Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I contacted the seller and he said he has been fighting with Ebay over this. It seems Ebay now charge a fee from the seller for the postage amount that the seller charges. His only way around it is to refund the excess postage costs to the buyer, in doing so it is costing him money.
This happened to me with two different sellers last night. I have made purchases from both in the last few months and never had a problem, both sellers reside in Australia. I bought two items from another dealer in Australia and had no problem. Leads me to believe there is a certain postage dollar value that triggers this charge.
Sure doesn't sound like a level playing field to me. Has anyone else had this problem?
Frustrated to say the least.
Cheers
Lyall
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If the item being sold was listed in Australian dollars, you can't combine it with items that were listed by the same seller in US dollars. The shopping cart system can't combine items from the same seller that are listed in different currencies.
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I can commiserate with your experience. I cannot claim any inside knowledge of how the eBay checkout system works, but my experience has been that "Buy It Now" means quite literally that--once you start the transaction, the system is geared to the buyer completing the transaction immediately without further additions. My solution has been to avoid Buy It Now listings unless one truly is the only item a seller offers which interests me and the BIN price happens to seem reasonable.
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I have had this same problem on eBay.UK but it's inconsistent. It doesn't happen with all sellers.
About a week ago, I contacted a seller about this error message when I tried to buy three items. Despite me explaining what was happening, the barmpot just couldn't grasp the problem.
In the end I gave up.
This leads me to think that this may be a setting that is seller controlled and not eBay.
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If you are purchasing multiple items from a seller, you must use the "Add to Cart" button, not "Buy It Now." You will then get one combined invoice. However, it may or may not show a combined shipping charge, depending on the store settings the dealer has implemented. I had an ebay store for a while and found the system confusing. It took a few sales, with customers complaining about one thing or another, for me to get everything straight.
If you are experiencing problems with familiar dealers, I would suggest patience on your part, and communication with them to resolve the issue, as they are probably just as confused as you are.
Ted
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"the barmpot"
That's a new one on me. I must remember it.
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"This leads me to think that this may be a setting that is seller controlled and not eBay."
I think you are correct. I've run into it both ways... the items where it forces you to pay now, and ones where there is a button below "Buy It Now" marked "Add To Cart".. or maybe it's the difference between having a store or not?
Also, I've had the carts that build and add full postage charge with each item, although the seller says they'll combine, and I've had carts build by reducing the cost of postage on each item to make the promised total.
The mysteries of eBay... or the skills of sellers. By the wide variety of packaging of the very same item I receive I think the sellers!
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""the barmpot""
He must mean "Numpty"!
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I'm relying on memory at the moment, and not able to go back and check, but I think it's the eBay seller's business policies for "payment" where a seller can check to require immediate payment. I have a feeling that there are sellers who don't realize that that is checked, or that they may have intended to require it for certain items and not for others.
But I have a note in all my eBay listings at the bottom to encourage buyers to use the "add to cart" button, in order to get the lowest possible combined shipping. I'm not sure how often someone sees it, but I created it after having a problem with a buyer who was buying multiple items but paying for each of them separately, because eBay was forcing him to do that when he used the "buy it now" button (which, of course, is the topmost "buy" button a buyer sees).
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One tries not to become cynical but regarding the shopping cart option versus buyers who buy each item one by one, paying for each one separately.
The cart option does not protect the buyer from having one or more items in the cart from being purchased by another buyer.
The non cynical me is mystified by this procedure rather than one that allows the buyer to browse, add to the cart and have it held safe for, let's just say, one hour after the last item is added. I believe Roy's shopping cart operates like this or in a similar fashion.
The cynical me thinks that each time a buyer pays for an item rather than sending it to the cart, that item is of course purchased but that single item now has a transaction fee which is the same charge whether one item or ten items are part of that transaction. Paypal benefits from this happening to the seller.
