eBay

tazziee789 · ‎08-15-2013

The straw that broke the camel’s back….

I have been on EBay for over 10+ years, to date, selling over $342,000+ in merchandises over the years. EBay has made tens of thousands of dollars from me in fees. I have seen many changes over the years, some I agree with and some I disagree with, and some are just plain stupid, but I have always learned to tolerate/accept the changes…….BUT this new policy is absolute ridiculous. I am just so sick of EBay protecting buyers, giving them less and less ownership and responsibility for their selfish action.

So there is this new rule for making an offer to an item. Buyers are now able to make offers without consequences. I have a buyer who made an offer on an item, I accepted their offer, but it doesn’t end there….my acceptance of the buyer’s original offer now goes back to the buyer to accept (agree/confirm) my “acceptance” of their offer…….how ridiculous is this?? So as a buyer, I can go around and put in a 1000 offers and accept the acceptance of the lowest (best) offer of the 1000 offers that I put in. I am not new to EBay, so I do understand the whole non-payment of item, time wasted, re-listing…..etc, however, this new rule doesn’t guarantee that the buyer will pay, but they have just wasted many seller’s time for reviewing/replying to offers. I understand that this issue might be minor for many of you, but I am just so done with these ridiclous changes. I am done with EBay, I will sell all my stuff and I am outta here. Unfortunately, this is the end for me.

rose-dee · ‎08-15-2013

@tazziee789 wrote:
So there is this new rule for making an offer to an item. Buyers are now able to make offers without consequences. I have a buyer who made an offer on an item, I accepted their offer, but it doesn’t end there….my acceptance of the buyer’s original offer now goes back to the buyer to accept (agree/confirm) my “acceptance” of their offer…….how ridiculous is this??

I'm afraid I don't understand what new rule you're referring to. I had a buyer make an offer a few days ago, I accepted it, and that seemed to be that -- the item was shown as ended, in the usual way.

Unless you're referring to the new eBay policy of allowing unpaid items to remain listed until payment is actually made. This certainly could make a mess of an offer process, and I almost had that scenario happen to me once. A buyer made an offer, I accepted it, and then discovered to my dismay that the item was still showing up as a "live" listing! I was very concerned another buyer would snap it up before my first buyer paid. That policy is, at best, ill-conceived.

However it sounds as if you're referring to a process that involves allowing the buyer to confirm or reject your acceptance of an offer, and there I'm afraid you've lost me.

Do you have a link to the new policy that you could post here? I would be very interested to know more, as I have "Best Offer" on many of my BIN items. My understanding was that an offer, once accepted by the seller, was a contract of sale.

tazziee789 · ‎08-16-2013

I accepted an offer, but the the listing is still up waiting for the buyer (who made the original offer) to confirm/accept my acceptance of their offer.

rose-dee · ‎08-16-2013

Here is the text from "Making A Best Offer" (the .ca policy page) that applies:

"You should use Best Offer only when you're serious about making a purchase at your Best Offer price. If your offer is accepted by the seller, you and the seller are required to complete the transaction."

I didn't see anything on the policy page referring to the buyer confirming an offer once accepted. Is this perhaps something new on eBay.com only?

tazziee789 · ‎08-16-2013

This is the message I get after accepting their offer, now remember my lisitng is still up.....

You've agreed to the offer ******, and its pending their confirmation!

rose-dee · ‎08-16-2013

@tazziee789 wrote:
I accepted an offer, but the the listing is still up waiting for the buyer (who made the original offer) to confirm/accept my acceptance of their offer.

Are you sure the listing is still up because it's waiting for the buyer to confirm your acceptance? How do you know that? Did you receive any message from eBay saying the buyer must confirm before the sale is concluded?

I'm wondering instead if you are misinterpreting what is happening. Maybe this is a scenario similar to the one I described, where even after I had accepted an offer, the item remained an active listing. It wasn't waiting for the buyer to confirm; it was waiting for payment by the buyer. In that situation another buyer could come along and make immediate payment, in which that second buyer would get the item.

