Well, this is news to me---Trusted Buyer Program

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

So, I'm one of those sellers who activated auto payment on buyer offers in my Preferences. The way it works is, the buyer must designate a payment method before making the offer, and if I accept the offer, ebay automatically bills that payment method, so that I get paid "immediately" (or very close to it). No need to wait for payment. 

This has been working fine. Receive offer, accept offer, get paid, ship.

Until my most recent offer. I accepted the offer, and......nothing. Listing went into my "Awaiting Payment" section in "Orders".

It's only been two days, and I know buyers have four days, so....OK, I can wait the four days, and if I'm still unpaid, buyer gets Unpaid Item Strike and I relist. No big deal.

BUT.....

Why wasn't there an immediate payment?

An ebay glitch, perhaps?

Apparently, not a glitch.

What Customer Service told me is : Just as some sellers are TRS, some buyers are "Trusted Buyers". "Trusted Buyers" are NOT required to provide the payment method before they make an offer (regardless of my selected preference). Trusted buyers have the four days to pay, period.

However, as far as I can tell, unlike TRS sellers, Trusted Buyers are not publicly identified as such. 

The CS could not tell me anything more about the TB program, and could not find it in the Help pages, but promised to do further investigation and email me when she finds something. If I hear from her, I will post here. 

In the meantime, is anyone familiar with the Trusted Buyer program? @valueaddedresource ?

[farmalljr]

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@dhbookds wrote:

I might note that Kyle answered today on another thread:

Any and all bidders should be presented with the AutoPay prompt anytime they are bidding or offering on a listing where the seller of said listing has opted to use AutoPay.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/2024-Summer-Seller-Update-Auction-Auto-pay-quot-test-quot/m-p/...

but that doesn't square with this experience...........but then does "should be" equate to "will be"????

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If I ever encounter an auction that requires a credit card to bid on it, here on eBay, that's the time I stop bidding on any auctions here. There are already existing blocks sellers can use to cut down on serial sport bidders. I am not registering half a dozen cards here, as I use several for my online purchases. The solution to sport bidding is to giving sellers a wider array of what they can do to avoid sport bidders. Such as a buyer must have X feedback, a buyer can have no more than X non payments in a 12 month period. Open the restrictions to be more strict, not make buyers jump through more hoops. 

Sellers should really think a lot harder on how difficult they may want to make it for buyers to buy from them. Because if you make it uncomfortable for buyers, they won't be buyers. 

[a_c_green]

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@farmalljr wrote:
If I ever encounter an auction that requires a credit card to bid on it, here on eBay, that's the time I stop bidding on any auctions here. 

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I'm not sure that you'll get any visual cue ahead of actually winning the auction, unless perhaps you have no payment method already stored. After you've won, you get a screen showing the payment method that will be charged in 60 minutes, unless you want to change to another method (as well as verify the Ship-To: address that will be used).

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@farmalljr wrote:
I am not registering half a dozen cards here, as I use several for my online purchases. 

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I think you really only need to register one, so I would make it the one most likely to be used anyway. You have an hour post-auction to switch to another one. I have multiple cards stored in my browser, so it only takes a few seconds to pop in an alternate card number if desired.

(When ordering pizzas on-line or dealing with other local businesses, I don't let them store any cards at all, as I don't trust their two-bit website security any further than I could throw it by the leg, but I am willing to let eBay/Adyen have one card.)

[stainlessenginecovers]

I thought we didn't trust any 'CSR' speak and that is just another one that sounds 'made up'. 

[a_c_green]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

I thought we didn't trust any 'CSR' speak and that is just another one that sounds 'made up'. 

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I have to admit I was thinking the same thing. I would definitely want to hear that story confirmed by an actual eBay Community contact here.

[valueaddedresource]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

I thought we didn't trust any 'CSR' speak and that is just another one that sounds 'made up'. 

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I have to admit I was thinking the same thing. I would definitely want to hear that story confirmed by an actual eBay Community contact here.

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@a_c_green  @stainlessenginecovers  it certainly wouldn't be the first time but it would also seem to be oddly specific if that's the case.