So, the buyer to protect himself and obtain what he wants, continues to buy item by item, wracking up for the seller that transaction fee multiplied by however many singular purchases are made.
This can grow pretty costly for a seller. Most sellers will combine the postage via a refund rather than allow the huge postage amount to stand.
Bruce
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Lately my eBay purchases have been for my New Jersey postmark cover collection and I've been keeping the per cover prices low. Whenever I find something, I then check the seller's other auctions to see if I can buy multiple items to reduce the per item postage cost. Say I find, someone with dollar covers who also gets a dollar for postage. That makes for a $2 cover. If he has 3 more similar items, and combines postage, they all become $1.33 covers.
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I have done some checking and there seem to be two different screens/listings, one has no 'buy it now' button and some do. I have bid on items from sellers with the BIN button and some provide you with the 'commit now' option and others take you to a screen where you must pay now. I am beginning to believe that Benfranklin1902 is right, it is the sellers.
My snooping continues..........
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In re reading the various replies to my thread, I see it was Ningpo who suggested it could be seller initiated and not Ebay. Sorry for that oversight. I have never sold on Ebay so I have no experience from the seller side.
I really trusted these two sellers and am rather disappointed that they would blame Ebay when they are the problem, if that is the case. These two sellers are not first timers. They have been selling on Ebay for many years. I guess I am too trusting.
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Not only do we have to endure the endless fiddling by eBay, such as the pathetic change to 'searches you follow', from plain 'searches' and that most worthy addition: 'My Collections' (what on earth is all that about?), we now have to struggle with sellers unable to set up their accounts correctly.
Maybe this isn't their fault and is due to the over complicated seller options that eBay implements. I don't know as I have never sold on eBay.
Whatever the cause, I no longer have the patience to endure it. Sellers will lose sales and then wonder why. They either have to get their act together, or if it is an eBay instigated problem, complain.
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The thing that's driving me nuts about eBay as a buyer lately is the amount of junk emails they send to me!
I browse a lot of auctions looking to see if a specific lot-- covers and postcards -- has a decent NJ cancel for my collection. I get all these emails "Are you still interested in..."
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05:11:29pm
"The thing that's driving me nuts about eBay as a buyer lately is the amount of junk emails they send to me!"
Go to your "My eBay". Click on the "Account" tab. Choose "Communications preferences" and then open each of the sections in turn. You may be amazed at how much you can turn off.
Roy
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Had a "buy now" sale at my store yesterday, for which the buyer has not yet paid.
I will not buy the EBay postage until paid, but did want to get the packing slip to get the package ready. I was not permitted to print it.
There must be new software. In the past, I have completed the package (packing slip and postage) for repeat customers before receiving payment.
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I would assume that a "buy now" would indicate a "pay now".
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Sean ...
EBay said: Your eBay item sold! US #296 unused OG/PH, Pan-American Expo. Dealer catalog $200 282289510089
ALL of my items are Buy-it-now.
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"I would assume that a "buy now" would indicate a "pay now"."
Not necessarily. A seller has an option to require immediate payment for a "buy it now" purchase, but the seller has to select it. If not, immediate payment is not required.
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Why would you buy it now and not pay for it right away? It's not like Carl has auctions that are coming to an end, all his auctions are buy it now. It makes no sense to me.
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Sean, it's the first time it has happened to me. In fact, I always feel a little silly thanking them for their prompt payment.
The buyer is from Brazil, and there may be a currency exchange problem.
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Carl said:
"There must be new software. In the past, I have completed the package (packing slip and postage) for repeat customers before receiving payment."
I began having similar problems at PayPal a few weeks ago related to HipStamp sales after receiving PayPal payments. In fact, I've had three sales where PayPal wouldn't let me print the shipping label. In one case I was finally able to get it printed by going back to their "classic" site on the second attempt. Getting to the PayPal page to print the packing slip has been a problem on most recent HipStamp sales that are paid via PayPal.
