Offers being accepted then not showing up as sold creating havoc for sellers and buyers

[danra_1073]

I am a very active seller in the hobby/model train space with over 1000 transactions a month processed on Ebay.  Recently, we have noticed that when and offer comes on for an item that we accept, sometimes, and the key word is sometimes... the offer acceptance never processes as an actual order.  It disappears completely and the listing remains active.    Yes, I have reported the issue and opened a Case with Ebay.  No fix as of yet and this seems to be happening 2 - 3 times a day on my account which is frustrating and wasting everyone's time.  

The fix in the meantime is to relist the item at the agreed price and send the purchaser a message with the new listing ID number.  Be sure you DO NOT promote the new listing and use the "Sell Similar" option when doing so as this avoids any promotional fees that might have been applied since Ebay cannot seem to fix the issue, they certainly do not deserve my advertising dollars on the items affected.

All Ebay can tell me is they are working on it and no one seems to really be elevating the issue that is affecting my revenue, likely your revenue and of course the mother-ship.

Anyone else having this issue?  Work-around ideas welcome!  Happy New Year Sellers!  Wishing you all much success in 2024! 

[pjcdn2005]

What a confusing issue. 

So are you saying that the sellers who have unchecked that a prepayment method is required for an offer are not seeing this happen?

Is this only happening when there is a counteroffer?

I realize this is probably explained above but I'm having a hard wrapping my brain around it.

[ittybitnot]

So are you saying that the sellers who have unchecked that a prepayment method is required for an offer are not seeing this happen?

@pjcdn2005 

Not quite.  When the reports started coming in regarding this rather wonky procedure,  I was under the impression is was a function of the Buyer Requirements eBay placed on sellers accounts to "require a payment source in order to make an offer".    Those resulted to the buyer being auto-billed, and the seller getting an immediate payment upon acceptance....OR   the buyers refused to participate after they knew of the unsavory consequences for doing so. 

THEN fast forward offers accepted by sellers were changed to (renamed) transactions where the SELLER appeared to be making an offer when they did no such thing.   Since those Buyer requirements that remained in the DEFAULT to YES were resulting in auto-billing for buyers who complied (they did not have a choice if they wished to proceed) I thought that if such sellers changed the preference to NO it might absolve them in participating in this new wacked out procedure as well.  

Many sellers who dispensed with the requirements already started to post that the new Accepting a buyer's offer and watching it morph in to a new "You sent an offer" happened anyway regardless of their settings in the Buyer Requirements.  

I hope this helps answer your question.  

[ltldpr]

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

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@danra_1073 wrote:

I am a very active seller in the hobby/model train space with over 1000 transactions a month processed on Ebay.  Recently, we have noticed that when and offer comes on for an item that we accept, sometimes, and the key word is sometimes... the offer acceptance never processes as an actual order.  It disappears completely and the listing remains active.    Yes, I have reported the issue and opened a Case with Ebay.  No fix as of yet and this seems to be happening 2 - 3 times a day on my account which is frustrating and wasting everyone's time.  

The fix in the meantime is to relist the item at the agreed price and send the purchaser a message with the new listing ID number.  Be sure you DO NOT promote the new listing and use the "Sell Similar" option when doing so as this avoids any promotional fees that might have been applied since Ebay cannot seem to fix the issue, they certainly do not deserve my advertising dollars on the items affected.

All Ebay can tell me is they are working on it and no one seems to really be elevating the issue that is affecting my revenue, likely your revenue and of course the mother-ship.

Anyone else having this issue?  Work-around ideas welcome!  Happy New Year Sellers!  Wishing you all much success in 2024! 

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@danra_1073 

There is an open ticket for this issue (I had it myself the other day).  You can add your errors to ALERT15115 by contacting CS.

Start on this page:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/resolving-technical-issues/technical-issues?id=4220

Scroll to the bottom of the page and use the "Contact Us" option

Type AGENT into the chatbox to get a callback (you may need to type AGENT more than once)

Tell the agent the alert # and have them add yours to the ticket.

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Curious, how long did it take you to get them to actually issue the ticket number? 

I ask because I was lied to by both the agent, and supposed supervisor - they both simply gave me the chat ID number -it looked nothing like your number and matches my chat ID number after the fact.

And did you call or chat?

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@ltldpr wrote:

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

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@danra_1073 wrote:

I am a very active seller in the hobby/model train space with over 1000 transactions a month processed on Ebay.  Recently, we have noticed that when and offer comes on for an item that we accept, sometimes, and the key word is sometimes... the offer acceptance never processes as an actual order.  It disappears completely and the listing remains active.    Yes, I have reported the issue and opened a Case with Ebay.  No fix as of yet and this seems to be happening 2 - 3 times a day on my account which is frustrating and wasting everyone's time.  

