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! 

[ittybitnot]

-Maybe only certain members can get their attention now?

@gurlcat 

It was a different topic, and older thread even though the blue posted today with the typical (non) response. 

I would presume that due to the number of tags made to the blues about  this topic made on multiple threads that are seemingly ignored, they are not allowed to address it.    They should at least reply and say so, and tell us to contact CS for assistance. 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

By "lone buyer", I mean someone who has sent me a message, either with an offer, or wanting combined shipping, so I use the reply with offer button on the message.

[trkokem0]

It’s still happening. Just this morning I had two offers that went nowhere. I’m glad I found this thread, I couldn’t figure out what was happening! This is ridiculous eBay!  Please return to the original way of accepting offers, we are losing money.

[ittybitnot]

@trkokem0 

Here is one of the latest: 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/I-don-t-think-eBay-really-wants-us-to-make-sales/m-p/34216592#...

Though originally thought if was a function of the Buyer Payment Requirement being in the Default Set to YES for  the "autopay" combined shipping killer program that requires an upfront payment source for a buyer, it turned out NOT to be the case.  

Interesting read.  

[broto_64]

On occasion I see members here posting the same message twice, so is this user error or a community "glitch?"

[olivecheesewhistle]

Yes I had it happen this morning for the 3rd time. My problem is I cannot message the buyer so I can relist at the counter offer price and then have them outright but it. It won't let me contact at all thru app. Thru browser I can get to a place where I can choose to send message about the specific item. If I put in item number I get redirected back to my message inbox. If I choose the it is not about an item box I can type message but when I try to send it gives an error like can't find item. I argued on the phone the other day for like 2 hours with like 4 different people they ended up opening a case and I have never heard from anybody. Extremely frustrating! 

[bj_international]

It just happened to me this morning. I can see on the manage offers page that I accepted the offer but that is it. Nothing on my sold page or waiting for payment. I cannot find the transaction anywhere

[jjddmwi]

@olivecheesewhistle 

I have had that happen, and I found a work-around - I go to the buyer's feedback page (not the offer page) and there should be a "contact buyer" in the upper right.   It will bring up 3 (I think) bubbles you can choose from... I always pick the first one that says... this isn't about an item.   I have always been able to send a message that way.   I  

I found that if I chose any of the other two, then I can't send a message.  Makes zero sense to me. Total head scratcher!  Just like not informing anybody of this "new" offer process, and making all of us scramble to figure out what is going on.   

Hope it works for you.

[brymans777]

i accepted an offer for 500 dollars for an item and for some reason, it morphed into sending them an offer for 500 dollars and then it just timed out after 2 days. very frustrating to miss a 500-dollar sale. it doesn't make sense. the sale should have been made at 500 since they sent me the offer and i accepted. for this reason i change all my listings to dont allow offers. ridiculous

[brymans777]

just happened to me . I accepted an offer for 500 dollars for a sealed item and for some reason, it morphed into sending them an offer for 500 dollars and then it just timed out after 2 days. very frustrating missing a 500-dollar sale. it doesn't make sense. The sale should have been made at 500 since they sent me the offer and I accepted. For this reason, I changed all my listings to Don't allow offers.

[gurlcat]

Question -were you aware at any point during those 2 days that eBay had changed the offer format?  If you did know, did you write to tell the buyer nothing funny was going on, that it was a new eBay feature and the end result would be the same if they just accepted "your" offer (of their offer)?  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I honestly don't know why they couldn't have just left it as "the seller accepted your offer".

WTH do we have to have all this confusion? Do they not want us to actually make the sale?

[gurlcat]

LOL testing a bunch of different ways to do something simultaneously is about the eBay'est eBay thing ever.  I seriously can't even guess what the purpose of changing an accepted buyer offer to a seller offer is about .... but I do love the idea of keeping the listing visible and buyable to everyone else at the original BIN price.  I think they should do that and just not consider the item "sold" at all just from accepted offers, since there's no guarantee the buyer will pay anyway.  While they're at it, they should also eliminate the time limit for the buyer, and the strike if they don't pay, because who cares if they don't pay, as long as others can still buy the item!  Accepted offers should just be like a negotiated coupon with no expiration date, "while supplies last"!  

[siamjane8]

During the last 2 weeks I have been sending offers everyday. Sure this in counter-offers that I accepted... Quite a few... And they reacted the old was sad if sold.  I wonder if the test group I was in last month had been switched back and the test had moved on to some other poor sellers.   I had to notify and message buyers whose offers I had accepted because they had no idea.  So much more work and it did not result in the item selling to someone else while waiting- so it was a completely bad idea to even test it.  My hope is that it will be gone for good and not resurface on my account again... Ever

[ga1106]

I contacted a buyer after I accepted their offer and the guy couldn't find where I accepted his offer.  I sent him the item# and he was able to find it and then pay for the item.  I have another item with another buyer now that is in limbo, but can't figure out how to contact the buyer to let them know I accepted their offer.  When I click on the buyer, ebay takes me somewhere else.  Any help on how to message these buyers so they can know I accepted their offer?