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I lost a few sales... this is why.

Buyer is in Switzerland. Shipping is $11.50 to $14.00 on each listing.

 

He bought four items, put them in his cart, and requested a total. Told me he wanted to add items.

 

Low and behold, the items he wants to add are requiring immediate payment, and he's uncomfortable giving me that much postage "per item" on items that cost less than $10.

 

So thanks to eBay's micromanaging their sellers... I lost some sales today.

 

FWIW, I did explain what was going on with the buyer so he knows I'm not being a pain by putting immediate payment on items.

 

Cheers, C.

Message 1 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.


@lintbrush* wrote:

So the first batch he could put in his cart and request invoice?


Why can't he do that with the 2nd batch?


I don't know. When I go and look at my listings (at random), some will say that the immediate payment is required, some will not say that. When i selected an item with IPR, I went into the advanced editor to "uncheck the box", but the box was already unchecked. I saved it, and it still had an IPR. People have been talking about this happening for the past year or more, but it seems to be random and selective on which items eBay will put their forced IPR on.

 

Cheers, C.

Message 16 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.


@castlemagicmemories wrote:

@oz_in_ohio wrote:

What i do is tell the buyer to pay the price and when i take it to the post office, if i can send it cheaper, i simply send them a refund for what they overpaid....More often than not i buy ebay stickers at a discounted price and use them....But there again some buyers like to cause trouble and i guess you found one here...have a nice day


Yes, and that's good, but the buyer has already expressed that they were uncomfortable paying full price for all that shipping, and that he doesn't want to do that.  If he had, though, refunding the overage would work.


The majority of buyers (myself included) will not "pay extra" because of eBay's shopping cart and hope for a refund. Many sellers will not give the refund, they've stated so when posting in the forum that they won't give any shipping money back. So when I buy, if multiples, I have to be comfortable with what I'm selecting and the price. On my own listings I have some rules for combined shipping, but that works only on domestic shipping (so it seems) and I only have it on single coins since i'm uncomfortable combining the shipping on coin sets without at least weighing them first.

 

Cheers, C.

Message 17 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.


@femmefan1946 wrote:

You don’t get your fees back for a partial refund, only the PayPal fees.

 

If the overcharge is $10 but you paid fees to eBay of $1- then the refund to the customer is $9.

Or $9.50 if you want to split the difference.

Frankly most customers will be surprised and delighted by any refund on overpaid postage.

 

And technically, sin and I are using Canada Post and paying a fuel surcharge and federal sales tax on postage.  So the price of the stamp is not what we paid the post office.  But that's another story.


I'm actually shipping from Niagara with USPS. I even ship some Canadian items (making sure my HST info is on the outside of the package so the customer doesn't get charged, as I have to remit HST/GST on all Canadian sales).

 

I ship single coins with Canada Post using an oversized stamp. Even with the FedEx to chit Chats and Chit Chat's handling fee, it's cheaper than using Canada Post.

 

Cheers, C.

Message 18 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

@sin-n-dex wrote:

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Maybe you could remove the IPR on the Advanced Listing form?

 

Hate to see you lose sales like that.

 

Or set up a new listing just for him for those items, with the reduced shipping on it?


When I found out about this IPR, I checked my listing client and went into edit the listing, and it's not checked. I looked at the listing again, and clear as day it says this item requires and immediate payment.

 

What annoys me is why can't they let us run our business the way we want to run it and leave the decision making to the business owners.

 

Cheers, C.


Unless something has changed, when ebay has forced IPR on a listing, it does not show that immediate payment is required on the listing...that is only supposed to happen if the seller checks off the requirement on their own.  Forced IPR isn't supposed to stop buyers from asking for an invoice either although seller requested ipr does prevent them from doing so.  Obviously something is glitchy if IPR is now showing on your listings.


It doesn't show the same way as the regular IPR, I forget exactly how to get it (and I'll get around to doing a screen cap next time I post from work so I can cut and paste), but it's in the listing buried that states buying it requires an "immediate payment of this amount of money".

 

Cheers, C.

