buyer messaging, but no result.....scam? Not sure....

[nappy-2007]

Hi,  I recently had an item listed as $13.95 with $6 standard postage.  A buyer sent a message asking if they could get 3 of these items and how much the shipping would be. (obviously assuming I had 3, which I have).

I replied that, yes, I have 3 and the postage would remain at $6 whether you buy 1 or 3.

I got no reply and the watch count on that item returned to 0.

I'm not sure what happened!   Was my reply not good enough?  I thought keeping the post the same would be a good thing as the customer would have a little "win" and so would I in selling 3 instead of 1.

Or have I made a mistake in saying I have 3 in stock but have only 1 listed because that somehow would be "sneaky"?

In saying all this, if that customer were to have gone ahead, how would I have processed the sale?  I only accept PayPal.  I'm not trying to circumvent ebay by doing something like this - it's the first time I have had a request like this - but, in trying to gain a customer, I answered the request and thought "i'll work out the nitty gritty later"....

Please, can someone tell me which way to go in the future, or tell me whether I'm sailing too close to the breeze???  Thanks in advance!!  🙂 🙂

[digital*ghost]

This is just the sort of thing that happens sometimes - I think, at best, around 50% of the people who send me a question end up making a purchase. I had one recently that asked the same postage question twice (funnily enough, they wanted to buy three of the same item in different variations, and wanted me to reduce postage, which is less than $2 for one and automatically calculates to make all additional items purchased and paid for at the same time free post). 

In saying that, they wouldn't have had any way to purchase 3 items if only one is listed - if it's a Buy It Now item, the best thing to do is adjust the quantity available, as you can set it so that each additional item costs X amount (or 0) postage, which makes it easy for the buyer as there's no back and forth or waiting for an invoice (unless they buy 3 items separately instead of buying all three at once, then - for some stupid reason - the full P&H is charged on each one so an invoice with revised postage has to be issued). 

Generally, if buyers ask a question like that, I'll explain the answer and either revise the listing before I reply and tell them that the option is already available so that they can go ahead and make the purchase, or if it's something else I'll just explain what I/we'll need to do and to let me know if they'd like to go ahead so that I can do what's needed ASAP. 

[kopenhagen5]

I don't think you can read into this. The buyer may have decided not to buy for many reasons outside of anything you have done. They may have realized they don't need these any longer.

To combine items in an invoice, (providing buyer has made purchase of 3), select send invoice and tick all items then add postage and send. Do Not click recalculate.

If you only have the one listed and buyer asks, simply revise the listing with 3 items in the one listing. Then they can pay immediately without an invoice needing to be sent.

[zelly888]

Most of the time the watchers are actually the competitors in saying that sometimes when you have a watcher and then the watch count disappears could also mean that they might be ready to either buy or bid on your item and also it could mean that the potential buyer may have found the same item cheaper elsewhere.