Discount vouchers.

[geebee27]

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

[davewil1964]

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.

[kopenhagen5]

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 ?

[geebee27]

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

[geebee27]

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

Sorry again.

[*tippy*toes*]

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. 

[geebee27]

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.

[davewil1964]

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?

[brerrabbit585]

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?

[geebee27]

And I answer again...

Reduced postage == Yes

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