eBay

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎08-14-2024

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 ?

a_c_green · ‎08-15-2024

@valueaddedresource wrote:
@broto_64 seriously? When you contact a company's officially designated support channels, that person is representing that company and they are responsible for providing accurate information in the name of that company (regardless of whether they are a W2 employee, a contractor etc.) - their job is to speak on behalf of eBay and that's what started this entire conversation.

Yes, indeed, although the many painful anecdotes here show that in the case of eBay, there are so many layers and levels between the eBay user and whoever was on the other end of the phone that it's difficult if not impossible to hold anyone accountable, and that's assuming that we get any confirmation at all.

To be clear, I'm not faulting the Community contacts here, but the fact that the rest of the company pretty much stonewalls their attempts to get anything more than a perfunctory reply, if that.

@valueaddedresource wrote:
We're not overthinking it. All anyone is trying to do here is get confirmation of that information from the eBay employees here in the community - again as you say, simple enough....all they have to do is respond to the multiple times they have been tagged here.

There are some eBay Live events coming up next month, at which time there may be an opportunity to meet with one or more higher-level eBay representatives in person.

luckythewinner · ‎08-15-2024

@iamalwaysright wrote:
Hm. Okay so I’m guessing the criteria for a buyer to be in the “Trusted Buyer Program” would basically just be that they historically paid for their items? If so, then that means any buyer who isn’t in that program is a deadbeat buyer.

I disagree.

New buyers without sufficient history should not automatically be labeled "deadbeat".

safan80 · ‎08-15-2024

Or buyers who don't want the hassle of the program and always pay for auctions they win.

@luckythewinner wrote:
@iamalwaysright wrote:
Hm. Okay so I’m guessing the criteria for a buyer to be in the “Trusted Buyer Program” would basically just be that they historically paid for their items? If so, then that means any buyer who isn’t in that program is a deadbeat buyer.
I disagree.
New buyers without sufficient history should not automatically be labeled "deadbeat".

farmalljr · ‎08-15-2024

With all due respect, I think this thread has started to go off course. This thread is about the "Trusted Buyer" program (if such a thing even exists) and not about whether using Immediate Payment for offers is a good strategy or not. As @valueaddedresource has made very clear, if there is a "Trusted Buyer" program which allows such buyers perks sellers have not even been told about, well, what other perks are they allowed? Other questions are raised as well, including questions of trust in the platform, if there is such a program but it is a stealth program of some sort. I would like to stay focused on the "trusted Buyer" matter.

You know, it's hilarious what some of the sellers here say. I hate to be the one to inform you, but there are LOTS of things going on with this platform that eBay does not make public knowledge. Duh. It's their platform, they are under no obligation to reveal to everyone what deals they have with who, and what the financials are with that deal. Period. I mean it's should be pretty common knowledge by now that there are sellers who have secret contract with eBay they are NOT allowed to talk about.

NOW, it's about "trust". Malarkey. It's about something else to gripe about.

I mean seriously, what right do the seller here THINK they have about being informed of all the details of this company? None of you own it. You just post your junk for sale here. You USE this platform in an attempt to make a buck. If some sellers here worried half as much about their own business as they do eBay, their sales would likely be much better. If it's so bad here, and you don't think you can trust the platform, then hit the bricks folks.

There are two reasons this buyer didn't have to pay immediately.

1 The seller did not have the box checked. Could have been an old listing and the seller listed it before changing settings. Or, for some reason at some point the seller took that item off the immediate payment.

2 A glitch in the program. You know what those are right? Like the ghost relistings that have been going on for years and for a long time CS denied it? And I'm sure CS, like the always do, would not have made something up to get you off the phone, right?

Ebay forums, making mountains out of mole hills from day one.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎08-15-2024

@farmalljr Well, that's certainly an interesting perspective.

farmalljr · ‎08-15-2024

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
@farmalljr Well, that's certainly an interesting perspective.

It's not secret knowledge that eBay has NDA's with some sellers here. Anyone who does not already know that, is not paying any attention. Whoever else they have deals and agreements with, honestly, its none of the business of any sellers or buyers here.

eBay has the contractual right to pretty much run this platform however they want. That also is not a secret or a conspiracy.