Hopefully one of the community reps who've been tagged will be able to provide more info.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@farmalljr  @a_c_green 

As @a_c_green  states, it is a very fast and easy thing to do. And then you have an hour to change your mind about the ship to address and whether you want to use another payment method. (If you are OK with what you've chosen, I think you can just confirm that and no need to wait for the hour to end.)

Maybe ebay has a short video somewhere demonstrating this. 

I think the main problem remains the issue of wanting to bid and buy multiple auctions from the same seller. I think you can send a message to the seller at the same time you choose your payment method, but there's no requirement that the seller respond if you ask for combined shipping or whatever. 

[farmalljr]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@farmalljr  @a_c_green 

As @a_c_green  states, it is a very fast and easy thing to do. And then you have an hour to change your mind about the ship to address and whether you want to use another payment method. (If you are OK with what you've chosen, I think you can just confirm that and no need to wait for the hour to end.)

Maybe ebay has a short video somewhere demonstrating this. 

I think the main problem remains the issue of wanting to bid and buy multiple auctions from the same seller. I think you can send a message to the seller at the same time you choose your payment method, but there's no requirement that the seller respond if you ask for combined shipping or whatever. 

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Don't care.

There are limits to what hoops some buyers are going to be willing to jump through to spend money. Sellers should be making it easier, not more difficult for buyers to buy their things. I am not willing to put my card info out to make a bid. It's stupid. How much business do you think an auction house would get if they made buyers enter a card for every item they bid on? Its a good way to chase off buyers. I'm not going to participate in that foolishness, and my bet is, most other buyers will not either. It's a stupid way to treat buyers. 

Now, if eBay said, you have to have a card on file and if you don't pay on your own in 4 days, we will charge the card on file, then that would be acceptable. But this "demand" from sellers is ironic, considering lots of sellers do not even ship next day. Tons of sellers take 2-3-4 days to even get the item to the carrier. The same sellers who drag their feet about shipping, tend to be the same sellers who want to demand INSTANT payments. Again, expecting buyers to kiss their backsides, but think no one should be able to ask them to step up and get to it. 

I say, let those seller implement that payment demand. They'll be back shortly complaining how they aren't getting sales. Again..... I'm not going to buy from them, and my bet is most people won't either. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@a_c_green One reason I posted about this is because the explanation seemed dubious to me, and I was hoping to get some input here. I believe my CS rep received the information from someone else while I was on hold, and my CS rep frankly seemed as surprised as I was to hear about the "Trusted Buyer" program. So was my CS rep given wrong info? Certainly possible. 

I will say this: based on feedback, my buyer has not been particularly active. His total feedback number is lower than mine. He has been a member since 2013, a fairly long time, but hardly a record breaker. The item he purchased is not in any of the Focus Categories, and it was not expensive.

In other words, I see nothing about his account or the transaction that would make me say: "Oh, sure, I can see why he'd be a "trusted buyer". And given that he has neither paid nor responded to a PM I sent him requesting payment, well, that speaks for itself.

So, I, too, find the "Trusted Buyer" explanation to be less than convincing, but it is what I was told. That no one here seems to have heard of it before obviously does nothing to make it more convincing. And of course, I haven't received the promised email from the CS rep with details about the Program (although, in fairness, I would not expect to get that very quickly).

So, our hope now lies in getting an answer from the Community Team or in the promised email.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@farmalljr  As you note, it's the seller's choice to either implement this or not. If it is implemented, I believe a buyer can contact the seller and ask that it be turned off (especially if the buyer wants to buy multiples). As a seller, I have implemented it. And if a buyer asked me to remove it so they could buy multiples, I would do so. But that's me.

I'm not too worried about buyers who refuse to do this. Just as it is my choice to implement this, it is their choice to either not buy or to request that I remove the requirement for them. You think most buyers will refuse to use it. I think most will accept it (even if they aren't happy about it). We can just agree to disagree on that.

My biggest objection to this is the one I've made since they started to work on this: If they want to do this, they need to not only come up with a way to set up the auto pay, but they need to solve the multiple item issue as well. This should  not even have been launched without that, and it is the lack of that feature that I think upsets most people who are unhappy about this.

