Best Offer no longer an option for me and I'm sure for many other members too

[k1ng_rocker]

Okay, last two times that I've been tempted to make an offer I've been asked to confirm payment details and postage etc.

This really is a problem for me and I guess for many others too, firstly I do understand it's to try and stop people not honouring payment after making an offer, but there is also a huge negative in my opinion:

There is no option to use Paypal credit or Paypal instalments that many people might want to use, this is effectively taking away the buyers control of their own account and hence (In my opinion) Many potential buyers will not make an offer and seller are potentially losing a sale because of it.

Does anybody know If this new system is now applied to every members - Best Offer - Listings?

As I do not want it applied to mine. If this now automatic on every best offer then I will no longer offer best offer in my listings.

[technthread]

I haven't come across this yet. I sent an offer out to a buyer over the weekend which they accepted and paid shortly after but payment wasn't required instantly. Maybe an offer sent by the buyer would have been different. 

What I would do if I wanted to use PayPal credit is I would message the seller to quickly explain, confirm the offer and ask if it is acceptable whether they would reduce the buy it now price. I know that isn't ideal, many sellers may simply ignore the message or you may lose out on the item to someone else in the meantime before you have chance to arrange the purchase.

So just out of interest, as I haven't bought anything from eBay recently, when you confirm payment details and postage can you now select a click and collect point? I know other users were complaining that they had to control over that so all of their orders were instantly placed to their home address.

[k1ng_rocker]

Hi, that's another good point about a collection point.

I was thinking of making an offer just a couple of days ago,  along with it asking for my payment method it also asked for my delivery address (This was already prefilled with my registered address) But when I clicked - change address - there was no click and collect option offered (Even though the seller did offer click and collect in the listing) So again, a huge fail in my opinion.

I wonder how may sellers realise how negitive this is to sales, and even know that it's happening? 

[technthread]

You may be right if sellers are losing sales over it they won't know why. I only heard of it via this forum. 

Just thinking about it, I use a cashback site for my eBay purchases but I have to go on that site first and have it divert me to eBay so I can checkout and get my 10% cashback on it. I would lose the ability to do that so it might put me off making an offer at a. 

It hasn't been thought through very well by eBay for sure. Even small changes I see on here, minor things like layout changes, don't make sense to me. I do wonder whether the team implementing them really use eBay themselves, if they did I can't see some of the changes being made. Either that or they don't feel they can put their hand up and point the issues out so just go along with what they are told to change. 

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

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@k1ng_rocker wrote:

Okay, last two times that I've been tempted to make an offer I've been asked to confirm payment details and postage etc.

This really is a problem for me and I guess for many others too, firstly I do understand it's to try and stop people not honouring payment after making an offer, but there is also a huge negative in my opinion:

There is no option to use Paypal credit or Paypal instalments that many people might want to use, this is effectively taking away the buyers control of their own account and hence (In my opinion) Many potential buyers will not make an offer and seller are potentially losing a sale because of it.

Does anybody know If this new system is now applied to every members - Best Offer - Listings?

As I do not want it applied to mine. If this now automatic on every best offer then I will no longer offer best offer in my listings.

It's not applied to my listimgs with offers because I've made sure that my selling preferences don't make this demand. I can see pro's and con's to confirming payment details before making an offer.

I experienced this on an item I made an offer on and wanted last week but had NO hesitation confirming payment details etc because I really wanted the item:-)

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[k1ng_rocker]

I think a lot of the time potential buyers don't honour an offer because of the long wait to see if their offer was successful.

I think it would be much better if ebay changed best offer so that the seller must input an accepted amount, then the potential buyer has 3 offers and if an offer reaches the right amount the buyer pays, but the item listing stays live until payment is made.

[douglaspuglas]

There have been quite a lot posts about this in the last couple of weeks.

Although the requirement for buyers making offers to provide a payment method before making an offer is something sellers can opt into, some have been saying eBay had opted them in without them knowing.

Something else that's dubious about it is that when a buyer has provided the info once it's automatically applied to every future offer they make.

If you are a seller you should check your buyer requirements to see if the box it ticked.

Here's a link. https://www.ebay.co.uk/bmgt/buyerrequirements 

Also have a read at this thread.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Buying/auto-pay-on-send-an-offer-items/td-p/7463228 

Apparently the pre approved payment option has already been added to auctions as well in the USA so it won't be long before it's over here. 

The way eBay is going there will only be Chinese sellers left.

