BUYERS BEWARE!!! Some Listings state FREE POSTAGE but is is an ebay technical glitch

[some999]

I was about to purchase a cat tree.

Searched for almost 2 hours to sift through the 100's of listings.

Found 2 similar listings & both stated FREE POSTAGE BUT when I opened the listing descriptions, the postage was actually more than the items themselves.

These items are far cheaper on NON-ebay sites - once again ebay has lost some business!

I complained to ebay & it is a KNOWN technical issue - nice of them to advise us.

So watch out - FREE POSTAGE ISN"T FREE POSTAGE NOW even when it says it is!

Tp make it worse, I wasn't searching for Free Postage because we all know free postage is set into the item cost + the ebay fees.  I didn't have Free Listing ticked on the left hand side & it still mucks things up.

Ebay - this is a joke.  You need to revert to the OLD system that worked & left all pricing transparent which is how it should be.

You have tried & failed to get everyone to change to Free Postage.

In this instance I was not even searching for Free Postage but the 2 items I liked both happened to advertise it.

What a great bit of free advertising for those sellers.

Ebay can't even say how long it is going to take to fix the issue.  It has been escalated & is known about so in the meantime - BUYER BEWARE!

[some999]

Yes, if you are in a rush or 1/2 asleep & see free postage, you open the listing & either bid or buy but then will get a nasty shock.

That was only one section.

I guess it is a way to get promoted!  They say they promote free shipping/postage first.

Just another turn off.

They have had so many issues over the past few weeks with buy it now items not allowing buyers to buy & then request combined invoices for postage.

Others have said no combined postage when items have been discounted which is nothing to do with the postage.

Another I had kept declining my credit card payment saying the bank declined it - checked my statement & all was ok, phoned bank & all was ok - phoned paypal & they knew nothing either.

After an hour I tried for the 3rd time & it went straight through = another glitch.

[go-tazz]

This has been an ongoing issue that still hasn't been fixed,(it was first reported months ago),

[digital*ghost]

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@some999 wrote:

Sorry my post entered as I tried to copy numbers - 

Was looking at these - 251564959137  & 261513331376 

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Those two item numbers return two different seller IDs, but I'm willing to bet a decent amount they're the same seller (exact same item location and postage exclusions, identical description in a slightly different template, with slightly different photos, and equally odd postage amounts when the listing is clicked on). 

That in turn makes me wonder if there's more seller input to the issue that one may first presume, since it is affecting two different IDs that, at least on a surface level, have a high number of apparently similar methods.

I'm not saying it's not an eBay glitch or error, or that the sellers are choosing to do it on purpose, but that there may be specific factors that will cause something like this to happen, it may even be a problem with the postage rate tables which I assume they are using because the postage service only states "standard delivery" but the P&H charge varies according to postcode. 

[some999]

It IS an EBAY GLITCH - I phoned ebay & the operator said it was a known technical issue that they were working to fix & I said how long - hours or days, she said probably weeks - so in other words they either can't fix it or don't want to.

They quoted 60% or similar were using FREE POSTAGE, if they fix this issue, their stats will drop so I guess they don't care.

Since that ebay fee rise in May, there have been heaps of technical issues & other problems.

Their service has dropped & they don't seem to care!  They want their $$'s & nothing else matters..

[digital*ghost]

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@some999 wrote:

It IS an EBAY GLITCH 

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I didn't say it wasn't.

I was just highlighting some things that may mean it's not as random as first appears - it's essential when attempting to troubleshoot an issue to look for common factors, and the listings you referenced have more than one thing in common, aside from the actual glitch and item being sold.

Take the free postage in search results 'glitch' on pick-up items, for example, that one in particular is all down to how a seller lists the item and which postage options they select. 

[dylan11235813]

thats a really small cat...meow

[dylan11235813]

I would class this as false advertising if they show it is free post and then go into a lisitng and it is not. Glitch or whatever it is, nice platform ebay have here.