Calculated Shipping becomes Free Shipping when "Best Offer" is selected

[twillo9]

I just sold an item that that was listed as "buy it now" or  "best offer."  The listing stipulated that the buyer will be charged the calculated shipping amount.  The buyer made an offer that was accepted. but was NOT charged calculated shipping.  Ebay seems to be ignoring the calculated shipping requirement when the buyer makes an offer rather than accepting the buy it now price.  A support representative told me that I could have issued the buyer an invoice for the calculated shipping, but that the invoicing feature is only available in the interval between the offer being accepted and the buyer making the payment.  Ebay accepted the sellers terms when it agreed to list the item on its marketplace, but failed to administer the terms when conducting the transaction.  Has anyone else experienced this?

[lacemaker3]

@twillo9 

Which item are you talking about?

I see one item which just sold today, Aug 10, but it sold for the BIN price, not to a best offer. You also had a sale on Aug 8, to a best offer. However, both of those items had free shipping, not calculated shipping, and they were not revised.

Was there another sold item, which isn't showing up in your sold list? What's the item number?

You do have an active listing that was started today, which does have calculated shipping.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@twillo9 wrote:

I just sold an item that that was listed as "buy it now" or  "best offer."  The listing stipulated that the buyer will be charged the calculated shipping amount.  The buyer made an offer that was accepted. but was NOT charged calculated shipping. ...

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The only item that I see you Sold today is a mixer that offered Free shipping.

[ebooksdiva]

You recently sold 2 items a mixer and a pet liner both have free expedited shipping neither listings had revisions. When you listed you may have thought you used calculated shipping but you didn’t, calculated shipped doesn’t change into free shipping magically, it’s just user error here. 

[yuzuha]

Yeah, I'm seeing free shipping on both of the items that OP has sold recently. The buyer wasn't charged calculated shipping for the offer because the listings were set up with free shipping.

 

[anjofak]

While I have had maybe 3 offers in 2 years, I noticed the last one a few months ago that if I had expected the offer via the message that it was free shipping but if I went to the listing itself it included calculated shipping..

🤷‍♀️

[twillo9]

Dear LaceMaker3, Thank you for your response.  When shipping wasn't added to the amount collected from the buyer, my first thought was that I had not selected calculated shipping.  Even if I had selected calculated shipping, that option might have been over ridden had I accepted standard listing terms for items similar to what I was listing.  However, the support person I spoke with today confirmed that calculated shipping had been selected for the KitchenAid Artisan Series 5Qt Stand Up Mixer, but that when the Best Offer was automatically accepted (since it was above the minimum price) the calculated shipping was not included in the amount requested from the buyer.  You have indicated that it was sold for the BIN price, which confuses me.  I reached out to the buyer today and he has agreed to split the shipping cost with me, which would seem to confirm that he purchased the item by making a Best Offer.   I have only listed a handful of items over the years, and find this process complicated and easy to accidentally check the wrong box, or neglect to check a box.  But when the support agent agreed that the term of calculated shipping was included in the listing, and suggested that I send a PayPal invoice to the buyer to collect it, I think that confirmed the facts.  The listing of two days ago was for a Tesla Pet Liner (https://www.ebay.com/itm/266364641544), and I believe the same thing happened, that calculated shipping was specified but not collected because the "best offer" option was taken by the buyer.  I assumed that it was my "bad" and went ahead and purchased the shipping label and posted the parcel to the buyer.  The new listing today is a revision.  I revised the listing because it also had a "best offer" option, and since I have already twice not received any shipping cost at all, I decided it was best to no longer accept "best offers" on my listings.  

[twillo9]

Dear LaceMaker3, Part of my problem is that once an item is purchased the listing disappears, making it difficult to confirm the terms that appeared on the listing.  I thought that I had included calculated shipping on both the item sold on August 8th and the item sold today (August 10th), but shipping was not collected by Ebay on either listing which seemed to indicate I had failed to specify that shipping would be calculated and added onto the purchase price.  If there is a place to get full details for a listing after it is closed out by a purchase, I would appreciate knowing about it.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@twillo9 wrote:

Dear LaceMaker3, Part of my problem is that once an item is purchased the listing disappears, making it difficult to confirm the terms that appeared on the listing.  I thought that I had included calculated shipping on both the item sold on August 8th and the item sold today (August 10th)....  If there is a place to get full details for a listing after it is closed out by a purchase, I would appreciate knowing about it.