I soon learned that HipStamp knew of the PayPal shipping label problem and was working to get it resolved. I'm not sure it is fully resolved.
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"Why would you buy it now and not pay for it right away?"
Because often I will buy more than one item from a seller. If I have to pay for each individual item as soon as I click on the buy it now, I'll have to pay the individual shipping rate for each item, even if the seller offers combined shipping. Then, the seller has to (hopefully) refund my over payment of the shipping costs.
When clicking on the buy it now for each item where the seller does not require immediate payment, I can combine all the items I bought into one payment, automatically get the seller's combined shipping discount and pay for the entire purchase with just one payment rather than multiple payments.
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Sellers appreciate it if you pay for all your items at one time because they get hit with a Paypal per transaction fee if you pay for each one individually. So if a seller has "Add to Cart" along with "Buy It Now", add it to the cart and pay for everything at one time.
Paypal shipping labels - I wouldn't use these. It just alerts postal thieves that there's some thing valuable in the envelope or package. I notice some of the biggest sellers on eBay don't even use a company name, just their own name, as the sending address to make the shipment look as normal as possible.
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"Paypal shipping labels - I wouldn't use these."
I only use them for higher value sales where insurance is involved. Otherwise, I agree that plain and simple unobtrusive mailings are the best way to go.
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Another advantage is that tracking is included.
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11:42:28am
I have bought a number of lots using Ebay and usually from the same sellers. Last night I bought an item via 'Buy now' and was blocked from adding more items to the invoice by Ebay. They wanted me to pay for the item right now. So, I tried using the cart, buying several lots. All seemed well until I committed to buy and asked for a combined shipping invoice. I received an error code and a message from Ebay stating this seller did not offer combined shipping. Poppycock! I have always enjoyed combined shipping from this seller and his site states he offers combined shipping.
I contacted the seller and he said he has been fighting with Ebay over this. It seems Ebay now charge a fee from the seller for the postage amount that the seller charges. His only way around it is to refund the excess postage costs to the buyer, in doing so it is costing him money.
This happened to me with two different sellers last night. I have made purchases from both in the last few months and never had a problem, both sellers reside in Australia. I bought two items from another dealer in Australia and had no problem. Leads me to believe there is a certain postage dollar value that triggers this charge.
Sure doesn't sound like a level playing field to me. Has anyone else had this problem?
Frustrated to say the least.
Cheers
Lyall
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this post
re: Ebay Charges........
If the item being sold was listed in Australian dollars, you can't combine it with items that were listed by the same seller in US dollars. The shopping cart system can't combine items from the same seller that are listed in different currencies.
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02:07:34pm
re: Ebay Charges........
I can commiserate with your experience. I cannot claim any inside knowledge of how the eBay checkout system works, but my experience has been that "Buy It Now" means quite literally that--once you start the transaction, the system is geared to the buyer completing the transaction immediately without further additions. My solution has been to avoid Buy It Now listings unless one truly is the only item a seller offers which interests me and the BIN price happens to seem reasonable.
Login to Like
this post
re: Ebay Charges........
I have had this same problem on eBay.UK but it's inconsistent. It doesn't happen with all sellers.
About a week ago, I contacted a seller about this error message when I tried to buy three items. Despite me explaining what was happening, the barmpot just couldn't grasp the problem.
In the end I gave up.
This leads me to think that this may be a setting that is seller controlled and not eBay.
Login to Like
this post
re: Ebay Charges........
If you are purchasing multiple items from a seller, you must use the "Add to Cart" button, not "Buy It Now." You will then get one combined invoice. However, it may or may not show a combined shipping charge, depending on the store settings the dealer has implemented. I had an ebay store for a while and found the system confusing. It took a few sales, with customers complaining about one thing or another, for me to get everything straight.
If you are experiencing problems with familiar dealers, I would suggest patience on your part, and communication with them to resolve the issue, as they are probably just as confused as you are.
Ted
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re: Ebay Charges........
