topic Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now. in Buying

Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 12:07:37 GMT

Hi buyers,

This is just a warning from a seller that eBay has setup some of your accounts to immediate payment. It means that if you are buying multiple items from one seller you wont be able to request combined postage from them.

Sorry I do not know where exactly it is in your setting but I can point you to one sign that will tell you if you have this setting set ON.

Those who do not have it On will see a "Confirm" button on the next page after you click "Buy it now button. If you click confirm you can request total from a seller

Those who has this setting turn ON by eBay will see a "Confirm & Pay" after clicking buy it now. In this case you will pay for one item straight.

This will aslo get Paypal reacher.with extra fixed fee taken from each payment. If you do not know Paypal charges a fixed fee(about $0.30) from each payment on top of their percentage. That fee is not refundable . When your seller combines purchases you sent total for all payment once and pay a fexed fee once. When you forced to pay for each item separatelly you payp a fixed fee for each payment

I do custom wooden signs and it is critical from me that I can update my buyer invoice specifying what my buyers are paying for and how much they need to pay. Now even my regular customers who has it turn it ON having troubles paying for their orders. Not to mention how much time is wasted.

All Thanks go to eBay for screwing both buyers and sellers changing their account settings without even asking them. I have explained it to them with my last call but I do not think they are going to remove it.

I wil also post it on facebook ebay.com.au page so everybody can see what they are doing.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

padi*0409 — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 12:19:38 GMT

oz, I've gone through my account settings and nowhere can I see this setting you're talking about.

I was under the impression that it was only a payment setting that eBay had applied to some sellers BINs without their knowledge.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

lyndal1838 — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 12:44:19 GMT

It has nothing to do with any setting on a buyer's account. It has everything to do with ebay making it a default setting on listings.

It was announced that they are graudually turning all listins into Immediate Payment Required.

There is no point telling your buyers that they need to change their settings....they have no more control over it than you do.

The only way a buyer can request a total is by using the Shopping Cart....add all your purchases in there and then request a total from the seller.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 15:23:58 GMT

@padi*0409 wrote:
oz, I've gone through my account settings and nowhere can I see this setting you're talking about.

I was under the impression that it was only a payment setting that eBay had applied to some sellers BINs without their knowledge.

I talked to eBay and they confirmed that they set it up to stop un[paid items. Since some of my customers can just click Confirm without paying and some cannot kind of proves it.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 15:36:23 GMT

@lyndal1838 wrote:
It has nothing to do with any setting on a buyer's account. It has everything to do with ebay making it a default setting on listings.
It was announced that they are graudually turning all listins into Immediate Payment Required.

There is no point telling your buyers that they need to change their settings....they have no more control over it than you do.

The only way a buyer can request a total is by using the Shopping Cart....add all your purchases in there and then request a total from the seller.

I'd wish it was that simple. My item does not set to imediate payment. It has never been because it is a special item that I use for custom orders. It has been created with an idea to change total for each customer.

The shopping cart has no use for me as there are no multiple items that a buyer can request combine postage for. It is a single item. If you add a single item to a shopping cart you cannot request total. it is grey out. Moreover if you add 10 pcs of the same item you still cannot reuest total. At least I have just tried it and "reuest total is still grey out.

And it would make sense if only new eBay users are affacted because some of them do not know how eBay works and usually are the ones who are not payiong for their purchases. However even my old customers who are on eBay for years are forced to pay at the same time they confirm their purchase leaving me with headaches of how to get the rest of their payment.

Sure I know how but it takes a lot of extra time that somebody should pay for, extra fees to Paypal and a possible breach of eBay policies on being forced to do a sale off eBay for the remaining balance.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 23:24:48 GMT

I would think it happens because of this https://www.paypal.com/selfhelp/article/FAQ3033/13 and I have set it to ON in Paypal but when I click Buy it now for a random item I see a "comit to buy" button only on the next page. Actually the whole checkout looks now as in old days

So there is soimething wrong happening with some buyers accounts and it is not because of Paypal OneTouch. I know my regular clients have not done anything with their eBay/paypal accounts and they still cannot confirm their purchases without paying for them at the same time.

There is nothing about it on eBay help pages but an ebay rep has confirmed that they have done it to stop unpaid cases. So it should be somewhere where it is set to ON.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

padi*0409 — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 23:36:19 GMT

Oz, I've just tried to "buy" a couple of your items, yes if I go to "buy now" it has immediate payment activated, but if I put 3 items in the cart I can request the total for them - and I have "one touch" activated....................

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:08:01 GMT

Thank padi, I know it works with a shopping cart but how many buyers know that now they cannot do it in a normal way it used to be and need to use a shopping cart. At the beginning when they just made the cart there was no way to request total from their shopping cart. At least they have fixed it.

However my problem is more than that. As I mentioned above I use just a single item that I ask my buyers to buy for their custom orders so I can adjust its total and specify what they are ordering before they pay. Will the shopping cart work the same way and allow to request total from me for just one single item I do not know.

If it is not to much trouble can you please remove all my items from your cart, add this item http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Custom-wooden-words-names-laser-cut-out-PLEASE-DO-NOT-BUY-without-my-quote-/141053450204?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT and see if you can still request total for it. If it works that way I will just ask my buyers to use a cart instead of Buy It Now.

It is still quite inconvenient and bad that they did it with Buy it Now but I do not really have time to complain and wine about it. I just do not want to spend any extra of my and my buyers time and confuse them with something that is not working anymore

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

padi*0409 — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:19:49 GMT

Nope oz, the "request total" is greyed out - probably because there's only one item in the cart and that already has the postage value on it.