[k1ng_rocker]

Hi, thanks for your reply,

So I can take it that this is not happening on my listings?

I'm not a registered business, but I sell and buy a fair amount of items for a camera club and members.

Do you know: Is this a tool only available to registered business sellers on ebay?

Because I do not see an option to include it or not when I'm listing an item.

[douglaspuglas]

It an option available for every seller.

If you click the buyer requirements link I posted you can check to see if you've had the box ticked or not.

It will look like this.

[k1ng_rocker]

Hi, thanks for your reply and excellent information.

Yes I just checked and I was already opted in!

I was expecting to see this setting in the listing options when placing a listing, not hidden in a different settings page.

[tommystrezures]

Thanks @douglaspuglas  for that, just unticked mine too.

[douglaspuglas]

It's typical of eBay to sneakily opt sellers into something without them knowing.

[k1ng_rocker]

The new offer system asks for delivery address but there is no option to sellect click and collect.

THERE IS NO OPTION TO SELLECT CLICK AND COLLECT AS A DELIVERY OPTION WHEN MAKING AN OFFER ON ANY SELLER OFFERING BEST OFFER WITH THIS ENABLED. 

EBAY FIX THIS NOW!

[technthread]

I have had the buyer requirement to provide a payment method ticked for a long time and never really saw much benefit to it but it wasn't doing any harm.

After reading the problems on here I have unticked it. I want buyers to be able to use click and collect and buy through a cashback site if they do that, it only benefits the seller. With the system as it is there will be a lot more order cancellation requests and irritated buyers. 

There is a new thread on the member to member support board from someone who made an offer which was declined but they have payment pending with their bank. I am interested to see if that is an anomaly or if more buyers start to report the same in the coming weeks. 

[k1ng_rocker]

Hi and thanks for your reply, 

I'm just so frustrated by this. I have tried to place an offer on several items this evening, but it will not allow me to sellect Click and Collect as an option on any listing. So I cancelled every offer.

As far as I'm concerened - Best Offer - Is now unusable,  and I will not be using it as a buyer or adding it to any of my listings as a seller either from now on. 

[technthread]

I am sure they will tweak it if they get inundated with complaints, like a lot of roll outs on here they don't always look at the bigger picture first. I wouldn't expect it to be sorted quickly, they were told about the bank holiday not being accounted for within estimated delivery dates, had days to fix it and didn't. 

[treetopsminicottages]

Further to the discussion on pre-authorised payments, I queried this in the Weekly Chat  this week  and it was confirmed that payment is taken immediately so no option to get combined postage from a seller. The seller would then have to refund any excess, more hassle for the seller, meanwhile the extra postage paid remains 'pending'.

Once a prepayment method is given it will be applied to all 'offers' and 'counter-offers' whether it be a through a 'best offer' or a seller offer on watched items, business or otherwise.

Finally, I was informed sellers can opt-in for a prepayment requirement but comments on the forum suggest it has become a default setting. I suspect many sellers are unaware of this. 

I have just checked and, sure enough. I am 'opted in' by default.

[technthread]

This is going to cause many disputes and order cancellations. Many private sellers will refuse to refund postage especially once they have the money in. 

Any buyer wanting to make an offer may have to forfeit the ability to use a cashback site, PayPal credit and click and collect.

The more I think about it the shoddier it is and another nail in the coffin for auctions.

eBay need to provide some guidance for everyone I think. 

[wickmesh]

There are so many negatives to this ridiculous change that they outweigh the one positive (that the tiny minority who don't pay for an accepted offer now are forced to pay).

The one big issue for me is that for every single pre-approval I am required to sign into my credit card app on my phone. Instead of "click" place offer "click" confirm, it's now become "click" (wait, because it takes a while to load now) "click" load up credit card approval, find my phone, open credit card app, approve payment... by which time I've lost the will.

I've given up making offers now. It's not worth the time or hassle. I'm spending dramatically less on ebay. I'm sure the tiny miniority that didn't pay before are worth it ebay, for the huge drop in offers being made and the huge drop in sales this must be causing.

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

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@douglaspuglas wrote:

It's typical of eBay to sneakily opt sellers into something without them knowing.

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Oh, how so very true! It was the same for the Global Shipping Programme when it was rolled out. Look at what grief came about from that one!! 😫

Unless you offer FREE postage, there is absolutely no way a seller can offer combined shipping for items, they can only refund the difference to the buyer. "Another fine mess you've got me into Stanley" applies, yet again!