Is it possible this is the case here? If so, I would politely email the buyer who made the offer and explain that eBay now has a policy of leaving items open for sale until actually paid, and that to avoid another buyer purchasing his item, you would recommend payment as quickly as possible. I know, this policy really puts sellers in a bad position, and forces buyers to pay instantly or risk losing the item they thought they had purchased.

dipmicro · ‎08-16-2013

When this "acceptance of acceptance" started ?

I tried the BO functionality for a while couple months back and I did not see any increase in revenue. What I seen was lot of time wasted on dealing with ridiculous offers, at some point I just stopped submitting counteroffers and just declined and then got some threats from leads who got declined that they were expecting counter-offers.

This process may work well for 3+ digit price-points like real-estate, but for single or two digit sales is just a waste of time. Anyone who is going to put a reasonable offer of $13 on $14 item, will always just buy it for $14 if Best Offer button wasn't there - and then they make their mind, so BO actually decreases revenue, because it gives buyers time to rethink their impulse buy. And sales lead who starts with $2 is a no-lead with too much time on their hand that almost never works out to sale. And if sale eventually happens, lowballers are the toughest people to please.

I think you should just stop using BO and your stress levels will improve, guarantee. Try auctions instead, they are fun, sometimes you end up giving stuff away for close to nothing, but someone will get early Christmas so it's like giving back tothe community and auctionees are not as tough to please as best-offerees.

rose-dee · ‎08-16-2013

@tazziee789 wrote:
This is the message I get after accepting their offer, now remember my lisitng is still up.....

You've agreed to the offer ******, and its pending their confirmation!

Well, I really am confused. I've never seen this sort of message before. Is this message coming from eBay.com or .ca?

surplusdealdude · ‎08-16-2013

@tazziee789 wrote:
This is the message I get after accepting their offer, now remember my lisitng is still up.....

You've agreed to the offer ******, and its pending their confirmation!

Your listing is still up for other buyers to buy or make a bid on.

In other words, you're no worse off than if the buyer never bid or made an offer too low that you counter-offered to.

And having this system in place means that buyers may be more willing to make offers and stick with the purchases they'e made (ie, it should reduce the number of UID;s)

So I don't really understand why you're so upset with this.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan

rose-dee · ‎08-16-2013

@surplusdealdude wrote:

Your listing is still up for other buyers to buy or make a bid on.

But the OP seems to be talking about a "new" policy re Best Offer. I've just looked at the policy pages on .ca and .com and see nothing different from what was there days or months ago.

I agree that leaving items active until actually paid can be a benefit to sellers where Best Offer is concerned. I'm not so convinced of its logic where ordinary BIN items are involved -- in that case, I would sometimes like to give my buyers a bit of time to pay, but if they lose the item to someone else that they thought they'd bought, I doubt they'll come back again.

I'd still be interested to know where the message re "confirming acceptance" originated. It sounds very odd.

tazziee789 · ‎08-16-2013

Yes, the listing is still up, I can still see it + I do not have an email saying that the item is sold.

tazziee789 · ‎08-16-2013

I don' t know when this started. I did accept offers last week and it ended the listing. I don't know if it is with certain buyers. Yes, I am no worst off as the listing is still up, however, my beef is again giving more power to buyers. Its a waste of my time and it will be a waste of other seller's time. From experience with counter-offers, most buyers will decline or not reply.

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-16-2013

They announced that policy in the spring update but right now, it is only for certain categories.

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2013/unpaiditems.html

Best Offer items not "sold" until a buyer commits to buy or pays

Beginning in May, in the Computers & Tablets, Jewellery & Watches, and Art categories, when you accept a buyer's Best Offer, the item will remain for sale until the buyer commits to buy, and in some cases, pays.
Since the transaction is not completed until the buyer commits (or pays), you'll be able to accept multiple offers to increase your chances of selling the item.

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-16-2013

@surplusdealdude wrote:
@tazziee789 wrote:
This is the message I get after accepting their offer, now remember my lisitng is still up.....

You've agreed to the offer ******, and its pending their confirmation!
Your listing is still up for other buyers to buy or make a bid on.

In other words, you're no worse off than if the buyer never bid or made an offer too low that you counter-offered to.

And having this system in place means that buyers may be more willing to make offers and stick with the purchases they'e made (ie, it should reduce the number of UID;s)

So I don't really understand why you're so upset with this.

