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! 

[danra_1073]

So BUYSELLJACK2016 - Are you employed by Ebay?  You have no active listings.  How would it be you have such a depth of experience in what is going on otherwise?  

[fern*wood]

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@danra_1073 wrote:

So BUYSELLJACK2016 - Are you employed by Ebay?  You have no active listings.  How would it be you have such a depth of experience in what is going on otherwise?  

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Knowledgeable sellers merely using posting IDs.  

[danra_1073]

Thank you and again, I do not have a problem with non-paying customers.  But, in your experience, is this forum largely answered by Ebay employees with profiles, but no active listings?  Do you think that is weird?  I have somewhat thoughtful and detailed answers from several folks that appear to be inactive on Ebay with just 2 or  followers and no active listings yet my question was posed from a hi volume seller point of view.  Just seems like the forum is not of much use if the dominant respondents are Ebay employees.  Thoughts? ...

[ittybitnot]

Hey ITTYBITNOT - I suspect you ar eon the inside and work for Ebay since you don't have any listings up and are not an active seller.

@danra_1073 

You suspect wrong.  My ID has over 4000 feedbacks and I have been here since 1998.  I am surprised you are not familiar with a "posting ID".   The only reason this one has any feedback at all is because I forgot a few times to log out before I bought something.  

It would be a good idea to READ a poster's message and to evaluate the content.  Around here judging people by their feedback number will likely leave you unaware of some very important information. 

Happy New Year to you and yours! 

[buyselljack2016]

Agree that this is sort of a non-sense thing.

Supposedly all buyers are now "required to preauthorize a payment method" before they can even "offer".

With that "preauthorize" it is doubtful that a counter offer would be "preauthorized", but then that is not what you are dealing with.

There are buyers that will "preauthorize", and once the offer is sent they will remove that source so that they do not have to pay. Seller accepting that offer could be left hanging with a sold listing that does not get paid. Again, probably not your buyers mode of operation, but...................

As  others post...............................  just another eBay idea that is good for some situations, but has negative repercussions unforeseen

[penguins_dont_fly]

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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.

[buyselljack2016]

@danra_1073 

Just as ittybitnot, (and many others)I have been on eBay for a few years (22+) as a seller, and have been on the community boards reading and posting for a few years. Not an eBay employee. They will be clearly identified when posting.

Same as many others, I do not post with my selling ID. 

2 reasons. Takes away the idea that I am posting just to draw attention to my listings, and also there are people in the world that are vengeful that would attempt to do harm to a seller's account if they did not like what was posted. 

Just like not buying and selling on the same account, I do not sell, and post with the same account.

[fern*wood]

So, which is it?  Is this a technical issue or by design? 

[ittybitnot]

I do not have a problem with non paying  customers.

@danra_1073 

Then why did you retain those buyer requirements that eBay gave you that were supposed to cut down on non-payers?  Buyers apparently hated it, and were annoyed that their payment options were reduced, and combining items for multiple offers or auction wins was "off the table".  

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

Buyer Payment Requirements

*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.

What you are seeing now is just part of a 'continuing saga' of a drama that has been going on full strength for over a year.  

eBay is NOT talking, they are just doing it, and there is no opting out.  There are no announcements, and requests for eBay employees tagged in these forums have basically been ignored.  People here know what is going on ONLY by sharing information, screen shots, and experiences (not because they work for eBay). .   The forums are a real good place to keep up to date, and you are apparently "late to the party" so to speak. 

[fern*wood]

I’ve not experienced this as a buyer or seller, so if your fix was to relist and send new number to buyer to purchase, why were they not able to just pay from the initial accepted offer to begin with?

[the_real_sonnek_store]

I have had this happen to me 3 times in the last couple of weeks, and I only sell about 5 items a day.  Every time it has happened to me, the item ended up marked as sold about half a day after acceptance to the same buyer I accepted the offer from.  Sometimes when I accept an offer, it makes it look like I sent the offer instead and am waiting for the buyer to accept, even though the price is exactly the same as the offer they sent.  I'm not sure what the buyer sees on their end, and I have an item this happened to this morning so I hope it all works out like the previous few have.  I honestly wasn't sure if this was happening to other people until I saw this post so I'm glad I am not the only one.  I never considered reaching out to eBay.  I am welcome to any advice as well, hope somebody figures it out!

[the_real_sonnek_store]

I have had this happen to me 3 times in the last couple of weeks, and I only sell about 5 items a day.  Every time it has happened to me, the item ended up marked as sold about half a day after acceptance to the same buyer I accepted the offer from.  Sometimes when I accept an offer, it makes it look like I sent the offer instead and am waiting for the buyer to accept, even though the price is exactly the same as the offer they sent.  I'm not sure what the buyer sees on their end, and I have an item this happened to this morning so I hope it all works out like the previous few have.  I honestly wasn't sure if this was happening to other people until I saw this post so I'm glad I am not the only one.  I never considered reaching out to eBay.  I am welcome to any advice as well, hope somebody figures it out!

[stainlessenginecovers]

I guess I just don't understand why ANY business would be doing 'offers'. 

Offers are designed for the closet cleaner or at Garage Sales or Swap Meets.

You cannot go into most typical B/M stores and 'make an offer'? 

If you are a business doing 1000's of TXs a month- do Buy It Now, Immediate Payment required and be done.

Spend your time making sure you are the 'lowest' price and then offers won't matter? 

[ryanrobyn]

don't understand -I thought an acceptance  of an offer was a sale. If a seller cancels a sale util 4 days later waiting for payment they get a defect

[ittybitnot]

don't understand -I thought an acceptance  of an offer was a sale.

@ryanrobyn 

Apparently, not anymore.  New "rollout" i.e. enhancement, improvement, intended change etc. that looks like a glitch.   As a seller, you can "accept" as many offers as you like for the same product.   Buyers will no longer be "auto-billed" if you retained those preferences. 

The instead of the BUYER receiving a notice that you accepted their offer, they get a screen that says YOU HAVE RECIEVED an offer.  They can pay (at full shipping price with no option to combine multiple items), not pay, decline, ignore it.  Your listing will remain live, until somebody pays. There is no "accept" button displayed to the buyer. 

Buyers that actually thought if you 'accepted' their offer it was some sort of commitment to them that you agreed to sell it to them are finding out that is no longer the case.  

This new procedure has only been documented for a few days. The only information we have is by other members sharing experiences and screenshots. eBay is not talking, just doing.