Message 19 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

Yeah, the forced IPR is sneaky. The IPR box isn't checked on the listing when the seller looks at it yet it still shows up as immediate payment required if you go to buy it.
Reality is the leading cause of stress.
Message 20 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

@sin-n-dex   eBay's inability to program to allow a Buyer to work around their Immediate Payment required debacle is frustrating ... I too get multiple purchases from Buyer on Fixed Price listings that all come through as separate orders NOT combined on one invoice (like Auctions) so I can adjust the shipping cost and give the Buyers the correct amount from the start.

Could it be that eBay sees the opportunity to make MORE FVFs on separate shipping costs PAID by Buyers even though Sellers will Refund part of the shipping cost? 

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor
Message 21 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

Well that's a given, considering they never refund the FVF paid on partial refunds for shipping overages. lol
Reality is the leading cause of stress.
Message 22 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.


@mr_lincoln wrote:

@sin-n-dex   eBay's inability to program to allow a Buyer to work around their Immediate Payment required debacle is frustrating ... I too get multiple purchases from Buyer on Fixed Price listings that all come through as separate orders NOT combined on one invoice (like Auctions) so I can adjust the shipping cost and give the Buyers the correct amount from the start.

Could it be that eBay sees the opportunity to make MORE FVFs on separate shipping costs PAID by Buyers even though Sellers will Refund part of the shipping cost? 


That is exactly the reason that Ebay refuses to fix this issue.  Every issue where Ebay makes more money never seems to get fixed because they are so desperate to show any type of growth they can, not realizing at all how much all of these money grabs cost them in the long run with lost sales, sellers and buyers who take their business to a site that actually functions properly.   I know that Ebay considers this to be running properly because anytime they can squeeze an extra penny out of a seller they are thrilled, but nobody else considers it running properly.

 

Just as their goal to increase revenue going forward is to get more money from current sellers for Promoted Listings and through Managed Payments rather than figuring out how to fix the broken search engine or show sellers items all the time, in their minds its all about shafting the sellers unless they agree to pay more for their items.  Until they learn that all these money grabs do is chase off business, 1% growth a quarter might actually be a high point for them going forward.

Message 23 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

what is an IPR

Message 24 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

Why dont you do as i do...I never place immediate payment for buyers...As you see ebay has made so many rules that support the buyers, why dont you use the most important rule that supports the sellers....When a buyer does not pay for an item, dont worry about it...You see after  48 hours has gone by after the auctions closure, you can file a non payer alert and this will give a strike on the buyers account. That is much worse than the loss of a few cents in listing and selling fees. Ebay will have non payer alert all on file. Enough of those alerts and ebay will either suspend or terminate that buyers account...Then the buyer will have to buy a new computer as they cannot make an other id on that old one as ebay has the ip adress.. 

Message 25 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

The shipping can be altered as priority mail is cheaper than what you quoted

Message 26 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

I ship international but it has to be priority mail...nothing else
Message 27 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

You are wrong....If you buy multiple items, dont pay the seller first, wait for the seller to send you the invoice and they will alter the shipping cost...I do that all the time and instead of paying 3.95 for each item, the others after the first item works out to be closer to 50c an item....Which would you pay if you bought 6 items off me....3.95 x 6 = $23.70 .......or ...........3.95 x 1 + 5 x .50c = $6.45.. I guess i dont have to be an einstein to work out the answer ay???
Message 28 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.

Depends where the transactions were from, as you did not state the countries and let us all guessing......... I could have given you this deal (if overseas ) for less than 40.00 shipping and that is priority mail.......$57.50 is simply ripping a buyer off
Message 29 of 40
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I lost a few sales... this is why.


@oz_in_ohio wrote:

Why dont you do as i do...I never place immediate payment for buyers...As you see ebay has made so many rules that support the buyers, why dont you use the most important rule that supports the sellers....When a buyer does not pay for an item, dont worry about it...You see after  48 hours has gone by after the auctions closure, you can file a non payer alert and this will give a strike on the buyers account. That is much worse than the loss of a few cents in listing and selling fees. Ebay will have non payer alert all on file. Enough of those alerts and ebay will either suspend or terminate that buyers account...Then the buyer will have to buy a new computer as they cannot make an other id on that old one as ebay has the ip adress.. 


You're completely missing my point, maybe want to start at the beginning of the thread.

 

I did not put any IPR or require any immediate payment. eBay decided this on my behalf. I did not decide to wait for a buyer to pay, eBay decided they must do it immediately.

 

I hope that clears things up.

 

Cheers, C.

Message 30 of 40
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