Is there a way to send a listing to a specific buyer?

[triber]

I have another of those "can't combine shipping invoice" transactions.

Buyer purchased a lot of yarn last night and paid. Then sent a message saying they wanted to purchase 2 more lots of another yarn, but when they tried, there was no way not to pay immediately. I don't understand why this happens, some buyers do it all the time.

I tried to explain about "add to cart" after they purchased, but she said that the option was not there. She asked if I could to it outside of eBay.

My question is, can I set up a listing just for her? The problem will be that the shipping for the 2 extra lots will be a lot less because she has already paid for the previous lot, so I don't want anyone else to be able to purchase it. I hope someone can tell me how to do this. I am constantly losing sales because of this problem.

[pierrelebel]

The easy way is to send an invoice through PayPal (an eBay company) for the additional two lots.

[triber]

Thanks Pierre

[ricarmic]

What I do is create a special lot (I have a basically blank lot in Turbolister) that has a portion of their ebay id in the title... something like "Special bulk lot for ricarm".... with no pictures or anything. I list it and advise them of the item number.....and they buy with everything else the same as usual....

Usually I'm doing this for people who ask for special lots to be made up for them....

[femmefan1946]

I do much the same-- but rather than a number I use the customer's name in the title.

If they are dysnumeric like me, it will be easier to find than a long string of random numbers.

(Not too useful for the dyslexic, I suppose, but those customers would have trouble with my books too.)

[rose-dee]

I sometimes do essentially the same thing as you and 'femmefan', as I often have a customer for whom I've made a custom-fitted item.  I use their whole ID in the listing title, put only one (rather poor) photo up, and then "warn off" other buyers in the listing description in large type as follows: 

"This is a custom listing prepared specifically for buyer with the ID "_________".  If this is not your ID, please do not purchase this item, but contact us if you wish us to prepare a similar listing for you". 

The other thing I alwaysdo is arrange the approximate listing time in advance with the buyer, at a date and hour convenient to both of us, so that my buyer can get to the item before anyone else does.  In addition, I email them the item # as soon as it's assigned to the listing, so that they can access the listing immediately.  I've found that most listings aren't generally searchable on eBay for several minutes to several hours, so this ensures that my custom buyer gets first crack at his/her listing.

Now, I was told by one of the eBay.ca people that the "officially sanctioned" way of making an exclusive listing for a buyer is to list the item at the agreed price as an auction, then cancel any bids that might come in from any other buyer(s).  I see three problems with this:

(1) possible fees for the auction if the item has a higher value (if you don't have any free listings left available that month);

(2) higher likelihood, in my mind at least, of an auction item being bid on, cancelled, and angering a prospective buyer (i.e. the person other than your custom buyer); and

(3) this wouldn't work if you want to stipulate "immediate payment required", which makes more sense in a custom listing than leaving payment open. 

I've never had a problem with my own procedure, but I just make sure that my custom buyer has all the information to be able to find the listing quickly.