Ebay hiding Priority Mail option on item/checkout page?

[andrew547]

A potential customer messaged me to request Priority Mail on an item, which I already offer. I told them I offer it already, and they reported that it's not an option on the product page or checkout.

(This has happened before. I never understood what they were talking about)

After fiddling with it and going back and forth with the person for a while and never resolving the issue, I looked into it.

From what I understand, ebay hides the PM option if the seller offers free shipping (presumably via a lesser service like First Class) from buyers if ebay estimates that the lesser expensive option will arrive in the same amount of time (or faster, I presume). The reasoning (again, from what I can gather), is that ebay "wants to be transparent". I'm not sure what sense that makes, but that's what I read.

I lost the sale because the person wanted Priority Mail. PM is insured. Some people think it's more reliable. And, ebay's estimate may be off. It's just an estimate. PM is a different product with different services. Delivery time is not the only thing that distinguishes PM from First Class. Some people want these services and are willing to pay for it, and, as in the case of this buyer, not having the option available to them is a deal breaker..

[nuclearomen]

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@andrew547 wrote:

A potential customer messaged me to request Priority Mail on an item, which I already offer. I told them I offer it already, and they reported that it's not an option on the product page or checkout.

(This has happened before. I never understood what they were talking about)

After fiddling with it and going back and forth with the person for a while and never resolving the issue, I looked into it.

From what I understand, ebay hides the PM option if the seller offers free shipping (presumably via a lesser service like First Class) from buyers if ebay estimates that the lesser expensive option will arrive in the same amount of time (or faster, I presume). The reasoning (again, from what I can gather), is that ebay "wants to be transparent". I'm not sure what sense that makes, but that's what I read.

I lost the sale because the person wanted Priority Mail. PM is insured. Some people think it's more reliable. And, ebay's estimate may be off. It's just an estimate. PM is a different product with different services. Delivery time is not the only thing that distinguishes PM from First Class. Some people want these services and are willing to pay for it, and, as in the case of this buyer, not having the option available to them is a deal breaker..

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i believe this is the result of ebay picking the "most reasonable" shipping option for the sale based on buyer location **bleep** they decided to implement last year.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I have seen this happen on my own listings, at times. I always provide 2 options & sometimes buyers are only shown the first option. I do not do 'free' shipping, so it's not only those listings. Unfortunately, I've never made rhyme or reason as to how/why.

It used to be (years ago) they insisted you offer 2 options for one of the TRS programs or discounts (sorry I don't remember which) & then in the last year or so they seem to be backing off & wanting you to only offer one & they will blank out the Priority option if you offer it. It's frustrating, as some buyers prefer Priority over FC (even tho' there really isn't any difference).

If it were me, I would have changed the listing to either show just 1 option for them (Priority) or increased the FC rate & SHIPPED it Priority. There's no reason you can't choose to upgrade the buyer either on their dime or your own.

[nuclearomen]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
I have seen this happen on my own listings, at times. I always provide 2 options & sometimes buyers are only shown the first option. I do not do 'free' shipping, so it's not only those listings. Unfortunately, I've never made rhyme or reason as to how/why.

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like I said, they made this change last year, in effort to "simplify" shipping options. 

If it were me, I would have changed the listing to either show just 1 option for them (Priority) or increased the FC rate & SHIPPED it Priority. There's no reason you can't choose to upgrade the buyer either on their dime or your own.

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yeah, and sellers have told ebay this over and over and over and they won't change it, that seller/buyer should be able to agree/change and charge for change in shipping method after a sale has been made but they won't allow that, so if you do it, it's on your dime and out of your pocket. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I was typing while you were writing, so I had not seen your reply yet 🙂 I didn't know the reason why, I just knew there was a push in the last year to only offer 1 option. Very frustrating to me b/c I well remember having to change over 1000 listings b/c Ebay wanted me to offer 2 options. But that's Ebay, what's new.

You are correct, you can't change it after the sale has been made. What I was suggesting is that you could change the rate of the 1 shipping option to cover the Priority upcharge BEFORE the person buys. In other words, while they were communicating with you about the issue, OP could have changed the shipping rate at that time, if they so desired.

