Buyer offers not showing up in completed sales

[floridabungalow]

Is it just me or is completely nonsensical that eBay allows buyers to make offers and then I see no information whatsoever that I sold the item until the buyer decides to pay. It still shows as unsold and is active in searches. There is no where for me to see it...follow it...or follow up. This is the most incongruent thing eBay has ever done. It makes absolutely no sense. What is everyone else thinking?

[mam98031]

Did you accept the offers?  A buyer making an offer doesn't create a sale unless you accept it or  if you send the buyer an offer that they accept.  And Payment has to be submitted.

[lakefor94]

"What is everyone else thinking?"

I am thinking that your item remains available for other buyers to purchase. If the buyer is stalling/waiting to pay, another buyer can swoop in and Buy It Now and pay.

EBay figures it is advantageous to keep the item active until someone actually forks over the cash.

[ryry-jj]

Its not sold until paid for.  The item remains available to anyone who swoops in and pays for it first, regardless if you accepted an offer or not

[vonandron]

Yes, their logic is until the buyer pays, it's still available.  It's just annoying since it kind of sits in limbo.  The buyer makes an offer, the seller accepts the offer, and then crickets.  Since I cross list my items on other sites, I have to immediately pull them down from the other sites and then wait and hope the buyer pays.  Ebay gives them quite a bit of time to pay even though I have checked that I require a payment method for someone to make an offer.  Twice now I've accepted an offer only to have it time out days later.  In the meantime, I had pulled the item off other sites and potentially lost sales.  I have no idea if the buyer ever got an unpaid strike or not.  eBay seems to make some truly questionable decisions lately.  Sigh.

[mommaknows]

Had the same question recently and found out that until it is paid it stays up.

*****but I really want to say to you that your fabric is amazing! I worked with some of that barkcloth years ago. Love it!

Have a great weekend. 

[ittybitnot]

@floridabungalow 

If a buyer made you an offer, your settings are such that the buyer would have to put up a payment source in order to make you an offer in the first place.  If you "accept" their offer they are immediately billed and the item is paid for.  You can see your settings 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.

While these limit the payment choices a buyer can use, and prohibits combined shipping/invoicing you get paid right away should a buyer comply with your "buyer rules". 


Therefore I am thinking you may have accepted a COUNTER OFFER.  Offers you send, and counter offers you accept are now under the "immediate payment required" format.  While buyers can choose the payment option they prefer, combined shipping/invoicing is off the table. Each item must be paid separately at full shipping price.  THESE ARE THE ONES THAT REMAIN FOR SALE UNTIL SOMEONE PAYS for them,  eBay took away the buyer's "accept" button.  They pay, and pay separately, or they don't get the product.  

For counter offers you accept, the buyer is not getting a notice that you accepted their counter offer.  Unless they look in their bids/offers folder, they are never going to know unless you contact them and let them know.  If they don't pay for a COUNTER OFFER you accepted, you cannot file the unpaid item cancellation after 96 hours anymore either.  This rule is for everyone, and has nothing to do with the combined shipping killer "buyer rules" mentioned above. 

[ittybitnot]

if you send the buyer an offer that they accept...

@mam98031 

FWIW eBay has removed the "accept" button for buyers who receive offers sent by a seller.   It is also not present for a buyer when counter offers that a seller accepts are used.  

Removing the "accept" button removed invoicing/combined shipping as each item must be paid for separately  at full shipping  price.  

[wastingtime101]

@floridabungalow As ittybitnot said, this is what happens with counter-offers.

I understand eBay's logic behind when if the seller is the one to send a counter-offer - leave it available until the buyer pays same as any other seller initiated offer.

I do not understand the logic behind it when the buyer is the one to send a counter-offer as the seller accepting a counter-offer should (in my opinion) behave just as if it was the first offer where auto-pay is initiated. Unfortunately that's not how eBay has it programmed.

----------

The process of accepted counter-offers moving to pending status on the listing's offers management page is something eBay changed last year.

While offers are in pending status the item is available for anybody else to purchase until the buyer pays. eBay is trying to eliminate the inconvenience to sellers when buyers lose interest after an item ends so the seller does not have to start from scratch and lose interested buyers when they relist. They're also trying to eliminate the inconvenience of having your item off the market during the 4+ day waiting period for payment.

