Correct Problem to Allow Buyers to "Request Total" to get an Invoice for Mult Purchases in Cart

[americanheartland]

I have had several buyers tell me they can't "Request Total" because "Seller Requires Immediate Payment" pops up at Checkout (so then I can't create an Invoice for them with Combined Shpg Costs). They pay for everything and I have to refund them for the shpg costs. 

Couldn't find info on this, so, I phoned CS and found out how to fix this 2 ways.

REVISE the listing, go down to - PREFERENCES and uncheck "Require immediate payment when buyer uses But it Now".

Or, go to ACCOUNT- SELLING - BUSINESS POLICIES (on left side) and click on Payment to see if you can chg the Immediate Payment.

Hope this Helps!!  :0)

[isaiah53-57]

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@americanheartland wrote:

I have had several buyers tell me they can't "Request Total" because "Seller Requires Immediate Payment" pops up at Checkout (so then I can't create an Invoice for them with Combined Shpg Costs). They pay for everything and I have to refund them for the shpg costs. 

Couldn't find info on this, so, I phoned CS and found out how to fix this 2 ways.

REVISE the listing, go down to - PREFERENCES and uncheck "Require immediate payment when buyer uses But it Now".

Or, go to ACCOUNT- SELLING - BUSINESS POLICIES (on left side) and click on Payment to see if you can chg the Immediate Payment.

Hope this Helps!!  :0)

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Probably not helpful in the long run as if you do not choose "immediate payment", you'll end up in a lot more unpaid items fights, especially since it appears its in epidemic status on this site (Thats got to be helpful to the site somehow, right? or they would do more about it?).

In our opinion, the site feels this is a way they have been able to pilfer undeserved revenue out of the sellers pocket and thats why it has been THE SAME PROBLEM (or worse now due to even more ridiculous changes) for the last 15+ years...

Problem is, it costs them a dime every time they bend over to pick up a penny in lost customers and lost sales, but I dont think they care about ANYTHING but the next quarterly report, which is somehow ALWAYS a surprise beat... what are the odds of that?

[stainlessenginecovers]

Sorry to say, but this is NOT 'fixable'. 

You either WANT immediate Payment- or you don't.

You CANNOT have it 'both' ways. 

I have been selling for 13 years, about 1000 a year are 'multi purchase' items and I DO NOT combine and have NOT had 1 person NOT buy because of it. Of the 1000 a year, maybe 20 'ask' about it and I tell them "I will refund what is not used' (I also 'deduct' the 15% fee, $2 for box/packing' etc.

If you are talking a customer 'buying more than 1 of the SAME item'- you CAN just add in how much 'each additional' costs to ship (example $5 first one, $2 each after)

[slippinjimmy]

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@americanheartland wrote:

I have had several buyers tell me they can't "Request Total" because "Seller Requires Immediate Payment" pops up at Checkout (so then I can't create an Invoice for them with Combined Shpg Costs). They pay for everything and I have to refund them for the shpg costs. 

Couldn't find info on this, so, I phoned CS and found out how to fix this 2 ways.

REVISE the listing, go down to - PREFERENCES and uncheck "Require immediate payment when buyer uses But it Now".

Or, go to ACCOUNT- SELLING - BUSINESS POLICIES (on left side) and click on Payment to see if you can chg the Immediate Payment.

Hope this Helps!!  :0)

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Your issue is NOT new and it has nothing to do with Immediate Payment.

In 2012 eBay made some announced changes that under certain circumstances disabled the Request Total function. Not long after (a year?) they removed all references to this program (intended to reduce non-payments) but the program has continued right up until today.

There is nothing you can do about it, some buyers will be able to request a total and some can't. Also understand that the Request Total function is NEVER available for users of the App (in 2012 this was a smallish amount of users but today it's the majority).

The only "concession" eBay has made was in 2022 when eBay finally started to refund fees paid when issuing a partial refund.

The most annoying part of this issue is that eBay representatives continue to claim that no such thing exists but any seller that does a lot of multi-item sales can tell you it is absolutely a fact that the Request Total function on the desktop is frequently not available to buyers (the button is there but is non-functional).

[tsme35]

To add, we've been asking for them to add "request total" on the app for over 5 years now, "we'll pass that along" or "were working on it". I lose one or two big sales a month because its not on the app, buyer doesn't trust I'll refund them back or doesn't want to pay that much in shipping. I have combine shipping set up for the smallies, so if they put in cart and then pay it combines automatically, but the bigger items have to done manually.

 As mention, sellers get refunded for the fees, except the .40, buyers eat that not me.

[tooslim5511]

You're right - I couldn't get it to work on my phone APP. It worked on my PC.

[2peacefrogs]

I can only get it to work on a computer - App won't worK!  😞

[tsme35]

It's not available on the app, they put a bunch of useless junk on it instead of a money maker

[thegarmeister]

From a buyers perspective, you hit the nail on the head. I'm reading this thread because I've always wondered why, with some sellers, the "request invoice" is there,  visible, AND functional, while other sellers will instruct you to use that function with it not being there at all.  And when dealing with a seller for the first time, it's a very scary prospect to rack up shipping fees that vastly exceed the purchase totals with the "promise" of being refunded $35.00 or $40.00 for shipping fee that's often less than $7.00.   It's not a comforting prospect.   Good conversation here! 

[americanheartland]

Thx for your reply!

If I have problems like you mentioned - promised refund - and don't get it and have to contact eBay CS, I refer the CS Rep to my msgs w/ the seller. They always come thru w/ a promised refund from the seller  & treat me like a valued member!

[ittybitnot]

@americanheartland 

You have some more things that prevent combined shipping/invoicing/request total.  

In the cart, one cannot use that and request a total if there is

at least one item on sale

at least one item is IPR

at least one item has free shipping and the others do not

etc. (the list of disqualifiers is a bit longer, but you get the idea. 

Next, is your auto-pay settings remain in the default eBay placed on your account.  You don't appear to use auctions, but you do have the "make offer" feature.  Any offer you get and accept will be immediately billed to the buyer and paid for at full shipping cost for each. There is no opportunity to combine items under these circumstances unless you turn these combined shipping killers to OFF. Though intended to cut down on non-paying buyers, this activity has done a great job of turning away PAYING BUYERS. This is unpopular with buyers that would indeed like to purchase more than one item from you.  Many will refuse to cooperate and find a more "buyer friendly" seller. 

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. 

It will also help if you visit this page:

https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf

Scroll down and make sure this setting is enabled and set to yes Allow invoice requests.  

Regardless of you 'buyer rules' settings posted above eBay has also employed another scenario that thwarts the combined shipping/invoicing program.   If you SEND multiple offers to the same buyer, they have to pay for each one separately at full shipping price. Since eBay removed the buyer's "accept" button, again no invoicing/combined shipping will occur.  You pay the the non-refundable forty cent fee on each listing instead of one forty cent fee for a combined order if the buyer pays at all.    

In addition, if you should accept a counter offer from a buyer, the buyer will have to pay separately for each of these as well.  In this instance, they don't have to pay for them at all, you cannot file the "unpaid item cancellation" after 4 days that would normally award the buyer a strike on their account.  They just remain for sale until somebody buys and pays. 

Some sellers think these policies are just fine. These sellers often just prefer to get paid faster, even though they are likely getting less.  You will have to do what is best for you. 

See yours here: 

[kh-sireesha]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.