"the barmpot"
That's a new one on me. I must remember it.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Approvals
re: Ebay Charges........
"This leads me to think that this may be a setting that is seller controlled and not eBay."
I think you are correct. I've run into it both ways... the items where it forces you to pay now, and ones where there is a button below "Buy It Now" marked "Add To Cart".. or maybe it's the difference between having a store or not?
Also, I've had the carts that build and add full postage charge with each item, although the seller says they'll combine, and I've had carts build by reducing the cost of postage on each item to make the promised total.
The mysteries of eBay... or the skills of sellers. By the wide variety of packaging of the very same item I receive I think the sellers!
Login to Like
this post
re: Ebay Charges........
I'm relying on memory at the moment, and not able to go back and check, but I think it's the eBay seller's business policies for "payment" where a seller can check to require immediate payment. I have a feeling that there are sellers who don't realize that that is checked, or that they may have intended to require it for certain items and not for others.
But I have a note in all my eBay listings at the bottom to encourage buyers to use the "add to cart" button, in order to get the lowest possible combined shipping. I'm not sure how often someone sees it, but I created it after having a problem with a buyer who was buying multiple items but paying for each of them separately, because eBay was forcing him to do that when he used the "buy it now" button (which, of course, is the topmost "buy" button a buyer sees).
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04:40:56pm
re: Ebay Charges........
One tries not to become cynical but regarding the shopping cart option versus buyers who buy each item one by one, paying for each one separately.
The cart option does not protect the buyer from having one or more items in the cart from being purchased by another buyer.
The non cynical me is mystified by this procedure rather than one that allows the buyer to browse, add to the cart and have it held safe for, let's just say, one hour after the last item is added. I believe Roy's shopping cart operates like this or in a similar fashion.
The cynical me thinks that each time a buyer pays for an item rather than sending it to the cart, that item is of course purchased but that single item now has a transaction fee which is the same charge whether one item or ten items are part of that transaction. Paypal benefits from this happening to the seller.
So, the buyer to protect himself and obtain what he wants, continues to buy item by item, wracking up for the seller that transaction fee multiplied by however many singular purchases are made.
This can grow pretty costly for a seller. Most sellers will combine the postage via a refund rather than allow the huge postage amount to stand.
Bruce
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re: Ebay Charges........
Lately my eBay purchases have been for my New Jersey postmark cover collection and I've been keeping the per cover prices low. Whenever I find something, I then check the seller's other auctions to see if I can buy multiple items to reduce the per item postage cost. Say I find, someone with dollar covers who also gets a dollar for postage. That makes for a $2 cover. If he has 3 more similar items, and combines postage, they all become $1.33 covers.
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09:51:57am
re: Ebay Charges........
I have done some checking and there seem to be two different screens/listings, one has no 'buy it now' button and some do. I have bid on items from sellers with the BIN button and some provide you with the 'commit now' option and others take you to a screen where you must pay now. I am beginning to believe that Benfranklin1902 is right, it is the sellers.
My snooping continues..........
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10:13:06am
re: Ebay Charges........
In re reading the various replies to my thread, I see it was Ningpo who suggested it could be seller initiated and not Ebay. Sorry for that oversight. I have never sold on Ebay so I have no experience from the seller side.
I really trusted these two sellers and am rather disappointed that they would blame Ebay when they are the problem, if that is the case. These two sellers are not first timers. They have been selling on Ebay for many years. I guess I am too trusting.
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re: Ebay Charges........
Not only do we have to endure the endless fiddling by eBay, such as the pathetic change to 'searches you follow', from plain 'searches' and that most worthy addition: 'My Collections' (what on earth is all that about?), we now have to struggle with sellers unable to set up their accounts correctly.
Maybe this isn't their fault and is due to the over complicated seller options that eBay implements. I don't know as I have never sold on eBay.