If the buyer does not pay within a certain amount of time, the offer will expire and be removed from the pending section. If the buyer pays then it will become an official transaction on your orders page. In the meantime, any buyer can purchase at full price or make an offer.

[gator08041971]

This is one of the reasons I have set the offers I do have on auto.  I never have to get involved in making the decision.  The person making an offer will either be immediately declined or immediately accepted.  That's it.

This is not to be confused with auto sending out offers.  I have that disabled, and only occasionally do I manually send offers.  That's entirely different from this feature.

All you have to do is set that amount that you are willing to let it go for below your listed selling price.  And set it the same for both auto accept and auto decline.  Boom.  Done.  Nothing more you need to do, and the buyer gets to set their own price.

Surprisingly, very few buyers actually take advantage of this when I have it setup.  A few do, but that's okay.

[vonandron]

I completely agree!  Buyer sent a counter offer, I accepted, then crickets.  Four days later, the offer "timed out".  I then heard from the buyer that they still wanted the item but were never notified that I accepted their counter offer.  How eBay thinks this is good business practice is beyond me.  I have clicked that a buyer must have a payment method on file before they can make an offer.  This not applying to counter offers makes no sense.  UGH!  

[luckythewinner]

Is it just me or is completely nonsensical that eBay allows buyers to make offers and then I see no information whatsoever that I sold the item until the buyer decides to pay

It is not just you.

There are others who don't recognize the benefit of leaving your item on the market until someone actually buys it. 

Personally, I think it is good that buyer offers do not show up in completed sales until the buyer offer turns into a completed sale. 

[ittybitnot]

Personally, I think it is good that buyer offers do not show up in completed sales until the buyer offer turns into a completed sale. 

@luckythewinner 

The problem here is that people are confusing OFFERS and COUNTER OFFERS.  

For buyer generated offers it works like this: 

If a buyer makes an offer to a seller who requires a payment source up front:  As soon as the seller accepts, the product is paid for immediately.  If the same buyer sends 20 offers on products from the same seller, each will be paid for immediately and separately as soon as the seller hits "accept".   There is no option to combine items/invoicing is not allowed and the buyer pays full shipping on each individual listing. Their payment source is charged individually 20 times.  The seller pays 20  40 cent transaction fees instead on ONE 40 cent fee for a combined order.  They get paid faster as they should since they are limiting their buyer pool. 

If a buyer makes an offer to a seller who DOES NOT require a payment source up front:  When the seller accepts, it goes into awaiting payment (appears in the buyers cart).  If 20 offers are accepted in a similar fashion, they all go to awaiting payment, and the buyer can request a total/revised invoice to combine shipping.  If the items are not paid for, the seller can start awarding unpaid item strikes after 96 hours.  

Then we have the latest version/addition to the combined shipping killer program.  This is for everyone and has nothing to do with whether or not a seller retains the "buyer rules" that require the buyer to put up a payment source in order to proceed.   All offers a seller sends are now immediate payment required.  If a seller sends you six offers, they must all be paid separately at full shipping price. The buyer no longer has an accept button that would allow a combined order for more than one product.   

Here is the 'fun' part.  Should the buyer who gets a seller's offer respond with a counter offer, and the seller accepts the counter offer, the buyer never even is notified unless they happen to look in their bids/offers folder.  The seller can accept many counter offers from the same buyer, but can never send an invoice or reminder to the buyer.   Just like an offer a seller sends, these accepted counter offers must be paid separately.  The offers a seller sends AND/OR the counter offers they accept are the ones that remain for sale until someone pays.  No auto-billing will occur, nor combined shipping.  But.....good news for BUYERS.  If the buyer decides they don't want to pay for all those "accepted counter offers" they don't have to .  Sellers cannot award unpaid item strikes to buyers who don't pay for these accepted counter offers.  They have to just be happy they remain for sale until someone pays.  

The offer types that remain for sale, are counter offers that sellers accept, and/or offers sellers send to buyers.  For  other "offer" types that a buyer sends, please refer to the "buyer generated offer" sections above. 

[7173peterw]

I have also received a buyer offer but cannot see how to accept. Until recently, the process was very clear.