Option to send invoices disappeared

[s2000king_123]

Option on sold listings to ‘send payment details’ has disappeared and I’m unable to send people invoices for combined orders like I normally do. I did a live chat with customer service, but I don’t really think they knew what I was talking about.

I have buyers waiting to pay, but are reluctant to pay for the entire postage cost in one go and have me refund due to the amount of money they would have in limbo. 

anybody else having the same problem? Anyone at eBay able to confirm it’s being looked into so I can tell my buyers? 

[cookcookingbooks]

I was on to 3 assistants, trying to determine

1. If the combined postage would be fixed.

2. What the customer sees, when they bid. As my last customer was very confused about the amounts that came up when she paid.

3 Assistants, blanked on the 2nd question and turned back into bots, in spite of the last 2 confirming that they were really live people.

Has AI taken over completely?

[cookcookingbooks]

I think ebay have blocked me from chat as nothing but the bot is coming up now?

Not refering me to an assistant any longer, just nothing!

[cookcookingbooks]

So 4th Assistant was very patient.

1.Was told that combined postage was being worked on it day and night.

2.Postage is not included in the calculation of combined.

When purchasing from UK-based private sellers, the Buyer Protection fee is calculated as: A flat fee of up to £0.75 per item, and 4% of the item price up to £300, and 2% of any portion of the item price from £300 to £4,000

that does not include the postage .

My item is £12.00 + £0.75+ (4% of £12.00) £0.48 = £13.23. This shows on my listing as £13.20 so probably rounded up?

[sumones_bungled]

Not rounding up or down. My item sold for £10 so £10 +£0.75 +£0.40 (4%) = £1.15 but the buyer paid £1.12 (on the listing. So is it 4% or 3.7% ?

Would be interested in knowing where else I sell my collection. Any ideas?

[parsley2003]

It's being said that instead of the 75p it's actually only 72p they are adding the whole system. I am listing low value items elsewhere but can't tell you for obvious reasons

[zillabudgie]

If you type 'invoice' in the chat box it says "Let me know if you have any other questions" Ha Ha...brilliant stuff, I wonder why that is? 🤑

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@cookcookingbooks wrote:

I think ebay have blocked me from chat as nothing but the bot is coming up now?

Not refering me to an assistant any longer, just nothing!

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[valueaddedresource]

Possible point of interest on this topic: eBay did basically this same thing in the US in 2023 with an unannounced change that removed the option to send invoices.

At the time, they said they made the change because they believed sellers were often sending invoices in situations where they didn't really need to (which could be annoying to buyers) and that changes they were making to require payment for items made it so sellers would no longer need the invoice function.

But initially the US experience was just like what you all are experiencing now - eBay didn't tell anyone they had taken it away, it just disappeared one day, there was mass confusion and many posts in the community as we were first told it was a technical issue, then they finally admitted it was an intentional change and then after receiving major seller pushback, they reversed course and reinstated the option.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Update-about-recent-changes-to-invoices/m-p/34106251

I haven't read through every post on this issue here, so please forgive me if I'm missing something, but it seems to be this is mostly impacting private sellers.

If that's true, it could be that someone at eBay thought recent changes in the UK would similarly make it so invoicing was no longer needed and as some have mentioned, I think it's likely that could be the coming mandate for Simple Delivery.

The current Simple Delivery FAQ says items could be combined, but it seems more like a choice eBay will be making, not something the seller has any control over - if so, then from eBay's perspective, invoicing to combine shipping wouldn't be something private sellers will need once it becomes mandatory.

And while obviously Simple Delivery isn't mandatory yet, it had previously been said the mandate was going to go into effect in Q1 with CEO Jamie Iannone only revealing it had been pushed to Q2 last week.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/SImple-Delivery-Mandate-Pushed-To-Q2/td-p/7788772

So it's plausible the tech team didn't get the memo about that delay and may have gone ahead and launched the removal of invoicing any way, not realizing it would not be coinciding with the Simple Delivery mandate launch any more.

Either way, hope the info from the past US experience is helpful - hopefully if eBay gets a similarly strong response from UK sellers now, they might also reverse course this time too.

[andha-21]

@valueaddedresource 

Good to see you back. We found something earlier that might benefit from your eyes.

[valueaddedresource]

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@andha-21 wrote:

@valueaddedresource 

Good to see you back. We found something earlier that might benefit from your eyes.

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Thanks @andha-21  been a busy couple weeks in my world so I haven't had time to keep up around here lately but you can always feel free to tag me or send a PM.  🙂

[andha-21]

@valueaddedresource 

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Buyer-Protection-fee/m-p/7795012#M711135

Have you seen/heard of that here before?

[valueaddedresource]

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@andha-21 wrote:

@valueaddedresource 

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Buyer-Protection-fee/m-p/7795012#M711135

Have you seen/heard of that here before?

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@andha-21 thanks, I'll check it out and reply there if I have any insight, just to keep from taking this thread off topic.

[vintique*violet]

Thank you, I actually think you could be right with this... I hope eBay learn and still give the invoice option for sellers, not being able to combine would have such a negative impact on sales.    Always appreciate. @valueaddedresource 

[parsley2003]

The ability to refund postage will be next, which is the only way we can combine postage now. 

[vintique*violet]

Oh that did make me laugh 😂 not even sure why , it just did. 

[vintique*violet]

Have you tried typing in " agent"... or " assistant" @cookcookingbooks 

[vintique*violet]

🙄🤔😐😂...Unsure 🤐.......

[mauricfranci-8]

Came across this by searching on the internet, unable to recall seeing anything in the posts about trying this route.

ebayukcomplaints@ebay.com 

[valueaddedresource]

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@parsley2003 wrote:

The ability to refund postage will be next, which is the only way we can combine postage now. 

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@parsley2003  I suspect you are correct and it's all really part of the march toward the same destination - mandated Simple Delivery.

Since with Simple Delivery the postage is paid to eBay, not the seller, there wouldn't be anything for the seller to refund from the "postage" amount because they don't receive that money - so again I can see how an eBay programmer looking at that narrow use case would think that would mean that functionality would then no longer be needed.

The bigger issue in my mind is that, even once the mandate goes into effect, in theory there may still be occasional items which may not be "eligible" for whatever reason - in which case, I would hope eBay would understand that those occasions might still need features like invoicing or postage refunds to handle certain one off scenarios that may occur. 

Unfortunately I fear those making the decisions may either be unaware of why there may still be an occasional need for those features or simply decide it's not "worth it" to keep the functionality for those one off scenarios.

[mauricfranci-8]

Anybody tried this which I have come across on the internet ??

ebayukcomplaints@ebay.com 

[andha-21]

@mauricfranci-8 

I haven't but I think I saw a post from someone that had, possibly @ripface 

Personally the only way I think any headway is going to be made on any of this is bypassing CS/Complaints and going straight to their legal department.

At least that way Trading Standards and the Financial Ombudsman will look at it.