ebay stifling multiple item orders with offer autopay

[deborahkalizena]

by locking buyers into instant autopay, they are unable to order multiple items and request invoice. it's bad for buyers and sellers.

[campanaelia]

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:

Sellers can opt out if they like.

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I understand that but most sellers have no clue this was added to buyer requirements, and if they refund the combined shipping difference it's costing the sellers more in fees with the multiple separate auto-payments. That was my point.

[femmefan1946]

@robbie31415 

If you don't want the fee then opt out.

As noted above, I did opt out as soon as this was announced.

I checked earlier today and it had turned itself on again.

So there's that.

Plus this was not made optional.

Sellers were given the option to opt out.

Which means that thousands of potential buyers, wary of giving financial information to "the internet" were opting themselves out of purchases.

And the seller never got the Offer.

I am old and cranky.

I also am familiar with mail order when it was orders coming in by post, with personal cheques, and shipped out when the cheque cleared.

When we  were thrilled to get a postal money order, because we could cash them at the Post Office and ship immediately.

So four days means just a little delay to me.

YMMV.

[robbie31415]

I mean I understand that it can be frustrating to experienced sellers, however I think having it opt out instead of opt in is the best options.

They probably should have communicated this better informing them of an upcoming change so people could have opt out before going live.

However with how it is now, people can't really complain about people not paying. And the ones that do must have opted out making the decision they may run into non paying buyers.

Just my opinion.

[dbfolks166mt]

     There are multiple pieces to this puzzle. First the sellers option to require the buyer to provide payment information prior to bidding or making an offer is still in the test/pilot phase and as others have explained it is something the seller can turn off in their account settings. The problems with multiple purchases and combined shipping is similar to the issues and quirks that have been around for years for BIN/IPR sales as well as the current issues with the EIS program although the latter is supposed to be getting fixed. 

     The second piece is the buyer must also be in the test pool/group and I am not sure the buyer has the ability/option to turn that off or "opt out". How eBay decided which buyers to place in that pool is anybody's guess. As far as requiring the buyer to provide advance payment information I don't see a huge problem with that as long as the buyer is able to pick from anyone of a number of different payment options when they actually make the purchase. One of the biggest complaints from the buyer side seems to be that they cannot provide payment information for multiple options in advance and be able to select one of those options when they go to pay for the item. 

     As for the seller turning the option off in your account settings under selling preferences edit the Your Buyers section and at the bottom you can turn off the option(s). 

[ittybitnot]

Removing this requirement man lead to more unpaid items. 

@dbfolks166mt 

Perhaps "keeping this requirement" may lead to less sales/offers and lower bids, more in fees, and removal of combined orders and less payment options for your buyers....would be more realistic statement. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Perhaps "keeping this requirement" may lead to less sales/offers and lower bids, more in fees, and removal of combined orders and less payment options for your buyers....would be more realistic statement. 

     Agreed, it's a double edged sword. At some point I expect eBay will put all the buyers into the pool, hopefully they still leave the seller with the option to turn off the option. It has always been a similar issue with BIN/IPR but there are ways to work around that. 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

here is what I call a questionable issue. I know this will create many comments, but it is good for all to read and know. 

I went back to the sellers' listings and decided to just make bids because I don't want to pay say $30 for shipping on a combined $10 shipment. 

When I just made my bids, I was not sent to the auto pay / confirmation screen. ???

[dbfolks166mt]

here is what I call a questionable issue. I know this will create many comments, but it is good for all to read and know. 

I went back to the sellers' listings and decided to just make bids because I don't want to pay say $30 for shipping on a combined $10 shipment. 

When I just made my bids, I was not sent to the auto pay / confirmation screen. ???

     At the moment this is still in a test/pilot phase and not all sellers have the requirement turned on nor are all the buyers in the test pool. 

[ittybitnot]

When I just made my bids, I was not sent to the auto pay / confirmation screen. ???

@sextons-sweet-deals 

Basically, your buyer ID can be FORCED into the program for making offers, bidding, or both.   With mine, at first it was just for making offers, now it is both. 

Some have also reported that once you provide a "default" payment source, you may not be presented with the screen again.  You only find out as the listings end that you are being autobilled .   You would have to remove any payment options to make sure the screen is displayed prior to getting started. 

Some sellers have also figured out it put a real damper on bidding, and have turned it off. 

[mam98031]

If your buyers reach out to you and explain this issue to you, let them know to put each thing they want to purchase in their Shopping Cart.  Then when done, from the Shopping Cart there is a button to request a total from the seller.  Have them do that.  It should significantly help with the issue.

Ebay is aware of this issue.  This process is still in the testing stage.  Hopefully before it goes site wide they will have a solution for this.

[dbfolks166mt]

If your buyers reach out to you and explain this issue to you, let them know to put each thing they want to purchase in their Shopping Cart.  Then when done, from the Shopping Cart there is a button to request a total from the seller.  Have them do that.  It should significantly help with the issue.

Ebay is aware of this issue.  This process is still in the testing stage.  Hopefully before it goes site wide they will have a solution for this.

     Not exactly sure how that is going to work with auctions or multiple OBO's. 

[campanaelia]

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@mam98031 wrote:

If your buyers reach out to you and explain this issue to you, let them know to put each thing they want to purchase in their Shopping Cart.  Then when done, from the Shopping Cart there is a button to request a total from the seller.  Have them do that.  It should significantly help with the issue.

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Have you ever tried to use the button to request a total, 99% of the time I get "The seller does not combine ship" error, or some other error.

Just yesterday I was trying to buy 3 items with combined shipping. First the seller couldn't figure out how to tun off auto-pay after I explained it thoroughly, so they change the BIN prices to what I offered. Then when I added the items to my cart I got the error using the request total button. I ended up paying the full shipping and they refunded me the difference.

So it still cost the seller extra paypal fees because they don't prorate them for refunds.

[itscalledapostingid]

Many sellers just have no idea how to properly set up combined shipping discounts. I see sellers complain that combined shipping doesn't work right and more often than not it turns out they never set up the discounts or even know the settings exist.

[campanaelia]

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:

Many sellers just have no idea how to properly set up combined shipping discounts. I see sellers complain that combined shipping doesn't work right and more often than not it turns out they never set up the discounts or even know the settings exist.

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That my be the case but ebay certainly doesn't make anything user friendly

The whole situation between could of been avoided if all sellers weren't opted into auto-pay by default by ebay.

The seller could have accepted my offers as usual and then send me a combined shipping invoice before I paid.

[mam98031]

True............