[nuclearomen]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
I was typing while you were writing, so I had not seen your reply yet 🙂 I didn't know the reason why, I just knew there was a push in the last year to only offer 1 option. Very frustrating to me b/c I well remember having to change over 1000 listings b/c Ebay wanted me to offer 2 options. But that's Ebay, what's new.

You are correct, you can't change it after the sale has been made. What I was suggesting is that you could change the rate of the 1 shipping option to cover the Priority upcharge BEFORE the person buys. In other words, while they were communicating with you about the issue, OP could have changed the shipping rate at that time, if they so desired.

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I understand, but my experience has been buyer mails you and asks to change after they purchase, instead of before, and that is the issue, as that happens a lot more then buyer mailing asking prior to purchasing... what i meant anyways 😉 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Of course, ITA. Just offering how they could have made it work in this particular instance. It also may not be feasible for some sellers, particularly those with MQ listings; you wouldn't want to make a change to shipping that affected more than this one transaction. If you sell one offs, it works b/c the chance that someone else is looking at that listing at the exact same time, is slim. But it's not a 1 size fits all solution.

Ebay should def show both options b/c as OP states, some buyers want & are willing to pay for Priority b/c they perceive it's a better service. I've certainly had those buyers over the years. They are not the majority, but they do exist.

[nuclearomen]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
Of course, ITA. Just offering how they could have made it work in this particular instance. It also may not be feasible for some sellers, particularly those with MQ listings; you wouldn't want to make a change to shipping that affected more than this one transaction. If you sell one offs, it works b/c the chance that someone else is looking at that listing at the exact same time, is slim. But it's not a 1 size fits all solution.

Ebay should def show both options b/c as OP states, some buyers want & are willing to pay for Priority b/c they perceive it's a better service. I've certainly had those buyers over the years. They are not the majority, but they do exist.

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I offer "free" shipping on everything, I have a Priority option on all listings if they are willing to pay for it, but no one does of course and no one has asked either, they always take the free option...and should, save money that way as the cost of the free option (whatever that maybe, I sell other things with both First Class and Priority as free option) is figured into the total of the price anyways. 

[andrew547]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
some buyers want & are willing to pay for Priority b/c they perceive it's a better service. I've certainly had those buyers over the years. They are not the majority, but they do exist.

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I've had a handful of people message me asking for Priority. These are obviously very motivated buyers. I imagine for every one motivated buyer there are 10 or 20 who just leave when they don't see Priority Mail.

I've been wondering for a long time why nobody seems to choose Priority Mail. I offer it for $4! That's below my cost, and it's the natural choice for the products I ship. It really should be an option for my buyers, and I shouldn't have to forego other shipping options to have it for them. I want to offer free shipping, but I can't do PM for free. It's over $7.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

What I don't understand & maybe Nuclear knows, is why it only happens on *some* of my listings. I think (I haven't checked in awhile) the majority show both options & only some show 1 option. I'm not sure why it wasn't implemented across the board. Except that, well, it's Ebay. They're not exactly superstars at implementation & having been in software for most of my adult life, I know of what I speak 🙂

[nuclearomen]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
What I don't understand & maybe Nuclear knows, is why it only happens on *some* of my listings. I think (I haven't checked in awhile) the majority show both options & only some show 1 option. I'm not sure why it wasn't implemented across the board. Except that, well, it's Ebay. They're not exactly superstars at implementation & having been in software for most of my adult life, I know of what I speak 🙂

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it goes by the location of the viewer... so like if you log out and look at your listing you may see all the options available you have set, but if you log in and look it may only give one based off your registered zip code. 

[atikovi]

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@andrew547 wrote:

I lost the sale because the person wanted Priority Mail. 

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So why didn't you just tell him you will ship PM? How much more would it be? $2 or $3? Or at least tell him you will ship PM if he pays an additional $2 or $3.

[andrew547]

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@atikovi wrote:

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So why didn't you just tell him you will ship PM? How much more would it be? $2 or $3? Or at least tell him you will ship PM if he pays an additional $2 or $3.

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1. Priority Mail starts at $7.65. First Class starts at $2.63.

2. They were so frustrated they stopped responding to my requests to "see if it's there now"

3. I didn't figure out what was happening for a while.

A better question is: Why doesn't ebay fix the issue so buyers can choose between free shipping and Priority Mail, even if PM is more expensive and is estimated (by ebay) to arrive at the same time?