The only get around I can think of is to put a large BIN on it with "best offer", obviously you don't want to sell the item for $2.00

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:30:32 GMT

Thank you. I am getting the same for any single item.

I have a Best Offer feature turn on for this item so it seems the only way for me even though I do not really like to use it.

If you send a buyer an offer with some notes they are kind of lost, they are not sent to a seller email when you send an offer to a buyer. I need to dig for them just to make them visible in Selling manager and add to my order fulfillment soft. .

And I cannot change post cost with best offer, I have to wait for a buyer to accept it and hope they won't pay straight away after it is accepted and give me some time to update their invoices.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

twyngwyn — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:48:30 GMT

see this thread where ebay attempt to have the answer:

http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Chat-with-eBay-staff/Selling-on-eBay-Thursday-21-September-from-11-30am/m-p/2089648#M51

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 01:34:55 GMT

@twyngwyn wrote:
see this thread where ebay attempt to have the answer:

http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Chat-with-eBay-staff/Selling-on-eBay-Thursday-21-September-from-11-30am/m-p/2089648#M51

Thank you mate. It was not hard to guess eBay did it especially after I was told about it by them.

It is shame I did not know about this chat. I have so much to say to them publicly and see them reply that way about some features like free postage that not helping anybody and simply ripping off buyers. I also would raise a question about their unfair practise when they lower sellers in search results because they do not offer free shipping and one day processing time. I will keep an eye on that board and hope I will have a chance to ask these questions.

I went from a few thousands a month just three years ago to less than a thousand now. My fees vs turnover is close to 20-25% now while it was less than 10% with my store fess included three years ago. At least there was a way to sell here without spending too much time. It seems it is coming to an end for me.

I think the biggest problem for eBay that all these new "features" are invented by their stuff who have not even a slightest idea how online business works And that what is killing sellers and eventually it may come to an end for eBay. If they cannot(do not want to) employ good business analytics it is just a matter of time before they screw up themselves.

I cannot wait for Amazon Australia to open their stores.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

imastawka — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 01:46:42 GMT

OMG another one who thinks Amazon is the be-all and end-all.

Check out how much it is to sell stuff on there before wishing for it.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 02:22:32 GMT

@imastawka wrote:
OMG another one who thinks Amazon is the be-all and end-all.

Check out how much it is to sell stuff on there before wishing for it.

It has nothing to do with how much they charge for selling.

1)it is a competitor to eBay that will help to lower selling cost for all of us overall

2)it is a huge marketplace that will be an additional selling channel locally for me

And even if it is going to charge extra to what eBay charges but works without all these glitches and destructive features I wil just stick to them and dump eBay forever.

As for your avdice to check their fess, can you enlighten me how I can do it if it is not open yet?

I gues you cannot, so what was your point actually?

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

imastawka — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 02:32:19 GMT

Amazon has had no effect on the US market competing with ebay, why should it

make any difference here?

Amazon have an Aussie web address to check the selling fees, but I can't post it here.

The percentage depends on the category. Between 8% and 25%

Edited to say, there have been too many posters thinking that Amazon will be their saviour, that's all

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

ozstockman — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 03:23:14 GMT

@imastawka wrote:
Amazon has had no effect on the US market competing with ebay, why should it
make any difference here?

Amazon have an Aussie web address to check the selling fees, but I can't post it here.

The percentage depends on the category. Between 8% and 25%

Edited to say, there have been too many posters thinking that Amazon will be their saviour, that's all

How can you tell it has no effect? Are you from a parallel universe where only one of these two companies exists in USA?

You cannot post their fees because they do not exist for Amazon Australia. The fees you see are for USA market. I am registered with them for update on selling in Australia and I am registered on amazon dot com.

And actually it is not about who is cheaper, it is about selling cost vs time spent on selling through a channel.

Before I paid 10% to eBay in total per month and I did not have to spend more than 1 minute(excluding communication) for each of my customers custom orders. Now I pay 20-25% and this one minute sometimes turns into 20 or even more if I have to call to eBay and ask why what used to be normal and could be done quick either does not work or takes much more time to do. At the cheapest $22/hour rate that's about $7 just for figuring out how to go around eBay glitches and new "features" and it can be $12-15 for me a product that I have to make first and this on top of increased fees and less sales because of their new features.

I would rather pay 25-30% to Amazon or any selling channel if it allows to go back to that 1 minute spent on as simple task as adjusting my customer invoice, or sending them a proof. I spent 15 minutes yesterday just trying to attach an image to my message. It did not work from any browser and it took 15 minutes, then I had to find an image hosting just to shown my customer what is is buying so it came to almost 25 minutes considering that I have to send my buyer an extra message. It was exactly $12 order without shipping for her custom order and I am not even getting $12 after all fees I have to pay.

Sure I do not know how much and how easier it will be to sell on amazon but we will see. That's why I said I cannot wait for them to open and I consider your "OMG" as abosutelly inpropriate comment. It looked like that you know my business and all problems assotioated with running it on eBay better than me.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

michellebartley — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 05:32:16 GMT

Yes I cant wait til Amazon are up and running. Good competition for Ebay and hey! we will probably get an Australian Amazon forum.

Re: Be aware Some of you cannot request combined postage now.

phorum_junkie* — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 09:24:34 GMT

I wonder what Amazon will do if a buyer tries to breach Austrlian customs law?

I have sold on ebay or many years, initially in the UK, and no way would I ever try to sell on Amazon. It is not easier, it is much more buyer than seller friendly and in most cases more expensive.