Whatever the cause, I no longer have the patience to endure it. Sellers will lose sales and then wonder why. They either have to get their act together, or if it is an eBay instigated problem, complain.
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this post
Approvals
re: Ebay Charges........
The thing that's driving me nuts about eBay as a buyer lately is the amount of junk emails they send to me!
I browse a lot of auctions looking to see if a specific lot-- covers and postcards -- has a decent NJ cancel for my collection. I get all these emails "Are you still interested in..."
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BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 300 categories
22 Nov 2016
05:11:29pm
re: Ebay Charges........
"The thing that's driving me nuts about eBay as a buyer lately is the amount of junk emails they send to me!"
Go to your "My eBay". Click on the "Account" tab. Choose "Communications preferences" and then open each of the sections in turn. You may be amazed at how much you can turn off.
Roy
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re: Ebay Charges........
Had a "buy now" sale at my store yesterday, for which the buyer has not yet paid.
I will not buy the EBay postage until paid, but did want to get the packing slip to get the package ready. I was not permitted to print it.
There must be new software. In the past, I have completed the package (packing slip and postage) for repeat customers before receiving payment.
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re: Ebay Charges........
I would assume that a "buy now" would indicate a "pay now".
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re: Ebay Charges........
Sean ...
EBay said: Your eBay item sold! US #296 unused OG/PH, Pan-American Expo. Dealer catalog $200 282289510089
ALL of my items are Buy-it-now.
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re: Ebay Charges........
"I would assume that a "buy now" would indicate a "pay now"."
Not necessarily. A seller has an option to require immediate payment for a "buy it now" purchase, but the seller has to select it. If not, immediate payment is not required.
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re: Ebay Charges........
Why would you buy it now and not pay for it right away? It's not like Carl has auctions that are coming to an end, all his auctions are buy it now. It makes no sense to me.
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re: Ebay Charges........
Sean, it's the first time it has happened to me. In fact, I always feel a little silly thanking them for their prompt payment.
The buyer is from Brazil, and there may be a currency exchange problem.
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re: Ebay Charges........
Carl said:
"There must be new software. In the past, I have completed the package (packing slip and postage) for repeat customers before receiving payment."
I began having similar problems at PayPal a few weeks ago related to HipStamp sales after receiving PayPal payments. In fact, I've had three sales where PayPal wouldn't let me print the shipping label. In one case I was finally able to get it printed by going back to their "classic" site on the second attempt. Getting to the PayPal page to print the packing slip has been a problem on most recent HipStamp sales that are paid via PayPal.
I soon learned that HipStamp knew of the PayPal shipping label problem and was working to get it resolved. I'm not sure it is fully resolved.
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re: Ebay Charges........
"Why would you buy it now and not pay for it right away?"
Because often I will buy more than one item from a seller. If I have to pay for each individual item as soon as I click on the buy it now, I'll have to pay the individual shipping rate for each item, even if the seller offers combined shipping. Then, the seller has to (hopefully) refund my over payment of the shipping costs.
When clicking on the buy it now for each item where the seller does not require immediate payment, I can combine all the items I bought into one payment, automatically get the seller's combined shipping discount and pay for the entire purchase with just one payment rather than multiple payments.
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re: Ebay Charges........
Sellers appreciate it if you pay for all your items at one time because they get hit with a Paypal per transaction fee if you pay for each one individually. So if a seller has "Add to Cart" along with "Buy It Now", add it to the cart and pay for everything at one time.
Paypal shipping labels - I wouldn't use these. It just alerts postal thieves that there's some thing valuable in the envelope or package. I notice some of the biggest sellers on eBay don't even use a company name, just their own name, as the sending address to make the shipment look as normal as possible.
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re: Ebay Charges........
"Paypal shipping labels - I wouldn't use these."
I only use them for higher value sales where insurance is involved. Otherwise, I agree that plain and simple unobtrusive mailings are the best way to go.
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re: Ebay Charges........
Another advantage is that tracking is included.
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