The fix in the meantime is to relist the item at the agreed price and send the purchaser a message with the new listing ID number.  Be sure you DO NOT promote the new listing and use the "Sell Similar" option when doing so as this avoids any promotional fees that might have been applied since Ebay cannot seem to fix the issue, they certainly do not deserve my advertising dollars on the items affected.

All Ebay can tell me is they are working on it and no one seems to really be elevating the issue that is affecting my revenue, likely your revenue and of course the mother-ship.

Anyone else having this issue?  Work-around ideas welcome!  Happy New Year Sellers!  Wishing you all much success in 2024! 

---

@danra_1073 

There is an open ticket for this issue (I had it myself the other day).  You can add your errors to ALERT15115 by contacting CS.

Start on this page:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/resolving-technical-issues/technical-issues?id=4220

Scroll to the bottom of the page and use the "Contact Us" option

Type AGENT into the chatbox to get a callback (you may need to type AGENT more than once)

Tell the agent the alert # and have them add yours to the ticket.

---

Curious, how long did it take you to get them to actually issue the ticket number? 

I ask because I was lied to by both the agent, and supposed supervisor - they both simply gave me the chat ID number -it looked nothing like your number and matches my chat ID number after the fact.

And did you call or chat?

---

@ltldpr 

I was given the ticket # by an eBay community team member on a different thread.

I asked for "AGENT" on the chat and got a call back.

[ltldpr]

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

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@ltldpr wrote:

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

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@danra_1073 wrote:

I am a very active seller in the hobby/model train space with over 1000 transactions a month processed on Ebay.  Recently, we have noticed that when and offer comes on for an item that we accept, sometimes, and the key word is sometimes... the offer acceptance never processes as an actual order.  It disappears completely and the listing remains active.    Yes, I have reported the issue and opened a Case with Ebay.  No fix as of yet and this seems to be happening 2 - 3 times a day on my account which is frustrating and wasting everyone's time.  

The fix in the meantime is to relist the item at the agreed price and send the purchaser a message with the new listing ID number.  Be sure you DO NOT promote the new listing and use the "Sell Similar" option when doing so as this avoids any promotional fees that might have been applied since Ebay cannot seem to fix the issue, they certainly do not deserve my advertising dollars on the items affected.

All Ebay can tell me is they are working on it and no one seems to really be elevating the issue that is affecting my revenue, likely your revenue and of course the mother-ship.

Anyone else having this issue?  Work-around ideas welcome!  Happy New Year Sellers!  Wishing you all much success in 2024! 

---

@danra_1073 

There is an open ticket for this issue (I had it myself the other day).  You can add your errors to ALERT15115 by contacting CS.

Start on this page:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/resolving-technical-issues/technical-issues?id=4220

Scroll to the bottom of the page and use the "Contact Us" option

Type AGENT into the chatbox to get a callback (you may need to type AGENT more than once)

Tell the agent the alert # and have them add yours to the ticket.

---

Curious, how long did it take you to get them to actually issue the ticket number? 

I ask because I was lied to by both the agent, and supposed supervisor - they both simply gave me the chat ID number -it looked nothing like your number and matches my chat ID number after the fact.

And did you call or chat?

---

@ltldpr 

I was given the ticket # by an eBay community team member on a different thread.

I asked for "AGENT" on the chat and got a call back.

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Oh. Thank you.

I wonder if customer "service" is even allowed to issue ticket numbers.

[therefinedrebel]

While I understand eBay's desire to reduce unpaid item claims, customer service demands that my customers be allowed to combine multiple items into one order. I'm sure eBay did not intentionally plan to charge their sellers the $0.30 transaction fee for each offer accepted, plus prohibit customers from taking advantage of combined shipping when making multi item purchases. 

Hopefully, eBay's management will review this decision as they continue to look for ways to improve the customer's shopping experience. 

[danra_1073]

As I mentioned yesterday, this is still inconsistent.  Yesterday, I had 2 offers on 2 nearly identical listings from the same buyer.  I accepted both of them.  One offer went through the normal "Send Invoice" procedure, and the other offer went poof.  With no visibility or ability for the seller to manage and communicate.  So I had to delist the item and relisted it with the agreed sales price minus the promotion fees (costing you people at Ebay as you work there) money in the process.  Also, what you are saying is not affecting international orders.  So it's inconsistent there as well.  

EBAY IS COSTING THEMSELVES MONEY ON LOST PROMOTION/ADD FEES OVER THEIR BLATANT STUPIDITY!

YOU and your Team have created a situation that will manifest as buyer frustration targeting sellers.  They will be frustrated that they lose an item and it will start hurting sellers reputations.  They may not be able to give feedback, but they might unsubscribe from my store newsletter or unfollow my store as they will not realize what is happening and that it is not my fault.  I am so upset I cannot see straight.  You are dictating how we run and manage our business in a way that is simply wrong.  I negotiate a fair price for an item and I am at total and 100% piece if it take a few days to get paid and the item is "off the market" during that time.  How Dare Ebay!

