eBay offers want payment up-front

prowla

I've twice gone to make offers on items in the past week and eBay has prompted me to enter my payment info.

So I've backed out and left the auction to run.

I don't want payment taken immediately, especially if I were going to collect with cash.

soolin

Oooh, I wonder if the pay immediately trial has spread to the UK?  The US sellers have been excited about a trial where buyers making offers have to pay immediately if they are accepted and I admit I was quite excited as well as I’m fed up with time wasters. 

I can understand the frustration as a buyer if you want to check an item if you are collecting, but it must be such a minuscule of people who are planning to collect but who might not buy that I honestly can’t see it is going to be a major problem. 

FFHillbilly

that sounds fantastic

Debbie9009

Having had quite a few time wasters making offers and then not paying, I love the idea of them paying immediately, sorry OP.

zackary71

If the Seller has ticked the 'Pay Immediately' box in their Draft listing, I'd assume the Buyer would be obligated to pay straight away anyhow if their offer is accepted. I had a (very new) member message asking me if they accepted an Offer I'd sent, if they could pay a week later. I politely declined.

Qwertybaz

This happened to me as well. I was making an offer on an item I was interested in and was prompted for payment details. I also backed out of the purchase. The item then failed to sell so I wonder how many times this is happening 

moonpenny

Qwertybaz said:

This happened to me as well. I was making an offer on an item I was interested in and was prompted for payment details. I also backed out of the purchase. The item then failed to sell so I wonder how many times this is happening 

Why would you even make an offer if you are unable to pay for it?

soolin

zackary71 said:

If the Seller has ticked the 'Pay Immediately' box in their Draft listing, I'd assume the Buyer would be obligated to pay straight away anyhow if their offer is accepted. I had a (very new) member message asking me if they accepted an Offer I'd sent, if they could pay a week later. I politely declined.

No currently the pay immediately only works if they BIN at full price, there is no mechanism for immediate payment on offers. That’s why this is so exciting for sellers.

Most weeks around 99.9% of my items are BIN with immediate payment requirement , most have offers enabled. I both received and send a lot of offers and a surprisingly high percentage of those accepted offers are never paid for. 

The trial in the US sounds similar to the experience the OP described.  If an offer is made buyer agrees that payment can be taken automatically from their card, and if an offer is sent then buyer has to pay to accept that offer. 

With managed payments the requirement for the small amount of people selling collection only items means that sellers can still insist on immediate payment safely knowing they are protected against an INR if they use the QR code system. There shouldn’t be any real need to pay cash on collection any more. 

tightauldgit

Qwertybaz said:

This happened to me as well. I was making an offer on an item I was interested in and was prompted for payment details. I also backed out of the purchase. The item then failed to sell so I wonder how many times this is happening 

I wouldn't think it would be very common - an offer is (or should be) binding so if it's accepted you have an obligation to pay either way. There's no real reason I can think of not to pay immediately unless A. You weren't a serious bidder in the first place or B. You have an objection to giving Ebay your payment details and only use cash for everything

I suspect B is pretty tiny proportion of the Ebay user base.

As a seller it'll be great if Ebay are tightening up on timewasters sending offers and then disappearing. 

soolin

This new scheme can’t come quick enough for me. I had to close an NPB last week who accepted an offer and never paid, and I have another at the moment. The current one accepted my offer 2 days ago , so it’s still early, but why accept an offer and then not pay at the same time?

The Vinted system works well, offers are common but everything remains available for sale even once offer has been accepted and is only sold when buyer actually pays. 

apw81

moonpenny said:

Qwertybaz said:

This happened to me as well. I was making an offer on an item I was interested in and was prompted for payment details. I also backed out of the purchase. The item then failed to sell so I wonder how many times this is happening 

Why would you even make an offer if you are unable to pay for it?

So they can waste your time and end your listing, losing you your other watchers and potential buyers, and to leave you hanging for up to four days before you relist and start again. 

I’ve gone cold on offers under the current setup. Too much hassle. Especially when it’s not the buyer but their daughter/granddaughter/neighbour’s godson, all with unfettered access to the one account, who are sending the offers. I don’t know who’s worse; the ones who make stuff up or the ones who just go quiet for four days. Suppose they’re all as bad as each other. Be nice if the four day window for NPB was reduced to two, as well, but that would mean eBay showing sellers some respect, which is a big ask.