Buyers now have to pay individually for each item, no more combining invoices :(

[purplerain55]

No joke, it was apparently trialled from 17th May til 26th June and is now being implemented on all ebay sales. Some will still have the old checkout until it is fully implemented.

Buyers have no option to pay later, it is apparently to stop non paying buyers. But it is affecting sales big time. I've been on ebay for over 12 years and I was totally confused when I attempted to purchase 17 items from 1 seller, seller was happy to combine postage. But when I attempted to buy the items I found I had no choice but to pay for each item individually, so I didn't buy them. So how confused will new ebay shoppers be.

At the same time I had a buyer wanting to combine items from my ebay store and was having the same issue. So I phoned ebay about it, at first the ebay rep thought we were pressing the wrong buttons and eventually she informed me that this will be how the new checkout will be for everyone. The buyer has to pay individually including postage costs, if they don't pay there is no sale. The seller can then refund the overpaid postage and then the seller has to contact ebay for a credit on the fees for the overpaid/credited postage.  

This sounds very complicated and it turned me off buying the 17 items I wanted to purchase, so how many other buyers are turning away because they don't like or don't understand the new checkout system.

Try it if you don't believe me, click on buy it now and you will see it takes you directly to the ebay checkout, there is no longer a COMMIT To BUY button, you either pay or there is no sale. It's to stop the non-paying buyers, but what about the buyers who want to buy lots of items and don't want to have to pay all those individual postage costs in the hope that the seller will refund the overpaid postage. 

Hoping ALL buyers & Sellers that aren't happy with this new system will contact ebay to voice their opinions. I think it's promoting off ebay sales, buy 1 item contact the seller or buyer and do the rest of the deal another way. Not that I'm promoting off-ebay sales, but if I thought of it I guess all others will too. 

Hoping Ebay will see some sense and revert back to the old checkout system. Maybe bring back the ability to NEG non-paying bidders to get rid of the time-wasters rather than fiddle with a system that has worked for over a decade.

No doubt there will be some that think this is a good idea, but if you actually try it as a buyer you will see how fumbled it is. On-line shopping should be as stream-lined as possible, having to pay and then wait for a refund is definitely not stream-lined.

[treasuresgalore]

Ebay ARE changing the shopping cart, not all are changed at present, that is why it's still working the good old fashioned way for some of you and not for others. I have been in contact with ebay and have ebay messages that I will paste into this thread, a lot of reading as they seem to take a long time to understand the question, but it's all there for those who want to read it.  Offering different payment methods doesn't make any difference, I offer PP and bank deposit and it's happened to me already, it is scaring buyers away, my sales are pathetic. And as a buyer myself I have also experienced it, it is not that some buyers know how to use the system and some don't. It is honest fact/truth that the 'request total from seller' option is no longer there (for some,not all at present, but it will be all once ebay have fully implemented this new 'improvement').

I've cut and pasted the messages I've sent and received to and from ebay, start at the bottom to read in order, top message being most recent. Most definitely not a step in the right direction, this is bad in so many ways, but no-one I've spoken to at ebay can see that it's a bad idea.  

Read and believe, it is not some BS story made up by the OP, it is fact....................

Hello Deirdre,

Thank you for getting back at us about your concern on the postage. I understand that you wish to know more about how postage works if a buyer makes a purchase on several items from the same seller.

Deirdre, by default yes every time a buyer orders from the same seller the postage calculation by the system will be based upon the postage cost and the number of quantities of the items ordered if it is below $800 will be required to be paid immediately.

In this case, what you can do if a buyer orders several items from you under $800 is that you can inform them to add the items to the cart and make the payments that way so that it will allow the purchases to be combined. Or you can simply send them a manual invoice through PayPal and you may need to contact us to re-adjust the fees involved with the transaction on your end since you will be charged for the Final Value Fee on Shipping for the items.

Thank you for choosing eBay. 

Kind regards,

Ray P.

eBay Customer Service

From: Deidre 
Sent: 7/17/2017 11:45:43 AM
To: "customerhelp_au@ebay.com" <customerhelp_au@ebay.com>
CC: 
Subject: Re: Getting paid SR# 1-121083136019

Hello John

Thankyou for your reply.  Can you please enlighten me on how it works for multiple items. Your explanation in previous message only talks about 1 buy it now item, what

is the procedure if a buyer is purchasing more than 1 item from the same seller?  It is my experience that there is no option to 'request total from seller', meaning that if the seller has

postage added to each item, then the buyer will have to pay the postage cost for each item even if all purchased at the same time. So there is no longer the option to combine postage, is this correct?

I was told by the CS rep I spoke to over the phone, that if the sale  of multiple items is under $800, the buyer will  have to pay ALL the added up postage costs and then it is up to the seller to offer a refund of overpaid postage and then contact ebay for a refund of FVF on the overcharged postage. Is this really true? 

best regards, Deidre (treasuresgalore)

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From: customerhelp_au@ebay.com <customerhelp_au@ebay.com>
Sent: Monday, 17 July 2017 1:05 PM
To:
Subject: RE: Getting paid SR# 1-121083136019

RE: Getting paid SR# 1-121083136019

Hello Deidre,

Thank you for getting back to us about the changes in the checkout process.

Deidre, yes, the change is legit. All the items that are $800 below will be required to be paid immediately. The buyers can no longer ask sellers for invoices. If the buyer will click the Buy It Now button, they will be asked to pay immediately and will automatically be redirected to the checkout page. You can no longer add the item to cart since you have to pay it immediately.