The lack of transparency with this so called **bleep** feature disguised as a "glitch" is very frustrating as we have wasted time and energy contacting Ebay with no official word back.  I created an IT case that is unresolved and being ignored and your customer service people are not informed.  This is so wrong on so many levels.

[danra_1073]

Their complete lack of transparency and the inconsistency is frustrating.  I maintain PERFECT Feedback on 1000 plus transactions a month.  I worry that buyers will take their frustrations out on me with either feedback or by simply not following my store any longer if they feel they are slighted or missed out on an item!  Ebay wants a dashboard to look clean and green but what they have really done is shot themselves in the foot.  It is COSTING THEM MONEY!  My work around has been to communicate with the buyer, us ethe Sell Similar to relist the item (Turning off the promotions if they had been applied) and then the buyer simply uses the buy it now on the new listing price.  This will end up costing Ebay millions in lost revenue in a very short while.  But their dashboard will be green and their Six Sigma Blackbelt that dreamt this all up will have moved to a new project and there will be no accountability.  That is how Corporate America works.  

[siamjane8 · Accepted solution]

Finally this makes sense......i saw the announcement that ebay will make it so it becomes the first person to PAY and not just accept offers...... That made no sense until now.

  What a complete and screwbally way to fix the "unpaid item" issue! This is obviously causing more confusion and problems then the occasional unpaid item case!   I agree that this is confusing to buyers- if i accept their offer it should let them know its a done deal- NOT tell them i am sending them another offer!! 

Typical of ebay to make a problem worse by trying to fix it..... or should i say make 3 new problems trying to fix one 

[ittybitnot]

 I'm sure eBay did not intentionally plan to charge their sellers the $0.30 transaction fee for each offer accepted, plus prohibit customers from taking advantage of combined shipping when making multi item purchases. 

@therefinedrebel 

I am sure that we would ALL like to think that.  But after 26 years, most of eBay decisions are based  on what is more monetary beneficial to them.   

Always follow the money. 

[danra_1073]

I called about 2 weeks ago as it was affecting a rather large model train transaction (several thousand dollars worth) and the agent created a help/IT ticket.  I think the problem was just surfacing at that time.  Thank you for the info on the Chat bot.  I have never used it.  I prefer talking to a real person anytime I call ebay.  For what I pay in annual fees to these people, they owe me a real person to talk to each time I call!  

[fern*wood]

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@danra_1073 wrote:

... My work around has been to communicate with the buyer, us ethe Sell Similar to relist the item (Turning off the promotions if they had been applied) and then the buyer simply uses the buy it now on the new listing price. 

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I'm still trying to understand this new process & have a question.  You state you communicate with your buyer and have them purchase your relist of the item.  Is there a reason (other than avoiding promotional fees) you do it this way instead of communicating with them to just pay the offer that was sent back to them?  Are your buyers not seeing this option or are you ending your item before they can?

[broto_64]

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@danra_1073 wrote:

This is ridiculous.  What the heck is Ebay thinking and how are we supposed to manage our businesses?  The problem I see is that this is inconsistent.  It is not happening with each transaction I accept or negotiate offers on.  And with the listing remaining "Active" it seems someone else on the buying end could disappoint the earlier buyer's offer.  I see this as still being a huge and thorny issue.  It also would seem to put the seller in a bad light by seemingly looking like "Bad Faith" when and offer is accepted but then is later sold to someone else by accident.  What the heck is going on?

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I totally agree, let me get this straight...

If I send you an offer and you accept it...

It then sends me a message talking about you sent me an offer?

I am not a deep thinker, I tend to do things as they come, deal with every situation "as is" so that kind of response would confuse me... I would either have forgotten about my having sent you an offer, or I might think you're playing games with me... It is possible that I'll remember the transaction but how do I know the price is the same, how do I know the seller actually accepted and isn't playing games, because at my age there's a chance I wouldn't remember my original offer price and that's assuming I even remember anything.

Better off if I send the seller an offer and they accept, the response from ebay should be: Please Pay Now.

That is the one thing I would completely understand.

[broto_64]

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@fern*wood wrote:

Even worse, ebay is telling you they are "working" on it instead of knowing it is by design.

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Or that it will never really get fixed.

This lack of total transparency is a huge problem with corporations in general, they all lie to us.

Pissing on my leg and telling me it's raining, with a smile, hoping I'll believe it, to get me off the phone.

[ittybitnot]

If I send you an offer and you accept it...

It then sends me a message talking about you sent me an offer?

@broto_64 

If you are the BUYER and send an offer to the seller, that is exactly what it appears is happening.  

You, the buyer do not get notified that your offer was accepted.  You get a message that says YOU HAVE AN OFFER.  There is no accept button on that message.  You can pay, or decline.