Many sellers are upset about it and have found that many of the best offers they have accepted are never confirmed or paid for. Sure, they are not out anything but it would be a pain and adds extra steps which can make it more confusing for the buyer.

Is this available in your category yet?

rose-dee · ‎08-16-2013

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
They announced that policy in the spring update but right now, it is only for certain categories.

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2013/unpaiditems.html

Best Offer items not "sold" until a buyer commits to buy or pays
Beginning in May, in the Computers & Tablets, Jewellery & Watches, and Art categories, when you accept a buyer's Best Offer, the item will remain for sale until the buyer commits to buy, and in some cases, pays.
Since the transaction is not completed until the buyer commits (or pays), you'll be able to accept multiple offers to increase your chances of selling the item.

Thank you for locating this! I vaguely recalled having seen it somewhere, but I suppose I ignored it and didn't print it out because it didn't apply to my categories.

However, I wish eBay would put a link to such update announcements in the relevant policy page. Essentially it means the policy pages are never quite accurate or current. Thanks for this PJ.

rose-dee · ‎08-16-2013

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Many sellers are upset about it and have found that many of the best offers they have accepted are never confirmed or paid for. Sure, they are not out anything but it would be a pain and adds extra steps which can make it more confusing for the buyer.

Yes, and the corollary is (as the OP pointed out) that buyers can "go fishing", putting in bids here, there and everywhere, and deciding which item they really want after sellers have accepted some of the offers.

This may be great for some buyers, but puts sellers in limbo waiting for responses that may never come (= wastes their time), while probably, as you point out, also confusing many buyers who may not know there's a different procedure for different categories.

tazziee789 · ‎08-16-2013

Thanks PJ. Again I have been on here for many years, I do understand what EBay is trying to do, but this is just another way to protect buyers (and that has really been my issue EBay over the years). What is stopping them from going around and making tons of offers without fulfilling their commitment to purchase, how is that different from before......except that it has wasted many seller's time by responding/replying to offers that he/she may or may not even be interested in. Yes, I do understand that I am no wrost off as my listing is still posted. Buyers need to take ownership of their action or get off EBay. But instead EBay just keeps protecting buyers with new ridiculous policy. I don't expect my sale to be completed, again from experience, buyers do not reply to replies. It's like I seldom get replies for my counter-offers.

pierrelebel · ‎08-16-2013

"again from experience, buyers do not reply to replies. It's like I seldom get replies for my counter-offers. "

Valid comment.

Why don't you simply stop offering "Best Offer"? List with the best price you are willing to accept and leave it at that.

You will same a lot of time. In fifteen years on eBay, selling mostly at fixed price, I did not use the "Best Offer" function. Whenever a potential buyer contacted me (directly or through eBay) asking for a lower price, I sent them the same template answer "Sorry, my listed price is the lowest available. Please let me know if I can be of service." If someone insisted in 'bargaining" that user name was immediately added to the blocked bidder list.

tazziee789 · ‎08-16-2013

I have used fixed price for many years. Sometimes, I do not know what the going price is, therefore, people can throw out offers at me. If I get lots of low offers, than maybe my asking price is too high. The way I was brought up, no price is fixed + accepting offer is also a fun way of selling, opens up communication with interested buyers.

Lots great feedbacks and comments, I guess I am just jaded with the never ending polices to protect buyers. I will keep my account to buy, but in terms of selling, I am done after these items. Also forgot to mention that I have had my share of losses from scammers (again, buyers are always protected in these situation) over the years and this is also a factor in me leaving. It use to be fun, now it is just full of stress. I do sometimes sell expensive $1000 items and until that 45 time period has lapsed, I have sleepless nights. It wasn't so in the past. I wish everyone well.

lady.stark · ‎08-17-2013

@tazziee789 wrote:
From experience with counter-offers, most buyers will decline or not reply.

My experience is a little bit different. I would say 50% are accepted by the buyer and the other 50% is ignored. Maybe it has to do with the categories I'm listing in (mostly collectibles).

Have you tried adding the "cash on pick-up" option to your listings? For the moment, that option is supposed to override the new policy of "Item up until it is paid for".