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

[geebee27]

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.

[davewil1964]

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.

[geebee27]

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.

[brerrabbit585]

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.

[geebee27]

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.