buyers saying item is unavailable when trying to purchase!?!?!?!?

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

I am getting a number of buyers asking if item is for sale when purchasing single parts and/or parts are unavailable when trying to combine items. Anyone else??? Doesn`t surprise me one bit, yet another ebay issue... MAJOR ISSUE. How many potential buyers/sales have I lost or will lose. Guess I will have to waste my valuable time and contact ebay about the issue and get no where.

[mr.elmwood]

Do ya have a "for instance". I could look, but, ya got 4400 listings.

[Anonymous]

I am not sure what you mean.  If the buyers are trying to buy multiple orders but cannot get combined shipping?  Suggest the buyers to wait for seller(s) to send the invoice with combined shipping.

The problem with many  buyers is that they want to pay immediately not want to wait for us sellers to send them the invoices with combined shipping.

[rose-dee]

You may be experiencing the seller end of the well-discussed and frequently-acknowledged "disconnect" between the U.S. and Canadian cart/checkout systems.  

I've been trying to get some answers on an ETA for the fix to this for months now, but eBay says the fix is complicated and they are still "working on it" (take that for whatever you feel it's worth). 

What happens from the buyer's end -- a U.S. buyer purchasing from a Cdn seller -- is that when they try to select more than one item to put in their cart, they get told it can't be done (until they complete payment/checkout of the first item).  I'm even beginning to doubt that the Cdn cart works for Cdn buyers.  

You're right -- this is a serious flaw that has probably been costing many Cdn sellers a lot of multiple/combined orders over the past year.  Sadly, buyers don't always contact us to ask how to get through checkout, so we have no idea how many potential buyers just give up and go elsewhere.  

If you have a U.S. who contacts you to say they're having difficulty making a combined/multiple item purchase, ask them if they would log onto eBay.ca and try again.  That may be a temporary solution.  

Another "solution" suggested to me by an eBay.ca staffer was to list on .com, but I'm not going through that hassle only to find out there are other, different problems.  

This is my #1 issue with eBay's site right now, and I'm pretty upset about how long it's taking them to sort it out and make it work! 

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

This is what potential buyers registered / buying outside of ebay.ca see when they attempt to add / combine more than one item. If you were to click on the cart logo in this scenario all items would say Item not available. GREAT!!! I am beyond furious. If they were to add one item, shop around and come back to it, they would see this.

Like rose-dee says there is a work around, ask them if they would log onto eBay.ca ..... WHY should they  !!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY should we have to ask them  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sellers pay fee after fee after fee for features like this to WORK the way they should. I spend more time dealing with site issues on ebay than I do anything.

[maggiebvintage2010]

I have never had a problem sending combined invoices for auctions for US & International buyers.  Fixed Price Listings are another matter, as you have all noted.

Recently a US buyer won 3 auctions, I was able to send a combined invoice, but they were unable to pay it!  She finally managed to pay for the times separately.  Afterward, she contacted me saying she had a very difficult time paying for them even one by one - there was a problem in completing checkout.  This is an experienced eBayer with almost 1000 feedback from purchases.

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

If they won the item by auction you could then send a combined invoice. 

If they were to use Buy it Now on one of your listing shop around and come back to cart it would say " Item not available " If they were to purchase more than one item using Buy it Now when they add an additional item on top of the first once they are back into the cart the first item would say  " Item not available " If they left and came back to the cart with those two items they would both say " Item not available " and the Proceed to Checkout buttons do not function. 

All of this does not apply IF the buyer is on ebay.ca not ebay.com. In reality how many US buyers change the browser to ebay.ca or log into ebay.ca. IF they are on ebay.com the ADD TO CART button is not there. IF they are on ebay.ca it is. They shouldn`t have to and who is going to advise them to do so, they will just leave. SALE LOST.

The problem is there is no ADD TO CART button when a buyer no matter what site they are registered on is trying to purchase and item from a seller on ebay.ca from ebay.com etc. 

Yet if a buyer on ebay.ca is buying from a seller registed on ebay.com etc. is buying from them the ADD TO CART button is visible and there are no issues. WHY is that? 

The ADD TO CART function should be visible and work regardless of what site the seller is registered on or what site the buyer is attempting to purchase from.

This is a MAJOR SITE ISSUE. Seller on ebay.ca or losing potential sales and buyers and don`t know it. 

It is up to Canadian sellers to work together and push the issue and get it fixed ASAP.

[pjcdn2005]

Which site is your screenshot from? As you said, .com users can't see an add to cart link so they wouldn't be able to add the first item at all.

