Buying from a seller who has a deal

[sergus0]

Hello, a UK seller has a deal, buy 3 items and get the 4th for free.  I am in Canada and putting items in the cart didn't work (I won't go into detail).  I suggested I commit to buy 3 items, then put in an offer for the 4th item at 1 cent.  Then when he accepted the offer, I get an invoice for all 4 items with combined shipping.   I thought this was a good idea, it would have it in the system that I bought all 4 items.  He said buy the 3 items and he would just include the 4th item in the order for free.   Is this a good idea?  I tend towards caution buying now because I had a few mishaps before.  All emails between the seller and I have been through Ebay.  Of course trust has to be on both sides, but I just wanted another opinion.  Thanks! 

[momcqueen · Accepted solution]

It would be better to log into ebay.co.uk to use their shopping cart so that the promo works.

Buyer protection does not cover 'freebies' added to the order. If you don't get this item, ebay Customer Service will be able to see you have talked to the seller about it, sure, but paypal can't cover you for it. 

If it were me and this was a seller that I had a number of previous dealing with and someone with whom I had already established a trusting relationship, I'd say, 'Go for it!' because the seller would have just as much to lose as you by shortchanging you on an order. Repeat buyers are hard to come by for most sellers and they will keep them loyal if they can.

As to the friendliness of the communication now, that's great but remember most successful uber-crooks didn't get that way being churlish. A charmer gets a lot farther in life, regardless of the integrity of their motivation. 

Finally, what value are we talking about in terms of these items? If it's a total order of $50, okay. If you're looking to spend $500 not so much. 

[sergus0]

mjwl2006, that is good advice! I didn't think to log on to the UK site and I didn't stop to think that buyer protection wouldn't cover the freebie. The total amount would be $150 Cdn. This is the first time I have thought to buy something with this kind of deal. So, say I do buy through the UK site, and I buy 3 and the system adds the 4th for free, and just say the seller just ships only 3 items, I am still not covered because the 4th was free even though everything went through the right system? If so, that is something to think about. I wouldn't buy 3 items if the 4th wasn't free. I would then only buy 1.

[sergus0]

I think I will go on my instincts and pass on this seller's offer.

[momcqueen]

If it's the kind of promo that I'm thinking of, it's offered to sellers (and through sellers the buyers) via the Selling Manager feature Promotions Manager on ebay.com and ebay.co.uk only.

The way it works is that if the seller has it set up to 'buy three, get one free' then the buyer puts four of eligible items in the cart and it will be done automatically.

The UK Basket (it's not called a Cart there) will calculate this. It will show before checkout.

That way, all the purchases are included in buyer protection because the buyer is formally entitled to all of them.

The catch is that the seller has to have it set-up right and the buyer has to be picking from among the eligible listings.

Was the offer in big, black and green capital letters across the page? That's the Promotions Manager at work. I would dearly love to be able to offer that to my buyers too but ebay.ca isn't set up for it.

 I wouldn't necessarily take a pass but do check the seller feedback first.

[momcqueen]

(Sergus0: I was replying to you as you were replying to me.)