We don't have any links or pages where you can read the details of this change since this is new. Don't worry, we'll notify you, our valued members, once we have the pages where you can read the details.

Thank you for choosing eBay. Enjoy the rest of the day.

Kind regards,

John L.

eBay Customer Service

[*tippy*toes*]

Contrafdicting replies. John says buyers can no longer add items to the cart, they will be sent directly to checkout. Then Ray says if a buyer wants more than 1 item to add them to the cart. Who is right?

Is this another ploy by ebay to force sellers to offer "free" postage?

[gillians_gallery]

"In this case, what you can do if a buyer orders several items from you under $800 is that you can inform them to add the items to the cart and make the payments that way so that it will allow the purchases to be combined. Or you can simply send them a manual invoice through PayPal and you may need to contact us to re-adjust the fees involved with the transaction"

Wow this reply is shocking. So we have to magically know if a buyer is going to buy 2 things or expect them to ask first? Send a manual invoice through paypal? Yeah and then get warned for off site trading. And contact ebay manually to get the fees back? This is so backwards...

[mbselections00]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

Contrafdicting replies. John says buyers can no longer add items to the cart, they will be sent directly to checkout. Then Ray says if a buyer wants more than 1 item to add them to the cart. Who is right?

Is this another ploy by ebay to force sellers to offer "free" postage?

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I was thinking the exact same thing - it's looking very much that way and it just won't work with my small items, it would be more acceptable with the larger pieces, but still not ideal.  I've had several extremely frustrated buyers message me in the last 2 weeks saying they have been directed to pay immediately and cannot request total / invoice from the cart.  I suggested they try the old way, BIN, Commit to Buy but don't pay, it wouldn't work, so buyer bought and paid separately and had the good sense to message me, and suggested throw in some freebies or upgrade the postage, so I did both   Another frustrated buyer had the sense to buy just one of the items she wanted (got my details) and then rang me - not my fault eBay, you brought that on yourselves.  One has to wonder though, how many buyers would just give up ?

[mbselections00]

Thanks for sharing Deidre, the whole notion that they could possibly think this is a positive move is quite preposterous.  No wonder sales are so bad - what kind of a buying experience is this ?  it is leading to so much frustration and angst for our customers - I have had a couple message me, but it really concerns me how many just give up.  eBay may think they are going to increase their bottom line with extra sneaky FVF's on postage, but I think it will come back to bite them and in the meanwhile sellers will suffer also - if we all bother to and waste our time to request FVF refunds on refunded postage, they will need a lot more staff.  I have never bothered in the past, but if this is the way they are going to force buyers to pay, I will be requesting refunds in the future - but of course there'll be no refund of all the additional PayPal 30cent per payment fees

[everard6920]

Hmm . . . I'm still not satisfied with those answers . . . they contradict themselves.

I'm going to request a call back and try to get to the bottom of this.

[mbselections00]

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@everard6920 wrote:

Hmm . . . I'm still not satisfied with those answers . . . they contradict themselves.

I'm going to request a call back and try to get to the bottom of this.

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Let's know what response they give you

[everard6920]

Okay, I requested a call back and spoke to Christine.

Basically went like this:

Me: "Many buyers and sellers are concerned about a proposed change to the cart. Are there any proposed changes to the cart?"

Christine: "The change is not to the cart. The change is to the "buy it now" button. eBay management is alarmed about the high number of unpaid items, and buyers tell us that they tend to press the "buy it now" button and then forget about it and not pay, so this is why eBay is requiring immediate payment via the "buy it now" button for items under US $1000 (AU$800)."

"However, don't be concerned, because the buyer can still add the items to the cart to receive combined postage."

Me: "Okay - so one more question - currently, after a buyer has added items to the cart, they can press a "request total from seller" button. Is that button going to stay?"

Christine: "Yes, there are no changes to the cart. Just the "buy it now"."

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but she seemed to know what she was talking about (unlike most of them . . .)

[mbselections00]

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@everard6920 wrote:

Okay, I requested a call back and spoke to Christine.

Basically went like this:

Me: "Many buyers and sellers are concerned about a proposed change to the cart. Are there any proposed changes to the cart?"

Christine: "The change is not to the cart. The change is to the "buy it now" button. eBay management is alarmed about the high number of unpaid items, and buyers tell us that they tend to press the "buy it now" button and then forget about it and not pay, so this is why eBay is requiring immediate payment via the "buy it now" button for items under US $1000 (AU$800)."

"However, don't be concerned, because the buyer can still add the items to the cart to receive combined postage."

Me: "Okay - so one more question - currently, after a buyer has added items to the cart, they can press a "request total from seller" button. Is that button going to stay?"

Christine: "Yes, there are no changes to the cart. Just the "buy it now"."

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but she seemed to know what she was talking about (unlike most of them . . .)

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Really ? What a load of rubbish, (hope I don't jinx myself here) I couldn't ell you the last time I had an unpaid item it was so long ago and it has been my experience over the last two weeks that buyers most certainly can't request a total from the seller once added to the cart.

So while she may know what she is talking about, and describing how the system SHOULD work, from what I'm experiencing that is not how it's working at all

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@everard6920 wrote:

". . . . so this is why eBay is requiring immediate payment via the "buy it now" button for items under US $1000 (AU$800)."

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I wish that was the current exchange rate