[ekmadonna]

I personally have not bought or bid on a single item that requires me to agree to immediate payment on an auction or best offer. I hit the back button immediately. AND on my buying account I have probably purchased well over 400 items via auction over the years in a specific category. I have ALWAYS paid when winning in less than 1 minute after the end of the auction! And I am not on this SPECIAL BUYER list where I can bypass this IMMEDIATE PAYMENT SETTING. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@ekmadonna  And that's your choice. Others will no doubt make the same choice. Others won't. 

[safan80]

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Opt out of this program. 

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques In the end it is up to you, but it causes problems for people like me who pays with paypal.  This explains why I hate the program

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Now-getting-Payment-method-required-to-bid/m-p/34614683

The more I run into it the less I will use ebay and I'm not alone in this. I didn't opt this account into mismanaged payments, so I stopped selling and this program the more I run into it I will stop buying. I used to love being on ebay and now I would rather look elsewhere and pay retail. 

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Apparently, not a glitch.

What Customer Service told me is : Just as some sellers are TRS, some buyers are "Trusted Buyers". "Trusted Buyers" are NOT required to provide the payment method before they make an offer (regardless of my selected preference). Trusted buyers have the four days to pay, period.

However, as far as I can tell, unlike TRS sellers, Trusted Buyers are not publicly identified as such. 

The CS could not tell me anything more about the TB program, and could not find it in the Help pages, but promised to do further investigation and email me when she finds something. If I hear from her, I will post here. 

[ekmadonna]

I am of the opinion it detracts from sellers making sales. Way too many negatives for a buyer who has to submit to agree to this. Like can't pay with a Ebay gift card, CAN'T PAY with PAYPAL funds! I do not use it as a seller and I never would subject my customers to all that garbage. I can count on one hand how many times someone didn't pay me for an item they won at auction or through best offer in 12 years. Sometimes people take a few days to pay and that is perfectly fine by me. To each his own.

[chapeau-noir]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@ekmadonna  And that's your choice. Others will no doubt make the same choice. Others won't. 

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Agree! If I make an offer and it's accepted, I expect to have it paid from the payment method I have on file. I won't have my fee fees hurt because I'm asked to pony up. 

This site...it just baffles me. No other site I've sold on (probably nine or ten by now) allows buyers to drag sellers for days before maybe payment, then has buyers crying and wailing because WAAAAHHHH! They have to pay for something they bid or offered on?

ETA: Tried to reduce the snark.

[valueaddedresource]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@a_c_green One reason I posted about this is because the explanation seemed dubious to me, and I was hoping to get some input here. I believe my CS rep received the information from someone else while I was on hold, and my CS rep frankly seemed as surprised as I was to hear about the "Trusted Buyer" program. So was my CS rep given wrong info? Certainly possible. 

I will say this: based on feedback, my buyer has not been particularly active. His total feedback number is lower than mine. He has been a member since 2013, a fairly long time, but hardly a record breaker. The item he purchased is not in any of the Focus Categories, and it was not expensive.

In other words, I see nothing about his account or the transaction that would make me say: "Oh, sure, I can see why he'd be a "trusted buyer". And given that he has neither paid nor responded to a PM I sent him requesting payment, well, that speaks for itself.

So, I, too, find the "Trusted Buyer" explanation to be less than convincing, but it is what I was told. That no one here seems to have heard of it before obviously does nothing to make it more convincing. And of course, I haven't received the promised email from the CS rep with details about the Program (although, in fairness, I would not expect to get that very quickly).

So, our hope now lies in getting an answer from the Community Team or in the promised email.

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques here's the thing, even if it's ultimately "confirmed" that this was just another cs rep who needs "additional coaching" and the community team says there is no such thing as a Trusted Buyer program - you still have a situation where your intentionally chosen selling settings and policies were ignored or circumvented, despite them clearly working correctly on other transactions.

Regardless of anyone's opinions on whether or not sellers should use them, I would hope we can all agree at least in principal that if eBay provides options for specific settings, along with policy pages, on page messaging, and even answers from eBay employees explicitly saying those settings will apply to all buyers if a seller turns them on, that is in fact how it should work without exception.

So I hope you still pursue getting an honest answer about what really happened if they say that rep was wrong because you deserve to know why your settings were not properly applied.