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The listing does not disappear. We can see it in your Sold listings.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266366265666?hash=item3e04aaa942:g:a6cAAOSwOFFk066F

[lacemaker3]

@twillo9,

Thanks for confirming that it was the KitchenAid mixer that sold today, that you were asking about.

I'm sorry, but the customer support rep you spoke to, gave you bad information. Unfortunately, this frequently happens ... you have to be careful not to tell them what you think happened, because some of them will not contradict you even if you are mistaken, because "the customer is always right". They will try to think up an explanation that fits with your idea, even if they have to make something up.

As @yuzuha posted in a screenshot, both listings are shown with free shipping in your sold-items list. There is no revisions history for either of your two recent sales, so they have not been revised or edited, and they both show as having had free shipping. So that is pretty clear. I understand that you thought you had calculated shipping, but it wasn't shown on the listings.

The KitchenAid mixer was sold for the BIN price, as confirmed by Terapeak, see below. It's the second one in the list, sold on Aug 10, 2023. (The first one in the list was sold about a year ago, by another seller.)

There were four earlier offers on your listing, yesterday and today, but they were all declined. I would guess that the buyer saw that there were a bunch of offers that were not accepted, and decided not to take any chances. I suppose it is possible that the buyer made an offer for the full amount, but that's not what it looks like.

https://www.ebay.com/bin/purchaseHistory?item=266366265666

[fern*wood]

You can do sell similar on your sold item and see what you entered in the shipping section.   Free shipping can be entered as flat rate or calculated, but there is a little toggle button right beneath the shipping service you pick that will indicate free shipping.   So even if you entered the calculated info it could still be free for the buyer if the toggle was tripped to blue.

The offer itself should not affect the shipping.

[brilloslc]

From your Seller Hub orders, click on the title for the item you sold. In the pull down menu, you will see the list similar option. When you click on this, you can see the listing details that you had in your original listing. This will let you see if your original listing had calculated shipping, or not.

[a_c_green]

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@fern*wood wrote:

You can do sell similar on your sold item and see what you entered in the shipping section.   Free shipping can be entered as flat rate or calculated, but there is a little toggle button right beneath the shipping service you pick that will indicate free shipping.   So even if you entered the calculated info it could still be free for the buyer if the toggle was tripped to blue.

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This (above) is what I was wondering if anyone would mention. I have Calculated Shipping on all my items, but I also have the Free Shipping slide switch turned on for the least expensive (first) Shipping method if the package will be less than one pound.

I always plug in the full package details on dimensions and weight so that if someone wants to bypass my Free Shipping option (usually USPS Ground Advantage now) and go for an expedited method, that will use my Calculated Shipping details, and without the Free Shipping option.

[tinkertreasuresminis]

This is happening to me right now as we speak. Best offers are showing up as free shipping next to the item title but when I physically go into the listing I DO NOT HAVE FREE SHIPPING, it is set to calculated with combined shipping offers.

Free shipping IS NOT CHECKED. 

To the other replies:

The issue is that it is showing as free shipping to shoppers in the front end but in the back end it is not showing that I have set it to free shipping on my end.

i just accepted a best offer that for whatever reason is saying shipping is free when it’s not so once they actually pay I will know whether the shopper was in fact charged shipping.

I reject a lot of best offers because of this. I won’t ship a discounted item free so I end up having to cancel the transaction all together. I wish eBay would fox this issue. I might have to call for clarification on why this is happening.

[ckimodog]

@twillo9 

You are replying to an old thread from August of 2023.  It is doubtful the OP will reply since they don't sell anymore.

Should you have any issues or problems it's always a good idea to open your own thread to get the help and advice you need for your specific issue.