topic Re: Discount vouchers. in Ask a member

Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 10:48:06 GMT

Recently bought two items from a seller using their "cart". When checking out and paying, I used the Discount voucher option and I got a discount listed on the final checkout.

The seller also offered combined postage on multiple items but the checkout procedure did not allow that and I was charged twice the postage. On contacting the seller, they refunded half the postage; excellent. But the discount on purchase was cancelled. When I asked the seller, they said Discount vouchers were "an Ebay thing" and not something they offered. So no discount honoured. My question is, is this an Ebay feature or was the discount ( obtained by entering "PRETZEL" in a discount field) just a trap to get buyers.

In the end, the discount and the combined postage on items was offered. But I only received the combined postage.

Could I ask for an opinion on this please.

Thanks

Re: Discount vouchers.

davewil1964 — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 10:49:06 GMT

I don't understand.

If you bought using the discount voucher then what you paid was that discounted price. If the seller refunded you part of the postage that, presumably, is sitting in your account.

I'm fairly sure eBay can't take money from your account, which is the only way they would get the discount back. Be aware that any pricing showing on eBay is pre-discount. What you have paid is the amount that came out of your Paypal account.

Re: Discount vouchers.

kopenhagen5 — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 11:07:45 GMT

Most vouchers are for item price only but occasionally they can be for item + postage.

Was the voucher perhaps for item plus postage as a minimum amount and you didn't qualify once the combined postage was applied ?

Re: Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 22:49:03 GMT

Sorry didn't explain myself particularly well.
At checkout: $131 + $168 +$50(postage) - $29.90 (discount) == $294.10
Then I asked about the combined postage and the seller generously refunded $25.
The updated invoice: $131 + $168 +$25 (combined post) == $324.00

Then I asked about the $29.90 in the original sale at checkout and they said, " The voucher that you used is not our voucher but one that has been generated by ebay themselves".
The seller has been very good with comms and discussing and I'm not going nitpick. But the comment about "ebay discount" not being anything to do with the actual seller was intriguing, hence my query.

cheers

Re: Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 23:01:33 GMT

Goodness, having a senior's moment....
Correction to the first calculation...
At checkout: $131 + $168 +$50(postage) - $29.90 (discount) == $319.10

Sorry again.

Re: Discount vouchers.

*tippy*toes* — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 01:11:14 GMT

The seller is correct, it's an eBay thing, not a seller thing. When you first went to pay, before the seller gave you the shipping discount, had you already inserted the promo code into the box? I'm wondering if it was a one time use code, and by you adding it to the payment, then realising you were paying too much postage, hit the back button, it has activated it, even though you didn't go through with the payment.

Alternatively, go into your PayPal account and see how much you actually paid. As mentioned, the price you see on eBay is the full amount, not the discounted amount. The discounted amount will show in PayPal.

Re: Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 06:58:12 GMT

Yes, I entered the promo code before any payment was made and it was itemised ( two items, plus twice postage minus discount) in the comfirmation step of the transaction and before calling the paypal login page to pay. I'd contacted teh seller long before I bought the items to ask how to select the combined postage when buying, and the answer was to select on payment. Unfortunately that option wasn't presented and I had to pay postage for each item at checkout as mentioned in the first sentence. Later the seller reimbursed half the postage. Yes Paypal tells me how much I paid ( the two items and reduced postage by no discount as offered by the ebay page). It's the discount option and the ebay page that's annoying me as it seems to be an ebay thing that can be meaningless by the looks of it. And if that's the case, grossly unfair on the seller as they're the ones that have to answer questions by buyers.

Re: Discount vouchers.

davewil1964 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 07:09:21 GMT

So, I ask again...

Did you pay the original discounted price?

If so, and the seller refunded you postage, how did eBay recover the discount you had already received?

Re: Discount vouchers.

brerrabbit585 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 08:13:04 GMT

If there's any refund when you use a voucher, ebay usually gets their discount back first (before the buyer gets anything). This would mean when a seller refunds anything, the amount of voucher would automatically go back to ebay.

geebee27, was there a link in checkout to request an invoice?

Re: Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 08:22:16 GMT

And I answer again...

Reduced postage == Yes

Discount supposedly offered by inputing a keyword redeem a voucher == No

Re: Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 08:44:11 GMT

I must be confusing everyone....because now I'm confused... 🙂

It wasn't a refund by using a voucher ( my poor wording). It was a discount on the ebay item page when entering a keyword in the discount dialogue box. The test on the item page was more like "discount/voucher" so my bad for confusing everyone. Let's ignore "voucher".