Chris Lin who was 10Konthebay, admitted openly more than once, he had a NDA with eBay and his costs to sell were not the same as most other sellers. He had his own special deal with eBay. Unless he took them down, that info is still in YouTube land. He was not even a seller on the level of some of these giant sellers. They too, have deals with eBay.

To think there are not buyers who are "high value" that don't have some deal with eBay, well that's just denying what is actually likely. Do any buyers? Who knows. But I would not doubt some do. I doubt any deal would include bypassing immediate payment.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎08-15-2024

@farmalljr

As I said, an interesting perspective.

valueaddedresource · ‎08-16-2024

Just adding this here for people following along but....eBay is apparently considering a new free returns for any reason policy in Parts and Accessories and this caught my eye:

"A full credit for Trusted Buyers will be provided by eBay as soon as they open their return."

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/eBay-Considers-Offering-Free-Returns-For-Any-Reason-In-Motors/...

I'd still love to get something more official of course, but that is the first time I've ever seen something apparently from eBay using the term Trusted Buyers capitalized in that way and clearly referring to some kind of specific designation or program that provides some buyers with special perks - in this case upfront refunds as soon as a return request is filed.

That certainly bolsters the idea those buyers could also be exempted from immediate payment requirements too.

devon@ebay kyle@ebay elizabeth@ebay - any light you can shed on the existence of a Trusted Buyer program and what the criteria for inclusion might be?

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎08-16-2024

Thanks @valueaddedresource And, just to be clear, the item I sold was not related to ebay Motors or P&A.

Also, for anyone who might like an update:

1. I have not received the promised email from the CS rep I spoke with.

2. My "buyer" has not responded to the email I had sent him, nor has he paid.

3. We have had no response from the Community Team to our posted inquiries here.

Still hoping to hear from the Team.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎08-16-2024

Further Update: Was gone much of today, and hadn't noticed---until now---that apparently the four days for unpaid items ended this morning, and ebay auto cancelled for non payment and auto relisted (per my setting in Preferences)

So, my "Trusted Buyer" apparently could not be trusted to actually pay.

All of this does not alter the fact that I was told about a "Trusted Buyer" program, and we still have had no follow up explaining the program (or verifying its existence)..

So, devon@ebay : Can we get some info on this?

a_c_green · ‎08-16-2024

@valueaddedresource wrote:
I'd still love to get something more official of course, but that is the first time I've ever seen something apparently from eBay using the term Trusted Buyers capitalized in that way and clearly referring to some kind of specific designation or program that provides some buyers with special perks - in this case upfront refunds as soon as a return request is filed.

Certainly they're floating the idea of a "Trusted Buyer" in that survey screenshot. The wording suggests that they might have defined it in a previous screen, prior to reaching that point of the survey. Perhaps the person who posted that can retrace their steps to look for any prior explanation of "Trusted Buyer" and what eBay is envisioning for that designation.

Whatever it's supposed to mean, I'd say one of the fundamental requirements is that you don't go stiffing sellers by not paying in 4 days and getting your purchase cancelled as a result. 🙄

valueaddedresource · ‎08-16-2024

@a_c_green wrote:
@valueaddedresource wrote:
I'd still love to get something more official of course, but that is the first time I've ever seen something apparently from eBay using the term Trusted Buyers capitalized in that way and clearly referring to some kind of specific designation or program that provides some buyers with special perks - in this case upfront refunds as soon as a return request is filed.
Certainly they're floating the idea of a "Trusted Buyer" in that survey screenshot. The wording suggests that they might have defined it in a previous screen, prior to reaching that point of the survey. Perhaps the person who posted that can retrace their steps to look for any prior explanation of "Trusted Buyer" and what eBay is envisioning for that designation.

Whatever it's supposed to mean, I'd say one of the fundamental requirements is that you don't go stiffing sellers by not paying in 4 days and getting your purchase cancelled as a result. 🙄

@a_c_green right, it's difficult to tell from just the one screenshot if "Trusted Buyer" is only a hypothetical thing for the purposes of this survey or if it's a currently existing and in use program or designation with possibly further reaching implications beyond future return changes being considered for Motors P&A.

But at the very least it does seem to indicate it's a term that is actually used by eBay internally for some purpose(s) and not just something one random rep made up to get @my-cottage-books-and-antiques off the phone. 😉

Definitely agree with you about those fundamental requirements too!