The carts on the Australian site and .ca site are newer and set up different than the .com cart. But since it is obviously possible for different carts to interact, I don'understand why it is taking so long to change the.com cart.

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

The screenshot is from ebay.com. 

My thoughts exactly, why is it if I were on ebay.ca and go to purchase from an ebay.com registered user the "add to cart" is visible. 

I spoke to second person at ebay and asked how long they were aware of the issue and they said showing since someone made them aware in December.

Here are some more detailed screenshots and workarounds. We should still not have to make buyers aware of the bug it should work.

[dgour98]

I had the same problem about a month ago. My US buyer was unable to pay the invoice i sent, and the invoice on the site kept adding up all the shipping costs for the combined items.

I basically sent him a paypal invoice, then marked item paid on ebay, i marked item shipped on ebay etc. Basically it was like an off ebay sale thru ebay as nothing worked.

[maggiebvintage2010]

Thank you for the info and your workaround.  Since my buyer did not contact me until after she had figured out a way to pay, I was unaware of the problem.  In my Selling Manager, the 3 sales continued to show as one combined invoice with the shipping as I had combined it.  When she paid, this invoice disappeared and the 3 separate transactions replaced it.

Did you ever find out what the problem was, or if this was a temporary eBay glitch?

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

Here is detailed information regarding the "Item not available " bug on ebay.ca.

Please help out your Canadian sellers and ebay.com user get this issue resolved as soon as possible. Contact ebay to voice your concerns. Keep this outlined information handy. Thank you in advance for your support.

PROBLEM:

No "Add to cart" button on ebay.com for Canadian listings.

NOTE: "Add to cart" button on ebay.ca functions for US listings.

When purchasing items from Canadian sellers through ebay.com regardless of buyers location ie. United States, Canada, etc. there is no “Add to cart” button.

The only option available is to click on the “Buy it Now” button taking you to the “ebay Checkout: Review order” page. After selecting “To buy more items add to cart” link takes you to “Your eBay Shopping Cart” page. Clicking on “Continue shopping” button and repeating the process “ebay Checkout: Review order” page > “To buy more items add to cart” link > “Your eBay Shopping Cart” page will result in two error messages for the first item added, saying “Item not available” and “This item is now up for auction”. Buyer is unable to pay for both items together.

When purchasing more than one item and the buyer leaves “Your eBay Shopping Cart” page and returns will result in two error messages for the first item added, saying “Item not available” and “This item is now up for auction”, also resulting in the “Proceed the checkout” page not functioning and grayed out.

These error messages will also appear if one item is added when the buyer leaves “Your eBay Shopping Cart” page and returns, also resulting in the “Proceed the checkout” page not functioning and grayed out.

RESULT:

Leading potential buyers to believe item(s) are no longer available or for sale resulting in undetermined damaging impact on sales and repeat business.

SOLUTION:

Include "Add to cart" button on ebay.com for Canadian listings. Ebay is aware of this issue and has no resolution timeline.

Suggestion: Include items from buyers “Watch List” on the “Your eBay Shopping Cart” page if and when issue is resolved.

WORKAROUND:

OPTION 1:

Replace ebay.com with ebay.ca on the item page browser address bar. The "Add to cart" button will be visible and function correctly. On the following “Your eBay Shopping Cart” page the buyer will be prompted to “Sign in to save these items or see your saved items” on ebay.ca.

Option 2:

Sign out of ebay.com and sign into ebay.ca and the "Add to cart" button will be visible and function correctly before purchasing multiple items or adding a single item that you will return to at a later time if no additional items are added.

[berubegirl]

We have experience the same problem.

However offering workarounds here in the forums only guarantees that ebay will NOT do anything to try and fix this issue because of these workaround sellers created.

It is very sad to comment like this but ebay staff do not care whatsoever about this problem and although they tell us they are working on a solution for months now nothing has transpired from all those supposed effort. Not even a little sweat!...lol

Seems as though ebay has figured that us sellers using the same workarounds you propose IS THE SOLUTION to this problem.

Unbelievable but this is what ebay has become today.

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

I have spoken to 3 reps so far regarding the issue...

Jan 31, 2015

Feb 1, 2015

Feb 3, 2015

My last contact I was told they were first aware of the issue on Dec 7, 2014 and was informed it would be resolved by Mar 7, 2015. I made sure they said 2015 and not 2020.

I will be making regular contact with ebay until the issue is resolved and to get updates.

This is not an issue to be taken lightly, we all sell on ebay for exposure and along with that comes high fees. When our items are showing as not available we are paying for something that we are not getting. Even when a buyer pays for each item separately, which many do, we get stuck with additional ebay fees and paypal fees.

