The items are on sale.
• A seller doesn't accept combined payments. (This one is really rare nowadays)
• The item has immediate payment required.
• There is only one item in the cart.
• The item(s) already have free shipping.

 @slippinjimmy is correct that most items that are less than $1000 and fixed price should require immediate payment as opposed to the old 'commit to buy'. This was implemented to reduce the rate of UPIs that you'd experience, effectively keeping the item 'on the shelf' until they paid for it.  

---

tyler@ebay   You forgot can't request an invoice from the app... someday maybe that will happen.  

[slippinjimmy]

---

tyler@ebay wrote:

Sorry @carlqsportscards - yes, it mean eBay would require immediate payment from the buyer, whether or not the box had been checked. 

---

Fine and dandy........BUT!

All of the sellers I know do not want this and do not need this, why offer an option (IPR) and then turn around and make it the (hidden) default with no opportunity to turn it off?

If you want to make it (Immediate Payment) the default that is one thing but to make it the default with no way to turn it off doesn't make sense AT ALL.

To further make the situation bad for both buyers and sellers is that there is no way to know when it will be applied, sellers can try to guide buyers through the process but I can't tell you how many times I've told buyers "add the items to you cart and click the Request Total button" only for the buyer to tell me "I tried but the Request Total button is disabled".

I'd be happy if I could tell buyers to just pay the full rate and I will refund IF.....

1 - I was able to get a refund of fees on partial refunds

2 - Buyers received refunds of Sales Tax for (seller collected) taxes (I understand that buyers do get a refund of sales tax on eBay collected taxes on partial refunds.....could you confirm?).

3 - Buyers in a cross-border transaction did not take a loss on currency exchange for partial refunds

4 - Buyers didn't have to wait days and days to actually see their refund in the "original method of payment" (except for payments made from a PayPal cash balance)

This policy does little except to cause frustration for both buyers and sellers plus in most cases additional costs for sellers and frequently buyers as well.

Easiest solution to this perceived non-payment issue is to make immediate payment the default with a crystal clear and easy option to turn it off.

This would enable sellers to have a choice, enable buyers to purchase in a simple manner and cover those sellers who don't/won't read the information pages, don't know the available option of IPR and need eBay's "protection".

I can't even find any reference to this policy in the help files, there was at one time but it's been either removed or hidden for years.

I hope you can understand my points and pass it along to the ivory towers, it's a situation that been confounding buyers and sellers for 6 year or more. I don't believe it helps any of the three parties involved.

[somanypostcards]

---

tyler@ebay wrote:

Sorry @carlqsportscards - yes, it mean eBay would require immediate payment from the buyer, whether or not the box had been checked. 

---

If eBay ever requires immediate payment from the buyer for all fixed price items, it is quite similar to the initial Managed Payment proposal of charging $.30 per item on an invoice plus a $.25 transaction fee.  eBay abandoned this initial payment idea and instead went to a higher transaction fee of $.30.  This seems like a sneaky way to reintroduce the $.30 per BIN item payment.

Imagine going to any B&M store and having to pay for each item separately while the store owner also has to pay $.30 for every item you buy. 

[somanypostcards]

OK, let's see if I've got this right.  The insertion fee for a Basic Store is $.25 once the free listings are gone.  A Basic Store gets 350 free fixed price listings and  Managed Payments provides an additional 10,000 free fixed price listings in certain categories.  So if eBay starts requiring buyers to pay for each item separately and Managed Payments charges the seller $.30 for each of these sales, it's as if eBay is in effect raising the listing cost of fixed price listings that sell from free to $.30.  Outrageous.

[wastingtime101]

What's the logic behind not being able to request an invoice when an item is on sale or order discount promotion? Just because I run a sale, that doesn't mean I'm not willing to combine shipping.

tyler@ebay 

[somanypostcards]

Why can't a buyer request an invoice if the item(s) already have free shipping?  For instance, if a buyer wins 20 auctions from the same seller who has free shipping, why is an invoice not available so the buyer can easily see the total price?

[wastingtime101]

---

@somanypostcards wrote:

Why can't a buyer request an invoice if the item(s) already have free shipping?  For instance, if a buyer wins 20 auctions from the same seller who has free shipping, why is an invoice not available so the buyer can easily see the total price?

---

Probably because auction wins automatically go to the buyer's shopping cart so they can easily see the total and pay all at once.