Price change once transferred to basket???

[janey-poppet]

I have seen an item I’d like to buy at £10.49, as soon as I transfer it to my ‘basket’, the price increases to £11.99.

I have tried it on different times and days and it still happens.

I have contacted the seller but they say it’s not their doing and that this process of moving items to the basket is an EBay system.

Why is this happening?
Why is the price changing?

[podlingsmum2007]

Might it be ebays mandatory buyer protection fee?

[sml192]

Sounds like VAT is being added for some reason although the amount added isn't actually enough for that and it should already be included in the listed price.  Is the seller located overseas?

If would be helpful if you could provide the item number. 

[janey-poppet]

I’ve never seen or had this happen before.

Surely there would be an explanation added.

[janey-poppet]

The item number is 306024508102 …… for 2 x 16” grab bars.

The company seems to be a Chinese one but with a facility in Birmingham as the order arrived within two days.

[podlingsmum2007]

The buyer fee is only on purchases from private sellers and has been extensively advertised as such.

[sml192]

Thanks for providing the item number.  

There is something very strange going on here.  It isn't VAT as that has already been included in the listed price and the amount that is being added at checkout, to whatever items are selected, is around 14.25% whereas UK VAT is 20% and China VAT is 13% (not that China VAT would be relevant anyway).  It is also nothing to do with the Buyer Protection Fee as that only applies to Private Sellers and the seller in question is a Business Seller.   I think, therefore, that it has to be a glitch of some sort. 

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

2 x 16 inch are £11.37,2 x 12 inch are £10.49

If i add 2 x 16 inch to my basket they are £12.99 🙃

[janey-poppet]

Roger etc., when I originally viewed the offer, 2 x 16” bars WERE £10.49 but then, once in the basket, the price increased to £11.99 …… as stated in my first post.

Since then, the firm has increased their prices this week.

As you have discovered, this mysterious price increase is still happening once you transfer said items into your basket!

I have attempted to contact EBay to report this and ask what is going on but, no response yet.

This could seriously affect any reviews from purchasers who might raise this on their feedback ……. and thereby affect the business.

Whatever the problem is, I chose the original offer of 2 grab bars at £10.49 but the business charged me £11.99.

I’m wondering if I should point this out to them again and ask for a refund of £1.50 before posting my feedback?

[ccla3379]

Does look like a glitch.  In the revisions noted for this listing (https://www.ebay.co.uk/rvh/306024508102?rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m148105.l48144) on 23rd it shows all the prices were changed by the seller although it doesn't say from-or-to what.  If I had to guess the search & item details pages could be showing the old values and once I place it in my basket it is fetching the new value from somewhere else.  

It may be one of those things which the system fixes as a batch routine carried out periodically (although it has been a while)  ... or perhaps ask the seller to update the prices again and see if they get applied properly this time. 

[xyz307xyz]

From ebay.com it's shown as VAT - 20% on top of £10.83=£12.99. The seller is registered in China. 

Note £11.37 is 5% more than £10.83.

Why - I don't know.

[ccla3379]

But it only seems to affect this particular item though - if it were a UK-China tax thing then I would have expected it to impact all their products but seemed not for the three I tried.

... I was originally expecting it to be something clever about disability aids being VAT exempt but I couldn't make that add-up either.  🙃

[janey-poppet]

So, a week’s gone by and I’ve tried out some different suppliers of these grab bars just to see if any glitch in any system has stopped ……. and it hasn’t.

It happens with a few suppliers who I suspect are not UK ones.

On NONE of them is there any added note quoting VAT.

Should I expect a response from EBay?
What is meant by the term ‘Specialists’ and ‘Conversationalists’ ……. are YOU, perhaps, official EBay people?

Thanks for the suggestions.

It’s still a mystery though ……. and quite disconcerting.

[xyz307xyz]

"Should I expect a response from EBay?" - not literally no, as this is a member to member forum. There are some ebay employees who do reply; but on most threads they don't. Have you tried customer services?

"What is meant by the term ‘Specialists’ and ‘Conversationalists’ ……. are YOU, perhaps, official EBay people?"

Don't know on the first bit, probably based on badges or something that I'm not interested in. Official ebay people have @ ebay in their username [and their replies are in a blue box (although the green box for accepted solution overrides this blue.)]

[sml192]

@janey-poppet wrote:

What is meant by the term ‘Specialists’ and ‘Conversationalists’ ……. are YOU, perhaps, official EBay people?

---

They are just rather meaningless badges/ranks supposedly awarded based on a person's contribution to the boards but actually seems pretty random and certainly nothing to do with whether that person's posts are actually helpful or constructive.  They are just other members like yourself.  If you are at all interested then you can read about the different ranks here:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Community-Notice-Board/Community-Ranks/ba-p/7324497

[janey-poppet]

There doesn’t seem to be an answer or explanation to this weird anomaly. I tried a random test and it was still happening.

Another facet to this saga is that it happens on some other sites/businesses which look to be similar set ups - Chinese companies with distributors in the U.K.

(My order only took two days to be delivered.)

Perhaps it’s the ‘marrying’ of the two systems - home and abroad?

Thank you to those who joined the conversation.

Kind regards.