[rose-dee]

---

@merritt-motorcycle-salvage wrote:

My last contact I was told they were first aware of the issue on Dec 7, 2014 and was informed it would be resolved by Mar 7, 2015. 

---

Well, this sounds to me like the usual eBay prevarication.  This issue has been brought up many, many times on the Wed. board hour by a number of Canadian sellers (including me) long before December 7, 2014.  

So that first statement from eBay is either an outright lie or an invented date to try to make the problem seem less serious and urgent than it really is!  

As for the second statement, I am not holding my breath.  The eBay.ca staffers at the Wed. board hours have never provided even a vague idea of when this might be fixed.  In fact, the last time I asked Raphael about it (which I think was 3 or 4 Wed. board sessions ago), he clearly said they don't know when it will be resolved.  So unless something miraculous has happened in the past month, the information you are being fed is just so much horse manure. 

I will mark March 7th on my calendar and ask the eBay.ca staffers at the March 11th board hour whether they can confirm that the issue has been resolved.  

This, in my view, is beyond ludicrous! 

[pierrelebel]

On September 17th, 2014, an eBay.ca staffer wrote:

"So, this would be on 'imported inventory' cart issue we have been tracking on items that have been listed in other markets other then ebay.com. We do not have a date right now to share, sorry that I cannot be further help in this matter."

Post #14: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Weekly-Board-Hour-Session/September-17-2014-Weekly-Board-Hour/m-p/266761...

A week later, September 24th, 2014:

"we still don't have a date for a fix on the eBay.com shopping cart for this particular issue. This is an unfortunate situation that was created by the implementation of the immediate payment requirement on BIN items coupled with the way the US shopping cart was originally built (it doesn't support any listings that weren't created on eBay.com). We are working with the appropriate team to get the necessary upgrade work prioritized and we will announce as soon as we get  confirmation on an ETA."

Post #9: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Weekly-Board-Hour-Session/September-24th-2014-Weekly-Board-Hour/m-p/2686...

etc... etc...

Frankly, there is absolutely no credibility whatsoever in an early March date for a fix. We all know better by now.

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

As sellers we all know the real truth. We`ve all dealt with ebay on many occasions regarding site bugs. Keep calling, keep voicing your concerns, keep documenting, keep posting. Let  ebay kow, let sellers know, let buyers know how important this bug is and it needs to be dealt with ASAP.

[rose-dee]

Well, I keep asking, and I keep getting fewer and fewer details actually.  I think I've probably brought this issue up 5 or 6 times over the last few months at the Wed. board session.  Here is the last exchange, from the Dec. 10th board hour (Raphael's response): 

"rose-dee wrote:

Sorry, another question that's occurred to me (since it seems it's just we three here today): Has there been any further update on the cart disconnect problem? 

---

The situation remains the same for now."

Meaning, no change, still no estimated or fixed solution date, no further information on where the matter is in the priority of things, or even whether it is currently being worked on.  Dismal. 

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

Great weekly board hour session

Buyer purchases one item leaves "cart" and returns on ebay.com...

Buyer purchases one item continues shopping adds and additional item on ebay.com...

Buyer purchases one item continues shopping adds and additional item leaves cart and returns on ebay.com...

We are paying fees for listing items that are unavailable!!!

---

ebay response:

Items that are put in the cart but not actually purchased should incur no fees except the insertion fees (the fees to put items up for sale. Buyers can still purchase your items without using the cart, or on eBay.ca.

[rose-dee]

Yes, that was a really enlightening and productive session, wasn't it?  Same old responses, only now somehow the onus and responsibility for solving the problem is on us, the sellers.  

I'm getting that flogging-a-dead-horse feeling.  We're never going to get the response we want, which is: "It is being worked on as a priority and we estimate resolution by _______, 2015."  One day it may just work (they won't give us any notice, as usual), or it will just carry on being broken indefinitely.  Why they even introduced the cart on .ca in the first place is beyond me.  Things were working just fine prior to that point. 

I know it's anathema to even mention this here, but this kind of thing is precisely the reason I started selling on another site -- and it's working beautifully, easily, logically, seamlessly and so far error-free.  I love it there. 

After all these years, why the heck hasn't eBay learned how to make the most fundamental process of a commercial site -- buyers' ability to buy -- function properly?  

The "explanations" (read: excuses) we've been given, seem to me to beg the question of why we have an eBay.ca site at all.  If we're now all expected to list on .com in order to make it possible for customers to pay easily, what's the point of .ca anyway?   

I'm just flabbergasted and disgusted.