So There's two things happening at once here;
1) discount offered by (Ebay??) by entering a code in a text box on the ebay page when committing to buy and,
2) combined postage generously offered by the seller in the items description.

- At checkout, the invoice said costs for two items, 2 x $25 postage for each item, minus the said "discount" of $29.90.
- Message to seller after paying by PayPal: "please combine postage". Seller kindly refunds $25.

Invoice from seller : Two items costs, $25 postage, no discount. It's the 29.90 that's the issue as it's no longer visible. With the discount (from Ebay)) and the combined postage (from the seller) the whole lot should've been on my doorstep for well under $300. But I paid $320.

Doesn't matter. Sorry to waste people's time.

Re: Discount vouchers.

davewil1964 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 08:54:40 GMT

What does your Paypal account say?

Did you receive the refund from the seller or not?

If you initially paid using the discount/promo code, then that's what you paid. I don't understand why you would expect the transaction to have a promo code available AFTER you have already paid. It is a completed transaction, not a pending one, at that point.

So why would the seller send you an invoice? This is the salient point. If you've paid you don't need an invoice. And an invoice is pointless after you've paid. At least as to what the purchase cost was. Because you had already paid.

I'm assuming you didn't pay it, as you'd already paid. If you got the refund from the seller (it will show as a separate transaction) the total you paid will be the initial payment less the refund.

Unless, as said, eBay took the refund.

But we don't know if that is the case as you seem unwilling to answer questions about that.

Re: Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 09:29:50 GMT

I've confused the issue with you and that's my fault.

An invoice/receipt was sent as a "tax receipt". Not at all unusual. The seller has be fabulous. No problem there. All I wanted to do as stated at the beginning, was to understand the process.

The thing that tripped me was the arithmetic didn't add up.
Let me say also, I'm not unwilling to answer anything and I don't understand why you would say that. I've given the sequence of events for discussion and thus, to understand the process

Don't worry about it.

What i did learn was:

-discounts of this nature is an Ebay deal; and not the seller.

- it is visible at checkout/payment.

But, It may not appear on any payment records received from the seller as the seller is not paying for it, and that's why the email receipt was out of step with the charges.

The extra postage that was refunded out of sequence, was just "noise" and of no consequence other than the excellent support from the seller to honour the combined postage offer.

If there's any salient point, that's it.

Now I get it. Seller is paid, sends items with invoice/receipt with the transaction as he/she knows it. Ebay fund any discount redeemed by a passwork/keyword. Seller doesn't know about that or even cares, as that's between ebay and the buyer.

All good. I understand now. QED.

Re: Discount vouchers.

brerrabbit585 — Sun, 07 Jul 2019 01:05:44 GMT

Actually, you didn't answer a lot of questions because you didn't call things what they are. You talked about invoice when you meant a purchase record (which you get after you pay). An invoice is what you get if you buy without paying straight away, which you can now only do with some sellers because ebay has opted a lot of us in to immediate payments.

In future, if you want to use a voucher (yes, it IS called a voucher and it entitles you to a discount), either ask the seller to put both/all the items you want into one listing with a single postage amount and then put them in the cart, add the voucher code, then go through checkout and pay for them...

OR... put the items in your cart, don't add the voucher code, check to see whether there's a link to request a total from the seller. If there is a link for that, click on it (that means you've actually bought the items), and then the seller will send you an invoice with the correct postage. Do NOT pay until you receive that invoice. When you go to pay the invoice, put the voucher code in and then pay the discounted price. If there's no link to request a total, you're best to ask them to do a special listing with combined postage on it.

Re: Discount vouchers.

geebee27 — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 22:24:21 GMT

Ok mate. I'll consider myself whipped, corrected and belittled. As for the invoice, yes it was a purchase record that on the top of the PDF page said "Invoice" instead of "purchase record". Whatever. I still feel the message was in my original post and the rest of this was P&W. If it makes you feel better, I won't be back again.

In the end, I opened an online chat session with Ebay, I must say the online Ebay "chat" with "Adele" had this resolved and understood in < 5 minutes in a polite, helpful and professional manner. I paraphrased my original entry from this thread onto the "chat" session and received instant comprehension. And an interesting explanation.

Thank you to those who offered their time and assistance.